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We were running a marathon, but the end became a sprint.
What it felt like was watching well paced 1st and 2nd act, and then landing on the last line of the 3rd act - as if we skipped a whole bunch of scenes and plot line developments to only get a semi-satisfying conclusion.When you want a love triangle to become a square ⇢ Dynamics so go you don’t mind any mixes.
Probably one of the best love triangles (squares?) I have seen in kdramas for ages. No matter how I look at it, I believe in that aspect there was nothing to fix nor improve. Seong A with Gyeon U? Seong A with Ji Ho? Gyeon U with Ji Ho? However you mix it, they always delivered fun, heartwarming and entertaining scenes. And if we add one not so bad baddie to the mix, it becomes even more interesting.
You all could be heroes ⇢ Characters with individual charms and great presence.
As I said, all the dynamics worked perfectly, but that’s because these characters were actually well crafted individuals with distinctive personalities. Seong A might have seemed like a shallow cutesy teen, but under that bubbly persona there was so much emotional maturity and patience. Gyeon U might seem like your typical cold male lead with white wall personality, but there was actually so much warmth and determination behind it. And you might fear Ji Ho will be your typical jealous best friend, but this man had more heart in him than a lot of second male leads combined.
Turning casual jogging into race ⇢ When pacing escalates to ridiculous speed.
Up till episode 9 the pacing was amazing - balancing well the different plotline, building relationships, comedic bits and the thrills involving ghost and separate cases. You could clearly see it’s building to something bigger - the grand finale. And that’s where the disappointment lies - the ending. Honestly speaking the last act felt like watching a drama with a 9 years old child with zero attention span fast forwarding the plot to oblivion.
Maybe not everyone deserves a second chance? ⇢ Ending that leave a bad taste in my mouth
There were a few characters that had a bit too good of an ending if you ask me. Some got their “redemption” before the show ended and it all was just too… sweet and disney. I feel like the level of their bad decisions, acts and attitudes did not match the consequences they faced. Some characters had rather overwhelming stories that were concluded in an unsatisfying way. I understand the drama wanted to have a positive message and even the female lead was the pure ray of sunshine and hope, but maybe then they should have toned down the bad guys a little bit.
I actually really appreciated Yeom Hwa as a character. Her story was well built, explanations for her behavior hidden long enough to almost give me a heart attack from all the frustration, but not dragged too long I would drop the drama. Was the conclusion of her story satisfying? No. But then the only thing I truly found satisfying in the last 3 episodes was the comedy.
Fairytale land aesthetics - sometimes Disney, sometimes Grimm. ⇢ Production value fitting the story
I have to appreciate the aesthetics of the show. They knew exactly when to make it all pastel Disney to give us the cute and butterfly inducing moments. But they also knew how to make it more dark, but still well balanced and fitting the overall mood of the show. I must say, I liked the styling of the ghosts a lot and the way shamanism moments were filmed was just CINEMA.
Are you sure you are acting? ⇢ Performances that seemed natural
If I were to pick my favorite performances I’d go with Choo Young Woo (my guy was busy in the drama, delivered in all area, all type of emotions), Choo Ja Hyun (to make me hate a character so bad, and yet still feel pity for them, but yet still wanting them dead is a challenge) and Yoon Byung Hee (while Do Ryeong was mostly there for comedy, there were still many serious scenes, at times with more emotional impact that he was able to deliver perfectly). Cho Yi Hyun did a fantastic job too, don’t get me wrong, but somehow I was more excited for scenes of other characters than hers.
Overall, the ride was exciting and smooth until it wasn’t. The ending feels extremely rushed as if they cut 2 episodes from it. Technically we’ve got all the conclusions, but they mostly felt flat. Still - in terms of the rom-com vibes, it’s a solid A. Not even being a big fan of comedy, it was so good here, it became one of my favorite elements.
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Bad(ly paced story) and Crazy (good comedy and action).
