Kate

So many timelines, so little development.

I want to start with - I really did enjoy the show a lot, I hyped it at the beginning like crazy and got quite a few people to watch it too. That said, I cannot act as if it had no flaws. In fact, it had many.

Started as a fun and entertaining rom-com delivering some well established cliches in a refreshing way, with just enough angst to keep you invested. And next? It turned into its worst nightmare - poorly written development making the last few episodes lose the initial charm. The fate of many dramas in the past. The fate of many dramas to come.

Truth to be told, I have no idea how to write the review in a way that will point out all the issues I had, while also delivering the clear idea of the fun and joy I felt while watching. The drama is honestly mediocre, but it’s such an excellent presentation, you just forget and ignore how mediocre it is.

The plot was messy, with little explanation of how anything works. Time travel had close to zero rules truly established, the villain had literally nothing going on for himself and I feel like the yellow umbrella had more personality than him. He had no business being so important to the plot with this little fucks put into actually writing it in engaging and coherent manner.

Kim Tae Sung and Baek In Hyuk were pure sunshines, but it’s a joke to call them main characters (and they are named as such even on namu.wiki). The supporting couple was painfully unnecessary and the whole drama had overall too many filler scenes and flashbacks of things that happened even in the same episode.

And yet it was fun and adorable. The chemistry between Byeon Woo Seok and Kim Hye Yoon was amazing from literally the first scene - they aced the romance, comedy, drama. Lovely Runner is filled with scenes that will make you smile and laugh and lighten your mood. The down to earth comedy driven by the characters’ personalities and daily accidents was probably one of my favorite aspects of the show. Even though I felt like the characters were not truly complex and well developed, at the same time I fell in love with their quirky personalities. Seon Jae and Tae Sung? Surprisingly great and fun chemistry. Now I wish to see the two of them in a drama together as close friends.

What’s more to love? Amazing soundtrack with many uplifting and moving songs. Sudden Shower (소나기) just melts your heart when you listen to it. With a great soundtrack goes beautiful visuals - loved the set design, lighting, camera angles. The drama also had amazing timing - turning some romantic and dramatic scenes into comedy bits with a fun presentation. So many things worked, so what didn't?

Ryu Seon Jae is technically the main character, but the writing matches the supporting ones more. Where is the development? Where is the rich characterization? Where are the flaws and personal goals? Why is he Haru 2.0? On paper he is perfect, but would I want a man like that in real life? A person with little to no individuality, whose whole existence revolves around me? That’s how Seon Jae is presented. He is a 1+1 deal with Im Sol and that’s it. Yes, he is good looking, yes he is adorable with his loser charm, he is dedicated, killing viewers with his puppy love towards Sol. But I need more from my lead characters… I need some spice with that sugar.

Sol is not much different, so at least we have equality here. Everything she does is done for Seon Jae’s benefit. I get it, it’s a plot driven show about preventing the bad thing from happening - it does not mean they cannot use some screen time to develop the characters a bit more beyond what the plot needs them to do. Why are they giving so much screen time to a side romance when your main characters are 2-dimensional plot puppets even half way through the show?

And it’s not like the plot was well developed. As I already said, time travel has no rules established except how to get back in time. The crime/mystery part is laughably bad with ridiculous conclusions. 80% of the show is just cute and fun moments, and there would be nothing wrong with that if the drama did not try to pretend as if the reminding 20% were interesting and important. Make it 12 episodes and switching a crime to depression and we would get top quality heart warming healing rom-com. You could feel how they did not have enough material for 16 episodes when they started to show flashbacks of events that happened maybe 20 minutes ago in the same episode.

Acting wise I overall loved it. There were a few moments when I found Kim Hye Yoon’s performance not quite convincing, especially during a few lighter romantic scenes - the smile was just too much, it did not seem real. Something about her being so excessively happy did not vibe with me, as if she tried to convince me she is happy with her smile instead of showing it with her eyes. But these were truly just a few moments and overall I truly loved her as Sol. When you think about it, at least in some aspects it was in fact noona romance. Byeon Woo Seok did an amazing job too. Loved how he could be both cool and charismatic and a dorky loser and it made perfect sense.

Overall, often after I finished watching the episode I had this thought: wow, that was really a filler episode, but I had so much fun. It’s happy and bright, overdramatic with its mystery when the mystery is shallow and barely working for this plot. I had a great time watching, but I would hesitate to recommend it.

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Coming of age, becoming your own person.

What I looked for was a shallow feel good fluff slice of life, what I’ve got was so much better. Be it in terms of romance, character development, the depth of storytelling or the quality of presentation - it went beyond what I expected. As much as I enjoyed the romance, the portrayal of the hardships these characters had to go through and how they supported each other was what truly won me over.

The complexity of abuse and neglect - difference between physical and emotional abuse, direct and indirect, intentional and unintentional behavior. Truth to be told, both Jin and Haruki were abused by their parents. One could argue Jin was “only” neglected, but is that true?

In the case of Hirukawa Haruki it’s really clear - he was psychically and emotionally abused by his father, who used him as a relief for his own issues. Fueled by his grievance about divorce, sense of abandonment and alcoholism, he channeled all his anger, hatred and sense of incompetence into abusing Haruki. It was awful to witness, but the scene that actually broke me was when Haruki blamed himself for his father’s death. This is the true horror of abuse. It’s not the bruises, it's not the physical pain, but the way your personality, identity, confidence, self-value shatters. When you start blaming yourself for others’ choices and the consequences that follow.

