there are 2 versions of it? I didn't know that...I watched it some 1 or 2 years ago and now getting to know that…
I was, still haven't watched it. Don't know which one to pick. Apparently this is liked more by international audiences compared to Korean audiences. So maybe i should go with the original international cut.
I'm just laughing my ass of because you have no idea what you are talking about.
I know right!!! That how unspoiled it was. SOOO much I said was off the mark and is told to us later and filled in. If anyone read any of this THEY WERE NOT SPOILED FOR ANYTHING!!!!
That's why it was only the first 20 minutes of a show.
I haven't read the novel or manga (don't know which it is) that this is based. So only going off the show.But…
Mercrutio is very controlling of Romeo, and fuels the hatred from his cohorts towards Juliet's family. Mercrutio never knows about the relationship and ultimately feels betrayed by Romeo for him loving Juliet. In one of the most famous lines of the play "You've made worm's meat of me! A plague on both your houses!" is uttered when he falls victim to the very war he helps incite. Mercrutio is also given the most "screen" time out of all the players outside of Romeo and Juliet themselves.
Wei is very controlling of Pran, and he fuels the war between the Architects and Engineers out of everyone of Pran's group. He also continuously is asking Pran if something is going on and he is not telling him, especially over how Pran is being with Pat but is kept in the dark over their relationship, thus the sense of betrayal will likely be very strong when the relationship is discovered. Wei also get the most screen time outside of our main couple......
Pa doesn't fit these character traits. Her almost death is what actually brought Pran and Pat together in the first place, compared to Romeo and Juliet where Mercrutio's death is what finally tears them apart and leads to the tragic ending. She is also fully aware that Pran and Pat have a secret relationship, though she doesn't yet know it is more than friendship, and helps them hide their secret. Much like the nurse. Again she also is always taking care of Pat and doing his chores etc.
Tybalt is hot headed, never listens to reason, and is mostly a side character that only has "screen" time for the simple fact of fighting and general hating people. He is more a plot device than a full fledged character. This is simply how I see Korn (Drake's) character. He is not really important to the story save for heading his teams hatred and fighting. He also has been called toxic by even his own crew, and is painted as mean and hot headed. He too has threatened almost everyone and even tried to beat up Pran in a group effort just because, when he was going after Wei but just ended up with Pran.
Ink however, could also be argued to be the nurse as well, but still even if so she is still attached more to Pat's character which still makes him more the Juliet role. But Ink doesn't really fit any role from the story unless she is supposed to be the Captain (Police officer) who is trying to be the voice of reason to everyone. Or maybe Balthasar. I dunno. She seems to be just made up for this stories version....
Again, this is just how I am taking it. I really do not know since I haven't read that which this is based. I am prepared to be completely wrong. I'm just giving how I have drawn the lines of connection.
Episodes 1,2 were subpar compared to episodes 3-6 which were fantastic. Episode 7, though, was awkward. While the playfulness of Nanon and Ohm is spectacular, and Pran and Pat have great sexual tension and chemistry, watching them flirt is thrilling and enjoyable, this episode also had a lot of poor writing and weird plot developments, along with an OVERABUNDANCE of product placement.
1) While every episode has had promos for the shows sponsors in it, it has mostly refrained to only a couple scenes and averaged maybe 2 spots per episode. Possibly 3. BUT, this episode had a robust 4 and they were not short gulps of liquid with the label out and "ahh refreshing" remarks. They were full fledged almost commercials that lasted for minutes of running time each. The printer, the drink, the Nivea, and now also the NEW Toyota Utility Vehicle inclusion. You could almost fill one of the four segments of its You Tube release just with the time spent selling its sponsors. That was absurd, far too much, and negatively impacted the experience and cheapened the show and episode as a whole.
2) Now they are sophomores? An entire year has passed? In episode 1 they had just moved into their dorms as freshman (Or was it just a new semester of their freshman year, and they got new places to live? I guess we will never know.), and now, Hi there 2nd year......How long does that mean that this "You will fall for me first," game has been happening? How long has it been since they went on the beach getaway? Was that supposed to signify summer break? What the hell kinda time frame is this based? Is this at all believable? Did Pa ever even talk ab out college or trying to get into the same school as them and dealing with the entrance requirements? Yet, Pran and Pat still also have the same lecture together, with all the same classmates even though they are in different faculties studying different majors and its an entirely new year of school? Ummm........is the whole point of this time jump just to put the younger sister at the school too, because otherwise nothing else has changed for any other characters so far that we know. This is just odd.
3) Flow and editing of the episode. Compared to what has come before, the hackneyed way this episode was pieced together was almost amateurish. As if we are just watching a patch-quilt of random occurrences with no true story or plot to piece them together except, Hey look they are flirting. Plot points are randomly delivered, like the possible love triangle of Pa between Wei and Ink, Ink possibly being backhanded with his Pran and an undercover bad person, Pat getting upset and feeling rejected over Pran and Wei's relationship and the whole "guitar" incident being dropped entirely for happiness in the next scene.....Just no follow through on any of it. I get this is a transition episode, signifying most of the story that has already happened is over and we are starting Act II of the show. But it was very rough.
Anyway, I know we all want to love Nanon and Ohm and ship them eternally, and yes their chemistry, charisma, sexiness, and cuteness are undeniable. The show has given us some GREAT emotional scenes, character development, and wonderful moments previously. But, it is starting to come off very imbalanced with its delivery. And as much as we gloat about the great moments we can't just glide over all the short comings and problems. This episode was not up to par and a let down compared to its predecessors, no matter how much flirting it contained.
I don't know how I missed it before, but this series is literally Romeo & Juliet, warring houses (faculties) and…
I haven't read the novel or manga (don't know which it is) that this is based. So only going off the show.
But I took it that Wai was Mercrutio, the strongest secondary character from Rome and Juliet.
And that Pat's sister Pa was the stand in for Juliet's Nurse, the 3rd largest character from the play and the person that lives with and is the true caretaker of Juliet (How Pa lives with Pat and does his laundry and tries to get him to behave etc.)
So that would make Pran Romeo, and Pat Juliet....also Pran fell first for Pat, which Romeo falls for Juliet first and then woos Juliet.
It would make Drake's character (Aka Ponytail) Tybalt
Ehh, but that was just my take, and because it isn't an exact remake things aren't clear cut, and since they are both guys and the beginning episodes played with the whole guy/girl dynamic of their partnering and who they would be in the relationship, I don't think it is supposed to be a clear cut this is Juliet and this is Romeo scenario.
But not entirely sure, and again I have no knowledge of the source material, I've just read Romeo and Juliet.........
Just made it from episode 1-13 today. Going to head to bed...but I will say, while episodes 1-2 were bad creative decisions, episodes 3-12 maybe consist of my favorite Joseon story I have thus seen, tropes and all. But episode 13, man, it destroyed what had been built and the show now has a very long shadow to get itself out of. It made it easy for me to stop and call it a day. Superficial plotting, all the characters suddenly going stupid and making one bad decision after the other. People acting out of character for the sake of plot, and surprising slow meandering scenes that just waste time in a single episode the covers a lot of ground and almost jumps the shark.....
