Reviews

Not Very Shadowy but Loved the Case Solving w/the Majority bringing it Back to the Main one.

I wanted to see WXY in something that wasn't a costume drama. This was republican era so I knew it would be beautiful with costumes and sets. He absolutely handled it very well. I wish more versatile roles for him. The rest of the cast handled themselves well too.

Pros: It all begins with a case from 20 something years ago where the ML's sister and the FL are involved in a kidnapping and child trafficking operation. ML's sister is missing and possibly presumed dead but we don't find out until the very end. The FL ends up having amnesia but ML knows who she is. The initial big case is the one that they are looking to solve as it's a big cold case and yet many of the other cases within the series tieback to this original case as unfortunately, the child trafficking and other horrible things are happening to young women and girls. There are other cases that have nothing to do with the big case which I like the fact that they added sprinkled into the series and that it's not just about this main case. There are a lot of middle villains and many villains that do their part.

When meeting again as adults the ML and FL at first get off on the wrong foot because the ML uses her as bait to lure out the killer(s)/person (people) responsible for his sister's disappearance. After a period of another two years, the FL joins the police force where the ML is an inspector and at first, though not too fond of each other, they do grow to trust each other with the help of an intelligence dude Mr. Du who has a thing for the FL but once he realizes and it takes a while and quite a few people to try to get him to understand that she has no feelings for him and he sees that the ML and the FL have grown to care about each other, he does the gentlemanly thing and gives up. Instead, he and the medical examiner aka Dr. Ding get together.

I guess you can call them the four amigos as they go around trying to solve each case that either rolls back to the main one or find the murderers respectively. Other actors in the support section do a great job too. I have to say that the psycho serial killer with a grin was an awesome antagonist. When someone is so creepy with the way they kill that it makes you think of Silence of the Lambs and Buffalo Bill's line, "it rubs the lotion on its skin", you know that's someone believable.

I like that there was romance in it, but it didn't overpower the main theme. I also like the fact that the flashbacks were necessary, but also didn't overpower the episodes or were repetitive but instead they moved the story along. We got our HE with the ML proposing to the FL and he found his sister alive which is great for them both and the ending was very satisfactory.

Cons: Many people didn't see this as an issue, but it did kind of make me feel strange when the actress who played the FL for the most part, walked around with a frown on her face and didn't properly react to emotions unless it was happiness or love. I have seen this actress before and I do not recall the same. That and she, for some reason would always walk into danger alone. It was like she was a magnet to somehow end up by herself and at the mercy of some thug or killer, though she was always either rescued by the ML or was able to take care of herself; slightly. There had to be a lot of suspended disbelief, especially for the other main antagonist because of how quickly everybody figured out who he was, even though they tried so hard to hide his face in the shadows or behind poles it was quite obvious who he was, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out either.

Another thing that was very strange and unnecessary was to portray both leads as superhuman because they would get shot and bounce back like nothing happened, going after whoever shot them in most cases the creepy serial killer guy. And lastly, how his sister actually survived living in some random village for 20 years vaguely remembering her brother or at least the embroidery that he did for her while other children that were trafficked were killed or harmed, so it didn't really make sense for her to survive unless she was bought by a couple that needed kids. Only rational explanation I have.

Would I recommend it? Despite a lot of inconsistencies and strange things; the series was actually a great watch, even though it only lasted four days. Watch for the cases, for the actors, and of course, the beautiful costumes and scenery that always adorn the Republican era.

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Watching this drama is like eating sugar

This drama by best exceeded all expectations I had for it. When I first read the description I thought it was going to be the typical drama with annoying second leads but to my relief it wasn't.
The main couple had a lot of chemistry and although at times some interactions were cringy its the type of cringy that makes you smile. I liked how they overcame everything and didn't break up. Also how they slowly fell in love. Jin Bei and Shi Yun are probably one of my favorite couples in Chinese dramas.

The side stories were also very cute.


I recommend watching this drama if you want a story with no annoying second leads, or meddlesome parents. Its a love story between two people. As soon as you get into the drama you will notice that watching it is like eating something very sweet.

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I was a bit worried about another live-action adaptation of an anime / manga, but I wasn't disappointed at all!