I also do not want to give any slack to his mother. There is no way on the planet she did not put two and two together that his father was abusing him. She just did not want to acknowledge it, even to herself. The lack of interest in her own child’s well being was just sad to witness. She cared enough to make herself feel good and blameless in this situation. She failed as a parent as much as the father did. And it’s not just her neglect about Haruki’s current situation, but what led to it in the first place. The fact it was Haruki who thought he needed to protect his mother and her new family, instead of him feeling like she should go to her for help tells you all you need to know about their relationship and her role in his life.

Minase Jin’s family situation does mirror Haruki’s. Even if initially it feels less severe, long term it has similar consequences. Here we have an abusive mother and neglectful father. From one perspective his family situation was worse, because it did not seem like neglect and abuse. When your father beats you up, people know it’s wrong. When your mother tries to control every aspect of your life and emotionally guilts you into obedience, how do you even explain it to people? When you say you are scared to leave, because your abusive father might actually kill you, people understand your fear. But if you say you are scared of making your own decisions and being disobedient to a parent, because you fear disappointing them - that’s so much harder to grasp for someone who looks at your situation from the outside. People won’t say that you should be grateful to your father for beating you up, because he did it for you and he had good intentions. But people will try to convince you that your mother is dictating your whole future and telling you to not have friends and only study for your benefit. Abuse that does not seem like abuse is scary, because in most cases you won’t get external validation for wanting to get out of it, you won't get support or understanding.

And I think we see it in the drama - after Hirukawa Haruki’s father dies, he is able to chase his own dreams, build a stable life, reach his goals and set new ones - find his identity and thrive. On the other hand Minase Jin still somehow lives his mother’s dreams. We know he got to the university of his first choice - was it his first choice, or was it his mother? How much of the path he is taking is what he wants to do, and how much is it him appeasing his mom and just going with her plan for his life? This is one aspect of the show I wish they explored more - Minase Jin family relations in adulthood.

For romance, I’d say this is the perfect example of meeting the right person at the right times - the plural here is important. Usually I am completely against the couple breaking up when tough times come, to lessen the burden on their partner, but here it just made sense and was the correct choice. They were extremely young, inexperienced in any and all areas of life, confused about who they were and what they wanted. What they both needed is alone time to explore and to grow and I think staying in a romantic relationship at that time would only become another cage that stops their progress. The deep feelings they had for each other would lead to them always prioritizing the other person and that’s unhealthy.

They were the source of each other's strength in the dark times, but without some growth and exploration as individuals, the support they gave each other would turn into co-dependency. That’s why I was fine with them saying their goodbyes as teens, and meeting again as adults. I wished the transition between these time periods was a bit smoother and better presented, but I am for sure not against the idea of separation itself.

For the production I especially want to talk about the make up for the injuries and bruises. Whoever was the make-up artist, they need a raise - these were truly well done. It’s one thing to half ass the job when the story does not center around abuse - throw that red paint and call it a day, sure. But for a plot where the injuries are in fact important, they are used as a tool to progress the development of the relationship between the characters, a way to portray the harsh reality Haruki was facing, you need to put more effort, and effort they put! Truly amazing work.

What’s more, the drama had its poetic flavor mostly delivered by Jin and that tone quite well contrasted the expectations put on him and the strong opposition to arts his mother had. I feel like this was another way of showing the internal conflict and confusion our main character had to deal with. Getting a glimpse of his writing style in his novel we can see that he does enjoy arts, that he has an artistic soul in him that was squashed by his mother's expectations. That directing choice just made me appreciate the drama more, even if I am not exactly a poetic person myself.

Acting wise I highly doubt anyone can have any real criticisms. Be it the chemistry between the leads, the fluffy moments that brought a smile on my face, the abuse and hardships they faced that made me want to punch a wall, the development and growth they achieved that made me feel like a proud mom - they cooked, I ate, no crumbs were left.

Overall, I went into it expecting fluff and a cute slice of life. What I’ve got had far more depth and realism. It presents a surprising quality of storytelling for a short drama dealing with such complex subjects. You understand the full picture of what the characters were going through, and how they overcame all the obstacles without each and every moment of their existence being spelled out.

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Dark version of a Scooby Doo adventure…

…just with real supernatural elements and no shady imposters.

Let’s get some facts straight - this is more of a movie in parts, than a show with episodes. It flows well as a binge watch and would be even better if it was not cut into pieces. There are no real cliffhangers between episodes, no designated events and parts of the plot happening in the episodes - it’s best to view it in one sitting.

It’s a bit of a group possession, supernatural phenomena, just a hint of psychological aspects since (as always with shows like that), it’s all rooted in the negative emotions and the vulnerable minds. Each character is facing some kind of trauma or is driven by greed and selfish reasons, which makes them more prone to get affected by what is happening in the town. And that’s how the big baddie can have its fun.

The plot is extremely simple, everything gets explained in a way that’s easy to follow. For some it would be too simple. I rather have this than clusterf**k of plots. That said, this show might be boring for quite a number of people and I totally get it.