As long as you put your brain on the shelf while watching, you will enjoy it a lot. The portrayal of DID makes no sense, the villain´s skills are so good, they seem magical as they have no grounds in reality, the plot has a number of plot holes, but oh boy, it was an entertaining ride.Bad and Crazy presents a rather basic story with predictable plots and twists. What saves it are the characters, comedy and the action. The dynamics between Soo Yeol and K are pure entertainment, delivering the laughs and emotional depth I appreciated a lot. Kim Hi Eo Ra and Won Hyun Joon also delivered a solid performance as Russian-Korean drug gang leaders, making me, and other viewers care for them, and wish them at least a bittersweet ending, even taking into consideration their evil deeds.
Sadly, the plot just does not connect. First and second half feel like completely different shows, shifting from an action comedy to a mystery thriller. Plots and characters were gone for a good few episodes, just to bring them back later on, as if it does not create pacing and continuation issues.
The last two episodes serve as a rather mediocre conclusion to the plot. Everything happened too fast with not enough explanation. They dropped all the information on me and I was supposed to just accept it without asking any questions. The moment you start asking , you see how the whole plot crumbles.
About the bad guys - the corrupted, the business duo, the magician. Out of them all, only the Russian drug dealers that were focused on their business and making money were realistic, interesting and made me curious to know more about their past, goals, reasons and motivations. The rest was either predictable and full of cliche or borderline supernatural making it unrealistic.
Performance wise, Wi Ha Joon stole the show. K was the heart, soul and the driving force behind the drama. I laughed, I cried, I fell in love - all thanks to his portrayal. That said, the whole cast did a stellar job with their acting and delivery. I truly could not think of one example of even mediocre acting. With such a cast, it’s not surprising.
The soundtrack just paved the way and got me excited at all the right moments. Not surprisingly, tvN delivered in terms of production value. I especially loved the long corridor shots that represented Ryu Soo Yeol’s consciousness.
Overall, the comedy, K and Boss Yong were the elements I truly loved and appreciated the most. Would recommend it as a fun and entertaining watch. Even if you won’t get absorbed into the plot, you will most likely appreciate the comedy and the action.
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Holding the lantern so others can see.
Through the Darkness is a show that, in a skillful way, shifts the focus from the criminals and their mentality, to profilers and the psychological consequences that their job has on them. Yes, we still get the fair share of why criminals do what they do. We still get the eerie conversations with serial killers - the look into their deranged psyche, but the story focuses more on the interviewer, not the interviewee.If you are looking for unreasonable wits and close to supernatural skills characters like Sherlock Holmes had in the BBC tv show, you won’t find it there. Profiling wise, it’s as basic as it can get. That’s expected from a show that is based on the book that depicts the beginning of Korea’s first criminal profiling team. And yet, it was never boring.
Song Ha Young was more fascinating of a character than any of the killers and criminals presented combined. The depth of the portrayal thanks to Kim Nam Gil acting was one of the best aspects of the show. The character represented pain, loneliness, desperation, fixation - all that could lead to a tragic outcome without a proper support system.
Kook Young Soo, who became my favorite character, was like an anchor that kept Ha Yeoung grounded. He was a perfectly balanced character - knew the importance of his work, but did not ignore his own needs, health and people around him.
What Through the Darkness does perfectly, is showcasing the variety of realistic characters that have believable flaws, but are never over the top caricatures. We see how some of them might be greedy, full of prejudice, corrupted, but there is a realistic limit to their flaws and how far they are willing to go based on just these characteristics.
The writing was that good. When you have solid source material and people who care not to misrepresent it, you get the quality content. The tension build-up in every episode was just phenomenal. The interviews were just... terrifying. The journey of Ha Young - heartbreaking.
Even the soundtrack leaves nothing to desire. Listening to Lullaby gives me chills and makes me tear up a little bit. Lyrics for Can’t Run Away are the perfect representation of Ha Young’s character, motivation and emotional state. Bloom and Fall Alone made me think about all the victims. Each song elevates different aspects of the story.
If I were to complain about one thing - how little we get Yoon Ji, the reporter. I think her narrative was also really important, since she served as a better connection for the audience to relate to, than the detectives did. How we as society view killers and psychopaths. What kind of narrative gets our attention, and what we find not "interesting". How we ourselves pay more attention to the perpetrators than the victims. I was waiting for her to be a more integral part of the show, but instead she started to show up less and less.