Visually, it is very well done: CGI is great and characters seem "realistic" enough, if you can say that about manga characters (what I mean is they didn't overdo it with the orange hair ^^)
The visuals are similar to what you see in the anime, which I thought was really cool. It did feel a little weird during certain fight scenes, but considerering the crazy fights featured in the series, they did good job at bringing them to life.

Casting was flawless in my opinion: Fukushi Sota was a fantastic Ichigo (I fell a bit in love) and I really liked Sugisaki Hana as Rukia. They both showed the characters' emotions really, really well.
I loved the secondary characters too, especially Saotome Taichi as Renji, Mano Erina as Orihime, and Yoshizawa Ryo as Uryu. Miyavi as Byakuya was also a pleasant surprise!

Most of the movie follows the "main" storyline of the anime's first season (Ichigo and Rukia against Renji and Byakuya, sort of), although it had to be adapted for the movie format. For that reason, the ending is completely different and it gives a "proper" closure to the Ichigo and Rukia's storyline (no awful cliffhanger).

I am overall very satisfied with this movie, and I really hope they will make another one!
Except for the ending, it is a fair adaptation of the anime (I haven't read the manga, so I can't compare).
If you are a Bleach fan, I do recommend watching it! Just remember it's a one-movie format (so far), so they had to make a story adapted to that format. Keep your mind open and enjoy our beautiful Sota as ichigo ^^

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This movie started out a bit strange so I was expecting a disaster but in no time the plot kicked in and then just whoa! This is the kind of movie that gets to the bottom of the human psyche, of the mechanics of war, and how riled up armies don't "win" ANYTHING but a false sense of power. Wars happen because we stop seeing the other person as a human being. And when that happens false ideologies are used by cunning, greedy, power-hungry masters to drive the rest into a prison that only looks like freedom. War casualties are not power, dead bodies are not strength, and torn nations are not trophies. It's just a few people at the top using these cruelties to get what they want. That's the message of this film. Yes, it's a tragedy. Yes, the dark humor is always grotesquely funny because humanity survives even war and plague. As for the rest of the stuff, like I said beginning is a bit wonky but just stick with it. All the actors did a good job. All the characters were fighting their own fights. DOs dancing... Just wow. This was probably one of the best things to cast an EXO member. So, absolutely watch this movie.

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This movie is raw, bloody and in my opinion can even called a bit grotesque.

Sometimes the movie became confusing as there were many "sides" to this story. Also what I think that should have given this movie more power is to focus more on the act that happend itself and why. I am not too sure that it was that believe-able to put in so many country problems at the same time in the movie. . I am intrigued by the political standpoint it takes and I found that very interesting on the other hand. Still I liked the way the movie proceeded and the story did develop over time, but they should focus more on the main point instead side points.
Dont let Lee dong Suk Lure you in as "he is a pretty boy" and all that. In this movie he is not the flower boy, I despised him in this movie, so in fact he played his role perfectly. Him and the others acted very well in this movie. I liked that they gave Lee Dong Suk this role and they should do that more often.
The story is dark, not noir dark, but damn dark. This movie isn't for everyone because it includes loads of blood and no scene is blurred out, so be carefull.

Watch this movie if you are into gory, revenge seeking dark thrillers.
Don't watch this for Lee Dong Suk's pretty face and you won't find any trace of romance in here.

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More gifworthy than watchworthy...

This is the story of the highly annoying customer service expert who attracts the attention of a kind overbearing slightly aloof CEO, because honestly is there any other kind of CEO in drmaland? And goes on a journey filled with second hand embarrassment and scheming, scheming as far as the first 7 or 8 episodes reach there will be scheming. When we finally get a break from the scheming we get some pretty decent romantic gestures, friendships a and a bunch of steamy kisses... After that we get some more scheming... before they call it a day and the drama comes to its end.

Was this good? Nope,
Was it bad? Nope,
Will I remember this drama in a month? Probably not.

But it did make way for some really good gifs!

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I'm sorry, but everything I've seen in China before and after in terms of acting and cinematography just pales in comparison to Rise of the Phoenixes. The series is embedded with layers and layers of pathos, and the characters seemed so real and well-fleshed out that the lines between fiction and fact blurred. The pacing may seem tonally slow, but I was completely invested. Why? Because the character interactions were often raw, cathartic and deeply affecting, and the issues brought forth and questions asked were often times painfully real and humanely complicated to answer. It also helped that they had a budget and production values fit for a king. The series is truly a sumptuous feast for the eyes. The music? Puts my emotions through the wringer. Oh my poor heart!

