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Good combination of tropes
Is this another poor woman/rich man baseline? Yes.Are there many unrealistic coincidental occurrences where there are even doppelgangers? Yes.
Are our leads almost perfect in everything they do and unattainably idealist? Yes.
Does the leads looks exactly the same despite a decade in passing of time? Yes.
Is the plot unique to others? Not really.
BUT... the chemistry the cast exhibits mostly overrides all of the above. This was a very fun series that does well with not leaning too heavily into any theme (politics, legal, romance, humor, etc.) in particular, which created a really good balance for any easy watch. It also does a good job with moving the plot forward in a condensed format. There are tearjerker moments early on and the story could have been ended by around episode six.
I also came in thinking this was going lean mostly towards resolving multiple legal cases in Joseon. While it is an importance aspect of the series, it's really just straightforward cases sprinkled in, with a lean toward the overall main culprit.
This type of series has a bit of everything for those with different genre preferences as long as you can get over the initial "not another one of these..." thought process. And as a slight spoiler, it was quite humorous to see the slight role reversal where the man is the graceful dancer (don't think I've ever seen this in any other historical series before) and the woman is more of the brute. Kudos to the cast.
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Grand Tutor is in the house.
Dearest lovers,How does one become a princess? Find yourself a man who calls you his princess, and you will be one!
The drama ‘Be My Princess’ tells such a tale. What a lucky girl.
He is a famous actor with fame, awards, and money, while she is a part-time actress with none of those things. Jeremy Tsui and Zhou Jie Qiong (Kulkyung) are well-matched in this older man/younger woman drama. It has been mentioned that JT tends to overshadow his female leads. Not here. ZJQ holds her own with those expressive and dramatic eyes.
Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, back to the drama. He casts her to be his female lead in his latest work, ‘Grand Chief Cabinet Minister’, despite her lack of experience. Once the filming completes, he has an accident. It caused him to retain his memories as the character of ‘Grand Tutor’. Amnesia, I tell you dear one, is still in vogue in dramaland.
And this is where the fun begins. As part of his treatment plan, all the other characters must accept him as the Grand Tutor from the Ming Dynasty. We get to see him adapting to 21st-century life, finding his role in society, and taking care of his princess. The other fun bit was watching those around him, adjusting to the new normal – his manager/best friend, the princess, his caretaker and so forth.
I do note dear one, our 21st century Grand Tutor is one sharp dresser with impeccable manners. Oh, how I wish I meet such a man.
A few grumbles from yours truly. The drama could reduce the number of amnesia episodes and a little bit more time as himself in the final quarter. I would love to see him piecing together his “lost memories” as Grand Tutor and winning back his princess. Secondly, atrocious sound effects. The feet sounds are sore to my delicate ears. They were abnormally louder and mismatched. Third, damsel-in-distress. Someone is always saving our princess. Why dear writers? Let her be worthy of that crown. Finally, is the “evil stepsister”. She is so basic, that she simply whines, screams, and stomps her feet. My drama soul just yawns. Oh? Did you know she is meant to be a university student in her early 20s? They dress her up like a total old auntie. Fire that costume person!
Should you watch this drama? For a romance lover, it is a yes. Your eyes will feast at the beauty of the leads, your feelings will get cute warm fuzziness and your brain will have a rest.
Oh, be aware dear heart, episodes 1-28 are the actual story, with episodes 29-30 seen as “bonus” where they stitched the drama our leads were filming ‘Grand Chief Cabinet Minister’.
Signing off and I’m going back to watch my favourite bits,
Lady Ajumma.
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How far will you go and how much will you risk.... for justice?
Is it a matter of satisfying ones curiosity or a quest for justice. A stubbornness not to let go or the conviction that justice should prevail..... What is it that will make someone fight tooth and nail to right a wrong for another man even at the risk of losing everything?The story starts with a man caught red handed with a body in a suitcase at a subway (the train station not the sandwich place) and made a bomb threat in an attempt to escape. Everyone saw it, he confessed to it... pretty open and shut. Or so it seemed. The case that had garnered the public’s attentions and was witnessed by many took a dramatic turn when the confessed criminal denied his crimes in an open court.
