A lot of people dropping it and stuff like this.
So, I just got curious and decided to give it try.
Once finished it, I can tell that it wasn't THAT bad. I mean, I was expecting something definitely worse
(I prepared myself for the worst).
It wasn't a masterpiece but it was decent. I liked it.
The way writers built each character in a different way, with a different (and sad) background was really a good idea.
I liked that.
Still, I can understand why people lost their interest in it: there was no development. This is 'cause writers preserved it for a big finale. But I'm gonna talk about this later.
I think that another problem was Soo's character. He was so marginal, kinda meaningless. The writers weren't able to let viewers get attached to him. They could have worked so much on his character...
Talking again about the plot development.
The problem was this: the whole drama IS in the LAST episode, basically.
I'm serious. It was like the writers put all their ideas there. In fact ep. 16's finale was SO rushed. It's really a shame. This could have been a lot more interesting and entertaining and there could have been a different development of the story itself, but also of characters and their relationships.
A lot of WASTED POTENTIAL.
(OST awesome. I really liked it).
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This Series Would Probably Have Been Put Together Better By A Single-Celled Organism...
With Kim Hong Seon, PD of masterpieces such as Voice and The Guest behind the works of the show , an ensemble of fairly talented actors ( not least Kim Rae Won, Kim Sang Ho Lee Da Hee and Kim Sung Oh) taking up the personae of screenwriter Chung Sung II ‘s characters( The Package,Your Honor), everything in relativity about “ L.U.C.A; The Beginning” screamed out " masterpiece" . Then, not even several episodes into the actual story, we find ourselves going down into the previously mentioned rabbit hole of cataclysmic screenwriting, which only seemed to crumble further into the abyss as the series went on...
The premiere episode of ‘ L.U.C.A’ did initially introduce some fairly innovative story writing techniques. The most evident offering hope for viewers to grow alongside our protagonist Zi O ( Kim Rae Won). Like our amnesiac main lead, we know little about Zi O’s world, identity and his mysterious link to detective Gu Reum ( Lee Da Hee). This should have by default allowed us to become attached to Zi O emotionally, had our hearts pulled out when he confronts the terrible and clandestine truths about his past and felt broken-heartedness to part with him and Gu Reum in the finale also.
Instead, trying to become attached to Zi O as a character even later on the show was fairly out of bounds for viewers . This is mainly because the characters lacked the innate, individualistic core of profound personality flaws and traits, rather than cliche plot mechanisms in order to keep a poorly-paced storyline motivated.
Whilst dramas often like to take the approach of the “ wild card” rebel trope in order to keep audiences entertained, this approach to Zi O soon began to collapse when every episode would follow this expected , fundamental structuring of Zi O having “ lost control of his powers again” or “ gone into a fit of rage” over a small (and often trivial) issue. It is not necessarily always a terrible approach to a character, but normally a show tends to foreground why this personality transition should be so shocking or surprising for viewers. Naturally, as we know little about his past, this aspect of knowing more about his identity , is drawn out of the question until later episodes. On the other hand, it is still interesting to note how Zi O’s character slowly begins to fall into the cesspit of lacklustre characterisation, even from his initial introduction in episode 1.
When Zi O is first introduced, he is notably marked as being “ different” by screenwriter Chung Sung II. He had few qualms over animal abuse , but somehow easily allowed his emotions to boil when someone who had grown close to him such as Gu Reum, was injured. This is not saying that Zi O should have remained an emotionless android in the drama, but it did seem peculiar for a character who struggled with emotional and psychological isolation over the course of the series, to suddenly see Zi O transitioning into emotional outbursts and tantrums. This can be mainly sourced to the problem of having few focal points over the course of the series which allowed Zi O to come to grips with his state of mind or mature as an individual.
It is important to address the controversial dilemma of miscasting for Zi O as well. Before anything else, it is important to state that Kim Rae Won is a good actor. However, Zi O as a written character respectfully felt slightly younger that Rae Won. This is not claiming that a “ fresher actor” would have been better at the role( as anyone would struggle with what was given to them by screenwriter Chung Sung II).Again, this is more the fault of poor casting than Won’s ability as an actor, however, it will certainly raise eyebrows for viewers to see a man nearing his 40s taking a temper tantrum as his character onscreen before storming off in order to ‘’ cool down’’.
This naturally draws us onto what led Gu Reum from being possibly one of the most profound female characters in a TVN drama, to a senseless cardboard cutout not even several episodes later. Gu-Reum is a character who was initially established as the “ advisory cop” archetype with a prolonged desire to find out what happened to her parents. It wasn’t honestly an original backstory, but it did bring the potential to explore Gu-Reum as someone caught in the crossfire between duty and morals over the course of the drama, who learns to becomes stronger as a consequence of her enmity towards Zi O.
Instead, Gu Reum seemed to have been a female lead drawn into this unexplained cliche of having an inferiority complex against her male associates in early episodes before being completed reverted into a “ damsel in distress” who faints, or gets clunked over the head by an object in the later storyline . Da Hee certainly was quite a good actress in the show, however, it was hard to take her role seriously when her character transitioned from intelligent cop to unintentional comic relief in seconds flat , especially due to with her relationship with Zi O.
