Kate

The good parts were truly good, but the bad parts were so awful I was annoyed more often than not.

Both the premise of the corruption and the way good guys dealt with it had a nice and refreshing twist to it, but how some extremely cliche and sometimes senseless plot points were introduced ruined the experience for me. Does it matter how good of an idea you have if you surround it with bullshit?

By episode 9 I suspected where the drama was going, but some scenes did not make any sense with my prediction. It would make the characters look too dumb, so I dropped that idea. Guess what... it did happen at the end. By episode 13 I figured out the biggest plot twist and it just got me angry, because it made no sense. And I'm not some genius for figuring it out. The writing was just predictable.

As for the characters, some were great, some were bad, some barely existed. I definitely enjoyed the detectives’ team, and the investigation aspect was my favorite part of the show. Jin Kyung and Ho Gyu stole my heart and became my favorites. Jo Tae Shik was your typical hero cop, and if it was not for Lee Min Ki's acting, I would not pay that much attention to him.

The biggest let down? Kim Seo Hui. She just never learned from any of her mistakes, jeopardizing the investigation too many times to count. For the majority of the show she had nothing to do. I am quite honestly convinced this drama could have been more or less the same even if we write her off completely. If you ask me, she should be relegated to supporting character and her image should have never been used in posters.

The big bad wolf was boring and obvious, but then it's not like they tried to hide it. I did enjoy Dong Gu quite a lot though. His desperation was interesting to watch and I wished we had seen more of him on the screen. Other shady characters were... there doing shady things? I don't know. I hated how there were excuses and explanations made for some bad characters, but not others, when they were all equal trash.

Overall, this could have been so good. There were some episodes I actually enjoyed a lot. The dynamics between detectives was gold, the rivalry between Dong Gu and Young Min was exciting, but then they ruined it all with some really cheap and lazy writing and directing choices that I just couldn't ignore.

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I think I’m too old for a nonsense story like that.

The idea of this adult guy going back to school to take revenge on his old friend is quite unrealistic, to say the least. Maybe if I was able to turn off my brain as I was watching, I would enjoy it more. And if the characters were any better.

Kang Bok Soo - the underdog hero with amazing brains (but not really), and some unrealistically good investigation skills. Was Seung Ho cute? Sure. Was the character interesting? No.

Female lead? Amazingly useless. At first she was there to tip the scale and get the misfortune rolling in Bok Soo’s life. After that, she was nothing more than a love interest. Quite frankly, you could remove her character from the drama and not much would change. She is also a prime example why I believe sometimes chasing your dreams is not a good idea, especially when you ain’t that good at the activity. Keep it as a hobby, because at times, you, somehow achieving your dreams, might hurt people you interact with.

Se Ho was an interesting character, but even he failed me by the end, bringing no nuance to the plot. Not to mention his mother has been just your typical mother-villain.

I have to say, I enjoyed the supporting characters far more than any of the leads. My heart broke a few times for Park Dong Jun, I was rooting like crazy for Park Sung Woo, and I wanted to help Lee Chae Min.

The acting was overall good. I am not the biggest fan of Jo Bo Ah, since she kind of acts the same in all her roles. By the end, I was also a bit tired of Kim Yeo Jin’s overacting, but then I cannot be sure how much of it was her decision and how much was she instructed by the director to go for such a delivery of the lines.

The production value was good except for the makeup. I would put better make up on the cast. What was that weird brown smokey eye, they did on Kwak Dong Yeon? Why did Yoo Seung and Ho Jo Bo Ah’s lipstick look as if they had kept it on their lips for 10 years until their lips looked so chapped it pained me to look at them? Someone explain, because I do not understand...

As for the ending, I don’t think it was possible to make it more of a cliche.

I get that this show has some nice wholesome and heartwarming messages, but there are so many better school dramas with the same messages, I see no reason why anyone should try this one. I would recommend watching anything else.

Overall? It would probably be better if I left it on my drop list.

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I shouldn’t have liked it as much as I did. It’s truly not the top notch writing and the characters are quite frankly dumb. But the show has a weird excitement to it, I could not resist. It might be the result of a quite well balanced mix of genres: politics, military, mystery and corruption with action sequences on top.