The drama revolves around a group of people trying to solve an unjust crime. Two sets:
1. These are the group of people tasked with solving the subway case. A detective known for solving hard-to-solve cases was brought on to investigate the crimes of the man who was caught with a body in a bag but withdrew his confession on his day of arraignment.
2. The second group are fighting to bring to light the wrongful death of a volunteer teacher.
Two sets of people, two different timelines. The drama centered about how these two groups intersect and how one group has to know more about the other in order to solve their own case.
I watch a lot of crime dramas. To say I have watched over a thousand episodes would not be an exaggeration. I have gotten to the point where I can pretty quickly see through the plot, that I now have little expectation of mysteries to surprise me. They rarely do. Instead whether I can see through the plot or not what I care more about now is how well the drama/show executed it. I dislike mediocrity in procedural dramas, and I tend to lose interest pretty quickly. This drama, however, kept me engaged to the very end. If you are someone who might see through the mystery fairly fast than stay for the execution. Each drama has its own unique way of telling a story and sometimes what matters more, what’s satisfying more, is not what the story is but how its told.
This drama was well written and well acted. The way this drama unfolded was by giving you bits and pieces and piquing your interest to finding out what comes next. Much like the torn pieces of photo you’ll come to see at the end of every episode, you can see the plot come together bit by bit by each passing episode until everything was nicely taped together at the end.
Although the overall drama is good, what caught my attention is Bai Yu’s performance. From the wide eyed brilliant and kind law graduate to the unwavering prosecutor to a broken man, Bai Yu’s performance has been excellent and moving. He gave an emotional performance and you can’t help but be moved by the character’s kindness, raise your hope with the characters conviction and determination, feel dejected and indignant at the character’s misfortunes. I could not help myself from shedding a few tears at his wretchedness.
At the end it may all seem unfair and unjust that the people who put everything on the line to bring the truth to light may end up sacrificing more than those who did the criming. But then again, isn’t it the same as reality? Justice doesn’t always mean fair.
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DO NOT WATCH IT FOR THE ROMANCE
Let me start this review with saying that the score is an absolute joke. I'm genuinely upset by how unfair people are about this drama and it's actually very simple, for once: if you don't like it - it's not for you. Yeah, it sounds mean but it's true and that's okay. The reason why people give low rating is that a) they got bored because they couldn't follow the plot and b) the lack of romance. These are *THE ONLY* reasons why the score is so low. If you don't believe me, I encourage you to find me a low (below 7) review for this drama. It doesn't exist because there is nothing wrong with it, it's all matter of personal taste and preferences. If you think this is another Overdo, Lament of Autumn, etc. -> it's not. You have to follow the plot otherwise get lost. Romance is hinted here and there, but they are not dramatically in love and pining. That's just not happening.This is a male centered revenge story set in Republican era. Think of mix of Now You See Me, Peaky Blinders, Unveil: Jadewind and Cases Between Us. Basically, con the conman who is playing a con on you with another side secret con, but they know about the con, and you know that they know that you know.... As you can see, this is plot driven drama with layers and plot twists, and it is very well made blend of thriller, horror and comedy. And the comedy was unexpected for me, because judging by the trailers, I expected much darker story, but looking back the levity was needed because *it is* very dark, but sometimes the man who likes to mutilate children is also a complete idiot.
I don't want to say anything more, it's really difficult to write a review on something where everything works. There is no psychotic editing, we've seen in dramas lately, the script is very good, costumes are wonderful, the acting is amazing - Li Xian and Li Yitong are fantastic and Liu Guanlin, who plays Chengming's sidekick, I have to give massive applause because with a role that seemed unimportant, he managed to make third main character, that's how good he was. The score is wonderful, both opening credits songs are fire, it's hard to decide which one is better, I fell in love with both. (Btw, I've seen people saying that the credits are AI, that is possible but unconfirmed, so take it with a grain of salt.)