That said, as much as I loved the show, I would not recommend it to people who prefer action and fast pace. This is slow. There are countless scenes of main characters just walking around trying to find clues, observing the surroundings of the places the crimes took place. Ha Young is not this confident cop who is so assured in his skills and position, no criminal can get to him. We watch him waver, we watch him break, but we also see him push forward.
Overall, for me it was close to perfection. Last two episodes made me feel extremely emotional, as I got closer to the end. It was fascinating to see the journey the characters took, and it made me appreciate the people who are willing to step into that dark and twisted world, just to keep others safe.
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The plot was there, the twist was there, the emotions should be there, but the storytelling was just a mess. There was close to no introduction to the characters and till the end some of their motivations were simply not explained (why was Yool even loyal to Deok Gi?). Scenes were not concluded in a proper way which led to weird jumps in the characters’ arcs progressions. And don’t even make me start on whatever was going on between Yool and Sul Hee, because that made exactly zero sense and was just a massive waste of screen time.
As I was watching Memories of the Sword I thought “Did they lose some files? This literally feels unfinished, as if there are scenes missing”. You know how at school you wrote essays, used different sources and just wrote all the relevant information in, but after rereading it from the top, you saw how some paragraphs just don’t connect and there is no flow to it? That’s this movie.
The two good aspects were visuals and acting, but that’s barely enough to make me finish the movie. In theory, this movie works. If someone showed me the screenshots and described the plot I would assume it’s an amazing movie… but then, the end product I actually watched was a mess.
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This review may contain spoilers
Depending on what kind of drama you want to watch, it can either be a hit or a miss. If you want a nice romance with a plot that (more or less) makes sense, Are You Human Too? will make you happy. If you are a big sci-fi fan and that's the reason you want to watch it, it might not meet your expectations. THE GOOD
Likable characters with realistic flaws.
The majority of the motivations make sense and it makes it easier to put ourselves in the characters’ position. Not all the characters are developed to the same extent, but it's something we can't avoid in dramas - some just take more focus. As long as the mains are there making sense, I am content. Not to mention how refreshing it was to have so many morally gray characters.
The romance.
If you like fluff and cute, this will be one of the nicest shows you have seen. I could clearly see the chemistry between leads, and there isn't any unnecessary love triangle. It's hard to describe the growth of emotions in terms of Nam Shin 3, but we can clearly see that in our human protagonist So Bong - how her relationship with NS3 develops and how slowly her feelings change. The acceptance that she loved a robot and not a human was nicely presented.
Cinematography.
Being a person who values the visuals of the dramas, I must say this one was extremely pleasing to the eye.
The emotional aspects.
Basically, this drama is good at 'playing' with your emotions. In a good way. The pacing was fine and they didn't randomly change from sad to funny scenes. Since the characters were engaging, I could easily empathize with them, which made the watching that much more enjoyable.
THE BAD AND LESS CONVINCING
The villains.
I truly loved what they did with Nam Gun Ho. The way he played people around him to be played at the end. That said, the true main bad guy of the drama was disappointing. His motivations did not make much sense. They tried to frame him as a heartless person, but then introduced some scenes clearly showing that he is not as bad as portrayed and even he wants to protect people important to him, so in the end, it wasn't consistent.
The romance.
While the fluff was amazing, I believe they did not explore the robot-human relationship to the full potential. There are many questions that they never delivered answers to. How will society react to that relationship? Will So Bong be happy with a robot that might never truly love her back? Why had they never talked about getting old and how will they work it out? What will happen to Nam Shin 3 after So Bong dies? Is So Bong going to be okay without any intimate relationship? The relationship was cute, but the social commentary about it could have been deeper.
Real Nam Shin.
How much I loved his character and how much I did not want the writers to give him a quick last minute redemption arc . After all the bad deeds he did, we don't really see much change in his character. Instead of showing us the aftermath of his decisions, we get 'one year later' with Nam Shin being fine and everyone accepting him. No true apology, no reflection on what his choices brought on people he claimed to care about. The writers were so fixated on giving us a happy ending they did not stop for a second to think if it would make much sense.