The “ enemy to lovers” is a popular trope amongst dramas and given the right storyline and characterisation, this can work incredibly well. Yet, “ L.U.C.A; The Beginning”’s problem can be found by the sudden and illogical transition from Gu Reum being at Zi O’s throat in early episodes and Zi O “ accidentally” pushing her around with his powers, to Gi Reum suddenly eloping and holding his hand affectionately like a shy school girl not even several episodes later . If you think it can’t get worse than this between the two characters and their “ affections”, then (without any spoilers), it is important to confirm that it certainly does. Although this was necessary to the storyline, there’s little sense of actually building up the characters , let alone pairing them off from enemies to lovers in nearly seconds flat.
Whilst the pacing of the show was quick in parts, a major issue with its sudden fast-pacing can be found through the myriad of plot inconsistencies which arose throughout the drama. Whilst there are some evident reasons explained in the plot behind this, it naturally draws more concern how Zi O, a mutant who has never been registered for official residence was able to not to be caught as a figure of interest amongst CCTV footage after initial reports in the past as well as not legally queried over his job entitlement as well. Whilst minor, it often subjugated the drama’s “ unintelligent violence” without deeper meaning, or at least unique film techniques to make these fight sequences more than a brawl, but fine art.
Arguably our show has several “ main antagonists”, however, the most reoccurring and prominent “ puppet working for the brains” in the series appears as the gruff former-solider Lee Son ( Kim Sung Oh).With an interesting and personal motive behind the reason for getting back at Zi O, Lee Son had the potential to be a fairly well-crafted, Machiavellian antagonist with actual depth due to his experiences in the field and profounder reasons for working for nefarious scientist Ryu Joong Kwon ( Ahn Nae Sang). Instead, Lee Son turns more into the classic “ brainless and inhuman combatant ” than a worthwhile or interesting opponent, often resulting in his actions coming off as more “annoying” than “baleful” .
On the other hand, the one character in the show who was surprisingly intriguing came in the form of Choi Yoo Na ( Jung Da Eun). Although Da Eun hasn’t received as much credibility in performances as some of her costars , she did surprisingly capture interest within her well-performed role as the mysterious and laidback Yoo Na; a young woman who became a field agent for Jong Kwon’s organisation after the initial operation upon her leg ( as shown in the first episode). Yet like most side characters out there, Yoo Na didn’t really have the opportunity for viewers to see her character grow or deepen over the course or the series.
Meanwhile, the ending of the show took a cliffhanger approach rather than particularly “ bittersweet” or “ happy”- appropriate for the genre, but nevertheless a little disjointed and arguably anticlimactic rather than an ending which felt complete and worthwhile.
“ L.U.C.A; The Beginning” can probably be seen as the epitome of the recent problem of “ throwaway” dramas emerging out of the action genre in South-Korea. With notable recent predecessors such as “ Alice” (2020) and “RUGAL” (2020) also suffering from the same fate of being high-budget extravaganzas, but often lacking screenwriting quality , it is probably fair to say that “ L.U.C.A; The Beginning” is the type of show to watch if you’re bored and want to binge-watch something with mindless violence without a second thought . However, “ L.U.C.A; The Beginning” greatly suffers from its own demise as a memorable and well-written show due to poor characterisation, miscasting, plot inconsistencies, deeper meaning and plot incoherency as well. A shame for a drama which had potential to be one of the best dramas of 2021 .
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A short, nostalgic cute warm and fluffy drama....
Serendipity's embrace is a short romcom about first love, second chance romance, friendship and more.It's a drama filled with warmth, lots of cute and fluffy moments and is most definitely going to give you nostalgia from the old Korean romcoms.
It's a cute drama that balances romance and comedy and considering its short, nothing felt repetitive or draggy....
The PLOT is something you have seen before, it's cliched and troupey but definitely executed in a way that feels warm and entertaining and engaging....the pacing is decent, nothing feel too rushed or too slow..it's the perfect pacing for the eight episodes.
The CAST did a great job, I must say this is one of my most loved characters of Kim so Hyun..her character as hong Ju is fun vibrant, clumsy, cheerful but at the same time not cringe or annoying...you could tell she was having an amazing time taking on this role.
Chaejongyeop's eye acting is definitely something worth of praise..he expresses him self through his eyes and that's something you could see especially in the earlier parts of the drama where he came off as a bit unexpressive...I also loved how he wasn't the typical cold male lead but rather just quiet, calm and mature...
Other characters were also a fun addition to the overall casts and I love how we got little to no toxic characters..it felt refreshing.
The characterisation was perfect and I loved the cast chemistry and how they all complimented eachother perfectly which added to the charm of the series.
The CHEMISTRY between the leads was one of the major points of this drama, their interactions felt cute and warm and natural, I loved how their conversations flowed so naturally at times it didn't feel acted and if anything made me wish that this drama was a bit longer then it's definitely the leads interactions together which gave me lots of flutters and butterflies.
