Kate

They not only combined two different fighting styles...

they also combined two different movies into one.

Here's the thing: was it entertaining? Yes. Was it good? Ehh. I like both ideas of the plot they tried to fit into one, but you just cannot make it happen in one hour and thirty minutes. "Underdeveloped" was the theme.

Let's start with the story the synopsis describes, the ultimate fan service. The second half is THE Karate Kid movie you are expecting to see. Li Fong being trained by Mr. Han and Daniel LaRusso in a painful, but entertaining fashion. All to get him ready so he can defeat "the bully". The core of the franchise is to never give up, always get back up and use that secret move you've been training during montages to give the final blow.

First half thought? Way more refreshing, more interesting and I wish it was used as a completely separate movie (also, it's weird how it was completely hidden from the marketing). It gives a nice twist to the known formula and now the kid becomes the master. Personally I had way more fun watching that part of the plot.

As a whole movie it's not the greatest, but it does have some great moments. Back alley fight behind the pizzeria? Probably my favorite fighting scene - it had that comedy Jackie Chan style to it. Existence of Alan, the most random character in any Karate Kid movie? Perfect. The number of times Li Fong gets his ass kicked by Mr. Han and Daniel LaRusso? Pure chaos and fun. The boxing match and training (yes, there is boxing in it) - awesome.

But then we also have the bad. Conor Day was just painfully poorly written. The actual tournament? Barely existed - they fast forwarded all the fights, we saw close to nothing. Ming Na Wen practically being just a guest role was sad - her character could have delivered some good external conflict. Than we have the trauma that was less than a background.

Somehow, because nothing was truly developed I did not feel the grand victorious feeling when the movie ended. You know how Karate Kid movies make you want to learn martial arts? This one just made me want to rewatch previous movies in the franchise. It just did not have that kick to it.

The casting was great. The cast was criminally underused, but still great. Jackie Chan at 71 still has it. Probably on his worst day he is still better than 99.9% of people on their best. Surprisingly Ben Wang delivered probably my favorite version of "Karate Kid" as the leading character. Good personality with real flaws and fears.

Overall, it was fun. I'm kind of sad they did not make it into two great movies, and instead settled on delivering not that well blended mix.

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“Whatever you believe, believe in these boys.”

It's always hard to watch anything that is based on true events. There is no "separating fiction from reality" when the show is supposed to present said reality. It hits hard, it makes you feel more. There is no safety of thinking: it’s just a story, because that story was these people’s lives.

The drama perfectly captures the intensity and the tragedy of the events that happened between 23rd June and 10th July 2018. But it also presents how we are capable of great things, cooperation, miracles beyond comprehension. On one hand everything that could go wrong, went wrong. Whenever the plan was formed, they had to change or abandon it, because of the ever changing circumstances. Fate kept punching them down, but they all refused to give up.

The drama made me think about the hard choices that had to be made. After so many days the chances of the kids being alive were slim. But the chances of the rescue team dying during the rescue were high. “I'm not risking lives for dead bodies” - it is an honest question you need to ask yourself... The choices they made led to the boys being rescued.

I also like how the drama clearly presents both the heart and brain are needed to make that happen. Be it conviction, faith, trust - you need that drive that keeps you and your hope alive to even take the action. But you also need science to solve the issues and achieve the goal.

Human kind is the worst, but sometimes it's the best.

About the more technical aspects - I am in awe. What a production. It represented the harsh reality of cave diving in such a terrifying way. The struggles and obstacles these people had to overcome. The claustrophobic nightmare these 18 days were. And with the amount of people involved in the rescue (10,000 people, including more than 100 divers, scores of rescue workers, representatives from about 100 governmental agencies, 900 police officers and 2,000 soldiers) showing how truly big the operation was could not have been an easy task, and yet they made it. They cast just the right people to portray the people involved - no bad acting, no awkward english delivery with non-distinguishable accents. Every aspect of the drama seemed to have a purpose, and the screen time was efficiently used to both showcase the length of the events, but also the press of time they all faced.