The acting was… hard to judge to some extent? Most of the main cast did amazing. But then there were the monks and I just could not get on board with their delivery.
I especially enjoyed Shin Hyun Bin’s and Kwak Dong Yeon’s performance - vastly different characters with different delivery, especially during the emotional scenes, yet both convinced me with their acting.

Production wise, they truly tried to bring the old classic horror elements in it, but they were painfully misplaced. The dramatic violin, the low color saturation, less cuts between frames, longer shots often following the movement of the characters, slow zooms in and out - all clearly stylized to mimic the old horror vibes, but somehow the whole picture just seemed off. The old styling sadly feels too artificial and not organic at all. That said, that directing and editing did not survive more than 2 episodes, and the rest of the show was kept in a more typical k-drama fashion.

I’m sure it was not intended, but with dramas and movies like that, they always give me the soft criticism of performative religiosity vibes. Everyone is religious, but not many actually believe in what their religion says. Picking and choosing what parts of their faith fits their lifestyle and personal opinions. That’s why when the Buddhists warned the town, no one cared and no one believed - that includes some of the monks themselves.

The random rap soundtrack at the end of all episodes (also a bop if you ask me) reminded me of Sweet Home with the random songs that at some point started to strangely fit the story.

Overall, just have low or no expectations and accept whatever this throws at you and you will enjoy it. This was a rare case when even though I found a lot of senseless things, I was somehow not bothered. I think the biggest issue people might have with the show is how simple the plot is and how slow the pace is. Chances are, if I watched it in a more hyped and energetic mood, I myself would find it boring.

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It took me 2 years to finally watch Sotus S, and I quite regret not picking it up earlier. It's not exactly your typical BL - the romance here is not the main plot, but rather means to showcase other underlying plotlines and issues around the theme of becoming an adult and struggling to adapt to a new environment and responsibilities and accepting yourself and your feelings.

I heard many people complaining how it does not have enough kissing/hugging/etc., but it made perfect sense for me as it was. I liked the realism behind their relationship and how unsure about himself Arthit was presented. How scared of other people's reactions and opinions he was. Most BLs show, as if everyone is cheering for the gay couple, they have fan clubs and ship names. This was closer to reality and made the story more moving.

The whole Arthit arc was amazing and Krist did a brilliant job portraying all the emotions. When he cried, I wanted to cry too, when he smiled and was all cute and shy, but in love, I had fireworks in my brain ;) That said, because the whole focus was on him, other characters and plotlines suffered quite a lot. All the side couples were there, but not developed. They were mostly happening off-screen and it was hard to follow them and get engaged, since we could not witness the development.

That said, I still believe it was a good follow up after season one. I have watched the whole season in one sitting, so I guess it must have been entertaining for me.

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10 episodes long exposition of the plot that should happen after the last 4 minutes.

I am honestly not sure how I feel about this show. It had an interesting premise, some nicer plot twists, but nothing was set and built properly - neither the sci-fi elements, nor the world presented, or the characters we followed and there was no conclusion to it all.

The biggest issue I had with this show was how the plot was paced. The first 5 episodes felt like nothing more than a too long exposition. Everything that happened in the first half could have been summed up in max 3 episodes and we would not miss any context nor important information. Then episode 6 felt like the plot would finally move forward and we would slowly start getting some answers, but in episode 7 to 9 we went back to big nothing. It was simply impossible to give a satisfying ending with that set up, and we ended up with no answers, more questions and new characters introduced in the last 2 minutes.

We literally spent more time watching Seo Kang Joon look at his screen at work, than some of the main characters’ scenes combined during the first half of the drama. Know your priorities, guys. Use your screen time wisely. Don’t waste 10 minutes of the screen time in the last episodes for the lovey dovey stuff, when you still gave the viewers zero answers for all the questions you presented.

The idea of time travelers setting up a device in the past that will protect the Earth was interesting. How the present people knew enough about how Grid works to operate it and make it run, but could not truly grasp how it was built to use the technology for other things.

I understood the desperation to find the inventor, not only because of the circumstances and the crime committed when the Grid was set, but also for the knowledge they possess about future technologies. How much could the Earth change in the present if we understood the scientific and technological discoveries of the future? Sadly, this was never truly explored, just hinted with a few lines side characters said here and there.

A lot of characters were rather useless. Song Eo Jin is the main character, but did he do anything? No. They could literally remove him from the show and nothing would change. His character was not essential to the story and the few things he “contributed” with could have been done by literally any other character.

Another issue were the characters - a lot of them either had no personality or barely any personality, clear motivations and reasons for why they do what they do.

The acting was fine. A lot of the characters were so bland it’s hard to judge the delivery. My favorites were Kim Sung Kyun as Kim Ma Nok and Jang So Yeon as Choi Seon Wool.

The production was good. They did not try to overdo special effects - added just the right amount in the scenes that truly needed it. Loved the whole set design and scenes that were happening in the “alternative” present times. I feel like it showed a realistic portrayal of what could potentially go wrong without going over the top.

Overall, I would not recommend it. I would say it’s a slow mystery with just some action and sci-fi elements, mostly present in the last 2 episodes. They waited too long to start explaining things, so at the end everything was left to interpretation and the few answers we’ve got felt rushed. I don’t think I will ever move on from the disappointment the last episode was.

ps. They did not announce from the start it will have 2nd season, so I am judging it as a stand-alone production. And as such, it sucks.

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Beautifully shot basic story.