Oh well, I guess we will see tomorrow if the remaining episodes can save it and bring it back to the glory it had been running!
Whew, thank God for that birthday procession in this episode, it finally put everything in perspective with who…
Episodes 3 and 4 are so much stronger and engrossing than episodes 1 & 2. I really enjoyed them. The tone of the series changed dramatically. I am becoming attached to characters and thus am getting worried about underlying plot points.
No one spoil it, I hate spoilers, but for some reason I am worried that Hyun is going to be bad. Or that when it comes down in the end to him not getting what he wants he is going to do something awful. I don't know why, I just get this vibe. Hopefully I am wrong because the actor is great in the role, while attractive in his own right, the characters so far is very kind, and he keeps himself in good company with the other characters I like. I think this is why I do not trust him, these Joseon tales never let people be this good unless they are the main leads and always getting crapped on or killed. So yeah, worried.
And, why are so many people attacking the ML here. I think he's doing a perfectly good job in his role. Much better than a long list of other actors I've sat through in these dramas. Maybe I just haven't yet watched the episodes he falters or comes up short. So far his acting is on par with everyone else, a wide range emotions displayed, nice reactions even when not delivering lines, good variety of facial expressions and used appropriate for what is transpiring. He isn't stuffy or cardboard like. There is chemistry between him and the FL.
I'm lost on the negative commentary, and yes I have picked up he is a Kpop star, but I don't listen or like Kpop so my judgement is on his acting, that is what I am here for. I know nothing about his music career.
Episode 1 was rough. Very dark, overly dramatic, no one's motives are clear at all, why does the king not allow…
Whew, thank God for that birthday procession in this episode, it finally put everything in perspective with who is who, with what titles, and where they all fall. I won't lie, I needed that. The eunuch was whispering to me as much as the prince.
The melodramatic over drama stayed alive and well in episode two. The worst was the Queen's death. Some really bad acting there by multiple cast members with level 20 wailing and crying complete with the generic "Protect our Child" last wish.
BTW, people here on the comments have stated they feel sorry for the King...I am guessing it is going to be the princes dad and not the grandfather. Or am I wrong...no spoilers don't tell. Just thinkin here. As of right now, I hate the Crowned Prince soon to be king. He is very weak, and stands up for nothing. He was complicit in the killing of his own children and he leaves the Queen and Prince more often than not on their own to fend for themselves. Then he grandstands into the deathbed scene as if a loving husband, and commands even his own child vacate the room so he can be alone with the Queen...selfish much? By the next scene he has a new queen by his side, though to be fair it is 10 years later...but shrug...don't much care for him.
Before all this we have the prerequisite "It's all my fault" crying session from our female lead which yes, I FOUGHT IT SO HARD BUT MY EYES WON, induced heavy eyeroll annoyance. How this girl can think that her mother faking her death as a new born, hiding her as a commoner, being brought to the palace for work, being discovered by the Prince and forced to wear his clothes so he can go gallivanting around, which all lead to the Prince being killed by evil power hungry family and then to tie-up loose ends kill the people that they used to try and find her, any of this is her fault is of course illogical, ridiculous, unbelievable, and saccharine.
No one, not a single person watching this or reading this would think, I did this, this is all because of me, I am to blame. No, we would all be angry, scared, confused, and likely boiling with hatred. We would lost and feeling so alone, shaking with the fear of imminent death while also wanting to destroy and ruin everyone and everything around me out of spite and vengeance.
What no one would be doing is hiding in the bushes crying while blaming ourselves.
I really wanted the female lead to turn to her mother on that moonlit bridge and say, "I hate all of you. You all are horrible despicable people. The most caring thing you ever did for me was send me away from this hell, off into the world to be someone else. I wish I had never seen any part of this palace. I hope it all burns."
Now the end of my rant....FINALLY in the last 10 minutes the story moves to its "present" and we at long last get the adult versions of characters....so I still do not know the dynamics, chemistry, acting, and full on story I will be actually working with in this series yet. So another episode is still needed to even get an idea of how this series will "feel."
I will say, if our FL is trying to pretend to be a man, and gets her hairpin knocked out, how is the logical response to go to a the side of lake and strip down to her undergarments? How is this going to help matters in any way? Again, it seems just to be a poor excuse to create a meet cute for her and our ML instead of making sense in the story.
I suppose we will see how this works to her advantage in episode 3..........off I go!
They always do...ALWAYS....in the end, no matter how independent, strong willed, intelligent, and powerful they are made to be and start out as, in the end they are always weak, lovelorn, side characters that must be saved by the various men that want them.....
It never fails......
I've only seen the first episode....so this is a downer to look forward too....though not that yours is a spoiler...but god this comment section is filled with endgame story spoilers with no one hitting spoiler tag.
Episode 1 was rough. Very dark, overly dramatic, no one's motives are clear at all, why does the king not allow twins? Seems like a plot device. I don't understand who the evil guys are. I mean I get it, as always it's the court people, and the sitting king....it's a Joseon tale these are always the perpetrators (blah and boorriing), but why are they doing what they're doing when nothing and no one at all seems to be a threat to anyone's power?
It just seems to be violence and hateful plotlines for the sake of violence and hateful plotlines.
How during the birthing scene does the NOT KING and NOT PRINCE but simply queen's father bring a gaggle of his own army, killing palace guards and randoms and even noble people in the royal palace and it all seen as normal? With no repercussions?
Why is, I think it's Hyun's father, I might be wrong, is it Ji Woon's dad, the henchman that does all the killing? Isn't he a nobleman too? What is Hyun's position exactly? What is Ji Woon's? Why, if it is his father, is he such a bastard and evil killing machine? How does no one ever have any morals or a conscience at all in these shows? How can he run around the entire town opening fire on civilians and fighting palace guards, and pulling towns people into the fight as human shields and there be zero ramifications, and no one else going up against him or other palace guards coming to aide?
How can the Prince be both sneaky, intelligent, arrogant, and commanding, while also being so incredibly dumb, meek, and ignorant? He fights with the palace guard trying to save him as literally someone is shooting arrows and killing people around him. He takes off running and then decided to just try and command the pursuer to stop, instead of hiding, running, or trying to fight back in any way. What he's a kid? Is that supposed to be an excuse? He's not a toddler or 7 year old. He is an adolescent male in his early teens, honestly already at marriage age and many times already sitting on a throne in many places during this time period. Again it just doesn't add up.
And why were they in the woods? We watched the prince go from the palace to the beheading and there were no woods involved, just the town. So why when the prince is put on a horse and told to go back to the palace does he end up out in the middle of the wilderness?
Why didn't the Palace Guard shout that he was the prince at any time during this altercation? Since he knew it could all be panned off that the prince disguised himself to sneak out of the palace and the guard caught him....and would have kept the killing machine from hunting the prince down......