While the ending left opening for season 2, I'm not sure if it's necessary but I'd happily take it. If it's gonna happen is a bigger question. Not taking the MDL rating seriously, but the numbers weren't amazing, they weren't bad, but not great.
I 100% recommend this drama if you want something slightly spooky for the autumn, you care about the plot and characters journey and simply want something different than is the current standard idol drama. If you don't, that's okay, but please be a grown up and don't give it 1* because there are no kissy kisses. Thank you :)
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The over-all execution was really awesome, flawless, for me. The flow of the film from the black and white to the colored one was superb. I am not a big fan of bloody movies but I am glad I watched this. I am also very glad that they stuck to the manga as best as they can.
If there is one this I feel that is lacking, it is the musical scoring. I don't know if it was as intended but I felt like some scenes would have been more effective with a good background music.
Full review here: https://elijahmaliksmom.wordpress.com/2017/11/14/blade-of-the-immortal/
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disjointed with little payoff
Overall: there were too many that flitted in and out and the writing didn't make me care about any of them. 8 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on SC Flourish Entertainment YouTube channel worldwide cut version https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRPu3eZdevD0uneOl67QZkO__MzzMLdeU&si=Uee0jqd9j2s36QMr and VIU Thailand uncut.Content Warnings: murder, attempted murder, scary images, blood, past: deaths/murders, suicide, drugging, theft, manipulation
What I Liked
- visuals
- supernatural element
Room For Improvement
- the character/world building exposition dump
- was confused by a character introduced in part 2 and then another new character in part 3 of episode 1, characters flitted in and out
- love triangle
- did not feel chemistry
- comedy sound effects didn't make things funny
- character actions/reactions didn't make sense
- even at the end, a character didn't believe what another character experienced
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THE GOOD:
- Baek Chan Mi is a really refreshing & charismatic character. She's basically the violent, hardened, wild-card type that's usually a role occupied by men so it's great to see it changed up here. Choi Kang Hee kills it and is definitely the star of the show. Even better, she's allowed to be soft and cry without it ever compromising what a badass she is. Loved her from start to finish, she has about 4 of my 6.5 stars all to herself.
- The chemistry between the 3 leads which grows naturally and stays strong throughout the show.
- I think Lee Sang Yeob is my favourite (male) actor. I'm just going to say it. He's played such diverse characters in everything I've seen him in & he kills it every time. His character here is the perfect fit for Chan Mi and their chemistry is the cute, lived-in type that's so fun.
- Most of the comedy is done well and is basically all off the back of the idea that this really is just a normal office romcom drama with a spy twist. Every joke begins there and I don't mind it, made me laugh!
- The action sequences. To be clear, I will never *not* be a sucker for ladies kicking ass. I feel both attracted to them and empowered in myself so it's a win-win everytime.
THE OKAY:
- The overall plot is a little weak and only gets weaker as the show goes on, but it's not completely atrocious, everything follows the correct story beats, so I can live with it.
- Hwang Mi Soon is the housewife spy and I mostly really enjoyed her, she's clearly the most experienced member of the team and it shows. But sometimes jokes were made at her expense instead of with her (shitty husband that a spy like her would never put up with; gags about her weight) that I blame on the writers and brought down her character.
- Ye Eun but only at the start when she got to use her skills & her storyline seemed to show promise.
THE BAD:
- Ye Eun when her storyline & characterisation was dropped in favour of just an AWFUL romance plot I started off not giving a shit about and ended up hating. I can forgive her being a crybaby and bad at fieldwork - she's a rookie. But in exchange she's supposed to be this excellent hacker/tech whiz. Spoiler alert: she's not. The team's actual tech whiz is more competent than she is and her storyline ultimately serves no purpose except as props to Chan Mi & WORST OF ALL... Woo Won.
- Woo Won. Hello most pointless character. Exists solely to piss me off. No relation to the main plot. Starts off whiny and immature and stays that way til the end but somehow gets a happy ending anyway? BS. Jun and his beautiful face is the only saving grace here. Nothing else.
