Kate

Lackluster planning made it go downhill pretty fast.

Starting with some facts - Sian should have been the wild card catfish and join the cast later instead of Hae Rin. She has more of the presence to stir some "trouble" and her indecisiveness would work better if other contestants had time to get to know each other before she showed up. But with how the casting and editing went - it was Si An as the main characters, and some cast members were not even supporting roles, but rather guests.

The whole two inferos and how some people met first the first time after 2 days on 10 days trip was also weird choice. First impression is important and it was hard to follow who clicked well with whom, when most of them did not even interact at all.

Now that I think about it, the episodes should be split a bit differently. Nothing really that interesting happens in first 1-4 days, put that all in 2 episodes, and with each passing day, make the number of episodes longer. It takes a few days to everyone to create connection,s and that's when the fun starts. That's what most viewers what to see.

At the end of the day, this season was just boring. People were either 100% into one person, or not really interested in anyone. Little to no excitement. Dong Ho and Arin or the win tho. They were two most normal, but also fun to watch people from the whole show.

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I appreciate the attempt, I question the presentation.

I’m not sure how I feel about this drama. Being romance driven, I cared about romance the least. While I loved the gradual healing on Uea’s side, I do believe the level of trauma this child had to face in such a short period of time (screen time wise) made it a bit ridiculous for me. By the 3rd toxic person in his life I just started to laugh… And it’s not like this scenario is completely unrealistic - many people who were victims become victims more than once. That said, the way they presented it with lack of good spacing in time and pace, I just could not take it seriously. The presentation was just lacking too much.

I also could not get on board with how Uea treated King a few times closer to the end. Everything that happened at first is understandable - miscommunication happens, especially if you don’t trust the person yet. At some point though, it felt more like Uea testing King for no other reason than enjoying watching King plead. Even that would not bother me if they established it’s something King is into, but they did not. So it seemed like a mind game when King had to constantly prove how much he loves and respects Uea to the point of asking before he can touch him (and I don’t mean in a sexual way, I mean literally any way) and being denied by Uea with a smirk on his face. That’s when I started to think - maybe Uea is truly completely not ready to be in a healthy relationship and needs to book a visit to a therapist first. It’s not like it happened a lot, but enough for me to feel a bit uncomfortable.

While I loved King, I also find him painfully underdeveloped and one dimensional. Net did a great job with acting, but the writing of the character itself was empty.

As for the nsfw scenes - let’s say I’m glad I watched the cut version, because even that was a level of cringe I could barely handle. Most of the bed scenes made me laugh, some skipped completely.

Acting was decent - big props to all the villains, perfect presentation that made me hate them with a passion. Net did great with some vulnerable scenes, but James sadly does not have enough skills yet to truly deliver the pain and suffering Uea as a character was internally going through.

Production was okay. Lately a lot of BLs are truly overdoing it with the blur filter on actors faces making them look like Barbie dolls - ain’t fan of that. Last episode was more like a bonus than the continuation of the plot - everything was concluded and there was nothing left to add. Personally, I was kind of bored watching it.

Overall… I don’t know. I kind of enjoyed it? It led to a few interesting conversations I had with folks on mdl, but I find it sad that most complex ideas came from the community and not the show itself. A lot of things were truly basic and simplistic, and by now I think we can expect a bit more nuance from the genre.

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Mediocre male characters that still somehow made the fans fight.

For a drama that on the surface, on paper seems to present many interesting issues, fun plotlines, entertaining characters - this was a massive fail. With all that was technically going on in the drama, the fact that “which male character should the female lead end up with” was the hottest topic among the viewers shows how unengaging everything was.

Here’s the thing, I actually enjoyed it at first. Do Hae Yi was refreshingly bubbly and shameless about her love for money. Her enthusiasm and energy seemed realistic and fun. Loved her interactions with all the characters and was curious about a potential character development and possible change of priorities in her life (or at least some adjustments). For the most part her character was painfully stagnant, just to start hiding things and being less straightforward in the later episodes. They tried to fix that in last few episodes, but it was too little too late.

Characters wise, it felt like a huge waste of initial set up. More or less none of the characters got any development. They started and finished on the same note. We got some small changes of personalities in some side characters, but the mains were completely forgotten. The writers suddenly remembered they should do something about the main cast in the last two episodes, so everything felt rushed.

I knew we would get a typical love triangle, but with the addition of the mystery, I thought this would actually be an interesting watch. How wrong I was. The love triangle was painful to watch, since none of the male leads was that good or interesting. One, while interesting as a character and having quite a well built story around him, had an unhealthy obsession over Hae Yi. The other had the personality of a white wall and no depth, which made him simply uninteresting. Can believe we all had arguments about these basic boys in the comment section. It did have a great set of supporting characters though.

I honestly don’t want to even talk about the mystery aspect. It went from tense unknown, to barely existing, to murder thriller levels of ridiculousness. The culprit was a clown and their reveal made most of the audience question the writers’ choices. I never felt less interested in the “bad guy” reveal and the fact we had to wait so long to get any answers about the motive added to the issue.