How many people did we just watch get mowed down and killed, for what seems no reason, within the 1st episode of the series? Basically it all comes off as just trying to prove that all these people are evil and bad. At least, this doesn't have a comedy tag like so many other Joseon stories that are basically just as bloody and depressing as this with almost identical plot-lines save for the body swap.
Anyway, I am telling myself I haven't even met any of the actual cast, and this is all just back story....so maybe it gets better, and makes more sense, once we get to the present day story with all the grown ups......
At least this thinking will get me to press play on episode 2......
Being a closeted gay myself, I can totally understand your pent up frustration with BLs catering to 13-14 year…
And also since the scale here cannot go below a 1 it is a 1-10 scale and not 0-10. Thus a 5.5 is not the middle ground but a 6.5. On principle most series if truly critically analyzed will fall around the middle grade that is 5.5-7.5 with the highest or most likely score being a 6.5 on average. Just like all grading scales. It is the law averages.
Being below this score means a poor showing, being above this score means a strong showing. And being around this score or smack dab in the middle....shows that as a product, project, or series it is completely average. There is nothing wrong with being average. Many people like average, and average can be and is enjoyable.
There are many a things I understand are average but I like them all the same. Again it is just preference and personal taste. So some of these series that you are bringing up do not have "bad" scores, just simply average scores. In fact, you didn't highlight any series that I gave actual negative scores to except My Sweet Dear itself...which does fall in poor or "bad" territory.
Being a closeted gay myself, I can totally understand your pent up frustration with BLs catering to 13-14 year…
Hey there! First off I wanted to say welcome and also thank you for your feedback!!!
As to your questions and comparisons.
Out of the 4 shows you question, I would only give 2gether as being actually unrealistic. And unfortunately, 2gether was one of my first BL's I watched because everyone rated it so highly and was on so many watchlists when I was first coming into East Asian dramas. Thus at the time of viewing, it benefited from me not having a lot to compare it to and me grading on a sliding scale of it being a foreign produced drama and giving it leeway for cultural differences. I also did not yet know of all the tropes, broken storytelling, and stock characters it used. It was fun, cute, and sexy.
Would it get a 7.5 today from me with the journey I have now gone on in BL and East Asian dramas as a whole, probably not. But, it's dishonest to go back and change that rating, so my initial feelings for it and rating still stand. For many, especially if they are newbies, there is a lot to love and like about 2gether and they will likely rate it even higher as many here feel a 7.5 is quite low. The overall production and main leads acting and chemistry are far superior to what is seen in many shows, like My Sweet Dear which is highly lacking in this department. 2gether also spends more time developing its characters and providing back stories and a more emotional connection to its audience than My Sweet Dear even attempts. Could this be a time issue, sure. But, if My Sweet Dear (Which honestly is a broken up movie trying to capitalize on its product) wants to release itself as an actual series then it will be graded as such. Shows like Mr Heart, Where Your Eyes Linger, and To My Star are in the same boat and manage to create MUCH stronger characters and story progression with the same amount of time. It was the fault of the writing and production. Also a 7.5 in itself isn't a glowing review. It is a solid B, meaning that even back then I admitted the show had flaws...but it was enjoyable.
Light on Me has a 7 or B- which is one step from a very middling C grade. It is, for me, quite boring and very stock. However, if you want BL, it will give you BL, in every sense of the genre. It also does so, again, with better drawn characters, higher production, and generally better acting than what is on display here in My Sweet Dear. It also is not that unrealistic. A bunch of high schoolers coming to terms with their feelings for each other all on a sliding gradient scale from being gay and knowing it, to being closeted and accepting it, to discovering something new about yourself. It deals with outing, family expectations, and school bullying, as well as the general environment of being a young person coming to terms with your attractions. Does it do it with kid gloves, pastel colored blinders, and make-up clad cartoon like characters. Yes it does, which for me were draw backs, but for a manga BL lover, is a wet-dream. Thus, I admitted it had many flaws and was imperfect, but still watchable with a 7.
Mr. Heart, while simple and cute, isn't that unrealistic by any means. It is a gay guy crushing and following a senior athlete who ends up being open to the experience. (Who in their life hasn't crushed on the hot jock?) The show doesn't go into unrealistic territory. The production is solid, the acting strong, and the chemistry between the leads authentic. It is a feel-good show, and those have a place in someone's viewing time. It is warm, funny, and mostly fun without becoming generic and while keeping its characters endearing. It is, one of my go to for easy viewing. I stand by rating here at an 8. Still not a perfect watch, but much stronger than most you will come across. It also handily blows My Sweet Dear out of the water, when also being subjected to virtually the same running time, in terms of characterization, world building, story plotting, and the connection between the leads.
The highest of the four you target is MODC where I have given it an 8.5. This show is a bit polarizing. The storyline, again, is not unrealistic. While it is a trope, and one that I generally am tired of watching, but the school bully harboring feelings for those that they bully is nothing new, and is found in straight and gay stories in large doses across the world. The side couple being a young man and an older adult is also not a new concept and happens much more often than is healthy. While these tropes bothered me in the beginning, and though it came highly recommended weighed the story down, it was the progression of the characters that ultimately won me over. While unquestioningly a BL, it takes the approach of being a coming of age tale. It isn't just the tropes of young/old, bully/bullied, oh look now they are in love with each other that is delivered flatly and emptily by the more stock and generic BL titles that use these tropes. Instead it takes the opportunity to highlight how these budding romances change and mature the actual characters going through them. They reflect upon themselves, their short comings, what they do wrong, and see their own flaws. The characters try to become better people, and try to learn to be healthy in their relationships not just with each other, but within the world they live.
This drew me into the story and the world they are all a part. It also set it apart from other series I had sat through. The ending, which is hated or loved, was also something I admired. In the BL world, and the bulk of dramas in general, MY SWEET DEAR A PERFECT EXAMPLE, the story will bend over backwards to give everyone a happy ending and a very plastic manufactured finish. In MSD it is so incredibly forced that it makes any part of the previous plot MOOT, makes characters that are not real people but plot controlled fan serviced creations, and shows that no matter what from the first frame these two were going to end up in each other's arms whether the story made us want that or not, and no matter what happened. It makes moving through the story pointless.
***SPOILER FOR MODC*****
MODC gives this type of storytelling the middle finger and goes for a VERY UNEXPECTED flip to this constant narrative and is one of a very few handful of BL series that risk things falling apart and ending unhappily. This adds to the realistic nature of the show, the world is not a fluffy feel-good place, and tragedy does happen. It also has a deep resonance that on my first watch stuck with me for a few days after watching. Moments where I was eating, or not busy, where my mind lingered back on the story and its ending. That shows it was afffecting, it doesn't just disappear once the final credits rolled. That is not the case for A HUGE swath of these series.