Overall, extremely touching, uplighting, but also scary. Even knowing how it ends, I was tense watching each and every moment. I cried, and cried some more. I’ll end the review on the quote that truly touched even my atheistic ass:

"The odds are nearly impossible. But we've all seen statistics be wrong before. We've all seen the power of the mind overcome the power of the body. We all have doubts. We all have crises of faith. We've all had days of rain that never end. But the rain ended. It wasn't supposed to. But it wasn't supposed to start when the boys entered the cave either. Fate has a way of dealing us a hand that we don't always want, challenges we could do without. But challenges can be opportunities. Maybe you don't believe we have an opportunity here. Or maybe you believe it has passed us by already. Maybe you believe the boys died on the first day or the third day. Drowned in the water or got sick or starved. But I've seen a shrine bloom in the jungle, filled with offerings. I've seen Buddhists, Christians, animists, heads bow in prayer. I've even bowed my own. Whatever you believe, believe in these boys."

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Surprisingly bland.

I wanted to love it, but there was truly not that much to love about it. I feel awful saying that. The fact is, the drama barely made me feel anything.

The bromance was fine, the cases were fine, the stakes were fine. But I felt like the whole show lacked... emotions. With the rather diverse variety of the cases, victims and perpetrators, it seemed like the majority of them reacted the same subdued way. Even for situations that would validate a proper rage, despair, fear - there was barely anything. I felt like the whole show lacked... emotions.

As I said though, we do get quite a variety of different cases that focus on different social struggles and dilemmas - social and workplace discrimination of women who struggle to secure their place despite presenting outstanding skills, loneliness of the youth, desperation that comes from love, social stigma towards victims of sexual abuse and how it can lead to not seeking justice, cyber crime against seniors that uses their lack of technological literacy and love for their families against them and many more.

What’s more to love? The acting was amazing, I give it to them. Tan Jian Ci might be one of the most diverse young actors in China right now. The way he can deliver a baby girl energy here, and edge lord energy in Lost You Forever alone should be the proof. He truly becomes the character he is playing - nothing about his performance seems fake.

While he truly became the star of the show, I do want to give props to the casting director. Crime procedural shows have a lot of guest roles for all the witnesses, victims and perpetrators - it’s not easy to have good actors play every role. Under the Skin managed to achieve that.

I think my biggest issue was how unrealistically good Shen Yi was at his job. I understand that professional forensic artists can do this, but he was not one when he took the job for the first time. The level of skill he showcased fitted more the “about to retire, working criminal cases for past 50 years” scenario. If they made him make some mistakes, maybe I could accept that, but they truly made his skill borderline supernatural.

So it did not matter how much I loved his character, when I could not stop laughing every time he started to sketch. I don't even want to talk about the prosopagnosia case, because that was a bit of a clownery. While it’s clear the production team researched a lot about forensic art and art overall, I cannot say the same about various other topics that were presented.

What’s more? Bromance was not truly bromancing for me. There were a few scenes here and there, but overall, I don’t think Tan Jian Ci and Jin Shi Jia have that much chemistry on screen, or maybe it was the issue of directing their scenes? I guess we will see in the second season.

Overall, something did not click right with me when I was watching. I was enjoying it, but I was not obsessed, even though on paper it seems like a drama I should want to binge watch in one sitting, forgetting to eat, sleep and pee…

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Horror never found…

It’s for sure more of an action fantasy with just some elements of horror. Truth to be told, it had more comedy than horror and I’m not mad about it.

It was an entertaining and light watch. A lot of jokes were basic, but they landed well. Simple plot works well with simple writing and good visuals, and that’s exactly what this movie delivers.

Timing for some revelations was a bit questionable, like when we find out what is the actual goal of the main villain. Or what is the importance of each and every character. Still, the pacing is great and the pay off is decent.

Honestly speaking, the production value was for sure the best aspect of the show. Great special effects, great set design, beautiful lighting and use of colors and filters. Stunning for many scenes, screenshots worthy.

For the acting, no complaints, but the roles were not that demanding anyway.