Ending.
If for you getting a happy ending is the most important part, you won't be disappointed. If you rather have a bittersweet ending that fits the plot and is consistent with the characters, this might make you angry. The last ten minutes of the drama introduces even more questions than all the preview episodes combined, and gave no answers. We don't know what happens with the majority of side characters. What will happen to M-City? How were the legal aspects resolved? Why only few bad people who broke the law were punished for it? How is society dealing with AI being a real thing? The ending was a big plot hole.
Unresolved moral and social issues.
I would have no problem with drama not dealing with those deeper problems if they weren't introduced in the first place. But they were, so they should be explored more. When the robot is not just a robot? How human the robot must be? Is being conscious enough? Do you need to be able to feel emotions too?
Another EXTREMELY interesting plot point that was not explored at all: is the creator responsible for everything their creation does? If said creation is self conscious, can the creator control all aspects of its life? How far can the free will go? What is free will? The whole sci-fi aspect of the drama, instead of driving drama forward, has been just a plot device created as a background for the romance.
Ignoring the characters’ traits when they are not necessary for the plot and forgiving characters without a reason.
So Bong is a fighter, a really good one. Former athlete, currently bodyguard. And it's all ignored later in the drama. She does not fight, does not defend herself. The whole skill set is simply non existing. Reporter Jo is another character that has no place in the drama. She is supposed to be a funny friend of So Bong, but is she really? She kept getting everyone into trouble, manipulated them and used So Bong for her own profit. The fact that So Bong kept her as a friend till the end is irrational.
Overall, if you are searching for romance driven drama with emotional baggage that is not too heavy, go for it and you will love it. If you want more sci-fi, give it a try for a few episodes, but don't have high expectations. This drama presents many amazing dilemmas, but never explores any of them, and that was the biggest problem I had.
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Sarawat, for the good majority of the show, was for me one of my favorite BL characters out there. The “I don’t care, could not be bothered by others” attitude he had in the beginning episodes was so amazing and refreshing and when you pair it with how much of a cute, shy and romantically awkward, but clingy potato he is, I can die happy. Straightforward, but not in a rude way, we stan. But then something happened in episode 12 - that thing is called lazy writing. There is nothing worse than giving your character 180 just to create artificial drama and unnecessary conflict.
Tine was just a clueless bunny. Seeing how this was Win’s first role, I must say he has done an extremely good job portraying all the emotions his character was feeling. The new actors often either underact or overact, but I see some nice balance from him.
Since Tine was quite not aware of anything that was truly happening around him, it created many funny scenes that were natural and did not feel like a cheap comedy. Truth to be told, Tine was probably the best written character in the whole show.
The whole supporting cast did an amazing job, creating a nice atmosphere and many memorable comedic moments. The interactions between Tine and Sarawat’s friend felt organic and were enjoyable to watch.
What surprised me the most was the fact that I actually cared for the side couple and did not feel like skipping their scenes at all. Man and Type had nice dynamics and I truly loved Sarawat’s brother Phukong - cheeky little thing.
The plot is simple yet told in such an endearing way I just smiled watching each and every episode. Few small twists here and there kept the story more interesting and exciting. If we exclude the mess episodes 12 and 13 were, it's quite a nice, slower paced sweet romance. The chemistry between Tine and Wat was better in the first, than second half though. I put the blame here on writing and directing. Why? What happened?
I was just confused what Tine and Wat’s relationship exactly is and what they are comfortable with. I have no problem with shows being more on a romantic “PG13” side with one kiss happening as a finale, sealing the deal. I never expected TT or WRU type of content in this. But then why did things keep being hinted at and then scenes cut without proper closure? Why was Tine shy about the smallest romantic skinship, but at the same time be fine with more explicit things (that were hinted at, but never shown)? They felt like best bros, a couple that just started dating and a couple that has lived together for a few years at the same time… When a couple high fives instead of giving each other a kiss. I was lost at some point.