- I won't spoil but the finale leaves a lot to be desired. Plus, this show should've been 12 episodes. As with so many kdramas before it, it suffered from its company mandated run-time and began to really lag in the middle-end stretch.
Overall, if you want a female-focused drama with hijinks, a soft male lead and some ass-kicking, check it out! Just be warned that it really isn't that deep and if you want Ye Eun to get her moment or think she knows more about what's happening because they told us she was super smart and you're waiting for that to turn up in the actual show... (it's okay, i'm fine, unfilled potential who?) then give up bc it'll never happen. Not bad. Not great. Only the cuteness puts it a few steps up from ok.
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This review may contain spoilers
I first saw this on a BL list, but this is not BL if anyone is wondering. There's a rather banal scene in which one of the characters pretend to be the other's boyfriend to save him from a girl's jealous boyfriend, and the boyfriend forces them to kiss to prove it. The "kiss" is obviously faked (by the actors, not the characters) and not very funny though I'm not even sure if the scene was meant to be funny.The story, if we can call it one, is about two friends who start a business. The scenes are rather pointless. It seems to be a comedy at some points, but most of it is not funny. One scene shows some potential to be a funny satire: the scene in which the two characters play the victims on social media after being maligned by a customer. However, the potential is not fulfilled.
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Kind Of Felt Like Thai Dairy Industry Propaganda, But Cute
This movie is actually four overlapping stories. They all take place in and around a dairy farm in Chiang Mai. I know some Thai, but was really scratching my head through most of this movie because of the Isaan dialect. Thankfully pretty much all Thai movies in theaters have English subtitles and Thai subtitles for the Thais who don't understand Isaan.The movie was pretty cute. The way it all tied together at the end kind of made me wonder if the movie was being funded by dairy industry lobbyists or something. The movie is basically four stories, milk --> cheese --> delivery of cheese --> cheesecake, and then has this corny ending monologue about all the love that goes into the process of producing the final cheesecake. It was a fun time and had a very indie vibe to it. It's also super gay.
First story: Two girls play music to make cows happy so they'll produce more milk (friendship... or maybe more?).
Second story: A hostel owner also runs cheese making classes and uses the milk from the cows in the first story to make cheese with a stressed out Bangkok office worker (suspiciously non-hetero).
Third story: A delivery girl getting into drama with a high school ex looking to hitch a ride to the train station while delivering the cheese from the second story (pretty gay, but sad).
Fourth story: A small cake shop owner starts teaching her annoying neighbour how to bake (very, very gay).
If you're in Thailand, I would definitely recommend seeing it. It's a very cute, feel-good movie and very few other people seem to be watching it, so there's a good chance you can get the theater all to yourself. I paid for deluxe, but sat in VIP hehehe.
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main lead is soo stupid
auu bru i got so mad watching ts cz like the main lead be getting me sooooo mad, girl the last time i cud rmbr she was deaf? so y the flip flop was she leaning her head close to her door when do shik was outside the door after he stopped wacking his hammer thing, as if she can hear anything like there was a big enough hole on that door girl he cuda js grabbed u by the neck and killed u on the spot r u that dumbb?? or u js relying on ur “im the main character” incstinct auff anyways i dropped it halfway its too much for me, not to mention all the good actors/actresses on hereee not the best movie i watched wud rate abt 6/10 honestly (no one wud be that dumb irl) pluss does she rly think the guy whos sisters abt to die will rly chose to save her life by putting his and his sisters lives on the edge?? (im rly rly sry for my grammer i was lwky mad writing ts:>)Was this review helpful to you?
sunshine/softie, friends-to-lovers, crush, bisexual identity, out gay, rich/poor
BL grew up with this one - a truly lovely and special little show featuring the extremely rare pairing of sunshine/sunshine AKA the cinnamon roll couple. Mature explorations of relationships using one of the softest, sweetest and most innocent friends to lovers vehicles.Delayed from 2020 from LineTV My Ride has been fraught with production issues but worth the wait. Screenplay by Fluke Teerapat (AKA Wad in SOTUS & Golf in My Bromance) and featuring most green actors, it was a well-paced story with well-drawn characters that shone. Endearing. And I really liked the general earnestness.