Overall, fun and simple sometimes is the best combination. Not everything has to be a complex philosophical tale with double meanings, sometimes a movie has to be just an entertainment.

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You don’t always need an eventful plot…

... and I wish writers would keep that in mind from time to time. I honestly wish they removed all the pointless, ridiculous and frustrating misunderstandings and just gave us a slow burn slice of life and two people getting closer to each other as they simply spend quality time cooking.

It was so enjoyable at first. And then all the unnecessary tension, annoying supporting characters and lack of communication happened and I gave up.

Sure, the acting was great, but the characters were just so frustrating to follow, the performance could not save it. Does not matter how tasty the dish might look, when it’s not actually tasty.

Overall, this is for sure a ship. It does not really work as romance nor a slice of life.

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Well, this was mildly interesting. A movie that leaves you with more questions than answers, but since I never took it seriously, I don’t even mind.

Mike Angelo’s face was the best part, not gonna lie. The whole cast did a decent job, the writing at times has been just too messy to follow. Who is related to whom? How do these people know each other? What are their goals? Why is it that no one uses their brain?

The biggest surprise for me was the good CGI. I have seen a fair share of monster flicks, and most are pitiful in that aspect. Seeing some decent effects and design for the creature was refreshing.

Overall, I was not bored, but I was not as entertained as I hoped I would be.

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Atmosphere that carried a vague plot.

Something we often get from Japanese horror - vague plot with good atmosphere, great music and sound effects and still images inducing panic response. That’s also what we’ve got from Pulse.

By the end of the movie we are offered little to no real explanations, and most are left to the viewers interpretation. Is this a commentary about the dangers of the internet? Is this a commentary about the human need for interactions and the terrifying portrayal of loneliness? It’s up to the viewer to decide.

The characters were rather bland. I kind of stopped paying attention to who is who at some point, and it did not really take away from the watching experience. I honestly believe them as individuals was not that important plot wise.

The thing I loved about Pulse was the atmosphere and built up tension. There are no cheap jump scares and all the horror is based on the fear of the unknown, perfect choice of music and the prolonged shots of uncanny images.

Overall, I would recommend it if you are in for a rather calm, but tense horror.

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Life so hard it feels like an endless night.

Stellar performance with a well executed story presented in three different timelines. While the show was not perfect with the execution, the strong points kept me interested enough to finish and give quite a high rating.

The Long Night has quite a number of positive aspects. Starting with a well written criminal case that does not lead to many unexplained events and plot holes. While the case was quite complex, as it connected many events throughout the years, it never felt ridiculously over the top. It was big enough it did not feel boring nor mundane, but realistic enough for me to believe it could happen in real life.

Then we have the amazing cast and the characters they portrayed. Not gonna lie, Bai Yu stole the show for me. The emotional impact his character had on me by the last episode was something I did not expect at all - especially since we know (to some extent) what kind of end he will face in episode 1. That one scene in the last episode literally made me hold my breath and I could not move a millimeter until it was over.

Jiang Yang, Chen Ming Zhang and Zhu Wei were the trio I especially enjoyed and their striving for justice and truth was both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

Another aspect that amazed me were well presented transitions between all the years and time lines. They clearly indicated what year specific scenes take place in and how they relate to the current situation. This type of plot could easily be confusing, but they managed to present it in an easy to follow manner. The transitions between two timelines with the use of voice recorded were ones that I especially enjoyed.

The issue I had with the drama was how they tried to evenly use the screen time for two timelines. As the result, for quite some time, I was not that invested in any. Logically speaking, I knew the case was extremely interesting, but I could not get myself to feel that much curiosity. For me, they should have established one (present) timeline first, and only after that slowly expanded on the past stories, but this mix and max as we progressed was a bit too much storytelling wise.

What’s more, the first few episodes led me to believe this will be a mystery driven show with unusual investigation that will have the intriguing cooperation between the police and journalist, to uncover the truth behind the murder case, that has it’s beginning years ago and involves far more people than anyone could have predicted. But shortly after it started to look like any other investigation show, and all the fun and refreshing additions were forgotten.