So how were the plot and characters? The whole team is full of silly little potatoes. The decision making would probably be better and more logical if they flipped a coin. They were all supposed to be professionals and specialists in their fields, or at least close to being them. How could Son Ye Rim just walk around like it’s not a big deal after being exposed to an unknown substance? How come in such a small team so many people have ulterior motives that can at times endanger other team members? How come they truly do not care about any military regulations 90% of the time? I think them being such idiots added to the entertainment value. Who doesn’t like watching people make stupid decisions?

That said, even though the dumbassness was frustrating, I enjoyed the characters themselves. The dynamics were fun to watch and slowly discovering any potential connections kept me more focused on what is going on on the screen.

I appreciated how they didn’t dump a massive exposition in episode one explaining all the details, but they also didn’t leave me in the dark till the last moment. Clues, hints and puzzle pieces have been dropped throughout the show, slowly forming a whole picture. In the process I flipped from loving to hating to loving again many characters.

Let’s talk about CGI. Thank god the crazy dogs only happened at the beginning, because they were laughably bad. I always believed that sometimes not showing the monster is better than showing it with the use of shitty CGI. People are creative, they will fill the gaps.

The pacing was well done, I didn't really feel bored during any episode. Keeping them an hour long (compared to the 1 h 30 min. we get lately) and only 10 episodes was a wise choice. This plot is definitely not something that could have been successfully stretched to 16 episodes. The biggest flop was episode 3, which for some strange reason, did not follow linear storytelling, and we jumped around the timeline like crazy. This made little sense.

Overall, it’s not a smart show. I have no military knowledge, but some of the decisions that have been made were simply illogical, even for me. And yet, I liked it. For some strange reason. It was probably because of the characters and the cast. I wasn’t that interested in Dong Jin and Ye Rim, but all the rest truly caught my attention. A girl needs to appreciate the real stakes too, even though it was painful to watch and it broke my heart a few times.

Also, mad respect for including pictures of dogs with other actors in the end credits of the last episode. Let's all appreciate their hard work.

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Expected more bizarre horror.

After that synopsis I think I expected something more wacky. As someone who went into the lore clueless, with no prior knowledge of the source material, maybe my expectations were misplaced.

They dropped the masterpiece of popcorn with pigeons scenes so early on, everything that followed seemed so… mid. That said, the concept of the curse was extremely interesting - a curse that does not necessarily bring you pain and misfortune, but makes you actively avoid happiness.

The performances were great. Somehow even the overacted moments perfectly fitted whatever scene was happening on the screen.

For the production - while the movie looks stunning, I cannot move past the fact that at least partially the soundtrack was “composed” by AI.

Overall, I guess I expected more? It for sure leaned more towards slow paced dark fantasy, rather than exaggerated horror.

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More individualistic than I thought it would be.

If it was up to me, I would probably remove the romance from the genre, since it never felt like the center or core of the drama. It was more of the background and set up for the personal internal and external struggles the leads had.

Far more slice of life with theatrical touch. It dives into themes of self doubt, insecurities, expectations we place on ourselves, hard choices between practically and what we desire, fear of disappointment. That said, I wish they dived deeper into all these internal conflicts. Somehow I was not quite satisfied with the complexity of the presentation.

Weirdly, I got really interested in the production of that fictional play, and I was mentally arguing with the director about his preferred interpretation of the main character.

Acting wise, we already knew the cast was great after season 1. There were moments I was not quite… vibing with Niihara Taisuke’s performance, not because of his skill, but rather the style that was chosen for this production - I am honestly not a theatre girlie.The performance was great, just not my preferred type.

Overall, it was for sure at least on the same level as season one, if not better. I guess it would depend on what you expect to get from it.

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So mid it’s actually painful.

This could have worked as a short movie - not longer than 40 minutes. There is just not enough to the story to justify 1 hour and 30 minutes.

I actually enjoyed the ritual scenes and the mechanics of getting the answers was quite creepy. This alone would be enough. But no, they always have to give a plot twist that is obvious from the start. They always need to make things unnecessarily complicated, when just a ghost ritual story that leads to scares is enough.

