Better than Part 1
Well, this was surprisingly more enjoyable to me than Part 1. I went into this one a little bit nervous because Part 1 was honestly too dark and slow for me, and I was worried that we would continue to be bombarded with more misery.But it was actually not bad! Seeing the murders was simultaneously dark and really, really cathartic, which was refreshing compared to the previous part. A lot of the questions that I had were also answered in a really satisfying way. The ending left me with some mixed emotions, but I think it was a great ending and honestly I can’t imagine the story going any other way.
The acting continues to be strong, particularly the ML’s. TJH is undoubtedly the standout actor in this drama and managed to portray such a wide range of emotions.
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Good but depressing
I really like the concept here and found family + romance is one of my favorite type of relationship dynamic.But around halfway it just got way too depressing for me — everyone other than the leads was evil, things kept going wrong, and the slower pacing felt like we were just wallowing in misery for so long, when it was fairly obvious early on where the story was going. Very convincing acting all around though, especially from the ML.
I’m still fairly intrigued by the present day mystery and if there’s an actual, non-supernatural answer (which is what I’m hoping for), but I wish we could get there just a tad faster.
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Almost perfect, just a couple of annoying flaws. Definitely worth watching.
Fun, classic period-c-drama. Features a very strong female lead performance by Zoey Meng. ML (played by He Yu)is also just as capable so isn't diminished by the FL in any way. He's just, unfortunately, hindered by poison through nearly all the story., which is frustrating because you can feel that holding him back from his full potential The romance-factor is important but develops slowly as, while ML is absolutely smitten by the FL from the moment he sees her and has his heart locked on her with laser precision that never wavers, the FL starts out the story having 'survived' pretty heavy trauma (a forced loveless marriage, the extermination of her entire family, driven to suicide in order to get revenge before being reincarnated within the body of a woman who was, herself, just murdered! So she is quite understandably extremely guarded emotionally. She has her shields up at maximum constantly and so it takes a looooong time before she has finally healed enough from her trauma to let them down and allow the ML to touch her heart. Her apparent coldness turns some fans off but just keep her history in perspective and be patient. Once she finally falls for him, she falls hard so it's all worth it. The only real negative in this show (other than some occasional clumsy edits and frequent reliance on 'off screen' events getting added to the narrative only by talking about them, is the way it handled the Prince Xin character. Xin's character is basically the all-too-familiar 'psychopathic-obsessive-unrequitted love interest' drama trope. Played brilliantly and creepily by Jeremy Xu. This character, like in too many c-dramas, is given too much screen time, beyond what is needed for the storyline, Very popular in a lot of c-dramas to try to mislead the audience into having sympathy or empathy with this sort of creepy based on 'sad backstory'. And this show does too much of that as well. Fine. We just have to accept he's a psycho and endure all his creepy weirdness and eventually this builds up to him doing awful psycho things that the FL needs to overcome. Where it gets weird though is in the end, the show decides to tuck in a one-on-one conversation between the Xin character and the FL, Xi He, where he explains that he did all these bad rebellious things just so she would gain legitimacy through stopping him. So with this revelation, the show gets to portray Xin to the audience as just a misunderstood 'good guy'. A martyr, in fact. But the fact is, to the larger plot, if he was simply a psychopath who rebelled, as we thought anyway, the FL still would have been legitimized because she stopped him. In other words, this bizarre 'reveal' at the end made absolutely ZERO difference to the plot. And this 'twist' doesn't exist in the storyline anywhere outside of that private conversation and then a brief mention later between Xi He and Xin's brother. So it just feels weird and contrived and pointless. The whole conversation scene was totally bizarre - she had NO reason to grant that conversation to him and ultimately just became some 10 minutes of wasted screen time. If they simply left him as a psychopath who rebelled, then the entire rest of the story remains the same. That screen time could have been put to better use on maybe building more interesting foreshadowing of Hua Yong's fate. Make it so that a lot of viewers have a better understanding of what happens at the end without thinking it is magic.Was this review helpful to you?
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Nothing new and weak female characters
It was okay, overly dramatic in parts - with so many people screaming. There are some nice stories of the people living in an island community but the central story overall was flat. Unfortunately, it was the lack of anything new, the same empty shells where one is not entitled to happy, they must feel guilty and sorry for something. Always the same entitled politicians who want kudos but are incompetent and corrupt and sexual encounters gone wrong. We live in the 21 Century and censorship of sexual content especially contraception has done a real disservice in this drama.However the worse part of the drama (for-me) is the way women characters, particularly the female lead, is written. The character is a cliche that is they are educated, paragons of virtue, well liked, kind, but at their core selfish and self centred and righteous. They are usually consciously or unconsciously desperate for love, hiding hurt and loss, wanting their own way without compromising but expect the men in their lives to treat them as no 1 priority. Even at the drama’s end, there is little change or growth just a realisation that they have a great green flag of a boyfriend and maybe he’s the one.