Do I wish it could have ended better? Yes. But I think it has more to do with the fact that I bought so much into Ning Yi and Zhiwei's romance that I just wanted them to be happy together no matter what it cost. Reflecting on how it could have ended better, I realized that it is a difficult task. The ending felt rushed and disjointed. But if it was 100 episodes instead of 70, would I have been satisfied? Probably not. I would want to see my Phoenix couple together for 100 more.

Initially, I knocked off a star for the rushed pacing towards the end and the lazy use of flashbacks in some parts, and another for some really messy writing towards the end. But I asked myself, would I watch it again? If so, I would restore one star for replay value. The answer was a loud and resounding yes.

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The Dark Path.

Day Breaker is a chilling undercover narcotics cop thriller that is part of iQiyi's 2022 Light On Series lineup. The drama is set in the fictional Hua City in a lawless Southeast Asian nation that bears an uncanny resemblance to Thailand. In this made-up world, the country is overrun by drug cartels and the police force is under resourced and susceptible to corruption. This drama has won high praise but it is one that must be watched with eyeballs glued to the screen due to the intense and elaborate plot with myriad twists and mind benders.

Luo Xiang is an undercover narcotics cop pretending to be a mole in a local drug cartel. A planned takedown of a major drug deal goes horribly awry, apparently killing Luo Xiang. He re-emerges five years later as Chen Mo, a taxi driver who is tasked by Liao Yongjia to assume the identity Luo Xiang and reunite with the cartel. Li Yifeng really impresses in this role as someone juggling multiple identities while walking on the edge of discovery. His Luo Xiang has lived a lie as Chen Mo for so long that it is not clear he knows what his reality is, much less his former lover Su Qingzhu or his violent, jacked up cartel brother Longge. Luo Xiang's fascinating and oddly genuine bromance with Longge recalls Li Yifeng's iconic and manipulative performance as double agent Chen Shen in Sparrow. One of my biggest disappointments with Day Breaker is how this relationship was cheated of a satisfying denouement. While not a romance, the subtle longing and painful chemistry of the unspoken behind Luo Xiang's lies in his interactions with Su Qingzhu adds another layer to Li Yifeng's outstanding portrayal. Unfortunately this is another less than great role for Song Yi as Su Qingzhu is another character that is short changed at the end.

Both Feng Delun and Gong Haibin put in highly praiseworthy performances as Liao Yongjia and Yu Shenghai, Chen Mo's handlers in the undercover operation. In a cartel infested place like Hua City, everyone has a price and is forced to walk down the dark path, it is just a matter of to what degree. Thus as Chen Mo watches them wondering if either or both of them were moles that sold out Luo Xiang years ago, they are also testing Chen Mo to see if he is really Luo Xiang. The interplay between these three core characters as their stressors and motivators are revealed is the best, most intense part of the drama. While all three characters delivered riveting performances, it is Gong Haibin's Yu Shenghai that surprised and moved me the most and made me experience everything from rage to pity.

They are too many rival cartels in this drama and too many drug lords. Only two of them - Longge and Song Cai are multi-faceted and interesting. Longge is the ultimate outrageous fictional character, gruesomely and unnervingly violent and bizarrely comical at the same time. His wild affection for and trust in Luo Xiang clouds his survival instincts and innate shrewdness. There is an unpredictability in each of his outbursts that had my heart in my throat many times. Song Cai is also a complex cold blooded killer with his own code of conduct and many moments where his sentimentality and humanity pokes through. Both are too cursorily dealt with and sidelined in favour of less interesting villains.

While A-Xi is adorable and has some really funny scenes with Chen Mo, they were too few and far between. In general, humor is not well used to diffuse the tension in this overly convoluted plot. The drama could have ended at a climax at the end of Yu Shenghai's arc. Instead, the final two episodes rush through a contrived flash bang ending that relies on poorly fleshed out final villains, unnecessary twists and shocking but unworthy outcomes for good, smart characters. While it doesn't completely ruin the drama, this plot demands too much attention for it to sag like this at the end. Thus I must reduce my overall rating from 8.5 to 8.0 but I can still highly recommend it to fans of this genre.