Everyone was to some extent annoying, I wanted everyone dead, but especially Park Ja Yeong - what a menace she was with her no facial expressions and obvious issues.

They did not even do the freaking ritual correct, not even once. Which made the ending senseless.

Overall, sad it was a full length movie, when it could have been a solid short one.

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Rule by compassion, not by fear.

One woman show filled with schemes, betrayal, twists and turns that kept me entertained till the last second. With a rather large set of villains and antagonists, you never know who will be the next target and how the dynamics will change. And in the center of that was Queen Im Hwa Ryung with her dedication to keep her sons safe.

It’s honestly a strange drama. The same aspects I love, I also thought were flaws. For example - the villains/antagonists. I actually liked many of them, found their motivations and reactions to everchanging circumstances entertaining. That said, they never truly felt like a threat. Which is strange because the stakes were high, people were actually dying. And yet, none of the bad guys felt intimidating - entertaining sure, but not intimidating.

I also loved Queen Im Hwa Ryung and how smart she was. She was great at reading the situations, knowing who works with whom and how to use that information. At the same time, she also knew that showing compassion can form better loyalty and actually set the person to a proper path, compared to fighting them with power and fear alone. But I wished her judgement was at least once wrong. That someone whom she gave a second chance stabbed her in the back.

Then we have the princes - all fun, all lacking depth. Each one of them presented a completely different story, be it being related to taboo subjects of the era, their relationships with their mothers, ambition or lack of it. But at the end of the day the only two princes that actually touched me on an emotional level were Grand Prince Gye Sung finding his identity and Prince Sim So about his relationship with his mother. All the rest was fun, but flat.

Touching on the plot, I feel like this is one of the better paced historical Korean dramas I have seen - it’s fast, but even and digestible. Every episode brought something new to the table, there were no filler plot lines - at the end everything connected, everything was used to create a larger and fuller picture. So actions and decisions existed in the vacuum - they all had smaller or bigger impact on all the characters. Every time I thought a certain chapter was closed, new information kicked the door open for new possibilities to explain the past event, direct present time and shape the future of the characters.

The drama is listed as historical, comedy, drama, and politics. I am not so sure about the comedy here. It had amazing comedic timing and some of the better jokes I have seen in quite some time, but the overall tone and plot do not truly match the comedy genre. Just because there are good jokes in a show does not necessarily mean it is comedy. On Korean websites it’s listed as a black comedy and I would probably agree that’s a better description.

Acting wise, Kim Hye Soo delivered a phenomenal performance. Saying she carried the show seems unfair to the rest of the cast, since everyone did a great job, but it’s undeniable she stood out so much with her portrayal of Queen Queen Im Hwa Ryung. My second favorite performance probably goes to Kim Eui Sung as Hwang Won Hyung. I don't know why, but his reactions to everything that was happening was so expressive and funny to watch, even though I knew I should not side with him, he was so fun to watch I wanted to just see more scenes of him.

Visually stunning, but not overstimulating. Sometimes I honestly get tired when dramas try to look like a beautiful painting at every frame - it’s distracting. This show knew exactly when and what to highlight to create amazing pictures.

Overall, I just feel like the drama failed to evoke any negative feelings in me, which is strange with how many on paper awful and frustrating assholes we had in the cast of the characters. But I was kind of vibing with them, and found them more entertaining than threatening.

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Impressive level of blandness.

There isn’t anything wrong with the drama, but there is nothing truly right? No highs, no lows, nothing to truly grab my attention. Such a smooth flight, one might actually fall asleep.

I loved the idea behind the drama - seeing different professions that are related to airports. Usually we see the “glamorous lives” of flight attendants and pilots, but here we saw a greeted variety of jobs. So how come it did not work out?

I think the biggest issue was how all the issues and conflicts got resolved within five minutes of screen time. There was no suspense, no stakes. What’s more, while I understand they wanted to stay true to reality, sometimes cutting short the realistic depiction of procedures is not a bad thing - at the end of the day I am watching a drama, not a manual.