Story wise it is a perfect ending to the narrative we have sat through. Again, if you watch MODC as a coming of age tale with BL romance and not just a BL, then you understand why this ended in this fashion. The man our main character is at the end of this tale is almost a polar opposite of how we meet him. In almost every aspect of his life and being he has changed. This is done through the love he had, how it grew him, and ultimately the loss he suffered in the end. There is not really another way for him to have become the person he ends up being by the closing without the experiences we have watched him move through. This is great writing, strong storytelling, and emotionally impactful programming. Its divisiveness a perfect example of how this show differs from all others around it.
Even writing this I wish I could go back and give it a higher rating as I talk of its story. However, again that would be dishonest, thus my initial reaction stands. Also, the side friend group's antics, some of the side plots, and some of the over-the-top silliness that is sprinkled throughout detracts (For Me at least) from the overall experience. Thus it ended up with an 8.5 A- instead of the coveted 9+ ratings and solid A territory. My Sweet Dear cannot even begin to compete here, and they are honestly in completely different leagues. I won't even try to pit the two against each other.
So that is how those received the ratings they did while this review, and some of the description above, explain why I gave My Sweet Dear the rating I did.
As for the shows you apparently like and think I rated poorly, I will say we all have differing opinions. And none of the stories you are holding up have I ever stated were unrealistic.
Dark Blue Kiss simply bored me. There wasn't much else to it. I gave it a 6, completely average in every way. You have a 50/50 shot of liking it depending on taste. Your taste was to like, my taste was to not.
There were a lot of really poor acting choices in this series, some characters just miscast or in need of coaching and it made it all the more apparent when put up against some of the stronger actors of the series. The story relied on the age old tropes and went nowhere new with them. Coffee shop barista, school of Engineering students, Rich family, college setting, a pre-made couple from a previous season now breaking up, a third party being diabolical towards the relationship because they are bored....check, check, check, check, check, and check. Even the opening credits and music are on par for melodramatic soap opera that would make Telemundo proud. The fact that it deals with a coming out story wasn't enough to make-up for all it lacked.
The characters here do not matter, they can be traded at random with each other, or any character of a BL series of this caliber like My Engineer, 2Moons, 2 Moons2, Why R U, Y Generation, on and on an endless stream of flavorless, tasteless, generic BL's. No one would notice you swapping them out beyond them looking different. Otherwise all the characters are just carbon copy versions of the same character. Again Light On ME got a 7, this got a 6. They are very close in terms of quality, and both of them, and all of the series I just mentioned are stronger and better than My Sweet Dear. To call one out as why I rated highly and the other why I rated poorly doesn't really match up as they are both pretty middle of the road affairs and their ratings reflect this.
Sotus also got a 6 from me, the same as DBK, and it is the series, as I understand it, that started the whole obsession with the college engineering student BL trope. This was on just as many lists as 2gether but I didn't manage to watch it until I had finished a bevy of other series, thus it was already working against newer, fresher, and more daring BL fare.
Sotus is joked as the BL series where no one even kisses, and that is the truth and also why I ended up rating it so low. I was more invested in the side straight couple stories than the BL central story. The show spends so much time in the world of college hazing, that it is much more a political piece on this right of passage than the blossoming relationship at its core. I also, I suppose, do not support or like the side of which the show ended up taking its stance, and that is though Hazing needs to be controlled and regulated it is simultaneously a right of passage that bonds the student body in brotherhood.
***Soap Box Skip if you want****Again, I am from the west, and the only way you are going to deal with hazing is if you join a fraternity or sorority, and that is on you. You agree to it. But to force any student who is just trying to get an education into hazing rituals is simply barbaric and uncalled for and why there are so many petitions and students across Thailand fighting for change. Let alone that psychology and psychological studies have time and time again proven and shown the positive reinforcement and group building exercises are much more inducive to creating bonds and support structures. Yet, the archaic mindset of military hazing and brotherhood remains the go to, especially in male society and causes massive problems.***END SOAP BOX***
Regarding the love on screen, I get it, for 2016 there wasn't a lot of fare and people flocked to this. But coming at it in 2021, unfortunately the series is stale, dated, and lacking a strong romantic and emotional core. Our leads relationship is simply awkwardness and long stares with side smiles. By the sequel to the series one of the main characters has gone from being a strong willed leader who subjected the student body to faint inducing hazing into a unsure, scared, wet blanket who is bossed around by everyone, and who crosses his legs so tight that the Queens of the Victorian era of Europe would be proud.
Thus, though it had some great stories, and some decent acting, and some memorable characters, it never floated my boat or made the romance something I longed to watch unfold. So it received a middling rating by me.
H2 Right or Wrong, I never said wasn't realistic. I have never stated why I did not care much for this series and I will tell you lack of realism is not the reason I rated it poorly. Neither is poor acting. It is well acted. I have some pacing issues with its delivery. I too was not attached to what was happening and found myself bored and waiting for it to be over. I wasn't invested in the characters, mainly I suppose because I didn't like them much.
The attraction of the leads felt random, and of course shipping a closeted professor who is neglecting his child with one of his students wasn't my favorite story line. They were all adults so it is what it is, and I do not have moral qualms over the story, I just didn't care for it. The college student also was highly underdeveloped as a person. While we get a decent enough dose of backstory regarding the professor, his wife, and how he came to be who he is and living this life, the college student is just a college student who suddenly is attracted to a forty something year old man with a daughter. We can infer it is because of his own daddy issues, but that just adds to deeper issues that remained unexplored on why the student entered into the relationship from the start. I also didn't like the professor as a person at all.
It is titled Right or Wrong, as in the creators knew the story line was questionable and left it up to the audience to decide their own feelings on the topic. I found myself disinterested and not caring enough, and I think by the story's end (It has been a while) I either didn't want the leads together or simply didn't care if they did end up together. Either way, it didn't leave a lasting impression and I was happy to move on to the next series. Thus it got a low score from me. To go any deeper than this I would have to re watch because that is how little this series left an impression on me. I can hardly remember what transpired except for omelets, lots of omelets.
So possibly this will give you a better understanding of how my ratings work, and where these series fell. Also, I believe the combination of the review with the even further comparisons here more than support why I gave My Sweet Deer the rating that I did.
You really should put a spoiler alert on your post.
If this is a spoiler, then the shows description at the top of this page is a spoiler. The first line says he dies a tragic death. It then even goes on to tell what happens after his death, which I do not and divulges plot points that I ,as of writing this, have not managed to get to. And even talks about characters I haven't as of yet met.
If what happens within the first 20 minutes of a 22 hour program, which is simply setting up characters backstory, is a spoiler then God help anyone who tries to have a conversation here.
You really should put a spoiler alert on your post.
No, all of this happens in 17 minutes of the 1st episode. This is not a spoiler. This is the plot set up of the show. In fact, I haven't even met any of the main cast except the male lead at this point.......
Wow so 17 minutes into the 1st episode and the love of his life and her entire family gives their lives for him to walk towards the king.....and then....he takes like 5 more steps and stops, after she and all her kin are dead and after 3/4th of the men that followed him are arrowed down, because of another man, I guess his father's life is threatened.
So he just stands there and dies anyway, actually having one of his own men kill him. In what made all these people's sacrifice, backing, and streadfast beleif in him moot and pointless and their deaths for him meaningless......