That said, you know how dramas usually have mediocre last episodes, when they had a good start? This ain’t that. Last 4 episodes were extremely thrilling and got me on the edge of my seat. Truth to be told, only then I started to feel the severity of what was going on and how it affected the characters. It was easier to tap into the emotional connection. The last episode was especially dark, and I had to take a few breaks while watching.

Overall, a solid watch. I feel like this is one of the rare cases in which the rewatch would actually improve the entertainment value. Knowing the whole picture would make me appreciate all the detailed connections between the cases and scenes.

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“It’s the unwritten first page of my story.”

Our Unwritten Seoul is a story that will make you reflect on your complex past, face your everchanging present and hope for a beautiful future.

Different paths that present inspiring life lessons ⇢ the characters and their struggles.

As the Korean title states - it’s Miji’s story. Story of her lost dream, fear for the future and overwhelming present. It’s hard to describe in words how perfectly her character was written. How complex and realistic was that portrayal of her anxiety and depression, how longlasting the effects were. How one can look happy, but suffer inside. How healing is a process that at times might feel like it will never end.

I loved how Mi Ji was not this strong and confident woman with no fears. She bravely helped others, while also feeling deeply insecure about her own shortcomings. She stepped up for others, and backed down for herself. But she changed, at her own pace. What the character shows is that there is no time limit for growth, it’s never too late to start over. It’s never too late to start moving forward.

On the other hand Mi Rae was one that did not know how to stop, take a break, hit the pause. From a young age she felt responsible for acting as the backbone of the whole family - feeling the responsibility, not wanting to disappoint. I honestly loved the contrast between the two sisters - one did not know how to move forward to find herself, while the other could not find herself, because she did not know how to stop.

Then we have Ho Su with his fear of being a burden to others. But what interested me more was where it came from - his egocentric thinking that was at least partially caused by guilt. It’s so human to overestimate the effect we have on people, to see every situation from our point of view and not accept there might be different perspectives. With Ho Su everything started with “I” - I don’t want to burden others, without really thinking if he actually is the burden. What I also really liked is how he never truly grew out of that egocentrism, he just learned how to ask questions and listen to people around him instead of making his own theories and conclusions. I appreciate how the characters did not really get rid of their flaws, but rather learned how to cope and make them affect them less.

Sadly I would not say the writing for them was flawless, though the issue lies in the structure overall, and is a problem in all Korean dramas. Notice how I wrote nothing about Se Jin? That’s because he was painfully underdeveloped compared to other main characters. Why? Because by all means this show does not have four main characters. It has one - Mi Ji. Mi Ji who is the main hero. Then we have Mi Rae and Ho Su who are second lead characters and Se Jin who is just a supporting one. We need to move on from the idea that being a "love interest" to a main character makes you one too. It does not. That said, it’s not a unique issue for this drama - it’s more of a labeling problem. It might give viewers some false expectations though. It did for me. I kept wishing to see more of Se Jin’s story, to understand him as deeply as I did the other three. It never happened.

Hurt people hurt people ⇢ the relationships that highlighted larger issues, but also the glimpses of hope

Starting from Mi Ji and Mi Rae and how uneven parenting can cause trauma. Mi Ji felt ignored - the lack of expectations placed on her made her not even attempt to move forward. Mi Rae who had all the attention on her, feared disappointing others so she just pushed forward, bore the pain in silence. Often dynamics like that cause resentment between siblings (glad it was not a case here) - one being jealous of the love and attention, and the other being jealous of the freedom and what might seem like trust to always manage and take care of themselves.

On a larger scale, the parenting issue did not start with Ok Hui and how she raised Mi Ji and Mi Rae. Dynamics between her and her mother give a good representation of what generational trauma might look like. How can one become a good mother, when they did not experience what good parenting is as they were children? Where one learns from? How to not make the same mistakes our parents made? But also how not to overcompensate which leads to its own issues...