A perfect historical drama for a novice, who never saw any. It combines all the most popular, but also cliche plot lines, without being too gruesome and heavy with tragic stories. We have smart and moral Crown Prince, pushover king, evil ministers, sus Queen and "queen to be", childhood connection and sweet romance with just enough love triangle to keep it going.

That said, for someone who saw a fair share of period dramas, this was just not enough. The plot was amazingly predictable, the political schemes were underdeveloped in favor of romance, which was a pain of itself. The whole middle part was barely anything more than Won Deuk and Hong Shim being awkwardly cute with each other.

The show being so focused on romance was the biggest problem for me, since I felt close to no chemistry between the leads. I'm not the biggest fan of Nam Ji Hyun, and this show just made me more sure why. While she is a good actress, and her delivery is great, I feel like she never had a good chemistry with her co-actors up till now. Not once watching her drama I was interested in romance, because I never felt the sparks on the screen.

Acting wise, the whole cast did an amazing job. Do Kyung Soo's role was not the most challenging, but his performance was great. The highlight of the show were his scenes with Kim Seon Ho. If the show focused more on them working together to discover the ploy of the bad guys, and develop the political background a bit more, this would be a fun watch. Make the plot happening in the village a lot shorter, come back to the palace quicker and truly dive into the conspiracy part - that would save the drama.

I also wished we saw more of Moo Yeon. His character had the most depth behind his actions and sacrifices, and it's a shame it was not used to its full potential. His connection to all the characters made me curious about his future and the choices he will make. I wanted to know more about how he deals with the situation he is in, and what will be the end result of it.

One thing that the show aced was scenography and cinematography. Truly stunning views and scenes, that made me take screenshots all the time.

Soundtrack wise, I do not remember one song from it. They were fitting for the situation, but not memorable.

Overall, there are plenty of better historical shows both in terms of romance and political schemes. I have watched the whole second part in 1.5x speed, since the show was directed in an extremely "slow" way. Everything seemed slow: the shots, dialogues, action... 1.5x speed truly did not feel that fast. It's a shame, since the cast was outstanding in many ways, but the predictable and not well balanced writing made the drama average at best.

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It’s hard for me to be objective with the review since I knew the whole story as I have seen the Korean version. That said, I do believe this show executed it better.

At first I was not sold on the cast. I loved Namtan as Mind, but could not get into her acting as Mean. Luckily, I got on board in later episodes. I also felt like Krist is a bit too old to play a high schooler, but again, got used to him as I watched more episodes. They both did an amazing job in conveying all the emotions and bringing these characters to life. For sure I liked Kay and his portrayal of Gun more than Sungjae’s performance. Jan did a stunning job as Tida. I hated her quite a lot, but still felt slightly bad when things started going against her wishes.

I think the only problem I had with this version was that I did not care about the romance at all. I much rather watch the friendship blooming and skip any romance altogether. While the guys looked truly in love with Mind, I could not feel the same emotions from her. I saw she liked them and felt a lot of gratitude towards them, but the romantic feeling was not there for me.

The plot is for sure intriguing, but not exactly on the realistic side. Did it bother me? No. It was cohesive and exciting. I can imagine how nerve wracking it must be for someone who has not seen the Korean version. The anxiety that keeps one on the edge of the seat every time Mind almost gets caught. I wished I had never seen the Korean version to appreciate this one more.

The leading premise of the show is clearly “bullying is wrong”. That said, I appreciate how many times the “kids/teenagers” made exactly the same mistakes, judged each other before even trying to find out the truth, called each other names and blamed each other without proof. It made the message more realistic. Many young people claim they would never partake in bullying, but they are… They just think their reasons for it are valid and the person deserves it. It’s not easy to change and it’s not easy to see faults in your own actions.

Overall, I would for sure recommend this over the Korean version. It's produced with less over the top style and is more grounded in reality. The characters are more likable too. The only thing that drove me mad were these long af bangs Mind/Mean had. Poor girl, my eyes hurt every time I looked at her.

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If you want to watch it for the romance, I would recommend changing your mind,
If you want to watch it because you loved the Sungkyunkwan Scandal, don't bother.
If you want to watch it, because you like the comedy aspects cross dressing scenario brings, this ain't for you.
BUT, if you want to watch a light, fun and unproblematic show without much melo that will just simply make you happy and entertain you, this one is a perfect choice.

The best aspect of the drama were the characters and their friendship, and I don’t only talk about the main cast. The drama focuses on the relationship between Wen Xi, Cheng Jun, Lei Ao and Le Zuan - who they are and what their convictions are. Each of them lives a vastly different life, yet together they were able to create this light and cheerful chemistry on screen. We follow them as they navigate and try to change the current school system by challenging the school president (ma boi best boi Zhi Sheng) and trying to uncover the truth of the past events.

Compared to other historical shows, or even to the Korean version, this one stays away from heavy politics and all the branches of corruption. We still get the basic storyline, but it's not nearly as overwhelming as it sometimes happens in similar productions.

As I said at the beginning, there is barely any romance. Did it bother me? Not really. At some point I started laughing and questioning if we will even get any romantic scenes before the show ends. Still, the interactions between the characters were entertaining and amazing to watch even if it was heavier on friendship rather than romance for the majority of the episodes. No painful second lead syndromes. They didn't feel that much pain, so I could watch with a calm heart too.