What a loser!!! Is this going to be the hero of this story cause right now he is a no. I mean a savage killing beast who doesn't even value his own people's lives or sacrifices.
If there was ever a case for vengeful spirits to exist....that woman and her whole family and his men should haunt his soul and put him in torment for all of eternity.
Not that the king is any better. Yay, another story were Min Jae is a selfish lowlife ahole. God he makes it hard to be a fan. His acting is so good, and he is very attractive, but outside of Brahms all the roles I've seen him play are just awful......
Which version should I try to watch. While the story lines seem to be the same in both, based on the website that compares the two edits, there end up being a whole lot of differences between them as the show got further along in how those story lines are shown.
Has anyone watched both versions and felt one was better than the other?
Rewatch it and still admire the beauty of story. Romance, comedy and happy happy ending. Enjoy~~
Um......
Am I getting this confused with another show. Did we watch something different?
"Romance, comedy, and happy happy ending."
Um, the bad guys win in this story. Literally, they win. The widow's town is destroyed and all the women who used to live in protection are scattered to the wind and hunted. All of the "good" guys who had been in power are dead or killed by the end. The evil, corrupt, power hungry, violent, killers defeat everyone and claim the throne and power of Joseon. The small band of central "good" guys that survive and make it to the end are cast into exile. Living in secret, hiding, and forever on the run from the those that now sit on the throne, even though one of the them is the true and rightful heir to the kingdom. The only morally sound individuals in the whole show live in fear and defeat forever.
How is this a happy happy ending?
At best it is bittersweet. What there is a wedding, the couple you shipped ended up together in the end so NOTHING ELSE MATTERS and its happy joy joy rainbows? In the end, this is simply a consolation prize. Yeah, people in love end up together, and it costs them and everyone else (Literally all of Korea) EVERYTHING and leaves an entire kingdom ruled by monsters.
As for comedy, the show gives up on it after we are done with the first half the series. The second half is tragedy after tragedy with everyone and everything being destroyed. Our characters being torn apart...etc.
Romance, okay...ill give you that one.
Am I remembering this wrong? Did you watch an edited version? Did I watch a secret extended version? Do no other storylines matter here but the romance one?
I still liked this, and gave it an 8 our of 10 which is one of my highest ratings for a Joseon history piece, but this comment, I just don't get it all.
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Spoiler free review, with only broad plot strokes spoken about. A strong series with some caveats. 8.5 Overall Rating.
https://kisskh.at/profile/soundinfinite/reviews/180987
Here is my short and easy spoiler free review!
That's why it was only the first 20 minutes of a show.
Wei is very controlling of Pran, and he fuels the war between the Architects and Engineers out of everyone of Pran's group. He also continuously is asking Pran if something is going on and he is not telling him, especially over how Pran is being with Pat but is kept in the dark over their relationship, thus the sense of betrayal will likely be very strong when the relationship is discovered. Wei also get the most screen time outside of our main couple......
Pa doesn't fit these character traits. Her almost death is what actually brought Pran and Pat together in the first place, compared to Romeo and Juliet where Mercrutio's death is what finally tears them apart and leads to the tragic ending. She is also fully aware that Pran and Pat have a secret relationship, though she doesn't yet know it is more than friendship, and helps them hide their secret. Much like the nurse. Again she also is always taking care of Pat and doing his chores etc.
Tybalt is hot headed, never listens to reason, and is mostly a side character that only has "screen" time for the simple fact of fighting and general hating people. He is more a plot device than a full fledged character. This is simply how I see Korn (Drake's) character. He is not really important to the story save for heading his teams hatred and fighting. He also has been called toxic by even his own crew, and is painted as mean and hot headed. He too has threatened almost everyone and even tried to beat up Pran in a group effort just because, when he was going after Wei but just ended up with Pran.
Ink however, could also be argued to be the nurse as well, but still even if so she is still attached more to Pat's character which still makes him more the Juliet role. But Ink doesn't really fit any role from the story unless she is supposed to be the Captain (Police officer) who is trying to be the voice of reason to everyone. Or maybe Balthasar. I dunno. She seems to be just made up for this stories version....
Again, this is just how I am taking it. I really do not know since I haven't read that which this is based. I am prepared to be completely wrong. I'm just giving how I have drawn the lines of connection.
1) While every episode has had promos for the shows sponsors in it, it has mostly refrained to only a couple scenes and averaged maybe 2 spots per episode. Possibly 3. BUT, this episode had a robust 4 and they were not short gulps of liquid with the label out and "ahh refreshing" remarks. They were full fledged almost commercials that lasted for minutes of running time each. The printer, the drink, the Nivea, and now also the NEW Toyota Utility Vehicle inclusion. You could almost fill one of the four segments of its You Tube release just with the time spent selling its sponsors. That was absurd, far too much, and negatively impacted the experience and cheapened the show and episode as a whole.
2) Now they are sophomores? An entire year has passed? In episode 1 they had just moved into their dorms as freshman (Or was it just a new semester of their freshman year, and they got new places to live? I guess we will never know.), and now, Hi there 2nd year......How long does that mean that this "You will fall for me first," game has been happening? How long has it been since they went on the beach getaway? Was that supposed to signify summer break? What the hell kinda time frame is this based? Is this at all believable? Did Pa ever even talk ab out college or trying to get into the same school as them and dealing with the entrance requirements? Yet, Pran and Pat still also have the same lecture together, with all the same classmates even though they are in different faculties studying different majors and its an entirely new year of school? Ummm........is the whole point of this time jump just to put the younger sister at the school too, because otherwise nothing else has changed for any other characters so far that we know. This is just odd.
3) Flow and editing of the episode. Compared to what has come before, the hackneyed way this episode was pieced together was almost amateurish. As if we are just watching a patch-quilt of random occurrences with no true story or plot to piece them together except, Hey look they are flirting. Plot points are randomly delivered, like the possible love triangle of Pa between Wei and Ink, Ink possibly being backhanded with his Pran and an undercover bad person, Pat getting upset and feeling rejected over Pran and Wei's relationship and the whole "guitar" incident being dropped entirely for happiness in the next scene.....Just no follow through on any of it. I get this is a transition episode, signifying most of the story that has already happened is over and we are starting Act II of the show. But it was very rough.
Anyway, I know we all want to love Nanon and Ohm and ship them eternally, and yes their chemistry, charisma, sexiness, and cuteness are undeniable. The show has given us some GREAT emotional scenes, character development, and wonderful moments previously. But, it is starting to come off very imbalanced with its delivery. And as much as we gloat about the great moments we can't just glide over all the short comings and problems. This episode was not up to par and a let down compared to its predecessors, no matter how much flirting it contained.
But I took it that Wai was Mercrutio, the strongest secondary character from Rome and Juliet.
And that Pat's sister Pa was the stand in for Juliet's Nurse, the 3rd largest character from the play and the person that lives with and is the true caretaker of Juliet (How Pa lives with Pat and does his laundry and tries to get him to behave etc.)