I did like all the characters, but I also disliked how most of them did not need any character development. They were smart, great, kind, and the “bad traits” were simply miscommunication. Nothing to work on. And because of that Kawahara Kasumi became my favorite character - she was the most dynamic in writing - both in external presentation and internal growth.

The production was fine. As most things in the drama. But fine is such a mid level of entertainment.

One thing to appreciate was for sure the acting. The whole cast did an amazing job.

Overall, I will probably forget this drama exists in a month.

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I’m kind of amazed. To make such a fun concept into such a boring movie - that’s a skill. It could easily be an easy to digest mix of different short ghost stories based on the new “stigmatized property” the male lead moves in. Why was it not just that?

It became this weird mix of horror, slice of life about unfulfilled dreams and mellow romance. And nothing matched well together. I understand that they needed to set up a proper motivation for Yamano Yamame to even move into these problematic houses, but so much focus on these failed dreams was not needed - it made the initial exposition too long and too boring.

Then we have the romantic undertones between Yamame and Azusa and honey, no one watches horrors for romance. Not one person. It never happened. It’s unnecessary.

And the worst aspect? No development nor closure for any of the actual ghost cases. The actual screen time they spent in these “hunted” locations is laughably short.

The worst crime though? Nao’s acting. She truly needs to tone it down. I have not seen someone this animated and over the top in a horror movie in a while. Girl was determined to use every muscle on her face in every scary shot, even if barely anything was happening to validate such a strong reaction.

Overall, poorly constructed plot, decent editing, mediocre directing, questionable acting.

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One too many twists.

Honestly speaking, I don’t even think the story was bad. the directing though, missed a lot of basic elements.

The scenes simply do not transition in a smooth way. Everything feels so out of place. Random private naked yoga classes turned into kamasutra scenes, a random detective story, which technically makes sense (people are dying after all), but never matches well with the main story. It honestly felt like they stitched scenes together without actually taking into consideration if they create a cohesive picture and explain the story well.

By the end of the movie they present one too many twists so rather than an interesting (though slightly overused) turn of events, it all becomes confusing.

The acting was bad. Lee Chae Young easily did the best, but all the rest of the cast was questionable at best. Felt like the actresses were cast for their bodies and not their acting skills.

Overall, skip, don’t bother watching.
(more about the directing fail in the comment below)

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I honestly feel bad about rating it so low, since it had quite a few enjoyable elements and the first half was exactly what I always look for in Tomb dramas, but there were a few too many flaws that I just cannot ignore.

Starting from the things I liked.
Iron Triangle as one of the best trios ever created. A typical case of characters representing a heart, body and brain, but it never felt limiting in how they were interacting with each other. All of their scenes together were easily the best in the whole show.

Likable female characters with their own goals and ideas. We all know how limited in that aspect are Tomb dramas. Here we got a variety of women with unique personalities and perspectives.

The acting was great. I think Chen Ming Hao is my favorite Wang Pang Zi at the moment. This character is always hit or miss - I either like them, or hate them. Here, he was probably one of my favorites.

Another positive thing was proper lighting. Big props to the team for making the caves/warehouses/underwater scenes look dim, but not ridiculously dark when the viewers can’t see anything. A few more candles or flashlights as the light source is all it takes for the viewers to not question how bright some places might look. The whole production quality was great - the set designs, costumes (excluding Glasses, I just cannot deal with that outfit), camera angles - all working well to create nice pictures.

To the less enjoyable things.
First and second half of the show felt like completely different dramas. Not only did the plot seem too loosely connected, the main cast completely changed. We literally cut from the show the characters we followed at first.

While I appreciate the female characters, I am also a bit sad how all of them were put in the context of being romantic interests. No one watches the Tomb series for romance, this is really unnecessary.

Second half was painfully repetitive and failed to make me care about the plot progression and even the characters safety. I am sorry, but how many times can I watch Wuxie do exactly the same thing over and over again in more or less the same manner in a boring environment, surrounded by barely established characters?