Kindly overworked doctor Tawan meets broken-hearted dimpled motorcycle taxi driver Mork in an “other side of the tracks” romance. Also featured a sunshine/tsundere (young/older) doctors side couple, and even a pretty good het relationship side couple with Tawan’s bestie and a local barista.
With great friendship groups, family dynamics, and support cast this show reminded me a bit of Nitiman (in a GOOD way & non-university) only better because the courageous storyline never wavered. We got to watch Mork & Tawan meet and slowly fall in love with each other first as genuine friends, and only later as lovers. It’s quiet, and all the drama feels genuine not manufactured, coming from previous relationships. So we watch these two support each other and build a foundation together, even though they don’t yet realize it themselves.
With older gay rep, in the form of Mork’s uncles (the Gay Advice Dads trope - so vitally queer and so underused in BL), casual references to things like having to care for his alcoholic brother’s child, and coping with being the “other man”, these are grown ups with complicated lives and a adult problems. And yeah, both Mork and Tawan are a little beaten down by the world, but both of them are trying hard and willing to fall in love again, even as they don’t realize it’s happening.
This is a sweet slow burn romance, so all we get are a few tentative kisses at the end, but I still consider it an unexpected gem. With honest queer rep that adds to, but doesn’t impede the story and genuine conversation about the nature of class, wealth, and classism, not to mention communication, honesty, and respect for boundaries, you can’t go wrong with this show. It is, for my money, the best Thai BL pulp we’ve ever gotten.
In other news, I’m a sucker for a single dimple.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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Love at first F***
He f*** a ghost and he liked it...This is the very short story of the selfish guy who wanted to own another guys body and the sweet kind guy whos body the selfish guy wanted to own + the very fine ghost who was caught between them.
Mr Selfish most probably lonely, two faced hottie acted all kind and all but is actually dark and evil deep inside as he puts a curse on the man he wants to own... And well he does that part really well he does seem sweet, we do get the feeling that mr sweetheart really trusts him and likes him as a friend and he does not come off as evil in anyway. He uses this position to curse him, however the details of the curse are kind of foggy and not very well executed so adding 10 minutes or so to clarify the curse part would have been good.
It is however clear that the curse backfired as it seems to have become love at first f*** for the ghost and everybody's sweetheart instead of whatever mr evil was aiming for... As there is little dialog between mr. ghost and mr. sweetheart most of their screen-time together is very naked and very sexual...
I am not going to say that this short film is tastefully made, good or the type to bring out the thirst in you. It is more of the funny type of sexual content and pretty entertaining at times as well as slightly odd, dark (literately) and different than what I have seen before.
Definitely an indecent watch...
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There are better ways to waste your time
This drama is a mess. And I tried, I really tried, to give it the benefit of the doubt and watch to the very end. But in the end, all I ended up doing was wasting 16 hours of my life. I'm sure you'll see plenty of reviews like this, so I do want to mention the very, VERY few good aspects of the show as well to be fair.The first 2 or 3 episodes were actually pretty good and I can easily see how the jumbled up pieces of it could have been turned into a really solid drama if it had a much better writer and director. The actors were all good, it was the roles that they were given that created all of the problems we saw and not the actors themselves. What stood out to me in the first episodes was how some things were handled. HBS finding out about OJI's circumstances with her mother was done well. Despite how poorly they got along at that time, he stopped everything to help her get to her mother even while not fully understanding what was going on. It may seem like common sense that you would help someone in a tough situation like that, but it's surprisingly not handled that well in most dramas. Another thing I have to give it props for was the arguing, oddly enough. In the beginning. Not after the stupid break-up episodes. But at the start, when they started to fight there weren't any big blow-ups where one would storm out or OJI would tell him to leave. They worked through it, maybe not amazingly but better than most fights in dramas. So again, props to that. There were some things like these that were handled nicely. In the beginning. And never again.