So that would make Pran Romeo, and Pat Juliet....also Pran fell first for Pat, which Romeo falls for Juliet first and then woos Juliet.
It would make Drake's character (Aka Ponytail) Tybalt
Ehh, but that was just my take, and because it isn't an exact remake things aren't clear cut, and since they are both guys and the beginning episodes played with the whole guy/girl dynamic of their partnering and who they would be in the relationship, I don't think it is supposed to be a clear cut this is Juliet and this is Romeo scenario.
But not entirely sure, and again I have no knowledge of the source material, I've just read Romeo and Juliet.........
Oh well, I guess we will see tomorrow if the remaining episodes can save it and bring it back to the glory it had been running!
No one spoil it, I hate spoilers, but for some reason I am worried that Hyun is going to be bad. Or that when it comes down in the end to him not getting what he wants he is going to do something awful. I don't know why, I just get this vibe. Hopefully I am wrong because the actor is great in the role, while attractive in his own right, the characters so far is very kind, and he keeps himself in good company with the other characters I like. I think this is why I do not trust him, these Joseon tales never let people be this good unless they are the main leads and always getting crapped on or killed. So yeah, worried.
And, why are so many people attacking the ML here. I think he's doing a perfectly good job in his role. Much better than a long list of other actors I've sat through in these dramas. Maybe I just haven't yet watched the episodes he falters or comes up short. So far his acting is on par with everyone else, a wide range emotions displayed, nice reactions even when not delivering lines, good variety of facial expressions and used appropriate for what is transpiring. He isn't stuffy or cardboard like. There is chemistry between him and the FL.
I'm lost on the negative commentary, and yes I have picked up he is a Kpop star, but I don't listen or like Kpop so my judgement is on his acting, that is what I am here for. I know nothing about his music career.
The melodramatic over drama stayed alive and well in episode two. The worst was the Queen's death. Some really bad acting there by multiple cast members with level 20 wailing and crying complete with the generic "Protect our Child" last wish.
BTW, people here on the comments have stated they feel sorry for the King...I am guessing it is going to be the princes dad and not the grandfather. Or am I wrong...no spoilers don't tell. Just thinkin here. As of right now, I hate the Crowned Prince soon to be king. He is very weak, and stands up for nothing. He was complicit in the killing of his own children and he leaves the Queen and Prince more often than not on their own to fend for themselves. Then he grandstands into the deathbed scene as if a loving husband, and commands even his own child vacate the room so he can be alone with the Queen...selfish much? By the next scene he has a new queen by his side, though to be fair it is 10 years later...but shrug...don't much care for him.
Before all this we have the prerequisite "It's all my fault" crying session from our female lead which yes, I FOUGHT IT SO HARD BUT MY EYES WON, induced heavy eyeroll annoyance. How this girl can think that her mother faking her death as a new born, hiding her as a commoner, being brought to the palace for work, being discovered by the Prince and forced to wear his clothes so he can go gallivanting around, which all lead to the Prince being killed by evil power hungry family and then to tie-up loose ends kill the people that they used to try and find her, any of this is her fault is of course illogical, ridiculous, unbelievable, and saccharine.
No one, not a single person watching this or reading this would think, I did this, this is all because of me, I am to blame. No, we would all be angry, scared, confused, and likely boiling with hatred. We would lost and feeling so alone, shaking with the fear of imminent death while also wanting to destroy and ruin everyone and everything around me out of spite and vengeance.
What no one would be doing is hiding in the bushes crying while blaming ourselves.
I really wanted the female lead to turn to her mother on that moonlit bridge and say, "I hate all of you. You all are horrible despicable people. The most caring thing you ever did for me was send me away from this hell, off into the world to be someone else. I wish I had never seen any part of this palace. I hope it all burns."
Now the end of my rant....FINALLY in the last 10 minutes the story moves to its "present" and we at long last get the adult versions of characters....so I still do not know the dynamics, chemistry, acting, and full on story I will be actually working with in this series yet. So another episode is still needed to even get an idea of how this series will "feel."
I will say, if our FL is trying to pretend to be a man, and gets her hairpin knocked out, how is the logical response to go to a the side of lake and strip down to her undergarments? How is this going to help matters in any way? Again, it seems just to be a poor excuse to create a meet cute for her and our ML instead of making sense in the story.
I suppose we will see how this works to her advantage in episode 3..........off I go!
It never fails......
I've only seen the first episode....so this is a downer to look forward too....though not that yours is a spoiler...but god this comment section is filled with endgame story spoilers with no one hitting spoiler tag.
It just seems to be violence and hateful plotlines for the sake of violence and hateful plotlines.
How during the birthing scene does the NOT KING and NOT PRINCE but simply queen's father bring a gaggle of his own army, killing palace guards and randoms and even noble people in the royal palace and it all seen as normal? With no repercussions?
Why is, I think it's Hyun's father, I might be wrong, is it Ji Woon's dad, the henchman that does all the killing? Isn't he a nobleman too? What is Hyun's position exactly? What is Ji Woon's? Why, if it is his father, is he such a bastard and evil killing machine? How does no one ever have any morals or a conscience at all in these shows? How can he run around the entire town opening fire on civilians and fighting palace guards, and pulling towns people into the fight as human shields and there be zero ramifications, and no one else going up against him or other palace guards coming to aide?
How can the Prince be both sneaky, intelligent, arrogant, and commanding, while also being so incredibly dumb, meek, and ignorant? He fights with the palace guard trying to save him as literally someone is shooting arrows and killing people around him. He takes off running and then decided to just try and command the pursuer to stop, instead of hiding, running, or trying to fight back in any way. What he's a kid? Is that supposed to be an excuse? He's not a toddler or 7 year old. He is an adolescent male in his early teens, honestly already at marriage age and many times already sitting on a throne in many places during this time period. Again it just doesn't add up.
And why were they in the woods? We watched the prince go from the palace to the beheading and there were no woods involved, just the town. So why when the prince is put on a horse and told to go back to the palace does he end up out in the middle of the wilderness?
Why didn't the Palace Guard shout that he was the prince at any time during this altercation? Since he knew it could all be panned off that the prince disguised himself to sneak out of the palace and the guard caught him....and would have kept the killing machine from hunting the prince down......
How many people did we just watch get mowed down and killed, for what seems no reason, within the 1st episode of the series? Basically it all comes off as just trying to prove that all these people are evil and bad. At least, this doesn't have a comedy tag like so many other Joseon stories that are basically just as bloody and depressing as this with almost identical plot-lines save for the body swap.
Anyway, I am telling myself I haven't even met any of the actual cast, and this is all just back story....so maybe it gets better, and makes more sense, once we get to the present day story with all the grown ups......
At least this thinking will get me to press play on episode 2......
Being below this score means a poor showing, being above this score means a strong showing. And being around this score or smack dab in the middle....shows that as a product, project, or series it is completely average. There is nothing wrong with being average. Many people like average, and average can be and is enjoyable.