At least our ML - Dr Do stuck to his principles and believed he was a doctor first even if others thought he should put his girlfriend first. 🤨 his character gradually heals, learns heaps, becomes more competent and grows and like and good ML he becomes a hero. The other ML are too good to be true (no faults). They might be young but mature and reliable and even understanding when treated badly.
All actors did a reasonable job. Given the script and direction. The scenery was beautiful.
Not enough good points in this story to raise this story above okay. The k drama romance cliches are just too overwhelming and so annoying for any lasting enjoyment to be had.
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Eyes don't lie
What if I told you that the thing that affected me the most, the thing that completely added another layer of depth and understanding to this drama, was hidden in the characters' eyes?I think I should start by talking about Pond's performance as Palm.
I cried so much. I was moved to tears over and over again because I've genuinely never seen a character transcend me quite like this one did. Pond portrays Palm's loneliness and vulnerability with almost painful accuracy. In absolutely everything: his deep, painfully sincere eyes, the tone of his voice, his subtle and attentive gestures.
And I want to hold on to the strong belief that there is a lot of Pond in Palm.
Actually, I deeply believe there is a little bit of Palm in all of us (even if none of us could ever embody it with quite the same accuracy).
Palm is a character shaped by an overwhelming loneliness. First, by the absence of people/family around him, and then by his complete lack of ambition, born from an absolute absence of purpose. In a way, he simply endures his loneliness because his existence has become absurd, lived almost entirely through passivity.
And yet, when love finds its way into his life, it's as if his entire existence suddenly takes on a new meaning.
Ultimately, despite his role as a "bodyguard" and his physical presence, Palm is incredibly fragile. Because when he gives his heart to Nuengdiao, he isn't only giving him the entirety of his most sincere feelings. Loving him also gives him a reason to exist.
A reason to keep going. (God, love is fucking beautiful. T^T)
But Palm and Nuengdiao are both characters defined by loneliness. And I personally think that Palm is alone, while Nuengdiao is lonely.
The two protagonists resemble each other, and yet they are completely different.
They both place an enormous importance on love, but they don't express it the same way. They both experience an overwhelming sense of loneliness, but that loneliness comes from completely different places.
And it's precisely in that difference that their relationship becomes so complex, and yet incredibly intense.
Because the things they don't say protect them just as much as they destroy them. The moments they share seem to exist forever in their thoughts, yet only for a fleeting second in the present.
Shout-out to Episode 9, which personally made me cry the most. I've genuinely never seen an episode manage to immerse us so deeply in both love and sadness at the same time.
I also absolutely loved the entire arc on their little paradise island. AAAHHDSHS. I feel like I could talk forever about their chemistry. Just please tell me I'm not the only insane person who was way too affected by all that sincerity, by the way they look at each other, by every little glance they share.
Pond and Phuwin honestly left me speechless. They're both so incredibly talented that I almost feel grateful I got to witness something like this with my own eyes, for free.
As for the story itself, I think it sometimes had a tendency to fade into the background. And honestly, I didn't mind that. But whenever they were on the run, it was almost as if the plot suddenly remembered it had a job to do and started throwing problems at them again.
Maybe this drama does have a bit of a drama queen tendency every now and then. Seriously, all those shootings, all that chaos, and then when everything finally gets resolved... we don't even learn anything new. (what happened next ?)
But honestly, the setting was idyllic, the face cards never declined, and the cinematography was absolutely breathtaking. The shots were gorgeous.
And the dialogues... Majestic.
The words were chosen so beautifully that every now and then I had to pause just to stare at my screen and wonder whether my own existence had any meaning.
And honestly, now that I've finished this drama, I realize just how much the title resonates with Palm and Nuengdiao.
Because Never Let Me Go isn't really an order driven by the fear of losing someone.
I think the real question is:
When will I be enough to realize that I don't want to let you go?
That hit me hard.
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Sad but doesn't use its full potential
This one is a pretty difficult one to rate because it obviously deals with a really heavy topic, and it does it pretty well. The acting is convincing, and the internal conflicts are realistic.The best parts of the story were when it was focused on the family dynamics, both parental and sibling, but other than that, plot-wise, I found this a little frustrating. I didn't really care that much about the romance, particularly when it came to the annoying second lead. Most of the plot beats, while pretty typical, manage to not feel cliche, but I feel like other relationships and experiences (like work, for example) could've been explored a lot more.
Ultimately, I think this was a good watch but I don't think it hit me in my core the way I expected it to, the way One Liter of Tears (a similar drama but about SCA) did.