An aspect I actually truly loved about the show were female friendships and support. There were no unnecessary catfights, no random jealousy - far more support, understanding and encouraging each other. Especially from Hae Yi and Sun Ja, and Choon Yang and Jin Hee. Honestly, I would not mind if they put more focus and gave more screen time for the mothers.

On a completely subjective note, one of my side ships failed and it made me sad. The potential behind that couple was amazing, and it was dropped for the more obvious and less complex one.

I did enjoy Han Ji Hyun’s performance. She was the only memorable part of the show. Making such an exciting, hype and enthusiastic character still feel realistic and not cartoonish couldn’t be an easy job, but she was able to achieve a believable result. Yes, the character was annoying in the second half, but that’s on the writing not the acting.

Another performance that caught my attention was Baek Ji Won as Hwang Jin Hee - Sun Ho’s mom. Her comedic addition had an underlying sadness and desperation to it, and I loved that this complexity was shown even in the limited screen time.

As for Bae In Hyuk - oh boy. I feel bad for him. He is not a bad actor, but anyone who watched Cheer Up would probably assume he is. I honestly believe the issue was the writing of Jungwoo and not the acting itself. Portraying a character that is so poorly written is just extremely hard.

Production value was high, but what’s the point when the story was not?

Overall, the show did not really deliver the cheers, nor the romance, nor the mystery. The friendship between Do Hae Yi and Joo Sun Ja was amazing and one of the limited saving graces of the show.

The show just left me frustrated. It had great potential to be a fun, light teen drama about coming of age, building friendship, learning how to give and receive help. How to believe in yourself, but also believe in people around you. And yet they wasted a good 80% of the time on useless, boring love triangles and mess of a bullshit mystery.

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Simplistic symbolism and how being a teenager is actually hard.

A rare case when my brain sees all the flaws, but my heart says: I don’t care. The whole show has a great juvenile charm to it, and the sloppy storytelling and in your face symbolism just adds to it. Sure, I strongly believe that with a few different directing choices this could easily become one of the best BL shows up to date, but even as it is right now, it’s truly enjoyable.

Yes, the setup on the surface is painfully stupid. We are sold the story of this abusive authoritarian school and students fighting for their rights, but what is presented is 3 students not wanting to wear uniforms. Is it that simple? No. It was never about uniforms, it was about self expression and more accurately sexuality.

The uniforms and the rules were supposed to represent the norm in terms of sexuality. Following the rules in school meant following social norms. Suppressing your sexuality to fit with what was established and deemed as "normal". The whole show is a commentary on the conservative and outdated ideas and how they harm the youth. It’s a great subject with a idea on how to present it, but not as good of an execution.

The storytelling was not detailed enough. We are presented with a wall of rules that were established, yet we actually know about only two. What are the others? No idea. What consequences are the students facing if they break the rules? No idea. There is the curse, but that’s it. Where are the parents? The whole adult side of the show is ridiculously unbelievable.

On the other hand, it made perfect sense why the teens were being “overdramatic” - they are teens. Suppression of individuality at the time when it's most crucial to figure yourself out is not really a small thing. The Eclipse did a great job to make me sympathize with the issues these kids were facing and how big of an impact it has on them. From the point of view of an adult, my initial reaction was: why are they so dramatic? Just be patient for the next few months, graduate and move on. But that type of thinking is the issue - if they are told to follow the rules and not question anything now, how will they learn to fight for their rights later? Their actions as teens will shape their behavior, motivations, personalities later on. Nothing really changes as you grow up. First you are told to do what your teachers say, later you are told to listen to your professors. Then you need to follow your bosses instructions. That’s why it’s so important for the youth to ask questions, debate, reflect on the problems and issues and not just do what adults tell them.

For the characters, the leads were phenomenal - both in the writing and portrayal. Seeking validation and purpose. Sticking to the role one obsesses over, because it feels like it's the only thing that defines who we are. The fear of being seen as disappointment. The drama also touches on the subjects of depression and suicide. How we should not judge one’s struggles based on our own standards. How we should be patient with others, because we cannot know and truly understand what they are going through.

What I appreciated the most was the takes on coming out and accepting your sexuality. It’s not the “I don’t like guys, I only like you”. It’s not “everyone is either gay or loves gay”. None of the unrealistic scenarios here. It often takes time to figure yourself out, it takes time to accept what you find, it takes time to then admit it to others. In that aspect I could not like the relationship between Akk and Ayan more. Not to mention one of the best on screen chemistry I have seen in ages.

For the acting, I've been a fan of Khaotung for some time. Realistically speaking, he is one of the best that Thai BLs can offer. I rewatched some scenes simply because of his performance. Thank god First was cast as his co-star, also delivering a solid portrayal.

Production wise I don’t really have complaints. I think some of the setup and directing ideas were too big for the production team, which led to a few questionable and ridiculous takes, but damn the show was pretty.