Overall, the show is just extremely pretty and PG. Jing Yi is cute as Wen Bin and stunning as Wen Xi. Wei Long is purely adorable and his smile can melt any heart. Richards Wang, even though he plays the "strong" guy, made me want to protect him, as his character was just so pure. Wen Jun fitted his role perfectly, guiding and uniting the characters and being the voice of reason. The set and costume designs were beautiful too.

I started this drama with zero expectations, and this might be the reason why I enjoyed it so much. Even the flaws were charming. The last episode was slightly disappointing, but that also just made me laugh and be like: sure.. makes no sense but I'm okay with that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

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Oh, the lovely second lead syndrome and the pain this show brought me.

Lonely Enough to Love, also known as Dating is Annoying, But I Don't Wanna Be Lonely (which is a superior title, and that’s the fact) had a great, funny and exciting beginning, but lost its way half way through.

It started as a simple romantic comedy that exaggerates the clichés making them more of comedic scenes. It was a perfect watch after a day full of hard work. I could just laugh and enjoy the “easy to follow” plot. Later they introduced many side plots, yet none was explored enough. Instead of giving each tenant one dedicated episode, they gave a few scenes here and there, but by the end, I was not sure what their stories were truly about and what the writer wanted to tell me through them.

The love triangle was painful to watch, since I adored Hyun Jin, but could not relate nor truly understand Kang Woo. Both him and Na Eun had a complicated relationship with their parents, but it was presented in such a messy way, I kind of don’t really understand what is going on and where they are standing and what they wanted to do with it.

There is not much to say. It had great potential, but it was mostly wasted. Most characters were interesting in one way or another, but nothing was done with it. The whole show felt like just an introduction to the story.

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The plot was painfully predictable, the romance did not grab the attention, most of the characters had nothing innovative going on for them and the villains never felt like a real threat. And yet, somehow... I love this drama. I could not explain why, but I was interested from the beginning till the end. Everything just worked well and made me anticipate the next episode.

One of the best parts of the drama for sure was the acting. Dare I say, this was the best Seo Jin Goo’s role. While I am sad we did not get more scenes with the mad king (boy he was an amazing character and interesting to watch), Jin Goo's emotional scenes as Ha Sun were just as captivating. The duality in his performance left me in awe. I also appreciate that we as viewers could easily see which character we were currently watching on the screen. They had distinguishing characteristics, so I was never left in confusion.

That said, the whole show was stolen by Haksan, the loyal Chief Royal Secretary. The most complex character in the drama, with an amazing development and true depth. The internal and external conflicts he had to face were heartbreaking and made me cry more than once. I always anticipated his scenes and wished there were more of them, even though he was already one of the main characters. Kim Sang Kyung truly aced the role.

The weakest parts of the drama were romance and the villains. While Queen So Woon might have been a loyal and nice person, there was not much to her character, except for being the support for Ha Sun.

It was interesting to watch the villains try to win, but from the get go it was obvious they had no chance in this fight. All of the battles were too weak and they lost too easily and quickly.

All things considered, somehow this drama worked perfectly and was a true enjoyment to watch. Would recommend watching it for sure and I'm extremely happy I decided to try it myself.

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The most preventable outbreak of zombies ever.

The fact it all started because rich folks found a suspiciously looking fish and decided to eat it anyway. What could possibly go wrong? Apparently many things.

Was it anything more than a fun zombie movie? No. Was it a fun zombie movie? Yes. And that’s completely fine. The action scenes were actually good. The fighting seemed realistic at least in terms of choreography - punches, kicks, using whatever you have around you to defend yourself. We did not see people flying and doing 4 pirouettes before kicks for aesthetic reasons.

The make up and special effects used for zombies were also fun. Especially the final stage of mutation, which I wished happened earlier. Blood and gore was mostly realistic except a few extremely obvious cgi splashes here and there. The move was dark enough though to ignore them.

The plot was nothing more and nothing less than “trying to survive”. What stood out for me is the fact we from the beginning start with the post-apocalyptic set up caused by climate change. There is no unnecessary time wasted on setting up the world, explaining the changes that happened because of the zombie outbreak - the world looks like it survived 3 zombie wars before we even see the first zombie anyway.

What’s most important - the characters are good. Yes, Sing was a bit too indestructible, still interesting to follow. The fact Mark is good looking does help too. That said, the best character was for sure Buddy. It’s a child so of course he makes a few extremely dumb choices, but they are in the realm of my understanding based on the shock this tiny human must have survived.

On the not so great side - what was that right before the credits roll scene? That makes no sense. It’s a clear way to set up the second movie (which I would not mind watching), but it could have been done in a better way. Based on the fact our lovely ML left the mutated fish at his house, and it seems like theft is common, we can assume the fish was in fact eaten, and now people eat each other even outside of the hospital - aka perfect setup for the bigger, more epic zombie sequel.

One major complaint - there was a moment in the plot when non-infected people started fighting with each other, while they were also fighting against zombies and it made exactly zero sense. Why are you fighting guys? More brains, less muscles please. And these slow motion close up punches? Stop.

Overall, it was fun. Requires zero brain power, keeps the tension high for most part. The characters are well grounded and likeable, you do want to see them survive, which is always a plus for a horror movie.

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Enjoyable, but not groundbreaking.

Realistically speaking, I knew where the plot was going since episode 2. I did not mind it and I was ready for an exciting ride. While it was entertaining, the show lost me a few times.