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Great acting in a quick Fairy-tale-ish story
Using a strangely successful mix of fairy-tale and sincerity, Pretty Crazy tells the tale of wounded people trying to control their difficulties and what happens when exposure and relationship render containment impossible. Lim Yoon A is delightful as two members of a love triangle. Ahn Bo Hyun adds depth and nuance to the relationship. The supporting cast serves to keep our focus in this straightforward tale, deftly told.Was this review helpful to you?
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Just a nice end for Tonfah & Typhoon...
Mr. hospital owner Tonfah & mr. photographer Typhoon have a nice time at home & work when Typhoons aunt (his dads ex) needs a medical procedure to determine if she has cancer or not. So both of them are babysitting aunts daugther and of course it's a bliss because while already older she behaves impeccable.So everything is mostly fluffy between them, they didn't do any nc-scenes, so not fanservice at all, which I appreciate. We also see an other side of Tonfah and due to the time-jump we also see a much mature Typhoon. Production quality was of course top notch and this is a nice end for their story arc. Of course it's not as deep as I wished it to be but on the other hand I can't complain too much.
When you have seen their series, there is no reason to skip this. All ends well.
Note: Why does this page exist twice? https://kisskh.at/803506-fourever-you-part-2-special-ep-beside-the-sky
Does nobody check it? I don't get it, besides mixing the titles... Ah they mean a BTS aka episode 0 is a "special"... it's too confusing...
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Fun Romantic Comedy
This was series was not what I expected. I thought this would be a regular romantic drama with some funny moments. I was delighted to see some action and Jung Hae-In as a tough guy, a different role from playing the straight man. Choi Yu-Ju did an awesome job as a prosecutor with memory loss not knowing who she is and taking the word of someone who out of the blue claims to be her boyfriend. I just kept thinking about Love Next Door series and comparing the two. I liked it! Drama Grandma.Was this review helpful to you?
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Joseon With Spooks
All of the previous reviewers covered this drama, The East Palace, very well. I will make other points. The Princess Saeng Gang (played by Roh Yoon Seo) always felt alone in this life, especially after her mother was murdered. No one understood her and thought she was a freak. Her father, the king, used to treat her like his loving daughter, when she was young; in truth, he despised her and even told her that she was just like her mother (he despised her too). The king wanted his strange daughter to live outside of the palace.Gu Cheon (played by Nam Joo Hyuk) was a man who did not want to do anything but sleep at the temple. He was dragged into the spirit problem at the palace. The king threatened him quite a bit.
Princess Saeng Gang and Nam Gu Cheon had a kind of small learning curve in how to deal with the spirits. After a while, she was glad that he was there. She could talk about things openly with him about spirits. The princess could see spirits only when she was a spirit in the spirit realm. A good example of this is when she chopped off her spirit brother's head, but he grew his head back.
I will talk about something else. Princess Saeng Gang started feeling very comfortable with Gu Cheon. She touched his hand, held his hand and even hugged him. He never pulled his hand away and even hugged her back. I believe she fell in love him and he developed a fondness for towards him. They became very protective of each other. The princess told asked her father, the king, not to hurt Gu Cheon. When the princess was missing or in trouble, Gu Cheon would go find her and rescue her. Oh yeah, Princess Saeng Gang had called Gu Cheon the most important person to her; when she walked to her grandmother after saying that, he thought she was talking about her grandmother being her most important person (she was referring to Gu Cheon). When he was thought to be dead by everyone, the princess believed he was alive, but missing his spirit. She went to the water and walked into the water, calling for him. After she got back to the palace, he woke up shortly after she got back. There was some more hugging.
The last episode (Episode 8) Gu Cheon was leaving the palace for the last time, Princess Saeng Gang made up her mind to go with him and stay with him. She had asked him, episodes before, about where he was going after the spirit problems was taken care of and he had mentioned about going back to the temple (you could tell she did not like that answer back then).
It was an interesting drama.
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Lite spoilers & Trigger warning for SA
This is a series to watch if you want to turn your brain off. You don't want stress; you want problems solved quickly, & you want soft romance. Don't expect this series to get your blood pumping in any way.I had no problem with our main couple other than not really understanding where the attraction came from for either of them. It didn't feel like a love that should have lasted through 5 years of rejection. Most of my problems with this series had to do with the writing, humor (which, unlike in Me & Thee, stopped being funny after a couple episodes), & the way they handled the side characters.