Overall this drama was amazing, something simple yet cute to watch as in to take a break from the heavy plots we have been getting recently, something to remind you of the old k romcoms that were the reasons why we became kdrama find, something funny and cute to giggle it....this drama was exactly what it promised to be, a cute fluffy ROMCOM.
Do I recommend it?
Absolutely....you will have a great time watching this especially if you looking for a short, simple yet cute ROMCOM to watch!!!!
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10/10 for creepiness
Trigger Warning: Immense Cult Practice, Killings, Gore, Brainwashing, Terribly Scary and awfully creepy.Cult thriller trope is not very new for Kdramas and has it's own separate fanbase but what makes HOMETOWN different is the execution and portrayal of real cult shits that might take a toll on your mind, so be careful in case you're sensitive.
HOMETOWN is set up in the fictional small rural town namely Saju (somewhere in Busan irl) in the year of 1999 with a major past of the year 1987 connected to it. Everything starts from a welfare centre that existed years ago, then a series of tragic incidents in 1987 and then in 1999 where a number of serial killings take place, all rooting to a mixtape cassette with mysterious creepy sounds.
It involves MIU Detective Choi Hyung In (Yoo Jae Myung), who has been connected to the entire event all along in his subconscious. He discovers astonishing facts related to his life while trying to get to the root of it, simultaneously dealing with his deteriorating mental health. Jo Jung Hyun (Han Ye Ri) is determined to find his lost niece who is already staged to be dead. In her journey with his old friend, she discovers horrifying truth about her past and finds herself in terrifying situations that might eat her up to the core. Uhm Tae Goo (Jo Kyung Ho) is Jung Hyun's brother and a terrorist who is prisoned for life for killing a number of people at Saju Station in 1987 by releasing toxic Sarin gas. (These ain't spoilers bcs you'll find them in the synopsis.)
These 3 actors are indeed seasoned artists with main acclaimed works & recognitions and their performance surely will surpass your standard, no doubt. Especially, Uhm Tae Goo as a psychopath,who can control mind, served his role so well that you might wish to kill him, every time he comes into the frame. Him sighing is one of the creepiest things I have ever experienced, eww.
Other than them there are also some other good actors in the major role. Choi Kwang Il as Im In Gwan is deeply involved with the cult group. Cha Rae Hyung as Kang Young Taek, Jung Hyun's highschool friend and a part of the magazine club. Jo Bok Rae as Lee Si Jung is a Sergeant and Det. Hyung In's partner. The 4 teen actress were also good; Lee Re as Jo Jae Young and Heo Jung Eun as Kim Moon Suk are major parts of the story.
I must say that this drama needs a lot of patience, even when you're an avid thriller fan, because till the last 2 episodes of this 12 ep drama, the ultimate reason of the entire event is very very confusing. The way everything is unfolded one by one, in an intricate way will make you go crazy to a great deal. For viewers, it's like solving a puzzle to reach the answer whose fragmented pieces are scattered in a disorganized way. It's like you'll have to analyze, compare and relate the information you have and group them in an order first, before you set everything into their rightful places and finally get the biggest picture on the board.
You'll have new information revealed at each episode and there are lots of flashbacks to reminisce and extract out the tiniest of detail from what you've seen till the moment. The plot development is not steady, rather scattered with many flashbacks and revelations, which are not entirely revealed at once. For a 12 episode short drama, the progression along with plot-twists and mystery divulgence is drawn very well by the writer. The writer has done a good job in presenting the character arcs of all the 3 main characters well.
I somehow felt the 6th episode was kinda slow and nothing that interesting of sort took place in there except the ending, though that episode was also filled with revelations and realizations. After binging 10 episodes in 2 goes, I was concerned how they'll wrap it up in the finale week because there were still so many things to be revealed along with the primary force behind everything. Again after the 11th episode revelation, it was a tragic feeling but also gave rise to more anxiety as to what's next but glad they wrapped uo everything without any issue. Also, the seemingly intertwined story and it's details were still to be revealed in the finale, which were surprising ngl. However, it felt a bit slow and was a lil uninteresting in the 1st half. What was more worrisome that the script might have some potholes left but glad it was all fine.
Hometown also stands out for using a different approach in cult thrillers that's Hinduism. Most of the cult dramas rely on Christianity and Shamanism to showcase cult behaviour but for the first time the makers of Hometown has dared to go for Hinduism and has even executed it very well. The ancient tradition of guru-sishya (teacher-student) was basically incorporated with pseudo-religious practises with immense brainwashing and drug abuse. Only thing that seemed funny was the symbolism of that "crossing-hand" mudra, it wasn't well explained I felt. It felt like they were trynna make a scary gesture but it was in fact very funny. Otherwise, they were able to keep up the intense and thrill till the end and I liked it.
Note: This is not insulting to neither Hinduism or the Indian tradition, rather a fictional portrayal involving pseudo-religious practices which give out alternative interpretations of any particular belief. If other religions could be used then why not this. It's not my pov as an atheist rather as a avid stan of dramas & movies and their values.