One relationship I wished to see more was Ho Su and Chung Gu - there was so much more meat here, potential, depth to be explored. The way the characters mirrored each other, but also were a complete contrast. Their interactions, but also the relationship between Mi Ji and Ho Su presented a clear lesson - take your own advice, care for yourself like you care for others, don’t see the traits you appreciate in other people as your flaws. The way we as humans often have way higher standards for ourselves than we have for others - instead of being our own best friends, we turn into our own enemies.

There are different types of love ⇢ romance driven dramas can be more.

Our Unwritten Seoul is for sure leaning more towards the Life over Romance genre. Don’t get me wrong - there is plenty of romance, but it’s never the core of the drama. Romance? No, but love for sure is: love between parents and their children, step parents and their step children, siblings, friends, colleagues. The variety of human interactions, how acts of kindness can change someone’s life.

I loved how they did not segregate the characters into pairings that should only interact with each other. I loved how Ho Su was an important part of Mi Rae’s life. I appreciate how Mi Ji interacted with Se Jin completely outside of his connection to Mi Rae. Everyone was one way or another connected to each other, it did not feel like different plotlines living their own lives never crossing the paths.

Personally, I like that some of my favorite relationships were not romantic ones. Friendship between Kim Ok Hui and Yeom Bun Hong? Amazing. Mentorship between Ho Su and Lee Chung Gu? Food for thought. Kim Ro Sa with Mi Ji and Ho Su - heartwarming. Even Mi Ji and Mi Rae’s interactions with Gyeong Gu and Park Ji Yun were interesting to watch.

What’s more, one has to appreciate the lgbtq representation Gyeong Gu as the clear one, and Ro Sa and Sang Wol a vague (not so vague) one. Personally I think it was clear they were in love with each other and were living as partners not "roommates"...

Bringing the character to life ⇢ acting that never disappoints.

Can Park Bo Young chill a bit? How is she so good? The way she portrayed two characters in a way I had no issue differentiating between them, without making them caricatures of contrasting traits? The way Mi Ji and Mi Rae were so different, yet so alike in many aspects. The way she presented complete heartbreak, but also silent pain. The way I could see the boldness, but also hesitation. The way each scene seemed so natural. I have to give props to the whole production team - be it writing, directing, acting or editing, they managed to bring these two characters to life on screen and it did feel like two real people interacting with each other.

Then we have Park Jin Young and I’m amazed with the level of vulnerability he was able to present as Lee Ho Su. Ryu Kyung Soo managed to bring comedy as Han Se Jin, without turning the character into just a comic relief - his character, as funny as he was, was also clearly one of the more mature and wise ones and it showed.

Beauty in simplicity ⇢ production value that compliments, but does not impress.

Here’s the thing - I’m not even mad this show does not stand out in terms of its aesthetics. It’s your typical high value production kdrama with some pretty shots, good lighting, great set design, clean camera work. It works, it compliments the story without being distracting. The writing was so strong you do not need some innovative and creative editing to make it better. Was I especially impressed by any shot? Not really. Sure, I did take a number of screenshots, I did whisper “that’s pretty” a few times as I watched the episodes, but if someone asks me in a month, or even in a week to describe any scene that visually sticked in my mind - I won’t be able to name any.

Perfection does not exists ⇢ what I did not like

I already wrote how unbalanced this drama felt in terms of development, depth and care put into presenting what they claimed were four main characters. It just made me want more and sadly feel a bit disappointed when I did not get it.

The “vague” bit of lgbtq representation. Personally, I do not understand why they could not be more straightforward with it.

The main romance between Mi Ji and Ho Su. Here’s the thing - I really liked their teen romance phase, and I like where they ended. They were losing me a bit during the “misunderstanding” phase of the plot when Mi Ji was pretending to be Mi Rae. On one hand I understand why it was important for them to go about it the way they did, on the other, it was frustrating to watch and a bit inconsistent with how Ho Su was written.

Justice for Se Jin. Did Park Bo Young have it in the contract that she can only kiss one male lead? Did they fear viewers might seem uncomfortable with her kissing both, even though she was playing two different characters? We've got an amazing hug, but damn I was waiting for that kiss in the last episode.