There are many a things I understand are average but I like them all the same. Again it is just preference and personal taste. So some of these series that you are bringing up do not have "bad" scores, just simply average scores. In fact, you didn't highlight any series that I gave actual negative scores to except My Sweet Dear itself...which does fall in poor or "bad" territory.
As to your questions and comparisons.
Out of the 4 shows you question, I would only give 2gether as being actually unrealistic. And unfortunately, 2gether was one of my first BL's I watched because everyone rated it so highly and was on so many watchlists when I was first coming into East Asian dramas. Thus at the time of viewing, it benefited from me not having a lot to compare it to and me grading on a sliding scale of it being a foreign produced drama and giving it leeway for cultural differences. I also did not yet know of all the tropes, broken storytelling, and stock characters it used. It was fun, cute, and sexy.
Would it get a 7.5 today from me with the journey I have now gone on in BL and East Asian dramas as a whole, probably not. But, it's dishonest to go back and change that rating, so my initial feelings for it and rating still stand. For many, especially if they are newbies, there is a lot to love and like about 2gether and they will likely rate it even higher as many here feel a 7.5 is quite low. The overall production and main leads acting and chemistry are far superior to what is seen in many shows, like My Sweet Dear which is highly lacking in this department. 2gether also spends more time developing its characters and providing back stories and a more emotional connection to its audience than My Sweet Dear even attempts. Could this be a time issue, sure. But, if My Sweet Dear (Which honestly is a broken up movie trying to capitalize on its product) wants to release itself as an actual series then it will be graded as such. Shows like Mr Heart, Where Your Eyes Linger, and To My Star are in the same boat and manage to create MUCH stronger characters and story progression with the same amount of time. It was the fault of the writing and production. Also a 7.5 in itself isn't a glowing review. It is a solid B, meaning that even back then I admitted the show had flaws...but it was enjoyable.
Light on Me has a 7 or B- which is one step from a very middling C grade. It is, for me, quite boring and very stock. However, if you want BL, it will give you BL, in every sense of the genre. It also does so, again, with better drawn characters, higher production, and generally better acting than what is on display here in My Sweet Dear. It also is not that unrealistic. A bunch of high schoolers coming to terms with their feelings for each other all on a sliding gradient scale from being gay and knowing it, to being closeted and accepting it, to discovering something new about yourself. It deals with outing, family expectations, and school bullying, as well as the general environment of being a young person coming to terms with your attractions. Does it do it with kid gloves, pastel colored blinders, and make-up clad cartoon like characters. Yes it does, which for me were draw backs, but for a manga BL lover, is a wet-dream. Thus, I admitted it had many flaws and was imperfect, but still watchable with a 7.
Mr. Heart, while simple and cute, isn't that unrealistic by any means. It is a gay guy crushing and following a senior athlete who ends up being open to the experience. (Who in their life hasn't crushed on the hot jock?) The show doesn't go into unrealistic territory. The production is solid, the acting strong, and the chemistry between the leads authentic. It is a feel-good show, and those have a place in someone's viewing time. It is warm, funny, and mostly fun without becoming generic and while keeping its characters endearing. It is, one of my go to for easy viewing. I stand by rating here at an 8. Still not a perfect watch, but much stronger than most you will come across. It also handily blows My Sweet Dear out of the water, when also being subjected to virtually the same running time, in terms of characterization, world building, story plotting, and the connection between the leads.
The highest of the four you target is MODC where I have given it an 8.5. This show is a bit polarizing. The storyline, again, is not unrealistic. While it is a trope, and one that I generally am tired of watching, but the school bully harboring feelings for those that they bully is nothing new, and is found in straight and gay stories in large doses across the world. The side couple being a young man and an older adult is also not a new concept and happens much more often than is healthy. While these tropes bothered me in the beginning, and though it came highly recommended weighed the story down, it was the progression of the characters that ultimately won me over. While unquestioningly a BL, it takes the approach of being a coming of age tale. It isn't just the tropes of young/old, bully/bullied, oh look now they are in love with each other that is delivered flatly and emptily by the more stock and generic BL titles that use these tropes. Instead it takes the opportunity to highlight how these budding romances change and mature the actual characters going through them. They reflect upon themselves, their short comings, what they do wrong, and see their own flaws. The characters try to become better people, and try to learn to be healthy in their relationships not just with each other, but within the world they live.
This drew me into the story and the world they are all a part. It also set it apart from other series I had sat through. The ending, which is hated or loved, was also something I admired. In the BL world, and the bulk of dramas in general, MY SWEET DEAR A PERFECT EXAMPLE, the story will bend over backwards to give everyone a happy ending and a very plastic manufactured finish. In MSD it is so incredibly forced that it makes any part of the previous plot MOOT, makes characters that are not real people but plot controlled fan serviced creations, and shows that no matter what from the first frame these two were going to end up in each other's arms whether the story made us want that or not, and no matter what happened. It makes moving through the story pointless.
***SPOILER FOR MODC*****
MODC gives this type of storytelling the middle finger and goes for a VERY UNEXPECTED flip to this constant narrative and is one of a very few handful of BL series that risk things falling apart and ending unhappily. This adds to the realistic nature of the show, the world is not a fluffy feel-good place, and tragedy does happen. It also has a deep resonance that on my first watch stuck with me for a few days after watching. Moments where I was eating, or not busy, where my mind lingered back on the story and its ending. That shows it was afffecting, it doesn't just disappear once the final credits rolled. That is not the case for A HUGE swath of these series.
Story wise it is a perfect ending to the narrative we have sat through. Again, if you watch MODC as a coming of age tale with BL romance and not just a BL, then you understand why this ended in this fashion. The man our main character is at the end of this tale is almost a polar opposite of how we meet him. In almost every aspect of his life and being he has changed. This is done through the love he had, how it grew him, and ultimately the loss he suffered in the end. There is not really another way for him to have become the person he ends up being by the closing without the experiences we have watched him move through. This is great writing, strong storytelling, and emotionally impactful programming. Its divisiveness a perfect example of how this show differs from all others around it.
Even writing this I wish I could go back and give it a higher rating as I talk of its story. However, again that would be dishonest, thus my initial reaction stands. Also, the side friend group's antics, some of the side plots, and some of the over-the-top silliness that is sprinkled throughout detracts (For Me at least) from the overall experience. Thus it ended up with an 8.5 A- instead of the coveted 9+ ratings and solid A territory. My Sweet Dear cannot even begin to compete here, and they are honestly in completely different leagues. I won't even try to pit the two against each other.
So that is how those received the ratings they did while this review, and some of the description above, explain why I gave My Sweet Dear the rating I did.
As for the shows you apparently like and think I rated poorly, I will say we all have differing opinions. And none of the stories you are holding up have I ever stated were unrealistic.
Dark Blue Kiss simply bored me. There wasn't much else to it. I gave it a 6, completely average in every way. You have a 50/50 shot of liking it depending on taste. Your taste was to like, my taste was to not.