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SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK MEETS SCOOBY DOO IN JOSEON ERA !!

What a wonderful & unexpected little gem of a show! I started watching this purely out of curiosity thanks to many positive comments left by netizens on various forums about The Forbidden Marriage (TFM) and I was most definitely not disappointed. After a very long time I came across a K-Drama that was this captivating and entertaining. The story is about a King who is in grief for 7 years since the death of his first wife under mysterious circumstances. The female lead is a small-time crook who due to reasons ends up lying to the King that she can communicate with the spirit of the deceased queen, hence starting her journey to not only heal the king but also unraveling the conspiracies within the palace against him. The following are my reasons why everyone should definitely watch this show (no spoilers):

1. WELL WRITTEN STORY: These days many K-drama and C-drama lovers have complained that many shows start promisingly but lose their potential midway or a story that should’ve had lesser episodes gets dragged on unnecessarily. All these problems do not plague TFM. Twelve episodes perfectly finish the main and sub plots without rushed ending or leaving us bored. I give full credit to the script writers for succeeding to do so. Also, the story was not at all predictable even though there was nothing wildly unique about it. Not many shows succeed to do so. TMF was a refreshing story in every aspect, from start to end.

2. GREAT BLEND OF GENRES: So many genres were infused in TMF: romance, comedy, suspense, mystery etc. But the makers were able to blend them well to narrate the story. It could’ve easily been a melodramatic romantic story about the ML trying to overcome his past with the help of FL (like Silver Linings Playbook) or become a Joseon era based royal mystery solving expedition with the sprinkle of comedy (like Scooby Doo), but they blended these aspects to produce an entertaining well-rounded show. Korean shows are usually exceptional when it comes to this style of storytelling. Also, the comedy in this show was executed to the point without being corny or silly. It fit seamlessly with the main plot rather than being funny for the heck of it, the comedy served a purpose.

3. UNIQUE OST: Thank God that they avoided ballads!! I have nothing against ballads, but Korean dramas tend to overuse this genre of music especially in Sageuk shows. But TMF has a very interesting blend of traditional sounds with modern music. The upbeat music infused with traditional Korean sounds made the watching experience refreshing and entertaining. It definitely added more substance to the story.

4. MODERN LEADS IN HISTORICAL TIMES: Both the lead characters in the show were fleshed out ingeniously. The ML is a king with average fighting abilities, is adequately smart, righteous and has TONS of feelings for a man in the Joseon era. At the time when men were expected to be strong with no ounce of weakness or soft emotional traits, our lead is the poster boy of soft masculinity. This kind of masculinity is usually depicted in modern K-dramas and not in Sageuks. So, seeing a man who can cry, be emotional, open to learning, empathetic to women, has his ego in check & can handle a prank or two in Joseon era was wonderful to watch. On the other hand, at the time when women had little to no rights, freedom or agency, our FL is seen exercising all of this and much more. She is probably the boldest character out of all and had the capacity to outsmart even the brightest minds of the time due to her ability to adapt and survive even in the harshest circumstances. I absolutely adored both the leads.

5. UNPREDICTABLE CASTING: If someone would’ve told me a year back that Kim Young Dae is being casted as a king for a Sageuk I would’ve been skeptical. Young Dae has grown on me as an actor over the years and I have seen him evolve since Its okay to be sensitive. He always had my attention, but I felt he has not reached his true potential and needed more experience. But I am highly impressed with his performance in TMF. He was absolutely enchanting and enigmatic as the king with great comic sense and romantic flare. He commanded the show with his stellar performance, and I am so glad that he was given a chance to shine. Hope he continues to get good scripts. Park Ju Hyun as the FL was a very surprising casting choice. This character is unlike anything she has done in the past. But I am glad that they casted her as she brought an earnest, soft yet vivacious & joyful performance that was required for the character. I look forward to her future projects. The second ML, Noh Tae Nam was an absolute jerk and loath worthy man in Military Prosecutor Doberman. Seeing him in TMF as a poised & gentle Joseon officer was wonderfully shocking. He is what people call a natural raw acting talent. I cannot wait for him to be casted as a main lead. The supporting cast was brilliant, and they held their ground very well. They uplifted the story as much the main cast.