I have to talk about the production quality, because it was truly amazing… to a certain point. The set designs were perfect and the rooms of the character well represented who they are. Technical aspects like lighting or camera work were also good. Too bad I can’t say the same thing about editing. There were some pacing problems here and there that made me and some other viewers confused about the time progression. Some romantic scenes were cut in such weird places, it felt like they were trying to censor stuff. While I know it was not the case, it gave me that impression.
Any random complaints? First kiss from Sarawat and Win. Damn I felt like Bright didn’t quite want to commit.
The ever-changing hair of Bright too.
Overall, it’s a cute fluff story that failed when trying to do something else in the last few episodes. It started as 10/10 for me, but as the quality of writing and editing dropped, so did my rating.
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Feels like a fanfic written by an inexperienced teen.
And yet I enjoyed it so much. Let’s get real - the writing of everything except for the romance was laughable. When I found out that the actors actually had some training with the professionals, it made it even worse. Without it, I could excuse it on the lack of research, but there was some effort put into it, so why is the result so bad?All that, it was pure entertainment. I must say, I actually enjoyed the villain the most. He had such a massive negative brain energy I could not stop laughing watching his shenanigans. Especially in the last episodes, everything was so dramatic, when realistically speaking nothing made much sense. It had its cons though - I felt nothing, no pain, no angst, no sadness - nothing. The lack of brains from the villain and the plot completely distracted me from actually connecting to the characters.
Then we have the medical aspect. It was so bad I honestly don’t even want to talk about it. The glorious closeups to the actors' faces as the medical procedures are happening, because the actor cannot deliver them in a realistic way - this tells you all you need to know.
Putting the villain and the medical aspects aside (which means just ignoring a massive portion of the plot lol), the romance itself was great. I liked how they emphasized that the characters make each other better, and how you need to put an actual effort in relationships - no first love type of a deal. The chemistry was great and very natural - no awkwardness, unless the scene literally demanded it.
I also had no issues with the performances. There were no groundbreaking deliveries, but everyone did a good job with their respective roles.
Overall, it was so dumb it ended up being great.
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Exploring happiness through hardships.
When the Weather Is Fine is definitely a well crafted piece of cinematic art, but it’s not made for everyone. I don’t mean it in a snobbish, elitist way, it’s just really clear in what it wants to be, and it does not try to cater to all the viewers - you either take it or leave it, both decisions being equally valid.It’s an extremely slow paced character driven drama that is much darker than it might initially seem. Hardly any of the characters presented does not face serious problems and issues they have to overcome. It does present a few side stories tho, that can brighten the mood, making sure we won’t get depressed after finishing each episode.
The journey we take while the stories unfold might be sad and frustrating, since many of the characters are rather shielded, slowly learning how to open themselves to the possibility of happiness. It’s not a drama to watch for escapism.
Being perfectly honest, till the last episode, I did not find Hae Won to be a likeable person. She points out everyone's flaws, while not taking a step back to see things from other people's perspective herself. The fact she was so flawed, was exactly why I enjoyed the show so much. Each character presented a completely different perspective on life and relationships - each being right and wrong at the same time, depending on the perspective taken by the viewer.
When the Weather Is Fine is an aesthetic feast. All the shots capture that melancholic and slightly removed from reality feeling - making Bookhyun Village feel like its own world, separate from the fast paced reality we live in. The soundtrack added to that sentimental feeling, making a truly cohesive picture.
That said, it’s not a perfect show. The number of flashbacks was surprising, especially since the majority of them were copy-pasted the same, not presenting alternative perspectives or adding to previously presented events. Another aspect that bothered me was the sharp change of mood between scenes - we went from tragedy to teen slice of life comedy in a matter of seconds. In the end, for some scenes, I was neither able to explore the sadness, nor enjoy the silly happiness of what’s presented - it just clashed too much.
Acting wise, almost flawless. I am not sure if I completely bought Park Min Young’s portrayal of Hae Won. Logically speaking her story was full of sadness, yet I could not feel it on many occasions. I knew it was tragic, but I did not feel it.