Random thoughts to close the review:
Ryu Kyung Soo looked especially hot in his “rich boy in suit doing business” takes.

Overall, what a journey. I feel like I honestly wrote down maybe 20% of my thoughts and feelings about the drama. What it teaches you is: it’s never too late to learn from your past. It’s never too late to improve in the present and it’s never too late to work on your future.

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When the jokes land but the feelings don’t.

How Dare You was so high on the entertainment value side, it kind of lost me on the emotional impact it could have potentially have. The comedy was easily the highlight of the whole drama, they did pretty good job with the romance (be warned, it is rather slow burn in terms of developing feelings and figuring them out), but with how much the characters had to go through it felt somehow emotionally empty.

Out of the two leads, I do believe Wang Cui Hua’s story was better written and delivered, mostly because it was far more simple, less impactful and with that, blended better into the overall silliness of the tone. Not to say the whole drama was completely emotionally flat, because that’s not true. One of the aspects I loved about it was the internal conflict the female lead had between knowing she is in a fictional world and nothing is real, and feeling emotionally connected and caring for the characters she interacted with, since they did feel real to her. I appreciated how we slowly witnessed the shift in her thinking and how far she is willing to go and use “people” around her, the longer she stayed in that story.

With that, I feel like overall the women were treated better here in terms of writing and development. Xie Yong Er became my favorite character of them all. The best character development and surprisingly consistent writing (with one “small” hiccup). Not gonna lie, there were moments when I wished she was the lead and her story was the center of it all. Maybe because her stakes felt higher than Wang Cui Hua and her plotline had more ups and downs, I was more invested.

As for male lead - his set up would fit better into a show without the “comedy” genre. It was way too traumatic and tragic for the “entertaining idiocy” here, it actually made me feel uncomfortable a few times. Mostly because many things that were extremely serious were shown as a background drop never to be fully addressed nor explored. Maybe I’m just a watcher that focuses and connects to characters too much, sometimes it overshadows the plot for me, but the constant sadness behind his eyes and the lack of proper elaboration on the source of it took away from the fun and comedy that the drama centered around. Still, this is for sure the best role I have seen Cheng Lei in - sad, tragic, silly, fun, sexy, domineering, soft, caring, unhinged, the role truly expected him to deliver everything, and everything he delivered.

Then we have the menace in two personas - Xiahou Bo and Empress Dowager aka probably the weakest part of the writing. Did they feel like a threat? Not really. Rather than being scared for the leads life and well-being, I felt more annoyed with the background shenanigans. At least Mommy Dearest was consistently stupid, but Xiahou Bo was turning his brain on and off whenever the plot needed it.

What was good though, was the supporting cast. The small support system the leads had gave a good feeling of found family trope. While I did not find the stakes concerning leads high, the supporting cast for sure gave me more anxiety about their well-being.

Plot wise, big props for making me question everything in terms of “who is whom, how much they know, and what reality are they from”. It was well crafted confusion and I appreciate that.

Sadly, I struggle with deciding how much of a silliness and illogical things and lack of explanation, convenient twists I can excuse by the plot happening in the trash cheap poorly written novel (as stated by the leads themselves). This seems a bit too much like a cope for me. “This smart character acted dumb this one time, because the writer of the original novel is dumb” is not exactly an excuse I can just accept and move on.

The music was great, but sometimes the placement was questionable. Why are we getting badass fight music during sad and emotional scenes?

Production was great, though for once I wish it was more simple especially in the make up department. Wang Chu Ran’s face was whiter than my white walls.

Overall, it was a fun watch, but I just wish it was more emotionally impactful.
And that ending was awfully crafted.

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Lots of fun if you leave the brain out of it. Do not try to understand it or find a logic behind anything, coz it ain't there. The whole premise of the show is built on misconception about a certain topic.

That said, I had lots of fun for the majority of watch time. They committed to the gruesome and violent scenes and questionable/ evil characters. I watched it and asked - is this really Korean? Where they censor and blur knives from scenes?