The sound production is top notch. They knew very well how to make the mood creepy with the accurate use of background scores and the cult mantras. What also accompanied in grace was the rainy weather scenario. The sound of heavy rain was a perfect feather to the thriller cap. Cinematography is also appropriately handled. Since it's a thriller that too investigative mystery and cult group story, the frame is mostly dark and shady. The camera movement focusing the objects and zooming sequences are well edited. The main prop used in here is the mixtape cassettes with creepy and chilling sounds which was the cause of all the tragedy.
The finishing sequences of the story that summed up the entire event was good enough for a decent thriller. There was no philosophy or justification to the acts done but there sure was learning. Ain't gonna say the actual reason but sure only word to describe the force behind it is an action that can be simply described by 2 words, one starting with 'r' and the other with 'v'.
Overally, Hometown surely is a thrilling and catchy watch which will keep you up till the very end. Starting from it's biggest advantage, i. e. to direction, script, production value, etc. have been taken care of well with a lot of effort. Can't say it's amazing though it's one of the creepiest but it sure is a good one in terms of cult thriller mystery. I made sure not to talk about the story a lot because idk to how to explain things without spoiling. Just make sure to remain sane throughout, haha.
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one of my favorite cdrama
I started to watching this because of Zhao Lusi, the amount of episode made me hesitant to watch. However i ended up loving it.-
From the beginning there's Cheng Shaoshang with her abandonment issue, her only-depend-on-myself attitude, and how she always on her wits to fight back anyone who bully her or people around her.
Her issues were believable and i could relate to her sometimes. I love that her attitude changed little by little to portray her growth.
I also noticed Shaoshang's Mom growth. She was really harsh at first and motivate Shaoshang by always comparing her to the 'perfect' cousin. Then her slowly realizing the good in her daughter.
The portrayal of the Cheng family were great.
They're mostly funny, especially the Grandma, who has downry addiction, and Shaogong, who loves to do divination.
Ling Buyi story was quite a plot twist for me, that i don't know how to explain about it without spoiling everything.
The romance started real slow, but had great build up. I really enjoy watching how litle by little their love for each other grow.
How 2 people with their own issues tried and failed to understand each other, how they got to overcome their differences. Their struggles & the damage were realistic. But they could added a bit more build up to the relationship and a bit more intimate scenes. ZLS and WL have good chemistry.
I really like Emperor Wen, it's funny how he always urge LBY to get married. There's also the lovable Empress Xuan and straightforward Consort Yue. It's my first time seeing such healthy relationship between Empress and Consort.
Side characters like, Yuan Shanjian, Lou Yao, Wan Qiqi, Qiu Fei and Qiu Qi were a good addition to the story.
For others the political side of the story could felt boring and repetitive, but for me it was easy to understand and i like it.
I can't forget the fact that the pacing in the first half were too slow. There's too many side characters that showed up, forgotten, or suddenly moved to the next stage of their lives. And the amount of wicked woman are just ridiculous.
The acting were great! Everyone did they roles perfectly.
When Ling Buyi in a bad mood he scared me out. Sometimes even when he's happy he creeps me out too. WL's acting is spot on, he did good job as LBY.
I'm used with ZLS doing funny/cute roles all the time. It surprised me seeing how good she is in the emotional scene. Also I'm really amazed with Xu Jiao, i can't believe she was the same kid in CJ7. Versatile actresses indeed.
Other thing I love is the cinematography/VFX. They indeed give a lot effort in it. It's just very screenshot worthy. I feel like i took screenshots of the scenery in every episode. However there's too many scenes were in slo-mo, probably for dramatic effects, which gets me frustrated at times. They could've cut it and use the screentime for something else.
Both intro and outro didn't include spoilers like how way cdramas usually are.
The music used were good, my favorite is the outro song and the flute instrumental.
It might be a bit of a long drama, but I'd definitely rewatching this.
-
With all being said, Love Like The Galaxy is not the perfect drama. But watching the whole thing was a great journey. I couldn't count how many times i go from laughing, crying, squealing, angered, then laughing, crying again and again. This is now one of my favorite cdrama. I'm gonna miss it so much.
I'd recommend this if you like historical drama that has a lot of funny moments and slow burn romance.
✧
It's a long and full of grammatical error review, but thank you for reading (◍•ᴗ•◍)
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1REASONS TO EXCERCISE CAUTION BEFORE YOU WATCH
Oh, where do I start?
Blackmailing ✔️
Gaslighting ✔️
Harrasment ✔️
Trying to pass off mental health issues as just being violent and manipulative ✔️
Trying to make the lead saying that he wants to imprison the other lead romantic ✔️
(Honestly listing all the toxic stuff that happened in this series might take a whole other review.)
THE REASONS TO WATCH
Now for the reasons to watch.
The number one reason you need to watch this is because, it is in fact, not a continuation of Tharn Type. Yes, Fiat and Leo are in it, but it feels like the characters here are a more accurate representation of what they were meant to be in Tharn Type 2. The storylines of both characters are explained much better here, and there are actual explanations to their behaviour in the prequel.
And yes, watching the prequel would help you understand some scenes better, but Don't Say No works as a standalone series just as well.