Wuxie being sick. Oh god, too many times it felt like watching a wuxia with male lead being poisoned and coughing blood - so dramatic for no reason, because we all know he is not going to die. My issue was how they presented it as something dangerous, but it never felt really limiting. All the potential issues always showed up after he was done with whatever task he had to accomplish.

While I do believe everyone in the cast did an amazing job, I am also a bit bored with Zhu Yi Long (don’t kill me). There is not enough variety in the roles he takes and his portrayal of them. Sure, I only saw a few of his dramas, but it always feels like a similar character just put in a different context.

Overall, it was not bad, but felt too “all over the place”.

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Philosophical flick with questionable details.

Jung_E is great as a starter for some interesting conversations, but it does not really dive too deep into the topics itself. What could have been a great movie that ends on a question mark, became a bit too mindless and random closer to the end, trying to give a “reasonable” ending that lacks reason.

What worked? It opened the door for many interesting topics to be explored and reflected on - what is free will, can you put a price on it, what makes us human. What I appreciated the most, even though it was not the focus part of the plot, was the conversation about human rights, and how much does it cost to have them - since, even though on less “dramatic” and smaller scale, it’s a sad reality we live in right now.

The acting - amazing. I wanted to hug Jung Yi, slap Sang Hoon and both hug and slap Seo Hyun. Kang Soo Yeon did an amazing job at showing all the strong, but concealed emotions the character felt. Kim Hyun Joo’s performance was simply raw and I loved every second of it - well, every second the character actually showed emotions.

Jung_E was also a visual feast. I am one to always complain about CGI, but here they truly ace it. The robots looked greeted, the CGI created environments were amazing, the blend of special and practical effects was perfect.

All the scenes that focused on the morality of the whole scenario were wonderful. Every time they focused more on the philosophical and psychological aspect of it - great, and I wish the movie kept that going till the end. But no, we need some brainless fighting scenes at the end, because they had to flex special effects. Last 20 minutes truly made so little sense the movie went from 9 to 7.5.

Then we have Kim Sang Hoon and how painfully underdeveloped and underused he was. This character had such a potential to present so much depth. The set up was perfect, the potential emotional reaction could have been great, the dilemma he could have felt. What did the writer do? Said “screw it and put it in the trash” as they delivered some of the most random development for this character, that they tried to justify with one line of dialogue…

I also wish they explored some of the rules a little bit more. They gave a few lines and hints how the world works, but I wanted more to make it more believable. Some small details just don’t make much sense to me, the longer I think about them.

That said, it was still a truly enjoyable watch. First hour I was just glued to the screen. I am a bit biased, because I love the topics concerning free will, ethics and morality. It was a rather slow paced, character focused story that tackled a few too many issues while also trying to entertain people with the unnecessary action.

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I’m on the ghost side.

This is one of the horror movies where you cannot stop yourself from rooting for the “evil” character. I just sat there and thought: it would be a happy ending if everyone dies.

I think the movie does a rather good job at blending the horror with a bit melo romantic undertones. It’s basically rom-com cliches meet vengeful spirit.

Nothing new, nothing outstanding and nothing groundbreaking, but it is a fun watch. The plot is extremely easy to follow, so it serves as a good evening fun watch. We get a few jump scares, we get the sob story, we get some awful teenagers - everything one needs in a teen horror flick.

The acting was good. Ha Neul obviously delivers - I don’t think he ever failed at any role. Kim So Eun might not be the strongest actress out there, but she does well in this role. I do think the majority of the casting was fail age wise - all of them looked like they were in their 20’. Some looked as mature as the teachers… That’s something we often get with stories set in high school though, so I guess there is no point complaining.

Overall, a fun and simple story.

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Even though there were a lot of elements I did not quite like about this show, overall it was an extremely fun ride with some smart, well placed humor and amazingly written characters.

Truth to be told, Fan Xian ain’t exactly a likeable character. The more I thought about his actions, the more pretentious he seemed - to the point I was actually anticipating someone putting him in place, even if just temporarily. For someone who just wants to live a joyful life, he did not try to avoid the attention. For someone who wanted to fight the corrupt, he was too good at manipulating others and using them to his advantage.