Plot wise, I’d say that’s the glow-up I enjoy watching - when with a new hairstyle come deadly skills and not rich boys. Yoon Ji Woo’s story is quite a chaos filled with questions: who did what, why and what will she do about it? We follow her on the journey of discovering the truth behind her father’s death, which became her sole life mission. Observing her trying to fit into two completely different worlds - crime driven gangs and justice and revenge driven police, made me binge watch the whole show in one sitting.

Honestly speaking, none of the characters had true depth, nor novelty to them - I’ve seen them in similar stories. You know what the characters will do, before they do it. That said, it does not take away from the entertainment value. Action genre was never a plot focused deal for me, I just want to get my blood boiling with fun fighting scenes, countless backstabbing and revenge. My Name delivered in these aspects fairly well.

The strength of Han So Hee’s performance were her physical abilities - the fighting scenes looked really good. We could see her using the skills she learned at the beginning throughout the show. While she nailed the action, some of her emotional scenes fell flat and I could not connect to her character.

Park Hee Soon served us an outstanding performance. It’s not often for me to feel bad, or rather feel anything towards a character like Moo Jin. For making me feel things, I thank Hee Soon.

Production wise, it’s Netflix, of course it’s good. Personally, I didn’t like some of the editing, especially around the training and the undercover beginning - it was too much too fast. There were also some weird choices made by making the camera go out of focus in some scenes.

Truly enjoyed the soundtrack. Just a few notes made me feel excited and ready for some bloodshed. They perfectly supported what was happening on screen, elevating the overall quality.

So, what did not work out? Not enough backstory of Ji Woo’s father. We did not really get to see him do much, either in terms of his daughter nor his work. Some flashbacks here and there are not enough for me to understand why he was such an important figure in so many people’s lives. He was the catalyst of the whole plot, but at times I didn't quite understand why.

Some turns the plot took were truly ridiculous and brainless. “Okay, it makes no sense” was the only response I could give. Some plot lines - unnecessary. I hoped the writing would emphasize more on the internal conflicts Ji Woo felt - girl was dealing with a lot.

The ending was so mediocre I could not stop myself from feeling disappointed. It’s not an open ending, but since they did not really explain many aspects surrounding Ji Woo, it felt like it. The plot is finished, there is not much that could potentially be explored in another season, so what now? Why couldn’t they give some proper closure?

Overall, I loved the fighting, the connection between Ji Woo and Moo Jin and their dynamics, the visual aspects of the show and the performance. The writing could be a bit more polished - cut some parts out, develop some more. Would recommend it if you feel like watching an action flick and want to be entertained. If you are looking for more, you might be disappointed by the plot.

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When the daddy turns dad, and the thriller turns makjang.

I went into this drama for the most shallow reason ever - Yoo Yeon Seok looked extremely hot in the trailers being all possessive and domineering. And since that was my only expectation, I’d say the drama did not quite meet it. It gave me other things to enjoy though.

Was it a fun watch? For most of it. The middle part became a bit too repetitive, and the ending went straight to fancy makjang territory. Some twists were more predictable than others, but overall it was a rather engaging watch. Did the plot make much sense? Not really. I mean, the majority of the characters did not even have half of the working brain cell and watching them making the wrong decisions over and over again, and being so painfully blind to the most obvious things was probably one of the most entertaining aspects of the whole drama.

On the top of that clownery we have Baek Sa Eon - for a smart guy he was really dumb. Did I care? Nope. Why? Because he was hot. Yes, that was my reasoning. Baek Sa Eon during the first few episodes was THE hot possessive toxic oppa and for that I am grateful. Whenever he went just the right amount of unhinged when something concerned Hui Ju, I went - yes! The angst, the low-key anger issues, the suits and them hands (the production team knew what they were doing with all the close ups of his hands). Exactly the guy you love to watch on the screen, and would avoid in real life. And then he did 180 in the second half and I became convinced that the perfect husband was cosplaying as toxic oppa.

Hong Hui Ju was honestly a placeholder. She had a few great moments here and there, but at the end of it all, she was just an overcooked potato. Which is fair - with the amount of trauma and abuse she went through, if she had more of a spine, she would leave. Since she stayed, we should not be expecting her to give us much spunk. Being in danger was her full time job, and saving her was Sa Eon’s life mission.

Surprisingly, the characters I got really attached to were Sang U and Yu Ri. The investigative duo with such fun chemistry. Waiting for Netflix to contact me, because I have the plot for the spin off of them already planned in my head. The way he became so conscious of her presence, and she was so oblivious about it all is my type of a connection.

The villains were villaining, but they were also so generic I did not really care for their shenanigans. So much happened plot wise, and yet it kind of still feels empty? When the Phone Rings had an extremely strong beginning, and lost its focus half way through. The issue might have been how packed the plot was -, they did not really have time to explore on a meaningful level any of the plotlines. One thing happened, and we moved to another thing - nothing felt developed, nothing had a proper closure. All had a closer, but none truly had THE closure.

Performances were mostly great. Yoo Yeon Seok aced that silent anger and concern. Whatever scene he was in, he delivered. On the other hand Chae Soo Bin… I know she is a great actress. I loved her in all the previous titles I have seen her in, but this role was just not it. Would I dare to blame the directing? Yes. Even though I thought the drama went downhill in the second half, her performance got so much better. First few episodes she was just a surprised big eyes victim with no facial muscles working.