The second point as to why you should watch Don't Say No is because of the cast. I haven't seen most of the actors in any major works before this, and for beginners, they're quite good. They seem to have captured the essence of their characters perfectly and it says a lot about the actors when they are able to invoke the exact emotions from the audience suitable to their actions. Yes, some of the crying scenes and the intimate scenes could have been better, but for first timers you could tell they did their best.
Finally, if neither of the arguments have convinced you, or you're still on the fence, my final defence : Leon ☺️.
Just watch it for Leon. That boy has got me and Phob falling for him. Honestly I was quite suprised that such a sweet and respectful character is present in the MAME universe, but he is, and honestly, I believe he's reason enough to watch the series.
So there you go : this has been reasons to watch or not to watch Don't Say No.
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This review may contain spoilers
unfortunately pretty much a failure
I went in this with not much expectation with that kind of plot and it ended being worst than expected.So, let starts with some positive points before my rant :
- I actually like a lot the costumes and styling
- acting was okay
- music was okay
- not really good, but still a happy ending
- the friendship between the ladies and the guys
- side couple : this romance was pretty good, I liked the flow of it, but not enough scenes in my opinion. they sometimes disappeared for episodes and they were some of the only interesting parts. How it started as arranged marriage, but affection, trust and love gradually came
- I like ML’s mom relationship with him and FL
so now the rant :
- SML and « Love triangle » : what a pain to watch and it lasted for more than 30 eps. SML was the literal third wheel and the leech that you can’t get ride off. he was the kind guy, but why did he had so many screentime and always appearing. At time, I was like finally a scene with the leads, but didn’t last long before he appeared. Don’t get the people who wanted FL to end up with him, she never liked him, she rejected him and he still wanted to try ? and he wasn’t minding his business. Him confronting ML and that like deal they made, so weird. ML accepting that was weird too. But no wonder some liked him better, he had a lot of screentime with FL and they made so little importance on the leads for a while. I was happy when he said to his aunt that it was a misunderstanding (the edict for marriage) and that he wanted to annul it, but the next scene of him talking to FL, after she said it wasn’t possible with ML, he started talking about her giving him a chance, etc… (I honestly fast-forwarded, don’t know what happened after). Can’t believe this guy🤦♀️🤦♀️. even if ML didn’t existed, she wouldn’t like you. when she had no memories, she wasn’t attracted to him or feeling, it was only friendship. he didn’t had much to the story at all, his only purpose was what, helping FL ? Something he did to help could have been done by someone else, like saving ML in prison, in the end the dad acted.
- The amnesia lasted way too long, more than 30 eps. And after that, the leads broke up and it was just annoying. I can understand a bit FL, but she was still annoying. I thought after knowing she wasn’t his sister the story would progress more, but not really
- way too long, this didn’t need to be 40 eps. Boring and not interesting for most of the drama. Feel like nothing was happening, filler and boring side plot to the detriment of the relationship between the leads that wasn’t well written and not enough scenes or whatever. They were playing brother and sister for too long and not enough build up for a good romance, just like The Rise of Ning in which the romance was disappointing. Should have cut out that whole love triangle with ML’s mom or the third couple who in the end gave nothing interesting. It was only kinda weird that whole thing with his mother, they even edited out their kissing scene. and some side plot along the way and SML. Feel like maybe not enough focus on the case of ML's mentor or FL's family massacrer in general
- feel like they could have had good chemistry, but it couldn’t shine brightly. Kissing scenes were okay at best. they got back together end of ep 37. so they were together for max 5 eps ? I skipped some parts, don’t remember but dating era was short lived before the breakup. they had some few scenes that succeeded at making me smiles and that weren’t too bad. Another drama marked as romance that has almost no romance
- the last few eps with the revenge, the prince trying to take the throne, etc… were nothing exciting
- Poor choices from the director. I read scenes between the leads were cut and even the side couple. Just like in the last episode. FL « the bride » is here to snatch ML, but they edited it out??? ML is talking to that guy and next is them in the bridal chamber after the wedding that was never shown. What a big disappointment. And then, they talk and she’s like someone is missing, your sister. That was unnecessary dialogue
the leads character were okay to me. Never really disliked the ML like some comments I saw.
this drama is one of the worst drama I watched this year. This is not a drama to binge watch, watching it while it was airing everyday and watching at 2x made it more watchable
anyway, don’t watch this if you are a romance lover and you plan to watch this for the romance
the thriller part and revenge wasn’t much better
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A webtoon made into a drama, literally
When I first heard of the premise I was so confused but intrigued. A girl turning into a chicken nugget is such a weird plot but that's the reason why I decided to check out the drama when it came out. At first it started off so weird I was about to drop the drama, but I decided to give it a chance and it's one of the best decisions I've made. I'm so used to all the melodramas and intense stories from kdrama these days that I expected the same but boy was I wrong. This is whole ass gag drama, 90% comedy. If you're an avid webtoon reader, try to imagine you're favourite gag webtoon, I'm not talking about comedy, I'm talking about full gag like whacky content. Now imagine that, in a kdrama. That's exactly what Chicken Nugget is. Get ready cause my review is going to be long (without spoilers). Just to note, there are 10 episodes but each episode is less than 40mins so if you're a avid kdrama watcher, this is about 5 episodes of your regular drama 🫡Acting:
Star studded cast. If you've watched kdramas then you know exactly how insanely talented the cast is. They got big names in this show as well. It's so well acted that I forgot that they were actors for a moment cause I was too absorbed into their characters. Geniunely, acting is a solid 10/10
Story:
It was hilarious. Starts of strange and confusing but as you continue watching it just becomes funny. Like I had to pause and replay some scenes cause I was cackling with laughter. It's not your standard kdrama comedy where a good looking guy makes some smart jokes. Nope. Be prepared to see weird ass comedy, creative lines, and unpredictable storyline comedy. It's not all hilarious though, at times it gets serious and I even got emotional (very reminiscent of webtoons).