Overall, I liked it a lot. Yes, the setup and the way they decided to present some serious issues was questionable, but I still believe it was better than the majority of BLs out there. The biggest problem was the transition from rules at school being the issues, to how they relate to the overall social norms and homophobia - it was too jarring. You get the idea behind it all, but you still feel like it’s a bit too disconnected from each other.

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"Everyone is lonely. Maybe it's because loneliness is necessary…

It allows you to face yourself."

A journey of imperfect people throughout their imperfect lives, dealing with daily struggles in an imperfect manner. The journey of mundane humanity that puts a mirror to our faces and shows us the side we would rather ignore.

It’s easy to criticize the characters and the choices they made while also thinking you would act more holy than Jesus himself in the same situation. I did it, everyone I know did it. And so will you. That’s just part of our nature. It’s far easier to judge others' mistakes than to face our own flaws and I feel like the drama does a great job highlighting that.

Both female leads are complex and lost women, drowning in problems they themselves created, problems they cannot let go. Depending on your personal history you’ll relate more to one over the other, but hopefully by the end of the show, you’ll be able to appreciate how much depth both of them had.

It’s a story about resentment, anger, rejection, doubt, fear, depression, obsession and never ending regret. It’s about making choices and dealing with consequences. It’s about love, loyalty, company, It’s a tale of life.

I want to be perfectly clear - it’s not a drama you want to enjoy, feel good. It’s not a positive slice of life that will leave you hopeful for better tomorrow, inspired to work hard for your dreams. It’s a harsh reality wrapped into 8 impactful episodes.

The performances were stellar. While I for sure related far more to Rebecca, I did enjoy Ariel Lin’s portrayal of honestly low-key unhinged Chien Ching Fen far more. I honestly disliked the character, but I was greatly fascinated in her, her behavior, her motivations. She was the one that made the neurons in my brain fire.

Visually speaking - great. There was a level of simplicity in the way they shot the show which was a perfect contrast to the turmoils the characters were going through. I did have some issues in terms of the storytelling and how non-linear some parts of the story were told, but by the end of the show, it did not impact my viewing experience much.

Overall, it’s a gloomy show. One that will make you feel annoyed and frustrated more often than happy and joyful. But it’s worth it. Some shows are there to make you think. Some shows are there to make you evaluate. Some are there to make you face the ugly - the one that surrounds you and the one that hides inside you.

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"But there must be a reason behind it all"

"Do you want me to teach you how to be good at work? Don't ask yourself: Why?''. I think this whole show was a commentary on how we stay in the well known patterns, even if they are not productive, simply because things have always been this way or they bring us monetary gratification. But why do we even care so much about money? Because this is what society tells us is important. A vicious circle of bullshit.

Trying to suggest change is scary, and since everyone accepts the current state, it means it's working so why would anyone even try to challenge it? Everyone cannot be wrong, it's more likely I don't understand why it's like that. Stuff like the Milgram experiment or Asch Conformity Experiment explain it well. Both good examples how awful people are at going against:
1. Authority
2. Groups of people.

And if you add actual reward (money) for the conformity, people will do a great type of mental gymnastics to justify the current state.

Like drawing the circles, then erasing them and doing the same with x, just because the boss said you have to do it. I'm sure many of us did things we knew were pointless, but they were orders we just had to do. You can think you are not part of the problem, but you most likely are. Not to the same extent as the characters in the show, since everything was over exaggerated, but as long as we participate in the society, we do stupid things for the sake of some kind of benefit - money, popularity, recognition from strangers. But why do we care?

Each episode presents us with different takes on what one can sacrifice for money: pride, self-esteem, time, family, morality. It also shows what we truly want - connection, love, freedom, a feeling of belonging, self-worth.

The show opens with the best episode, so keep that in mind. On one hand it sets up the story well, but it also makes the remaining episode have less impact. Each short story is connected to each other, even though they changed the main character. Personally, my favorite episodes were “Dancing on the sand” and “Family Vacation”. Both had strong messages that resonated with me and my experience.

The production and the acting were phenomenal. Truly would not change a detail. The short duration of the episodes (most were a bit over 20 minutes) made the show more digestible and left some room for interpretation and reflection for the viewers. I feel like depending on your own life experience, perspective and expectations, you will see something else in each and every story.

Overall, great watch, but not for everyone. It’s weird and symbolic. While on the surface the overall message is easy to understand, there is far more than “what people will do for money” if you start digging deeper. It’s also an impactful watch if you are willing to reflect on how the messages fit into how you are handling your life.

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Fast Food entertainment with a secret ingredient - crack.

This show took me to the times when I was a young teen reading Harlequin Romance and being obsessed over the domineering, rude, but deep DEEP down inside actually good and caring male leads. The best type of trash entertainment anyone can offer.