Production was fine. As I already said, I'm grateful for the close-up shots of Yoo Yeon Seok’s hands. Some of the editing was questionable - too much repetition of what happened in the previous episodes - the viewers do not have goldfish brains like the characters, we do not need constant reminders.

Overall, what I thought would be a fun wattpad-esk romance with an entertaining dynamic between Sa Eon and Hui Ju, turned into a family mystery makjang with low level of brain energy. Still had fun though.

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The production as rough as the relationship between Wu Suo Wei and Chi Cheng.

Why, oh why did they not keep it short and simple? You truly do not have to adapt everything that is in the novel. You can in fact just pick one aspect and make it happen. We had so much going on, but somehow nothing was really happening.

Revenge Wu Suo Wei planned, Chi Cheng family drama, whatever was going on between Chi Cheng and Cheng Yu, second leads romance, Yue Yue and whatever she was doing, the snake business, the art business, Wang Shuo and his drama, Wang Shuo’s bro who was there to look hot, make Chi Cheng jealous and make us hope they would develop his not so bro like relationship with Wang Shuo, Wu Suo Wei’s mother’s health issues… I am sure I am missing some other side plots.

I could feel that people involved in this production actually cared about it, but maybe they cared a little bit too much so they were not able to let go of some aspect that would in fact improve overall quality. The actions and decisions were as misguided as the ones of the characters.

If we just focus on the love and chemistry between Chi Cheng and Wu Suo Wei it would be perfect. I adored the love and devotion I saw in Chi Cheng’s eyes when he was looking at Wu Suo Wei. The way on his side the connection moved from pure curiosity, to lust and then to love was done in a perfect manner - be it performance or pacing wise.

And then we have Wu Suo Wei who not only had to deal with his unexpected growing fondness towards Chi Cheng who was by all means his enemy, but also his newly discovered interest in men. Baby boy went into complete panic mode more than once. But the fact these two ended up completely in love is undenied.

Then we had a second couple and I’m only left with disappointment. I love Guo Cheng Yu, I love him the most out of all the characters. He was the true man of the story. Every new scene with him made me just love him more and more. The way he did not take advantage of Doc being drugged, the way he took revenge on Doc’s ex - how patient he was during the relationship - he kept gaining points from me.

But then we had Doc - Xiao Shuai… oh boy. He did not deliver on the romance at all. First of all, I rather have no kissing scenes than watch a scene where one clearly is not enjoying whatever is happening. I could sense how awkward Liu Xuan Cheng felt while filming it, and I should not be feeling what actors are feeling, I should be feeling what the characters were supposed to feel. Liu Xuan Cheng did the best in the silly down to earth scenes between him and Zi Yu and their friendship baby girl energy. But when we talk about any more serious scenes, emotionally heavy ones or romantic ones - he failed, over and over again.

Yes, Chu Cheng did a number of questionable things, so did Wu Suo Wei - that’s not the issue. The bigger problem was how writing wise they were not always consistent with how the characters were written in the first place. Example: Chi Cheng could not bear to actually hurt Wu Suo Wei and he did not want to force Wu Suo Wei to sleep with him. And yet that’s exactly what he did by scheming and manipulating Doc. If your lover's reasoning for sleeping with you is anything other than them actually wanting to sleep with you, you are doing something wrong.

Any other dynamics worth mentioning? Whatever was going on between Chi Cheng and Cheng Yu. I am sure these two characters at least once thought about sleeping with each other. No way their feelings were not even slightly complicated in their past. I loved it. I also loved the friendship between Wu Suo Wei and Xiao Shuai, even if some of their schemes “against” each other that were aiming for their own good, would for sure cross my personal boundary.

And here comes the biggest surprise, I actually ended up adoring Wang Shuo. This idol snake stole my heart. He was the greatest source of never ending entertainment. The cheekiness and boldness that was covering up his deep sense of insecurity was one of the best aspects of the drama. I wish we saw more of him and his “bro not really bro” with whom he clearly did not have bro chemistry going on.

Yue Yue was boring, the off screen conclusion of her character was boring.

The sick mother plotline was annoying and I wish it was shorter. The lack of communication and the whole plot was so poorly written and annoying, I was rolling my eyes so hard I could see the neurons dying in my brain. That said, the actual conclusion and the death of the mother was shot in a beautiful and touching way - cannot deny that.

Production wise… questionable? The dubbing was painful. But it is something you can get used to. By episode 3 I was not bothered by it at all. Honestly, compared to others the dubbing did not bother me that much. What bothered me was the song choices, especially two tracks. One gave Twilight vibes, the other gave me hallmark christmas movie vibes. It does not matter what scene they were playing for, I could not stop laughing. On the good side - I actually liked the set design and the outfits the characters were wearing matched their personalities perfectly. Yes, a bit too… on the nose? But somehow it matched the overall tone of the story - it was cliche, but fun.

On the sad note: not even the strongest toxic gege can fight censorship. It is a proper BL, don’t get me wrong. We get plenty of kisses and intimate scenes. But we also get less and less of them as the show progresses. In later episodes we could see how they cut the scenes shorter and the transitions were not smooth at all. I get that external limitations of what they can show are something they could not do anything about, but you can always be smart while filming. Film scenes in a way that even if you are later forced to cut short, they still feel completed.