Music:
Most of the music is from a character in the show. I won't spoil much but the lyrics are kind of funny but I'm not someone who's super into music when I watch dramas so I don't have much to say
Rewatch value:
I 100% would rewatch it when I'm bored. I tend to re-read gag webtoons often when I'm bored just to laugh and this drama is a literal moving version of a webtoon so I definitely will rewatch it every now and then .
Overall:
If you're debating on watching the drama, I highly suggest watching it. You can stagger when you want to watch each episode since the content of the story isn't that heavy to the point where cliffhangers makes you feel like jumping. I promise this drama will give you a good laugh
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Tan Song Yun steals the show!
For a change let the Cindrella save the CEO in distress. Yes, you have read it right. This is the best 'Hard-working female lead' and 'Female Lead centered plot' drama I have ever seen. This show is something that should be watched for Character development, Motivation, and learning life lessons.'Master of My Own' is a 2022 Chinese drama adapted from the novel "Please Call Me The Director" (请叫我总监) by Hong Jiu.
Story: Ning Meng (Tan Song Yun) who majored in Finance always dreamt of becoming an Investment Manager but accidentally became the personal secretary of the rude/mean and jerk male lead Lu Ji Ming ( Lin Geng Xin). She waited, actually suffered for 3 years, and could finally come out of the grasp of Lu Ji Ming to pursue her dream career.
Tan Song Yun gave an amazing performance (as usual). The way she showed the transformation in her character from Personal Secretary- Rookie Analyst in the investment sector-Investment Manager- Investment Director was really splendid. The change shown is not only in the costumes but her micro expressions and gestures. A secretary who was very submissive in nature metamorphosed to a Mature and Great Investor. Tan Song Yun's acting is very natural and she gave the feeling that only she could justify the role. Also, the character is very very well written. She is not someone who only sees numbers but the dream behind a person's invention/ product. When she believed that a product/person is genuine she did a lot of homework to make their dream come true. Not only investing in products but she is interested in investing in the concepts.
She is strong, and that strength is not shallow. Even in tough situations she never tried to rely on anyone and especially on the male lead. The way she responded to the jerk Lu Ji Ming's words was beautiful. This is the first time I felt very motivated by a hard-working female lead role. Her perseverance is amazing, despite many people who were against her to achieve her dream, she was able to do it.
I usually have a soft corner for male leads. But this man initially is a total jerk, who has no heart. He strongly believed that Personal Secretary is the only fit job for Ning Meng. I felt like punching him on the screen many times. Irrespective of the nature of male leads. I strongly root for the main leads to become a couple usually. But till 2/3rd of the episodes, I wanted Tan Song Yun to remain single rather than choose anyone between the 2 male leads. Putting the character of the male lead aside, Lin Geng Xin did a wonderful job, the role of a jerk really suited him well. His chemistry with Tan Song Yun is perfect and it actually drives the viewers to watch the drama, despite being annoyed.
What I liked about this drama other than Ning Meng's character:
*The changes in Lu Ji Ming's behavior -in the 3 tough situations- love life, fall in career and a great come back. Lin Geng Xin was a great fit for this role, he was able to express those emotions very well.
*Like father like son. The way they showed a resemblance between Lu Ji Ming's father and Lu Ji Ming's characters. Both are equally stubborn and rude. They do care about others, but never express it, only to regret it later.
*Ning Meng's family- A very sweet family who is very understanding and caring.
*Ning Meng's wardrobe. Her outfits were just awesome.
*Dialogues- they are well written and do not sound much dramatic.
The characters worth mentioning here:
1. Su Xin as Zhang Yue Han, is the best male character in this drama, though he is playful, he knows how to behave well, and he knows the heart of a woman. I really felt happy that they put his character and loved the way how he points out the mistakes of Lu Ji Ming. He is not afraid of the male lead and he isn't just a sidekick unlike in many other dramas.
2. Gong Bei Bi as Shi Ying: A woman can surely become successful in her career if she works under a boss like her. Though the success of Ning Meng is attributed to her hard work, it is because of Shi Ying that she could actually do it. The way she guided Ning Meng in both her career and love life is beautiful.
The viewers experience different emotions in different parts of the drama. In the first 1/3rd - every viewer hates the male lead for his nature.
In the Second 1/3rd- viewers are just stuck to the screen to see amazing chemistry between the leads and the success of Ning Meng. In the last 1/3rd- a roller coaster ride of emotions.