This is just that, but on screen format. Fang Tian Yi is hot and that’s the main trait this man possesses. That and good kissing skills. Saying Dong Ting Yao is brainless would be an understatement. Girl got so easily manipulated and used - customers at McDonalds have more respect for the workers than the majority of the characters had towards hers. The rest of the characters were just place holding NPCs.

The plot? Nothing made sense - her falling in love, him being surprised she does not trust him, the conspiracy and the barely existing investigation. The level of abuse she faced and always being completely fine the next day.

So how come I binge watch it all in one sitting? Because it’s a good type of trash tv. One that does not pretend to be more. One that is here for your entertainment and your eyes, giving your brain a moment of relaxation since you shouldn’t use it watching it. It’s a makjang, but with more shirtless scenes and abs and less kimchi slaps (but overall slaps it delivers). It’s so dramatic you end up having fun even during the intentionally sad scenes. You are here for chemistry and abs only!

Why does it also work? Because it actually has good acting and production. As cheap and ridiculous the plot is, it’s actually packed in a nice to look at box with pretty costumes, pretty faces, pretty make up, pretty set and pretty abs.

Overall, I think it should have been shorter, but it’s still highly enjoyable. I guess even with my brain off, at some point I just could not take how stupid female lead is. Enough is enough.

Now I regret my choices as I drink my coffee trying to wake up. I’m too old to stay till 3am to watch dramas.

Side note - that one guitar string they kept using, am I the only one who got Chuck Norris vibes from it?

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Horny zombies? Did we really need this movie to exist?

When I started the movie, I was ready to keep my finger on the skip button. I read so many people talking about how explicit it is. Even though I am not easily fazed, better safe than sorry. I also got my drink ready… And oh boy I needed that drink double strong to survive this.

This is basically a torture porn here to only deliver shock value content. I don’t know what the movie is supposed to be? It’s not the case of people just losing control over the primal urges, because violence is not one of them. We are literally wired as social creatures by nature. So while the zombies were not brainless, they were still zombies with little to no agency since the virus turned them into violence seeking assholes. So it’s not like an amazingly fresh take on zombies…

The only thing the movie has to offer is gore and, for some twisted people, content fitting their rape fantasis. Some of the gore was gross, some was so ridiculous I actually laughed out loud. One dude lost the amount of blood that no human can possess in their body. There is literally nothing worse than a movie that is both gross AND dumb. I gave up everything when the female lead just sat down in the staircase chilling and also took her shoes off. SHE TOOK HER SHOES OFF DURING ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE.

I give half a point for the acting and half the point for some gore. That’s it. There is no plot, some violence scenes are painfully dumb, all rape scenes are gross. This movie literally serves nothing worth watching.

I want to be clear though, I have no issue with excessive violence in movies, but it has to serve a purpose. Violence for violence is just boring. When the credits rolled I am sure I just looked like a disappointed parent, when your child acts so stupid you have hardly anything to say and just leave the room.

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That awkward quality I kind of liked.

I don’t know how to verbalize my feelings about this show. It’s not good - it’s drowning in awkwardness. The set design at times looks awkward, the acting seems awkward, the writing is awkward and so is the directing. Somehow, that awkwardness was strangely charming? I feel like I enjoyed it for all the wrong reasons.

For a short show like that, it tries to tackle a bit too many issues and ideas. Stalking, unreciprocated feelings, coming out. I appreciate the more serious takes - it’s hard to be a female, because there will always be a creep with weird ideas. Gossips about your sexuality can be harmful and scary, especially if you are still figuring things out. All that was there, but just surface level type of a deal. Still, with a lot of, if now most BLs being “everyone if either gay or loves gays”, this show being just slightly less pink colored glasses view was nice, even if barely explored.

The thing I like the most about this show is how dramatic and over the top about the most basic things RoA was. Him being all “you have no right to worry about Ji Woo” when talking to Yu Na. Damn boy, she is his friend, she has the right. Or when he did not even let Ji Woo confess his feelings with his “you might never get another chance of someone you like confessing their feelings to you”... what, is he going to die the next day? Does he have one chance in life to be in a relationship, and if he passes it, that’s a done deal - he stays single till the end of his days? Where was the logic? Why so dramatic? They did not set up ANY reason for him to reject Ji Woo… it just came out of nowhere.

When he dropped the “He had to suffer like that. It’s all because of me” I turned into a question mark. What the heck is this child talking about? What suffering? How were you the cause of said non-existing, completely made up by your imagination suffering? People gossiped for like two days, long term no one cared. Not one person. And then he went “He’s in pain because of me” SURE HE IS, BECAUSE YOU REJECTED HIM! The poor boy has a broken heart. I literally cried from laughing when he started to say Ji Woo’s feelings for him are just an illusion. My dude, you are the one creating issues and problems for yourself that have no place in reality and never happened. That whole scene was just a gold unintentional comedy.

Not to mention how he left school all dramatic, last month before the semester ends, when he literally had just that semester left to graduate. What an emo kid move, I have to appreciate it.