Then there is the issue of them being casual about really serious topics: Chi Cheng making gang rape happen. Wu Suo Wei pretending he wants to kill himself in front of Doc, who in fact in the past tried to off himself. I know they tidied up a lot of "problematic" things from the novel, but then why leave these few scenes that are simply not necessary anyway? It's like you deep clean your house, but leave a shit in the middle of a living room. I’m not necessarily against dark romance and I enjoy problematic relationships as forms of entertainment too, but they need to be presented in a proper context. Here they made the story more cute, at times even wholesome, but still left some bits of that typical darker story. It just did not mix well at all.

Overall, it was fun, but so unnecessarily long. Maybe if they actually kept the plot more tight and made the show shorter, the censorship police would not have caught them fast enough and we’ve got the whole show without the obvious re-edits and cuts done in the second half.

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A Tale of Green Privilege.

I am salty, not gonna lie. I was totally in love with the show for the first seven episodes, but the last three were simply a writing joke and left a bad taste in my mouth. For me, the writers completely failed to deal with and give a proper closure to a topic they decided to showcase.

Starting from the positives, I have to talk about acting. I usually keep my standards rather mid range with Thai BLs - here they exceeded my expectations. The performances weren’t Oscar worthy, but damn they were good. I see a trend in Thai BLs with casting new yet extremely talented actors for the main roles - Zee, Win and now Mix. Some actors did a better job than the others, but overall everyone portrayed their characters well.

The production value and the attention to creating realistic settings was quite nice. The village seems like a real close community - the interactions and relationships felt genuine. Loved the kids and how each one of them had their own individual characteristics, and they were not just “a group of kids”.

The slow progression of Tian and Chief’s relationship (excluding episodes 8-9). They were adorable. Well paced and natural way of presenting two people falling in love. Ain’t no “love from the first sight” or “forcing your presence on the other person until they give in” (which is done in many shows both in the physical and emotional aspects). Just two people working around their insecurities while the attachment and emotions grow.

“Your feelings come from your freaking brain” aka clear message that Tian is just Tian, and his character development and feelings come from him and not the heart he received from Torfun. All the similarities in his behavior towards other people did not come from the heart - it was Tian acting on what he read in the diary. I truly appreciate that they clearly expressed that Tian is his own person.

Onto the bad aka everything that happened after episode 7: complete lack of consequences (both legal and social) for people who broke the law. In real life, Tian would be hated by society - a rich kid who got away with breaking the law (organizing an illegal car chase in which someone died, and with how it was presented, it was not the first illegal car race he organized and took part in) thanks to the parents' money.

And I’m sorry, but feeling guilty is not enough of a punishment. We have legal systems for a reason. I’m all up for a redemption arc, but a character needs to pay for their crimes first. Same goes to his parents - all they did the whole show was bribing people for various reasons. The whole show could have happened only because Tian’s parents were able to buy his way out of trouble with money, and the true victims were simply forgotten. Torfun got no justice, nor did her family and friends. Everyone involved in her death got off scot free. That part of the plot and how writers dealt with it just simply angered me and ruined the show.

For everyone who claims that since Tian was not behind the wheel, he should not be held responsible for everything that happened to Torfun, remember that Tian was the one that suggested the car chase. Him and Tul organized the whole thing. When Tian started to feel unwell, Tul suggested forgetting the race, but Tian said no, because he did not want to look like a coward (to this random person he met in a bar and will probably never meet again - pride much?). He sent his friend to take part in the car chase on his behalf. He is not blameless.

And yet, he hasn't once been criticized or even scolded. Everyone just kept telling him how he was not at fault, how Torfun would forgive him, how he should stop feeling guilty, and my favorite and most disrespectful line of the whole show “Maybe, Torfun was the one who chose to give the heart to you” - it came from the person who was close to Torfun, someone who in first episode said “Everything can be settled with money. Easy, isn't it? I will never forgive the person who did this to her” - newsflash Chie’s, Tian was one of the people who did this to her, and his parents were the ones that used the money to make it go away.

Then there is the whole aspect of Tian wanting the freedom of choice, when everyone around him made the decision for him. This could have been a really good arc if they actually showed Tian being capable of making these decisions. Up till the end of the show, while his intentions might have been good, they often led to putting others in danger (sometimes almost dying). Tian is not exactly a responsible human being. How many times his actions need to have negative consequences until he starts to release, maybe double or even triple checking his ideas would be a good way to go?

All the problems I have, were the result of episodes 8 and 9 happening. It turned from a really wholesome story of self-discovery, development and improvement, to overdramatized mess with no cohesiveness. I loved and adored Tian in the first seven episodes, to be left with no sympathy by the end. I just could not stop feeling bad for Torfun and how poorly her character was treated in the show - all as a way to make Tian look better.

The last episode was quite enjoyable. Full of clichés, but since the cast have good chemistry, it did not bother me that much. The MVP was Tian's mom at the airport. Her reactions were comedy goals.

Overall, I have no idea. I am extremely conflicted - it’s not like the whole show was bad, good or decent. There were things I loved with all my heart (Tian’s and Longtae’s friendship being truly the best part of the show), but some were laughably bad (I did laugh throughout episode 8-10). I guess this show just made me feel frustrated on a whole new level just because of the two episodes close to the ending.

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