I don't mean to belittle neither the drama Love is Sweet nor the character of Bai Lu, but I couldn't help comparing both the female leads' characters in these 2 dramas. Both did a splendid job in their roles. But the journey of Ning Meng in her career seems more realistic and beautiful.
I noticed in the comment section that many viewers were unsatisfied with Ning Meng's choice in the relationship. Clever as she is in the investment field, Ning Meng is slow-witted and naive when it comes to relationships. But she was actually forced into the relationship by the second male lead despite asking for some time and space. But the way she ended the toxic relationship was graceful. She did not hold any grudge against him and did not quarrel with him. She said what should be said.
To all those who dropped this drama after watching 11 episodes, especially after the dinner scene: I am a girl and I also hate it when a female lead is bullied, but hang in there. You are going to see the magical performance of Seven Tan. The beauty of all this drama lies in the character of Ning Meng. She has the purest and strongest heart.
My verdict: This is a must-watch drama if you want to see a lot of character development, experience angst, and then enjoy the success of a character in a drama. Do not watch this if you are expecting to see lot of skinship and kisses.
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This review may contain spoilers
Please let me live in a BL world
This series / movie / special can be defined with one word: hilarious. This series is clearly made for fans of the BL world, there is no more, to enjoy it and appreciate it in every way you have to be a fan of red bone.All fans of rom-com genre manga (BL or not) will know that most of them are a bit .. absurd, in the world of manga everything is strangely convenient, but it is fine because the format lends itself so that these conventions work and be fun for readers, but if it comes to taking this to the big screen with real characters, well it is obvious that many creative licenses are taken, to turn the absurd and convenient situations of the manga to more or less realistic situations of the in real life, this is not always the case of course, but if it is about taking the manga as it is to another format it does not come out exactly well and many times the only thing that comes out of that is a great cringe complication and not necessarily a good one (you I'm watching you Love Stage!!), a very good way to bring unrealistic situations to the screen and also deliver a good product is parody.
This series uses the power of parody and it comes out perfect, it is very funny, the best thing is everything that happens in the background of the stage, it genuinely feels like being in a world dominated by the BL, another feature in its favor is the duration, the fact that it is so short allows you to better enter the game and participate in the absurdity.
As I said, this series is very niche and although I do not deny that it can be enjoyed by all audiences, I think that if you are not a fan of BL, understanding some jokes or colloquial situations could be not so funny, sometimes this is what you need a production that don't take yourself too seriously, but still strive to deliver a quality product.
Another thing, do not try to run away, sooner or later the BL will catch you in its clutches, ufff... I will know.
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Story: for me the story was really different and unique. A blind person's testimony versus a normal person's testimony. Which do you trust? I felt the story was really well written. It was intense, exciting, heartwarming and thrilling. I loved and hated the baddie at the same time because he was beautifully performed but what he did was creepy, chilling and ever so hateful!
Acting: The dog alone should get an Oscar, she was just brilliant and beautiful! Once again Seung Ho shows us his brilliant acting skills, although he has played a troubled teen before the acting and character he played this time was different and I thoroughly enjoyed watching his character grow. Also the chemistry with Ha Neul worked well. Standing ovation for Ha Neul tho! She did an excellent job, you felt her pain and sadness plus her fear. She did a really good job - in You're My Pet she didnt realy stand out and her character was a bit flat so in this movie I was really impressed!! The acting was really touching I cried many times throughout the whole film. The acting really pulls you in and I thought the actors did an excellent job in expressing the emotions and it sucked me into that world. Before I knew it I was rooting for the leads, becoming really protective of the characters (I wanted to kill the stalker myself!!) so if a film has such effect it's bound to be good.
Casting: there was no problem with the casting I thought everyone was perfect for the role. And as i mentioned earlier Ha Neul didnt seem fit at first but she pulled the role off really well.
Music: the music accompanied each scene perfectly. It effectively made the scenes tense and thrilling, sad and heartbreaking. The music made me on the edge of my seat and at the same time curl up in my duvet because it was frightening plus the acting I felt like I was part of it.
Overall: I would definitely watch this again. It provokes a variety of emotions pulling you into the movie. The acting was superb and the story was well written and developed. The only downside would be the ending, I loved the ending but I would have liked to see more!
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It is about the area of tension between longing, choices in life, accountability and responsibility.
"A Man and a Woman" is emotionally profound, yet subtly leading into intimate depths where it hurts, too. There are no pink ribbons. And the intimate encounter of two souls does not miraculously sort out the problems of the world in a groundbreaking way. Life is difficult. There are also unexpected beautiful moments. But life remains difficult. Is that why it's bad? Only bad? "A Man and a Woman" paints a portrait of two people who have careers of their choice and families - but life is still no lollipop. It is about having an affair. It is about wanting another life. It is about the area of tension between longing, choices in life, accountability and responsibility.Highly valuable.
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Wild goose chase.