The side romance between the student and the teacher got me wheezing. It’s not like it’s wrong - she is an adult after all, he is her teacher for just one class for one semester. It was just so painfully awkward, because this guy here teaches about relationships, love, romance, family, and yet he can’t handle one female student having a crush on him, looking so awkward. Especially in the last episode, I died a little bit during their scene.

It’s hard to talk about acting. Some scenes were truly natural. The double date scene was so fun and cute. The four actors have an amazing and natural chemistry. Then more dramatic and emotional scenes happened and sadly, the quality dropped. Delivering a realistic crying scene is not easy, I get that, but none of the sad scenes in this made me feel sad.

Production and directing wise, it felt like a project of a student with amazing potential, but not yet polished skills. Some shots were truly nicely done, well planned camera angles and lighting. Some… were shaky - both literally and in quality.

Overall, my brain told me to drop it, yet my body was clicking to watch the next episode at the same time. I just cannot explain it. I had a lot of fun, even though it made little sense. Maybe that’s why I enjoyed it? All the things I ranted about in the review were actually the reasons why I liked the watch.

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Hate to love scenario between me and Jung Woo. Damn, I disliked his little smug face so much in the first two episodes, I thought it would be impossible for me to jump on the ship in the future. While I warmed up to him in later episodes, I never sailed with the two dudes.

The biggest flaw of the show is the fact we truly know nothing about the characters. What are their motivations? Why do they do what they do? Why is Jung Woo working with Laura? What is his goal? Why is Do Gun so into keeping true to the basics and so against the innovations and new ideas? Why is he obsessed with working at Laura Dining? What is Laura’s deal? They did not explain anything. Literally not one thing. Who is Jung Woo anyway?

It’s also the first time I felt exactly zero romantic chemistry on screen between the main leads in BL. While I enjoyed their bickering and them having fun, their romantic scenes just made me feel slightly uncomfortable, because it felt like they were not that into it either.

The acting was good. Both Jang Eui Soo and Lee Chan Hyung have acting experience to back up their performance.

Production quality is what we usually get from k-bls: indie web drama vibes. Personally, I truly enjoy these aesthetics.

Overall, fine to watch when you are in between BLs and have nothing else to watch. Would not prioritize this over other shows though. It’s like a filler show.

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별-똥-별 - quite a fitting description of the quality of this show.

Fun, entertaining, sometimes clever elements, with a crappy core.

What’s good? What are the reasons I somehow finished watching it? Everything except for the love story of Han Byul and Tae Sung, and both plot lines surrounding male lead. None of these 3 things work well - poorly written, with ridiculous resolution and out of the blue miracle ways out of the problems.

The convoluted way they tried to tell us the story of Han Byul and Tae Sung was some next level of bad presentation. Rom-coms are not thrillers, you do not need 10 different plot twists to make it exciting. The worst part of it was the fact, this type of non-linear storytelling made it close to impossible to understand the characters at the beginning, which led to me simply not caring about them at all.

The three semi-mystery plot lines, with two being part of a larger picture? Extremely unnecessary. The setting was all that needed to happen for the show to be interesting. Everyone wants to know what the behind the scenes looks like. What type of problems the actors face. How much of that glamorous life is try? What about the ugly side? The “mundane” celebrities life is interesting enough, no need to add over the top plotlines.

Not to mention, they were simply not well integrated in the story. Instead of showing bits and pieces of it throughout the show, they dropped larger portions here and there and it messed up the pacing. I don’t even want to talk about that Disney resolution, or lack of any closure for some.

That said, I did enjoy the main couple when they interacted with other characters. Han Byul and her gossip time with Ho Yeong and Gi Peum? Fun. Her friendship and working relationship with Yoo Sung? Interesting. Tae Sung with his manager? Adorable. Him bickering with Soo Hyuk? Some of the best comedy bits of the show. It amazes me how well these two worked with everyone except each other.

I just feel like their relationship was too juvenile. They presented some middle school type of behavior I just did not connect with. And it’s not like it’s impossible to show a sweet, cute romance - they did it with the side couple. Yes, it was over the top cute, but that’s who the characters were from the start - adorable, so it fitted the overall picture.

They also showed a more mature and chill approach with another side couple - a lot better paced even though they had 1/10th of the screen time compared to the mains. All the supporting plots showed me there is a skill and good writing hidden in the show, but somehow they failed to use it for the most important aspects.

I definitely enjoyed the few small commentary bits on the entertainment industry. Some were presented in a more serious manner, some leaned towards comedy. Sh**ting Stars has also one of the best “breaking the 4th wall” scenes I have seen in dramas for ages. I replied that one scene many times - perfectly executed if you ask me.

Performance wise, it varies depending on the actor. Probably one of the worst performances in Lee Sung Kyung’s career. She delivered close to nothing. The lines felt flat, the crying scenes evoke zero emotions. She presented little to no variety in her facial expression. And I know for a fact she can do better, she did in her other dramas. She is not an amazing actress, but should be capable of leading a rom-com.