Editing was spectacular, except for some special effects, but I'm picky about these. Most people would probably love them. The fighting scenes were well choreographed, but it was the editing that added that special and unique edge to them. And the violence was... well, violent. Ain't some random few punches here and there.

The acting was for sure the strongest aspect after the directing and editing. Kim Da Mi's performance truly amazed me, especially closer to the ending. She showed a lot of skills and duality in her acting. Truth to be told, the whole cast did an amazing job. I was frustrated with the random English lines here and there, especially since Netflix does not provide subs for them, and as a not native speaker, with the accent, I did have some problems with understanding some of them...

So what went wrong?
The reasoning, explanations and motivations of the characters were all over the place. I enjoyed the movie up till the moment they tried to explain what exactly is going on. Why? Coz the explanation was simply dumb. They gave the same excuse many low sci-fi movies give, which was proven false countless times. Still using it, in my eyes, means lazy and unoriginal writing.

Was it a good movie? Yes, just do NOT think as you watch.

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So meta it kind of works for its advantage.

They said: we want to lean into seme and uke and we will find a way to make it make sense even though we are in the holy year of 2026. And they did. If it was not for that “writing BLs” set up, I would most likely roll my eyes about the cliche dynamic a lot. With it, I just accepted it’s part of the storytelling and what connected Suzuki and Serizawa.

I honestly adored Serizawa. He was such a fun character to watch. Sure, he had this confident aura about him, but I also liked the vulnerability he showed with how cautiously he approached Suzuki. Straightforward enough, but a huge dose of patience.

Suzuki Hajime kept saying to himself not to overthink, but here I was sitting and saying: you don’t even think, don’t even dream of overthinking. Honestly, I am surprised how much his cluelessness actually worked. Usually it’s just beyond frustrating if it’s pushed to almost the end of the drama, but here, maybe thanks to Koizumi Kosaku’s performance, it kind of fitted.

Suzuki was testing Serizawa’s patience, and Serizawa was testing Suzuki’s denial skills. They both are pros in their respective fields.

Loved the whole friend group, found all their side barely existing love lines completely unnecessary. Loved the overall theme of accepting yourself for who you are and being brave at pursuing what you enjoy.

The performances were good too, for sure preferred Shisaka Ryoto - he slayed that restrained worry and jealousy. Koizumi Kosaku achieved a miracle by making his character adorable and not annoying - that’s the usual response my brain gives when I watch characters like the one he was playing.

I don’t have much to say about the production and directing. I wish the kissing scenes were better, and I know that’s the lamest thing to complain about. But with how confident and later teasing they made Serizawa, he just did not deliver when it counted… :)

Overall, extremely sweet, really fun, no stress, just chill and butterflies.

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All them twists and distorted narration - not enough skill to deliver.

This is one of these movies where the plot seems simple, then they reveal the twists and it gets more complicated, and then they deliver more twists and you start to wish they would calm down, because the writing starts to lose focus.

I actually really liked the directing, acting, visual, set design - all the aspects that bring the story alive were solid for what I think was not truly a high budget production. The issue was the story itself. They wanted to shock and surprise me as a viewer too much. Making the narration vague on whenever what is happening is real or not is often used as a method of storytelling that can work wonders. But when you then showcase scenes that explain the vagueness, but they contradict each other, it feels unnecessarily convoluted. Especially for a simple story like this one.

I like the exploration of grief and fear, the denial and the acceptance. The siblings’ bond. That’s where I feel like the story shined the most and should have stayed in that line. Pushing that supernatural element till the end just made it seem a bit more cheap.

While by the end the bizarre decision making skills from the female lead were partially explained, I still found her behavior for most of the movie just ridiculous. Internal aspects explain her behavior, but then external factors contradicted it. And that’s kind of the vibe of the whole movie.

Overall, it was still a nice watch. I’d say the last 20 minutes bring the quality down a lot, because it just feels unnecessarily.

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My brain was slowly tuning into static noise.

I really wanted to like it and I even did in the middle part, but the opening made me disinterested in the character, and the ending made me disinterested in the plot.