Ancient conspiracy thrillers are right up my alley so I looked forward to Luoyang with bated breath. This is set in Shendu (now Luoyang), capital of Wu Zetian's Wu Zhou Dynasty (690-705). As the only female emperor in over 5000 years of Chinese history, Wu Zetian remains a controversial figure - an ambitious, usurper whose exceptional intelligence and leadership is only matched by her ruthlessness against anyone in her way, including or especially her own children. She cultivated informers and multiple secret police and spy rings that gathered evidence against her detractors. and maintained a careful balance of power between the important political structures of her administration. This is reflected in the drama in the clear delineation of responsibilities between the Judiciary, Inner Guard and Secret Police (Lianfang). During this time, the Wu clan and Li clan were embroiled in a power struggle which persisted until Wu Zetian intervened and clarified her succession plans. Nonetheless it ended in messy plotting, betrayals and twists that are drama worthy in and of themselves. This is rich fodder for conspiracy plots such as this one.The drama starts thrillingly with a bold daylight assassination of an informer and his daughter and the ensuing dizzying high speed chase through the streets of Shendu. All three main protagonists mortician Gao Bingzhu, foodie Baili Hongyi and inner guard Wu Shiyue are at the scene and invisible threads from their past pull them together to uncover a much deeper conspiracy that could rock the very foundations of Wu Zetian's empire. Clues emerge that connect seemingly unrelated cases and force the three protagonists to work together, at first reluctantly and with selfish agendas and then with growing mutual respect and trust that blossoms into deep friendships. I most enjoyed the tripartite friendship in the drama and would have liked to see it better explored rather than unnecessary romantic arcs. Huang Xuan nailed it with his cynical yet paradoxically idealistic Gao Bingzhu; whose shrewdness and insight into dark hearts of man does not extend to those he cares for. I also did not see much chemistry between him and Song Qian who impresses with her fight scenes but falters somewhat in her line delivery. Wang Yibo's performance is strong in some aspects but uneven overall with too many scenes where he is clearly unsure what facial expression to wear. This role does not elevate him for me from an actor that I don't mind watching but wouldn't seek out. That said the trio has enough combined chemistry that I am happy to watch them together again. As for Song Yi, she has gotten enough flack and her character was so poorly written that all I will say is this is a role such a wonderful actress should have just passed on.
I did not enjoy the first two episodes of the drama - too much was happening at the same time and the cameraman swung the camera so wildly I thought he was possessed. The action scenes are exciting and well choreographed enough they did not need to artificially augmented by cheap camera tricks. After the psycho camera settles down, the plot unfolds at an intense and exciting pace against a gorgeous backdrop of dazzling sets and with a deluge of colorfully garbed denizens - they must have hijacked and costumed practically every Hengdian tourist as extras on set I have never seen so many people crammed into each scene. My personal favorite set is the Unwelcome Well which looks almost too inviting to be a ghetto. While the costumes and certain props are anachronistic, everything comes together is such a vibrant and captivating panorama that it scarcely matters. This is complemented by well designed side characters that are based on well known historical figures. Hints of their personalities, scandalous affairs and alliances are quite faithful to history and add a nice ambiance to the setting. It set up for intriguing Dumas like plot twists that didn't materialize.
This drama builds to a top-notch, shocking and heartbreaking climax prematurely at episode 20 where both actors delivered standing ovation worthy performances. It achieves that perfect sequence of shock followed immediately by stunned comprehension and acceptance as all the clues rushed to the fore to blindside the viewer to the next unfolding twist. In the second half, the plot visibly loses momentum and digresses into romantic arcs that don't belong in this genre and filler maudlin flashbacks. The writing of the mini-threads in the second half is insipid with excessive gratuitous character implants, many of whom delivered cringe worthy performances.
In hindsight it would have been difficult to top the fantastic mid-drama climax but it is still extremely disappointing for the final reveal to be so bland. The hollow villain that everyone was on to as a bad guy early on but dismissed as too obvious turns out indeed to be the final villain, one that is not worthy of being called a mastermind. Both their motive and end game plot is not well articulated or convincing. Multiple clues and more interesting suspicious characters that don't play out leave me feeling like I went on a wild goose chase. I don't know if they ran out of money or wasted it on too many bodies but there is no sense of peril or excitement in the final showdown. Forget explosions or collapsing buildings, we don't even get one good last fight scene. The final insult is how unfathomably a feather brain like Liu Feng manages to find himself in the right place at the right time to deliver an unnecessary and uncalled for outcome. This is just a misguided attempt to deliver an audience shocker to make up for the nothing burger of a final reveal.
Even though this remains a very entertaining and highly recommended watch, the ending is a big let down that knocks 0.5 off my final rating for the show. I feel that an 8.0 is the best I can give to this show, which is still one of the better c-dramas of the second half of 2021.
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A short yet wild ride of a spinoff
When the spinoff was announced, I was quite eager to watch it. I am glad they didn't make it into a long 16 ep drag of a drama with boring storylines added to it but kept it short , funny and chaotic.Both leads had good chemistry in the parent story and even though their romance part properly started near the end of the drama it still managed to leave an impression. LSY , PJW and HJH are the perfect trio casting for this one and each did well with their roles.
You don't even need to watch the parent story to watch and enjoy this one.
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