TMF is a must watch for drama lovers…I cannot recommend it enough. If you seek a fun time binge watching an entertaining joy ride of a short drama, then TMF is for you.

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This has all the elements for melodrama, from story to character graphs. The story, along with the poster image of the couple with the cute boy is what initially interested me in the drama.

The drama delivers on the story. The characters are interesting and even those we come to dislike are shown to have a different side to them.

Through most of the series, you feel sorry for the male lead, for what he goes through. But, in a gratifying sense, when he figures it all out, his reaction and the questions he asks are the very same ones that's been running in our mind until then.
The kid is very cute and has been used to obvious advantage throughout.

Another character that leaves an impression is that of Guang Xi's mother who is antagonistic from the beginning but gets a 180degree change in character later on.

The one problem I had with this drama is that I didn't like the character of the female lead for almost all of the drama. Most of the time, Mu Cheng acted like a damsel in distress, like she needed saving from someone or something. There was some level of sincerity to the character in the first part of the drama which is lost and I couldn't recover it in the latter half. I think all the lies and denial got to me.

The actors (save for the female lead for lack of expressions) are pretty good. The photogenic moments they show in the OST are beautiful but aren't really very significant moments in the drama itself.

The drama in all is very watchable for the situations and overall feel.

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Not your usual ghost story

When I started watching “Something in My Room” I had virtually zero expectations in a show that was airing on Channel 3 in Thailand, that wasn’t known for investing a lot of time and resources in creating a pure BL drama. Plus, Nut wasn’t exactly my first choice for lead actor as his work in “Oxygen” was quite underwhelming. And, the plot of ghost and boy meet and fall in love was already explored in “He’s Coming To Me” with Singto and Ohm, in the two episodes of “Y-Destiny” that had Pee and Au and in the Thai-Korea co-production “Peach of Time” with Jimmy and Choi Jae-hyun. However, while not perfect, “Something in My Room” became an interesting choice because of how the director managed to adapt the work of Raflael into this drama and because the acting was better than I expected. And before I dive deeper into the show, I’m acknowledging that the plot is an issue. We are all aware that ghosts can’t touch, kiss or have sex with living humans. Singto and Ohm and Jimmy and Jae-hyun managed to kiss in their series but when Singto and Ohm tried to take a picture, Singto never appeared in any picture. In this series, Phob slowly is able to gain more “self-awareness” to touch and handle things and him and Phat do take pictures together with Phob being visible (at least that’s what I think… it might be that he is only visible to Phat even in the pictures but that theory was never tested) and then have quite a lot of romantic moments, especially in episode 10 (really, they kissed so many times just in this episode). So, yes, I’m ignoring the fact that the plot is quite impossible but as this is the centerpiece of the series, I’ll let it go.

Now, let’s talk about what worked:

a) Plan and Nut: Both actors are nearly acting newbies as Nut is the older one (28 years) and with “Oxygen” as his main role in the past and a guest role in another Thai drama. Plan had been in another Channel 3 drama in a support role but at 24 years of age, he finally got his opportunity to take the lead in a series. Thankfully, the chemistry between them was quite good and that facilitated things between them as they had to navigate through difficult sets of emotions like Phat’s shock that he was able to see a ghost, Phob’s uncertainty about his past and his future, then both realizing they liked each other, to the end of the series that is simply a tear-jerker with them having sex and then having to say goodbye. Nut was able to showcase more of his personality as he felt incredibly stiff in “Oxygen” and Plan was able to showcase that he is more than capable of being a lead actor.

b) The ending: Most of the usual BL fans will be disappointed with this ending as it is a partially sad one. I say partially, because they do end up being together, but to get there, Phat has to live the rest of his life and then die of cancer in order for him to see Phob again and reunite in the afterlife. That being said, I’m ok with that… I was fearing some sort of ending with Phob suddenly coming back to life or Dream casting a spell from her book to make Phob live again or Phat thinking about dying just to follow Phob. Luckily, that was not the case and we see both characters enjoying their last moments together, Phob saying goodbye to Dream and then saying goodbye to Phat in very emotional scenes. Then, many years later, Phat returns to the house where all began and reveals he is dying of cancer and that he is ready to see Phob, which happens in the end when Phob comes to bring Phat with him. It was a somewhat sad ending but it was well crafted and without any ridiculous plot twists. Aside from the weird end scenes when we see the house again and some roaming evil spirits walk around it and one does end up getting inside the house... what was the purpose of that after the nice Phob-Phat afterlife reunion?