Overall, I would recommend it to people who like slow paced, character driven shows. If you prefer fast paced plot driven dramas with many unexpected plot twists and thrilling feeling, you will most likely not enjoy it that much. It’s a bittersweet story that allows us to peek into the lives of the characters, without presenting a sharp beginning nor the end.
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Interesting story with poorly written characters
This had some good potential. Even though, technically speaking, it deals with the same old story of corruption in politics, adding the Agency for National Security Planning and (basically) deserted agent made it a bit fresh.Sadly, the writers were incapable of writing intelligent main characters and villains. At the end, it was not about who outsmarts whom, but who will make more dumb mistakes. There were no winners, rather - bigger losers.
Han Jung Hyun was probably one of the least consistent characters in the history of dramas. Presented as outstanding agent in the past, the future version of him made too many dumb mistakes for me to ever take him seriously. At some point I assumed that the Agency for National Security Planning only teaches and cares about fighting skills, because he barely ever used his brain.
Then we have Im Hyeong Rak, another case of random nerve impulses - turning on and off his brain depending on what the plot needs. Mastermind that was able to cover up all his evil deeds for years… and yet, he cannot predict the most predictable decisions Jung Hyun makes. He overlooks the most obvious course of action. True disappointment.
That said, not all the characters were as bad. Choi Yeon Soo, even if boringly good, was fierce and smart, trying to work, limited by the rules set by corrupted people, to uncover the corruption. Then we have Do Young Geol, who was my favorite character - one of the most entertaining to watch. I wished the writers and director gave a little bit more attention and depth to his slowly growing internal conflict. Big props to the younger cast playing Jung Hyun’s kids - solid performance.
The plot itself could be better. It feels like there weren’t enough hints or clues leading to a “plot twist” to make it interesting, the bad guys were bad, the good guys were good. The guys that were at first good, without solid reasoning turned bad… and I was just sitting in front of my laptop questioning everyone’s motives. There was not enough payoff from any of the plot lines.
Overall, I think the burning frustration I felt while watching was the most entertaining part. The drama could be renamed “Why y’all like that?”. When all the involved parties became aware of each other, and you would have thought the cat and mouse chase would start… The drama ended. The last episode? Anticlimactic would be an understatement.
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One word to describe this show: wholesome.
It was just an easy, fast watch. Distressed me completely, but at the same time, each and every episode got me hyped and excited. I was on the edge of my seat more often than not, even though I know nothing about esports. I'm not a gamer and yet this drama got me focused on all the scenes and I was never bored with the technical talk and in-game fighting scenes.Best part of the show? The characters. I truly cannot express how much I liked each and every one of them (except Jia Shi's Team Manager, he can go). Ye Xiu is a dream male lead: mature, kind, driven, honest, hard working. Usually, this level of perfection drives me mad, but here I was just appreciating his existence. It would be hard to comment on every character, as the cast is truly massive, but one thing I can say is: with how unique and likable they all were, I'm sure everyone would find someone to relate to, appreciate and root for. Characters that caught my attention the most were Su Mu Cheng (loyal friend, but also a professional player), Huang Shao Tian (the talkative ray of sunshine), Yu Wen Zhou (the warm, supportive and understanding captain) and Wei Chen (the trickster that stole my heart).
That said, even though I loved the cast and the characters, there were some things that bothered me. One was Chen Guo and the fact, at some point, her constant mistakes made it hard for me to like her (even though by the end of the show I could clearly see how she fits into the picture perfectly). Another was a last minute redemption arc for one of the supporting characters. There was no character development done on screen to validate that.
Some people might feel overwhelmed by the number of characters showing up. I'm not lying when I say new faces were introduced every other episode almost till the end of the show. Everyone often wearing the teams' uniforms helps to distinguish who comes from where, but it still might be a bit too much for people who struggle with large casts.
The plot is simple: a path to glory. We follow Yu Xiu rebuilding his gaming character as he creates his own team and tries to fight his way back to the top of gaming league. While there is little to no development done on the male lead (he truly does not need it), he plays a crucial role in slow changes and the development of his team members. It was amazingly pleasing to watch them learn how to be a team, work together and support each other both in and outside of the game.