Even though I was not on board with him as a person, I still extremely enjoyed his character. I do believe the simping over him from other characters was a bit too much, but there is no doubt - he was that charming.

By the end of the show I had my favorites: Emperor, Ruo Ruo, Teng Zi Jing and Shen Zhong. Seeing how some of these characters are not even the mains, and add to the story for a limited period of time, it shows how much care was put into making even supporting and side characters 3 dimensional, with their own arcs and depth.

Character wise, I have only one complaint: Wan’er. It’s not that I disliked her, I was just painfully indifferent to what her story is. For the majority of the drama she was passive, playing more or less just the role of Fan Xian “kindergarten” like love interest. That said, her character was the center of one of my favorite scenes from Joy of Life so she gain few pints form me.

I’m sure I am not the only one who thinks the characters were the best part. With how well written they were, how unique and entertaining their interactions were presented, no scene felt redundant.

The story itself was truly well paced. Probably one of the best pacings from any Chinese show I have seen. The comedy bits were funny and well spread throughout the show. Joy of Life provides a few emotional scenes, but they never hit me hard - mostly because they were not set up well. It’s hard to get emotional, when literally seconds ago I was laughing on the floor because of the over the top fighting choreography.

The fighting scenes themselves were another aspect that was either hit or miss. Some were perfect, some far from it. Overall, I liked them all, either because I was impressed or entertained.

The drama is full of plot twists, it’s hard to predict characters’ motivations and future plans. Some twists were brilliantly planned, with clues scattered throughout the plot, some came out of nowhere, being completely impossible to predict, only guess (the type I myself quite dislike).

Sadly, the ending left a lot to desire. It was just anticlimactic and infuriating to me as a viewer. More about it in the comment section under spoiler.

Overall, it was an extremely enjoyable ride that led to nowhere and doesn’t make me want to continue the journey - I am off this train. I feel like season 2 will clown me at the end too, leaving me annoyed and forced to watch last season, and I’m not up for it.

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It’s like the most cosy and warm sweater, but with an annoying tag.

What I mean by this is - almost everything was perfect for this sweet and slice of life driven romantic comedy, but for some strange reasons they felt the need to add annoying background setting and unprofessional work related aspects with questionable psychology behind it.

If I look at it as just a rom-com - it’s great. Slow paced romance built on trust and mutual understanding, driven by the shared goal. Both leads had their own individual problems and they found courage in each other to improve and get better. The chemistry was great and I’m amazed how well Han Hyo Joo embraced the acting style fitting Japanese production.

I also adored the little side story of everyone involved with Le Sauveur. With every episode focusing on one of the recipes and at times how to improve them we also witnessed the journeys of people involved in the making process - their passions, hesitations, and at times misunderstandings. But at the end of the day the theme of the show was embracing the change. Be it accepting a new boss, dealing with loss, challenging the future.

What’s more, visually this show was amazing. I don’t even like chocolates that much, but with all the cooking scenes and how beautifully they were presented, I wanted to try each and every one of them.

But then we have the annoying tags. Starting with Irene. I have one honest question - why did they make her therapist/counselor? She was so unprofessional in her working conduct I was getting annoyed just looking at her face. And her lack of professionalism had nothing to do with her personal issues - she just lacked the needed ethics. The story could have progressed the same way if they just made her a friend of male lead. You can still link her to the female lead in different ways without making her mental health professional. Cannot believe I saying that, but I rather there not being any professional, and them just getting healed with the power of love.

And then if the whole "business politics shenanigans” - why? They literally hinted at it 2-3 times throughout the show, to make it the center of the plot in the last two episodes. It was so in the background of the plot before you needed loupe to see it. And it was again, just like the therapist, unnecessary.

Then, maybe it’s just me, but I wished the cast was actually younger. Or how they were written to be more mature. On paper I have no issue with immature or childish characters, but when almost everyone does not act their age, then it becomes a problem. It was especially evident with Hana. She was less anxious, shy and overwhelmed, and more acting like a child among the adults. Not all the time, but there were times when I truly got “7 years old child” from her.

Overall though, it was a pleasant watch. Definitely had more highs than lows.

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