Kim Young Dae did fine. I enjoyed his more emotional scenes, he did a good job portraying the vulnerability of Tae Sung. At the same time Tae Sung was just a poorly written character, so it’s not easy to judge the performance of the actor.

Most characters did not have enough depth for the cast to truly showcase the skills they might have. Yes, Yoon Jong Hoon delivered the sweet hard working senior, Kim Yoon Hye was the cute and innocent junior, Park So Jin did an amazing job as a journalist with some internal conflicts and Lee Jung Shin was able to make the arrogant and distant lawyer more approachable and fun. But that’s it. The characters don’t really serve more than these short descriptions.

The production value was nice. Quite a number of scenes had an aesthetic appeal that supported whatever was happening on screen. Talking about the production, we cannot ignore the initial wave of criticism surrounding the uneducated and ignorant depiction of Africa. I still believe this just shows how lazy the writers are (honestly, the same problem happens in all countries, and is not limited to Korea). 15 minutes of google search is too much work for them. Finding a more appropriate way to present a specific plot line? Why waste time, when you can apologize later if it gathers some bad press.

Overall, it was painfully mediocre. I enjoyed following some side relationships (be it romantic or platonic) and plot lines, but close to nothing concerning the main two characters was good. They just put random events and ideas together, and did not spend enough time to figure out how to present them in a cohesive way. The show just did not flow well.

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This show is like an abusive partner - gaslighting you into thinking the trauma was not that bad.

What an emotional journey it was. This is how you write a complex female lead and realistic portrayal of how hard it is to deal with your past traumas and fears. Sometimes after moving forward one step, you go back two.

This is a one woman story. Kang Hui is the main character and everyone around her is just an accompaniment to her solo performance, and it’s great. She was a deeply hurt, scared, insecure, but also strong-willed and brave person. Yes, you can present the opposite characteristics depending on the circumstances you are currently in. That duality was what made her unique compared to many other kdrama characters.

She was so beautifully flawed and frustrating to watch. Constantly making mistakes, not knowing how to stand up for herself, lying, running away, pushing forward. I wanted to slap her back to reality, and hug her to console her. But when you frame her behavior in the context of her life, it all makes sense.

She faced abuse and neglect since childhood. She had the whole town against her. Adults telling her she is the reason her mother died. She felt unwelcomed whenever she went. She was blamed for her mother's actions. She was blamed for others’ mistakes. The town treated her as a plague that brought misfortune, even when she was just a small child.

The way they presented her get back on her feet and then crumble over and over again was painful to watch, but also so refreshing. She felt like a real person.

However, as good as the journey was, the conclusion could not have been more trash. Since when do we show victims of years of abuse apologize to their abusers on their knees? The whole last two episodes were kind of insulting. The way one beautifully shot scene of Kang Hui apologizing to her younger self was a conclusion to years of abuse, bullying and built up trauma she faced in that town just made me angry.

Why try resolving and fixing the extremely unhealthy relationship between father and daughter and make the father take accountability of the neglect, when you can just give him cancer and make the daughter feel guilty about it?

I honestly feel gaslit. With the last two episodes and how casual everyone was about Kang Hui’s past and how everyone treated her, I started questioning if I imagined parts of the plot. The same people who screamed at her and told her she is the reason her mother died are now saying her father raised her well? Am I losing my mind, or is the drama truly showing this? WHY WERE THE BULLIES INVITED FOR THE DINNER AT THE END?

Every time they showed one of the town people acting nice I kept asking - Why? What happened? What changed? Did you all have group therapy behind the scenes and reflected on your actions? Why now? Ladies and gentleman, the credits are about to roll - smile and act nice, we need a happy ending. It does not matter if it makes sense or not.

You CANNOT make a whole drama focused on how hard it is to heal from your traumas, with the female lead who keeps going back to her bad habits, running away, pushing people away. Showing how poorly she was treated not only as a child, but also as an adult. How none of the people in her life truly understood how abusive they were. To then magically heal everyone and make it the peaceful happy town where everyone is friendly and they all support each other.

The whole show was filled with hypocrisy that was never addressed. Love cures it all was the ridiculous approach to this story. Probably one of the worst conclusions I have seen in the past few years.

Back to the good - the performances. To be honest, I picked this drama to get over my unreasonable dislike towards Lee Se Young, and the magic happened. Her portrayal of Kang Hui was truly stunning. Perfect in every area. There was nothing I would change nor improve. On the other hand, Na In Woo was kind of there, filling the space. Maybe because they never truly developed his character to the same extent they did with Kang Hui, his take on Yeon Su felt a bit flat. While I disliked Chun Pil as a person, I adored Choi Min Soo’s portrayal of him. What a vibrant performance it was. The role was painfully hard to present. He had to show both the nonchalance, but also the seriousness of his personality.

For the visuals - it is a show that you will want to take screenshots of every few seconds. Beautiful.