What's more to love? I have to applaud the effects in the drama. The game looks amazing. Not being a gamer, I would still love to play it. Even though it was not exactly realistic (the angles shown on the monitors would actually make it harder to play the game and the range of actions the characters could do was also "over the top"), it gave an amazing fantasy cinematic feel. If you ask me, I would love to watch a whole animated show about these game characters and their adventures.
I loved it so much, why not 10/10 rating then?
I had exactly 2 problems with this show. First was the ending. I know for a fact that the majority of people loved it and for those that will watch the show: will love it. Sadly, I am not one of them. It's hard to explain my reasoning, but the twist at the end, even though it made the drama even more wholesome and feel-good, stripped the show from a bit of the additional depth that the "original" ending brought.
Another aspect that made me lower the rating were episodes 32 to 35. I have no idea what happened. I know that the show needed some kind of breaking point and shift in dynamics, but the way they went about it just felt wrong. We saw the characters and their amazing development, just to see them back to their old selves for the duration of these episodes.
Overall, the show is great. The 40 episodes felt way too short, and I would love to see 40 more. I cannot wait for season two, hoping they will keep at least the majority if not all the original cast. The pacing was perfect, as I was focused the whole time I was watching, never feeling bored. The whole gaming industry in The King's Avatar felt like squad goals that I just wished to be a part of.
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I wasn't really feeling the movie at the beginning. Everything seemed confusing, especially the relationship between the main characters. But that was more or less my fault, I wasn't paying that much attention.
The movie kind of plays in front of you, nothing happens, but you are still watching. The plot is the relationship... but not like in rom-coms when there are lots of things happening around the main couple. Here... almost nothing happens. And yet you keep watching.
I don't know what to tell you. It's literally a portrayal of the different stages of a relationship between two normal people. It's life. The characters make you frustrated, confused, and happy. Then the ending and post credit scenes make you cry an ocean of tears. Good stuff.
Weirdly enough... I kind of want to rewatch it…
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Big appreciation to the main cast, who did an amazing job portraying their characters and all the internal and external struggles they were facing. Thanks to their hard work I, as a viewer, found it easy to connect to them and get deeply involved in the story presented. I'm a big fan of Zheng Qiu Hong and Johnny Bai and they did not disappoint in this project with their duality and variety of acting.
Both Bai Qi and Lin Xia are well written characters with smarts and wits, who are willing to fight the bad guys and make sure people they care about are safe. They show great passion throughout many brave acts, and you cannot do anything else but just root for them.
While the romance had great pacing, the overall story felt off at times. There were episodes where a lot happened, and some that felt a bit empty. While I know that showing these daily scenes was also important to develop characters and their relationship, having them more evenly spread throughout the episodes would be better.
The drama was filled with nice side stories, with Shen Zui being the ones that will stick with me forever. I wished we could see a full drama just focused on his character. If you watch the drama, you will know why.
I've got to experience happiness, sadness, anger and many different emotions while watching Fairyland Lovers. It leaves a hopeful message with both main and side stories. The love story was truly moving and made me cry more than once, though I overall do cry quite easily while watching dramas ;)
Overall, I'd say it's an awesome watch for anyone who wants to see some fantasy romance with a brave and strong female lead and caring and smart male lead, surrounded by a diverse cast of supporting characters that you end up loving.
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Truth to be told, I am a big fan of con movies and because of that, it's not that hard to please me, I'll buy everything. That said, I believe there are more or less three types of con movies:
~ "complex con story that just clicks by the end and makes everything clear"
~ "complex and unrealistic con story that is just a pure entertainment"
~ bad con movies
This movie fits perfectly into the first category. The moment you think you understand what is going on and what are the motivations behind all the characters, it twists it all... many times. It also has my favorite element: con artists conning other con artists. This allows me to not feel guilt towards whoever gets screwed and just enjoy the ride.
The movie had my blood boiling a few times, got me to laugh at times; overall, definitely evoked some emotional reaction. It ended on a satisfying note too. The performance of the cast was extremely good, especially from Hyun Bin, Yoo Ji Tae and Park Sung Woong, which should not be surprising. There were quite a few plot twists I did not predict, and some I was happy that happened.