The drama after the first 2 episodes had no plot. Nothing, not even one bit. The characters would just lamely wax poetics at each other for 20-40min of an episode, we'd get the really annoying side couples to pop in and waste time, an unnecessary love triangle was thrown in to, again, pad run time, and then we had the cliche 'I'm breaking up with you to protect you' mini arch that was about where I had to start skipping through. And I never skim dramas. Usually even the worst trash I'll sit through, but I just couldn't.
The 'disappearing' aspect of the show was both stupid and unexplored. It isn't the first time a drama has given a character who has died or was going to die a second chance with a time limit to do things over and set things right before they leave. Off the top of my head, I can think of Please Come Back, Mister (which had a lot of problems of its own, but wasn't as bad as this) and Miracle That We Met (which doesn't have a time limit but is close enough that I think it could fit). While neither is a perfect show and has problems too, they at least had a plot. They had plot, they had character growth, and they were entertaining, even if some aspects were frustrating. They were watchable. But with Ladylord, after being hit, HBS spends so much time not even fully realizing the situation. It's only around the halfway mark that he even understands that he's going to just... pop out of existence. Which is weird to me. I don't know why they didn't just have him die 49 days later. I guess then they wouldn't have been able to do those weird 'disappearing' scenes... which probably would have been better for the drama anyway. But no, his biological father is apparently an angel there to tell him that doom is at his doorstep and 49 days from now - poof! Gone. Like magic.
That's the problem with the drama. Well, the biggest problem. Nothing is thought out and everything is haphazard. Instead of focusing on the plot and the details of what is happening, it gives us scene after scene of the leads being 'cute' together that amount to nothing long-term. It feels like the writer and director didn't actually care about what was going on with the show or whether their audience enjoyed it. The angel is seen only, what, 3 or 4 times throughout the whole series? The end game is an afterthought. The supernatural aspect of the show never should have been added to this drama because they weren't willing to flesh it out enough to make it a real part of the plot. It was just a consequence. It's just like how the step-father was so heavily in the early episodes and then after the mom found out, they just didn't need him anymore and it was like he never existed in the first place. And it doesn't even matter because he was just playing a cartoon villain anyway.
The writer didn't bother trying to make this drama good. I really feel that there was no effort put into the script at all beyond maybe the initial set-up. They should have tried to add a plot to the characters' everyday lives instead of these one-off instances of drugging and abduction, a dating scandal and a random accusation of plagiarism that came out of nowhere and left into nothing. Their lives had no structure. And it's not like structure can't be added with plots like these (I use 'plot' very loosely here) because we've seen it done in plenty of others. There are really amazing cohabitation dramas. Heck, Lee Min Ki himself was in one that was done really well! And there are plenty of great supernatural dramas out there, too. There are dramas dealing with a character's last days/months alive, there are ones that deal with a second chance of life after death, and most of them are better than this.
I'll stop there before I get more depressed over my wasted time. I've never said this about a drama before, but don't watch it. Don't even try. It's not worth it. The few positive points I mentioned disappear a few episodes in anyways.
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1"Some secrets have no room for so many people"
The Victims’ Game brought Fang Yi Ren back for a second helping of pain and murder. This time Fang would find himself the prime suspect when his mentor’s case from 15 years ago was re-opened and the bodies started dropping around him.Fang is called into police HQ by Prosecutor Chang, who is new and takes an immediate dislike to Fang. Another fresh face is Dr. Hsueh, a medical examiner who also has no love for the retired forensics investigator. The case in question involved a teen couple in a murder-suicide which was closed by Fang’s mentor, Lin Ching Jiu. When civilians involved with the old case start dying, Chang is all too willing to point the finger at Fang. Intrepid reporter Hsu Hai Yin quits her job after her boss sensationalizes a teen addict case she worked on. One of the teens in the story ends up at Sevensleeves rehab. Handsome Lin Meng Cheng runs the rehab and home for teenagers from troubled families. When Hai Yin visits, he hires her right away as the foundation's PR rep. Her inquisitive nature tells her there is more to Lin than meets the eye. Fang’s daughter Xiao Meng feels suffocated and not understood by her dad and moves out. She coincidentally ends up living at Sevensleeves. Someone who was familiar with her problems from S1 offers her a job cleaning up crime scenes which leads to insights on her part.