c) Dream: I was hoping for a strong female character that didn’t have to act like crazy, super jealous or bitchy just to earn some attention from the male character. Faii was a pleasant surprise as her character was a mystery at first because of her resentment towards her dead father and her friendship with Phat. She looked like she had a crush on Phat but it was actually the other way around but both end up being best of friends. Dream has also the ability to see dead people but struggles with that ability and wants to suppress it at first, but when Phob appears she decides to help Phat see Phob. Faii dealt with all those emotions adequately and provided a strong support to both Nut and Plan.

Now, what didn’t work…

d) The rest of the support actors: Phat’s mother was played by Took, for those who remember her, she was Frank’s crazy mother in “My Tee” who was completely against him having a boyfriend. In this case, she was a “shipper” as she tells Phat that if he decides to love a guy, she will be happy about it. Her only important moments were in episode 9 when she begs Phob not to take Phat with him and to leave him alone and in episode 10 when she tells Phat that even if Phob is not there anymore, she will be with him. The rest of her scenes came with Nuan (played by Phiao) and were mostly useless scenes about the house and Nuan’s past. Phiao also had plenty of weird moments as Nuan because she knew Phob’s family as she was the neighbor who fell in love with Phob’s father only to be rejected by him and indirectly causing Phob to die as he watched that and thought his father was cheating on his mother, began walking and got hit by a car and died. Nuan was obsessed with Phob’s father as she thought he would be over the grief of losing his wife and will take her immediately, but was rejected once again. Nuan’s father turns out to be the house guardian spirit that she is keeping there as punishment for how he treated Nuan in the past. And she had cameras installed in Phat's house and she would watch them at night from her own TV, but the purpose (aside from being a creep and a stalker) was never really revealed.
Green played Ben and had a brief appearance as Phob’s ex-love interest that ends up being a manipulative person who then supposedly changed and produced an awkward theater play to tell his story... I mean, he knows Phob died and he feels that guilty that he decided to do the play to show some remorse perhaps?... The reality is that I couldn’t trust him in the 2-3 episodes he appeared. Green’s acting is just like his nickname, super green, as he was stiff as a board in “Y-Destiny” and he hasn’t improved much for this series and for “The Tuxedo”, so that was a bit of a bummer.
But, the worst of all, was Big playing Luck. Big previously appeared in “My Mate Match” and as the bed-ridden and dying of a brain tumor P’Pha in “Gen Y 2” but this character took the cake of weirdness. He likes Dream and thinks Dream and Phat are hiding a relationship and something else so he begins by hacking Phat’s laptop. Both forgive him quite quickly but he can’t open up to Dream so they break up. He finally has a heart-to-heart with Phat and then with Dream and end up together. All of that was more or less OK, except for the part that he is obsessed with aliens as apparently his parents were abducted by them in the past. Then he sees a flashing light in episode 9 and wonders if the aliens are still kidnapping people… I mean, WHAT?? That was probably the most bizarre moment of the show as it made no sense to the main story, it provided nothing useful to the plot and it solved nothing.

e) Some of the editing: I appreciate having the chance of watching the longer version of the episodes as the shorter ones lost anywhere between 25 to 35 minutes of screen time. Some might argue that the edited scenes were probably irrelevant moments like scenes that had all the secondary actors, but I think that some Phat/Phob moments were cut a bit short as well because of that.

So, in the end, “Something in My Room” ended up being more than just a ghost and boy fall in love story. It had a lot of lessons on life and death, on forgiving others, on communicating with others to avoid misunderstandings, on second chances in life, on dealing with the loss of a loved one, on dealing with rejection, on finding new love, on realizing that nothing lasts forever, on dealing with the fact that we are all going to die one day, on moving on and letting go, etc. The show was a very decent BL proposal for those, like me, who are tired of engineer/medical students, poorly written plots, bad acting, bad directing, and the usual Thai BL clichés.

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