The plot is not some grand scheme that involves x number of important characters. It's kept local, with a smaller cast, but rather than making this less spectacular, it gives this feeling of a bit more realism (if we even can talk about levels of realism with con artist movies) which helped me get more involved in the story.
To summarize, everything is a lie in this movie and everyone is conning everyone. And I enjoyed it a lot.
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So like... nothing really happened.
Or rather, a lot happened, but no one truly reacted to it in any way. It's not like this show has been free of the usual over the top tropes. It's just the characters had little to no reaction to them compared to other series.When I started watching, I was ready for the cute, sweet, unproblematic slower romance, and at the beginning it was more or less just that. Then, they added so many random plot lines to make it more "entertaining/dramatic", but everyone just reacted to them in such an unnatural way, I could not connect to it at all.
That said, Solo is my baby boy. I truly love this kid. He was adorable and, as far as I know, Nut did the best job acting wise. The rest of the cast was meh. I skipped all the doctor and Kim’s scenes. That whole plot line was a true mess. I know many people loved Kao and Phuri, but again... I didn't care that much. They just felt awkward most of the time.
I don't even want to talk about that Disney ending, that made the whole second half of the show a joke. All the characters did 180 as if they were different people, because resolving conflicts in a well written manner apparently is not the writer's thing.
The music was nice though. But this ain't Spotify, I need me some good plot behind that soundtrack.
Overall... the show was so meh and boring I have barely any thoughts about it. The last episode was tragically bad, and even though it gave us a cute ending, logically speaking it made no sense. Solo and Gui were cute and I truly suffered throughout this just for them.
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Let me fix it for you: The Bad Mother.
This is such a mid show I am amazed how many people recommended for me to watch it. The only actually truly good aspect of it were the performances.Long story short we have a bad abusive mother having a second chance to abuse her son again after he gets into an accident. From limiting food, socially isolating, emotional and physical abuse, to literally wanting to get your mentally 7 years old son to get married and have kids (this was such a “low-key” moment in the drama, but for me it was so gross) - her trash actions had no boundaries. All explained by her “good intentions”. And sure, if the story was about her using her second chance to fix the mistakes she made the first time, I would be fine with the title. But she did not, she willingly made exactly the same mistakes and abused her son in similar fashions the second time around too - blessed with her good intentions.
Just make the show psychological drama, rename it as “The Bad Mother” and it would actually be a good show about the consequences of abuse and how much of an impact it can have on a person even in their adulthood. Because there is nothing wholesome about that parent-son relationship and the fact ML felt guilty about everything that happened is wild for me. He needs therapy. Like most MLs in kdramas.
I enjoyed the village and interactions between everyone living there, but even that aspect brought nothing new nor innovative - pick any slice of life set in the countryside and you will get exactly the same content, but without all the anger and frustration that comes from the main plot.
The aspect of the show I liked the most? Friendship between Mi Joo and Sam Sik. Their scenes were easily my favorite and they actually had fun, wholesome and upbeat chemistry going on.
About the crime plot - it was good when it lasted. It started and ended the show. Now that I think about it, it’s like watching 2 completely different dramas. The whole middle part does not really connect that well with the beginning and the ending - be it by themes or tone. Stil, the investigation storyline was better than the “mother-son relationship” plot. If I had to pick, I’d say episode 13 was my favorite, and yes, it had the least interactions between Young Soon and Kang Ho.
As I said at the beginning of the review - the only truly great things were the performances. Ra Mi Ran aced the awful self-victimizing egocentric mother and Choi Kang Ho delivered solid acting be it as a confident and scheming prosecutor, or confused and cheerful child. I don’t think I have even one complaint about the cast.
The production value was exactly what you expect from mainstream kdrama. They have a really well polished specific flavor to them. They all blend together and have little to no lasting effect on the viewers. They look generic pretty.
Standout soundtrack - Andy Love’s Home and Dry.
Overall, if it was not for the recommendation challenge I would probably not finish it. It does not really have unique takes or plots. And the themes we know are not especially well presented.
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