I enjoyed the dynamics between Fang, Hai Yin, and Xiao Meng. Hai Yin and Xiao Meng were so sure that Fang wasn’t trying to understand them that they failed to see they might not have been trying hard enough to understand him. Fang and Xiao Meng struggled to determine if they could build a relationship while Hai Yin was feeling shut out from Fang’s thoughts. Whether Joseph Chang’s portrayal of a man with autism was accurate or not, is not a judgement I’m qualified to render. Chief Chao returned from S1 with his steadfast belief in Fang, a relief since Fang was being bombarded on all sides. I didn’t find the “who done it” part very suspenseful. I was quite certain who killer #1 and serial killer #2 were by the second episode. The heavy-handedness of Prosecutor Chang always trying to bring Fang down got old quick. He was a shady character with connections to an even shadier organization.
Warnings---If you are squeamish, there were numerous gruesome scenes of murder, torture, and decomposed bodies. The body count was high and bloody. Revenge was not a dish served cold but at the average body temperature much of the time. There were also a few gross scenes with insects. Tiffany Hsu’s Hai Yin smoked almost continuously in S1, so if smoking is a trigger you’ll be pleased to know that she didn’t light up once in S2 that I can remember.
The main theme of S2 was “What would a parent sacrifice for their child?” Some of the parents were willing to sacrifice lives, reputations, and peace of mind. As determined characters searched for the truth, others tried desperately to bury it. Despite its shortcoming, I found The Victims’ Game S2 engaging and binge-worthy.
23 June 2024
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Story- It’s about loss, finding love through that loss, and forgiveness. Really well written in that, the writers managed to balance the love-lines and boxing theme. There wasn’t a single episode where I felt bored and the episodes flew by fast. There were some things that I didn’t like about the story though. This includes all the scenes involving the CF President (obsessed with the female lead character) and also all the angst in the second half of the drama. I really really wish they had only a few episodes where the main female character can’t forgive the male lead character. You have to make it through to the very end before forgiveness/reconciliation occurs. The ending wasn’t bad but it was kind of disappointing for what the writers made us go through with all that angst.
Acting/Characters- Shin Min Ah was perfect and her character development was interesting. She starts out as a likable character but halfway through her character changes physically and emotionally, and not for the better. And Can I just say how awesome Joo Jin Mo is?! He is a versatile and phenomenal actor. I’ve seen him in so many things and this character is just so different and out of the box for him. I seriously loved his character because you could tell he loved the main female so much and my heart kept breaking for him during all the scenes the main female character showed her hatred for him. The other main male actor (who seriously is no rival) was just awful. His lack of acting skills and the fact that the writers made his character so unlikable just made his scenes (unfortunately he has a lot) unbearable to watch. His character wasn’t even that evil but he had no redeeming qualities and I had no sympathy for him at all. I mean he doesn’t even give up the female lead till the very end! He is pathetic and just a worthless character who didn’t offer anything to the drama. On a different note, the supporting cast was perfect. I liked that the writers gave the supporting cast prominent roles and I enjoyed the love triangles of the female lead’s 2 female friends.
Music- Matching angsty music but also has Christina Augielera’s “Stronger” as a running theme which matches the boxing theme of the show.
Rewatch- I am going to rewatch this cause the acting was really good but not for a couple years cause of the high angst.
Overall Punch plays like an extended top quality sports movie. Whether you like sports themed dramas or not you will be able to watch this. Your enjoyment of the drama might dwindle towards the last quarter though, because the female lead character becomes really unlikable and there are misunderstandings and too much angst!
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