Overall, I might have been traumatized by the laughable Disney ending. Magically everyone was cured, everyone was nice, pretending like the past never existed. I loved Kang Hui, I loved her journey, but the express trip to Happy Ever After by the end, kind of made me angry.

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Enjoying the angst that comes from misplaced revenge.

Call It Love was emotionally aesthetically pleasing. What I mean is, even the sadness, anger, frustration, regret - all were presented in a way that did not make me feel emotionally exhausted and tired. I was relating to and appreciating the sorrow.

What the show did an amazing job with was showing different sides of psychological issues - for some people it makes them completely detached from social interaction, for some it makes them forget about their needs, others would focus on the negative emotions as their driving force, some would be able to accommodate their lives around their issues. Depending on the character, their personality and past experiences, we saw all the different sides of how we as humans deal with difficult emotions.

About the cast - we got blessed with some well written and complex characters and well delivered portrayals of them. How the same people could be victims and perpetrators. How everyone had to learn from their mistakes and figure out how to set boundaries, but also respect the boundaries others set. How to understand yourself and be able to communicate with others. How to move on from past, how to move forward with the future, how to find happiness and peace.

Were all the characters well written, with many layers? Not quite. While Ahn Hee Yeon did a good job with her performance, Kang Min Young did not exactly have much to offer except from being yet another external factor the leads had to deal with. Similarly, Choi Sun Woo existed only in the context of leads’ issues and struggles, and presented no personal plotlines.

Cast wise, Kim Young Kwang ate the role. One of the most versatile actors we get in mainstream shows. Can do drama, action, comedy, romance, thriller - you name it and you will get it in one of his roles. In Call It Love he presented so many raw emotions from Han Dong Jin. Even though the character was not an open book, not the most expressive guy out there, it was still clear for the viewers what he was going through, what he was thinking and feeling.

At the same time, while for most scenes Lee Sung Kyung did great (it’s a role we have not seen her in yet), there were just a few moments where her delivery was too monotone and at times felt empty.

As for the production - I loved it, but I can see why someone else could hate it. The colors were not saturated enough and the whole show was presented in this pink/purple filter. For me, it perfectly fitted the overall mood of the drama, adding to the melancholic and stoic feeling. What also caught my attention was how the shots were centered vertically. In many the characters were presented in only 1/3rd of the screen. For me it seemed like the same way they were not centered in the frame, they were also not centered in their lives - still unsure about their place, a bit lost in their surroundings.

All that said, it’s a typical “you either vibe with it or not” drama. The same visual aspects I loved could look ugly and weird for others. The same characters I related to and enjoyed analyzing could be frustrating and unrealistic for others. The same dialogues I found touching, others could see as faking profoundness with no depth.

Why not a perfect 10 from me? I did not like some of the conclusions and I wished a few characters were developed better. For such a complex situation the drama presents, some aspects just lacked nuance.

Overall, I already miss this drama.

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The almighty pen.

From a writing perspective, it’s closer to a 7.5, but I had so much fun, I cannot rate it lower than 8.5. It was quite an exciting watch, delivering all types of frustration and thrills, but ending on a rather mediocre note.

Honestly speaking, the first half of the show was a good 10/10. It had everything one might want from a show like this - cute fighter, psycho brain, cinnamon roll who just wants to help. We’ve also got all the blood, pain, violence and the main character - the pen! I was eating it all up, could not stop watching and barely stopped myself from screaming at my laptop.

So what happened in the 2nd half? The drama changed from more plot/action driven to character driven… and it focused on the character I honestly cared the least about. With each and every scene I just started to hate him more and more. For all the buildup, all the tension, all the accumulated frustration in me, I was not delivered a proper closure. I understand it will have a second season, but even with that, rather than being excited and hopeful the drama left me fearful if they will deliver a more proper ending this time. I don’t want to dive into it and get a half baked potato with the last scene.

That said, the show presented a glorious friendship/bromance between Shi Eun and Soo Ho and I could not ask for more on that part. Both characters perfectly played off of each other's traits and the dynamic was just fun to watch. They were perfect partners in crime.

Oh Beom Seok was a complicated character and I don’t think the director quite well delivered what they planned with him. I feel like there was something missing with the way his character was developed. For such complex internal and external struggles, I was completely indifferent to whatever was happening to him - which is ridiculous as he is the center of last 4 episodes.

Plot wise, saying this drama lacks realism would be a massive understatement. Some scenes were so ridiculous and over the top I was just laughing. At times it was even hard to feel bad for these kids, because the situations they were in just made little sense. And this is one of the reasons I enjoyed the show. I watched it for the over the top scenarios. I wanted excitement and hype, and not pain and anxiety. That said - fear not, Weak Hero Class 1 still manages to create decent stakes and make you care for the characters, even if your brain sees the nonsense happening on the screen.

I appreciate how the drama tried to showcase what happens when someone is in a circle of violence. What they missed is to show why some characters were able to get out of it, while others got swallowed deeper and deeper.