There were a lot of really poor acting choices in this series, some characters just miscast or in need of coaching and it made it all the more apparent when put up against some of the stronger actors of the series. The story relied on the age old tropes and went nowhere new with them. Coffee shop barista, school of Engineering students, Rich family, college setting, a pre-made couple from a previous season now breaking up, a third party being diabolical towards the relationship because they are bored....check, check, check, check, check, and check. Even the opening credits and music are on par for melodramatic soap opera that would make Telemundo proud. The fact that it deals with a coming out story wasn't enough to make-up for all it lacked.
The characters here do not matter, they can be traded at random with each other, or any character of a BL series of this caliber like My Engineer, 2Moons, 2 Moons2, Why R U, Y Generation, on and on an endless stream of flavorless, tasteless, generic BL's. No one would notice you swapping them out beyond them looking different. Otherwise all the characters are just carbon copy versions of the same character. Again Light On ME got a 7, this got a 6. They are very close in terms of quality, and both of them, and all of the series I just mentioned are stronger and better than My Sweet Dear. To call one out as why I rated highly and the other why I rated poorly doesn't really match up as they are both pretty middle of the road affairs and their ratings reflect this.
Sotus also got a 6 from me, the same as DBK, and it is the series, as I understand it, that started the whole obsession with the college engineering student BL trope. This was on just as many lists as 2gether but I didn't manage to watch it until I had finished a bevy of other series, thus it was already working against newer, fresher, and more daring BL fare.
Sotus is joked as the BL series where no one even kisses, and that is the truth and also why I ended up rating it so low. I was more invested in the side straight couple stories than the BL central story. The show spends so much time in the world of college hazing, that it is much more a political piece on this right of passage than the blossoming relationship at its core. I also, I suppose, do not support or like the side of which the show ended up taking its stance, and that is though Hazing needs to be controlled and regulated it is simultaneously a right of passage that bonds the student body in brotherhood.
***Soap Box Skip if you want****Again, I am from the west, and the only way you are going to deal with hazing is if you join a fraternity or sorority, and that is on you. You agree to it. But to force any student who is just trying to get an education into hazing rituals is simply barbaric and uncalled for and why there are so many petitions and students across Thailand fighting for change. Let alone that psychology and psychological studies have time and time again proven and shown the positive reinforcement and group building exercises are much more inducive to creating bonds and support structures. Yet, the archaic mindset of military hazing and brotherhood remains the go to, especially in male society and causes massive problems.***END SOAP BOX***
Regarding the love on screen, I get it, for 2016 there wasn't a lot of fare and people flocked to this. But coming at it in 2021, unfortunately the series is stale, dated, and lacking a strong romantic and emotional core. Our leads relationship is simply awkwardness and long stares with side smiles. By the sequel to the series one of the main characters has gone from being a strong willed leader who subjected the student body to faint inducing hazing into a unsure, scared, wet blanket who is bossed around by everyone, and who crosses his legs so tight that the Queens of the Victorian era of Europe would be proud.
Thus, though it had some great stories, and some decent acting, and some memorable characters, it never floated my boat or made the romance something I longed to watch unfold. So it received a middling rating by me.
H2 Right or Wrong, I never said wasn't realistic. I have never stated why I did not care much for this series and I will tell you lack of realism is not the reason I rated it poorly. Neither is poor acting. It is well acted. I have some pacing issues with its delivery. I too was not attached to what was happening and found myself bored and waiting for it to be over. I wasn't invested in the characters, mainly I suppose because I didn't like them much.
The attraction of the leads felt random, and of course shipping a closeted professor who is neglecting his child with one of his students wasn't my favorite story line. They were all adults so it is what it is, and I do not have moral qualms over the story, I just didn't care for it. The college student also was highly underdeveloped as a person. While we get a decent enough dose of backstory regarding the professor, his wife, and how he came to be who he is and living this life, the college student is just a college student who suddenly is attracted to a forty something year old man with a daughter. We can infer it is because of his own daddy issues, but that just adds to deeper issues that remained unexplored on why the student entered into the relationship from the start. I also didn't like the professor as a person at all.
It is titled Right or Wrong, as in the creators knew the story line was questionable and left it up to the audience to decide their own feelings on the topic. I found myself disinterested and not caring enough, and I think by the story's end (It has been a while) I either didn't want the leads together or simply didn't care if they did end up together. Either way, it didn't leave a lasting impression and I was happy to move on to the next series. Thus it got a low score from me. To go any deeper than this I would have to re watch because that is how little this series left an impression on me. I can hardly remember what transpired except for omelets, lots of omelets.
So possibly this will give you a better understanding of how my ratings work, and where these series fell. Also, I believe the combination of the review with the even further comparisons here more than support why I gave My Sweet Deer the rating that I did.
If what happens within the first 20 minutes of a 22 hour program, which is simply setting up characters backstory, is a spoiler then God help anyone who tries to have a conversation here.
So he just stands there and dies anyway, actually having one of his own men kill him. In what made all these people's sacrifice, backing, and streadfast beleif in him moot and pointless and their deaths for him meaningless......
What a loser!!! Is this going to be the hero of this story cause right now he is a no. I mean a savage killing beast who doesn't even value his own people's lives or sacrifices.
If there was ever a case for vengeful spirits to exist....that woman and her whole family and his men should haunt his soul and put him in torment for all of eternity.
Not that the king is any better. Yay, another story were Min Jae is a selfish lowlife ahole. God he makes it hard to be a fan. His acting is so good, and he is very attractive, but outside of Brahms all the roles I've seen him play are just awful......
Has anyone watched both versions and felt one was better than the other?
Am I getting this confused with another show. Did we watch something different?
"Romance, comedy, and happy happy ending."
Um, the bad guys win in this story. Literally, they win.
The widow's town is destroyed and all the women who used to live in protection are scattered to the wind and hunted.
All of the "good" guys who had been in power are dead or killed by the end.
The evil, corrupt, power hungry, violent, killers defeat everyone and claim the throne and power of Joseon.
The small band of central "good" guys that survive and make it to the end are cast into exile. Living in secret, hiding, and forever on the run from the those that now sit on the throne, even though one of the them is the true and rightful heir to the kingdom. The only morally sound individuals in the whole show live in fear and defeat forever.
How is this a happy happy ending?
At best it is bittersweet. What there is a wedding, the couple you shipped ended up together in the end so NOTHING ELSE MATTERS and its happy joy joy rainbows? In the end, this is simply a consolation prize. Yeah, people in love end up together, and it costs them and everyone else (Literally all of Korea) EVERYTHING and leaves an entire kingdom ruled by monsters.
As for comedy, the show gives up on it after we are done with the first half the series. The second half is tragedy after tragedy with everyone and everything being destroyed. Our characters being torn apart...etc.
Romance, okay...ill give you that one.
Am I remembering this wrong? Did you watch an edited version? Did I watch a secret extended version? Do no other storylines matter here but the romance one?
I still liked this, and gave it an 8 our of 10 which is one of my highest ratings for a Joseon history piece, but this comment, I just don't get it all.