This was such a mishmash drama. I liked the visuals, Jing Tian’s styling was truly perfect, I enjoyed many side characters, but anything related to the main plot was not quite my cup of tea. But the biggest issue? Storytelling.

I feel like the majority of the important information was delivered through narration accompanied with flashbacks and I struggled with processing what exactly I am seeing and hearing. The lack of variety in the presentation killed my brain - last 10 episodes… I barely remember anything. When you read the synopsis, check the tags, you get yourself ready for truly a wacky and crazy story with ups and downs. But when I actually watched the show it lacked stakes, impact and dynamics.

Lack of interesting presentation can always be saved with screen presence of the actors and characters. Not here though. Jing Tian did not really command the attention Si Teng as a character was supposed to, and Vin Zhang as a male lead lacked any distinctive color. Some of their interactions I enjoyed a lot, but mostly the whole show in all areas hit a mediocre plateau.

I wish I had more to say about it, but I truly don’t. I powered through the last 10 episodes as a binge watch, hoping it will help me follow the story and the conclusion, and yet I still had to google certain details to understand what I saw - my brain just truly struggled to pay attention to what was happening on screen.

Overall, I can see why some people love it, but it just did not match my taste.

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Writing style focusing mostly on muscles, with some heart to it, and little brain.

I had a lot of fun watching the drama, but I also honestly have little to say about the plot, premise, themes - all I remember and most I cared about were the exciting fighting scenes.

Honestly believe the plot was the weakest part of the whole show, because it lacked focus. Nothing truly felt connected in any meaningful manner. Ga Min wanted to protect his study group, Han Gyeong wanted to use the group to achieve her goals, everyone was pissed about the group existing for no real reason. The conflict between the good and the bad guys had close to nothing to do with Yun Ga Min. The past teacher’s death was there just for Han Gyeong's motivation, but I also question why it was more of her arc and not Park Geon Yeop. This is a typical case of entertaining moments happening for the sake of entertainment, with little cohesiveness. And while how they handled the plot disappointed me a lot, I actually enjoyed the characters themselves a lot.

Yun Ga Min is for sure the heart, but not the brain of the show. The poor baby truly barely has any working neurons in his brain. You know how there are people who are street smart, and some that are book smart? He is neither. He has awareness of ameba, but that is what makes him wholesome and adorable - he always sees the good in people, even if others already gave up on them.

While I enjoyed his presence on screen, and his fighting scenes were truly marvelous, overall I thought he was a rather flat character and I was not that invested in his development.

Similarly all the members of the Study Group did not have that much nuance to them. The one that truly seemed to be developed well and had a well structured plotline with proper set up, build up and conclusion was Kim Se Hyeon. All the rest was there to fill the quota. And they did it well. The chemistry between them all was truly perfect, the interactions were fun, the dynamics were refreshing. Whatever the combination of them on screen was presented, I knew I would be entertained. But entertained only. They tried to give a little bit more depth here and there, but it usually was too little too late.

Then we have the whole plot of teacher Lee Han Gyeong trying to get revenge/justice for the past events. Underwhelming in all areas. She was beefing with a group of mafia teens who were going around ready to kill people. And I understand they were related to real gangsters and all that, but the adults' influence and control was barely shown to justify their actions. Not enough world building to sell the story.

Which leads us to the villains - psychopathic teens. Sure they were entertaining, but they were so shallow and not compelling at all. I honestly do not have much to say. I wish the karma would hit them harder with how annoying they were.

I don’t even want to talk about Park Geon Yeop - why was he here? What was the point of his character? At first they seem to hint that he will have a major part in the plot and uncovering the truth about the post, and then he was written off the story completely without explanation.

That said, I do like the acting a lot. Even though the cast was rather young with not much credit behind their names, and almost none in terms of action heavy titles, they truly did ace all the fighting scenes - I was beyond impressed. That was the part I was the most excited for. No halfassing in that department - from acting, choreographies, performances, use of set and props, filming, editing and soundtrack - every element crafted truly amazing action sequences.

Overall, it was fun, exciting, making my cortisol and dopamine levels higher, as a story should. I just wish the writing was stronger.

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