Production value was good. Loved the fighting scenes, and loved the different approach the characters had to them. They delivered realistic blood and realistic amounts of it - someone gets punched, they will bleed, but ain’t no bloody waterfalls going on. Some scenes were quite aesthetically pleasing, though I wished they included more visual symbolism here. This is something I felt like the drama lacked.

The acting was the one that surprised me the most, on the positive note. I knew Park Ji Hoon is good and that's why I am even more amazed he delivered even more than I expected. This type of character so so easy to mess up. To create the aura of intimidation, you need some skills. to make him look empathic on top of that, is even harder. And Ji Hoon managed to do it all.

Choi Hyun Wook was honestly adorable. That said, I kind of felt like this is more violet, better at fighting version of the character he played in 2521.

Hong Kyung did a great job with the character he was given. Even if the writing for him felt rushed, he did great at portraying the change and desperation.

Overall, fun, violent and exciting. The characters were interesting, some more and some less likable. The conclusions for specific plots and situations could have been better. Perfect binge watch material.

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“It hurts because you seem so comfortable leaning back into sadness.”

Butterfly instead of white rabbit, magician instead of Mad Hatter, magical world and a lot of unresolved emotional trauma - get ready for it all. The Sound of Magic delivers both the enticing fantasy and the harsh reality.

A lot of the things I liked about it, the details in the created world, were the result of the hard work of the webtoon writer Ha Il Kwon. The best examples are the names of the main characters - 아이 (child), 일등 (first; if we add his surname to the mix, it would literally mean I am first) that represent the internal conflicts the characters were facing. Seems on the nose? Maybe, but it fits the story and the approach they took with presenting it.

Ai was forced to grow up fast because of her family situation. Her dreams, hopes, wishes were all focusing on gaining money, as she believed being poor was the reason for her misery. She viewed every situation in her life from the perspective of her financial situation. She did not want to believe in magic, since for her, magic symbolizes hope for better life. All the good things end, like waking up from a beautiful dream, so why even start when you are deemed to be disappointed at the end, when you are back to unfair reality?

Ildeung follows the path his parents picked, doing his best to stay at the top. This takes a toll on his mind and his body. He realizes how trapped he was, yet he wasn’t sure if he is brave enough to stop chasing after the future his parents chose, and try to find his own path. His whole arc was built on small things that might seem like non existing issues, but in reality can take away your sense of individuality and self-worth: things like his dad not calling him by his name, but “Na Jin Man’s boy” - first he is his parents’ son, then he is himself.

Both main characters do not know how to be happy, feel free, make personal choices, act like children their age. And this is the story of them slowly freeing themselves from the cages they were locked in.

It’s hard to talk about Ji Chang Wook’s character without diving into spoilers, since we are mostly kept in the dark about who he is and his past till the end. That adds to the thrills though, creating that mystical and magical aura around him, making the viewers question if the magic is real till the last moment. I was invested in the simple question: who is this magician?

What I also liked about the show is how it spoke about the faults in adults while also not truly making the adults into villains (mostly). Some of them were annoying, sometimes acted unfair or selfish, but most of them were not evil, they were just humans.

The performance from the cast was great. Yes, some movements and facial expressions during the musical numbers were rather cringe and awkward, but it happened only a few times. I was quite surprised by all the emotional scenes, since they all hit me hard (yes, I cried), especially any scene with Ji Chang Wook in the second half - been a while since I enjoyed his performance so much.

Visually they did more than I ever expected. A few times the special effects, especially in terms of the motion, were slightly off, but nothing that would take away from the stunning pictures created.

A lot of the songs had stage-like performances that just sucked me in and I could not take my eyes off it. The A Curse of Asphalt scene was especially breathtaking, even though compared to some other songs, it had a more simple approach. Yet, with how instrumental, lyrics, vocals, visuals, set design, arrangement, all fitted perfectly like puzzle pieces, this song became my favorite performance.

Were the musical aspects all that perfect? No. Some songs just felt awkward with how they were placed in the story, at times feeling unnecessary. I understand why it became a musical-like drama, some lyrics had a really strong message and the performance features added to it - which would not be possible to achieve with simple dialogue. That said, at times I would skip a song or two as they felt redundant at that specific moment.

Speaking of music - all the instrumentals are to die for. Some melodies reminded me of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland movie (2010) - which fitted the theme perfectly. Even the sound design at times surprised me - taking into consideration the place the songs were sung in and mixing the vocals according to it.

Overall, I truly enjoyed it a lot. Had some questionable choices, acting and directing wise, but I still believe it’s a solid drama. While at first I was not sure about making it into a semi-musical, after seeing all the episodes, I understand the value that was added with some numbers and I appreciate the rather bold move they took with it (let’s get real, musicals are not exactly a mainstream genre loved by all). Ending review with a quote that I loved:

“Flowers don’t bloom on smooth asphalt, but on bumpy dirt”.

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