Instead of giving us an out-there plot with a wedding as a cover for drug trafficking that did nothing but add another couple, we could have progressed the three side couples the show had already started. Of those, Yu & Tai were the least interesting and made the least sense. Honestly, Yu's character alone had too much and nothing going on at once. He felt more like the android in Eternal Butler than a human. I don't ship them at all. Tee & Jeab could have been cute, but Jeab calling Tee a monster and treating him like a bully went a bit too far. Tee teased him, yes, and the end hints that Jeab gets that Tee likes him & that's why he teases him, so things may go more positively, but calling him a monster was way over the line. My favorite to-be side couple was Tian and Mark, probably because Tian was the most realistic character & actually had internal struggles unlike everyone else. Honestly, I would like to get a sequel with Tian and Mark as the main couple. Tian has self-worth & trust issues, and Mark feels like he could be a good one to both support him and help him to open up again.
I wish dramas would stop adding side couples if they are going to do basically nothing with them. They hit us with a "To Be Continued" at the end, so I expect us to be getting either a sequel or a special episode, but I don't hold out any hope for them doing much at all with the side couples.
Also, the "villains" in this series disappear without a trace after their part of causing a problem is over. Where did they go? Kluayhom & Khem just disappeared after each is rejected like they weren't important at all. I mean they apparently weren't, but still I hate when shows just drop characters like this almost as much as I hate when they do nothing with the side couples.
The humor was funny for the first couple of episodes, but after that it was mostly cringy, and I found myself rolling my eyes a lot. It was better than a lot of comedy drama I've watched, and it was more down to the writing than the acting.
The acting was over the top for some characters and is just plain painful to watch at the best of times. This opinion isn't limited to this series either. Otherwise, the acting was alright.
The SA isn't that intense, and it doesn't last long, but it happens nonetheless. Once between Moo & Khem & once between Tian and Mark. Nothing graphic happens & clothes are not removed, but it is non-consensual touching, so I felt it needed to be mentioned.
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Quite unique
Everyone's acting is solid, not much to say. Overall, quite a unique comedy suspense police drama. How the drama was shot reminds me of how the Korean drama "Life on Mars" was shot--a little trippy-esque, kind of feels like the main character is in a different world/their own world/on psychedelics lol. However, I must say that it was a little too convoluted. I guessed who the culprit was the moment they showed up on screen, which might be why I did not enjoy the cat and mouse chase. The comedy portion was nice, especially since there are several familiar faces from "Amazing Night" / "Super Sketch Show".Was this review helpful to you?
Decent story with very good acting
good acting but the story kept dragging on in the later episodes. Some characters were exceptionally written and some werent. I recommend this to anyone that is a fan of Ji Sung, as his acting in the was 10/10. The pacing in the middle of the series was kind of slow, but the beginning and ending eps make up for it.Was this review helpful to you?
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Rushed and not very convincing
holy fucking sex scene. okay but in all seriousness..dude what?? what the fuck was that whole cutting himself with sun’s knife? weird mf. actually thats kinda known information since he had an obsession with the guy he fucked WITH A BIG ASS BUNNY HEAD FOR FIVE YEARS? erm what. acting was atrocious but only to be expected ig, again with the people loving the non con aspect? ik it was the whole he didnt want to open up bc grief but STILL? im getting a bad smell of revenged love and i want an air freshener asap. KAJORN MY ABSOULUTE GOAT I LOVE YOU, fucking best character ever. the photographer was reaaal strange but hes hot so he gets a pass. rushed asf ending with an explaination about as completes as a 5 year old’s drawing of a sun. whatever they kissed last scene so everything is justified… obviously. the entire romance seemed to be pulled from FARRR up the writers ass with nothing to give me reason why this CEO should be so interested in this random guy apart from the fact that he was just rude to him and sun was rude back? the texts, the following, it just felt incredibly un-believable…Was this review helpful to you?
Fantastic! Until the open ending
There’s not a single thing not to love about this drama for most of it. But there are a few plot holes towards the latter part that are so gaping huge you could drive a train or two in them. And I’m not even picky about everything needing to make sense lolThe good: Actors! Humor, sarcasm, naughty/rule breaking behavior is sprinkled in run throughout, humanizing the characters and making it a fun watch, there are times you’ll bark out a laugh. And eke out some emo tears, too.
Tian Jiarui’s lil bro poisons master is an intense little freak, chewing up every scene he’s in with delicious intensity, it’s both campy and intimidating at the same time. You both feel for him and fear him. Wouldn’t trust him to make my tea or even live anywhere near me. But would want him close in a desperate situation. His super intense big bro (played by Cheng Lei) is magnetic. Can’t take your eyes off him. Charisma for miles.
Zhang Linghe’s noble hero is uncomplicated and pure of heart. I liked that so much. No BS, very genuine, but still interesting.
FLs were good, but the men stole this show. Esther Yu seems always professional in every role and never phones it in. But buying her as a real-deal assassin? Nah. It didn’t work for me. Second FL (Lu Yuxiao) character was a bit more believable.
Beautiful cinematography/feel, which is par for the course with this director, unabashedly emotional and lovely visual treatment of friends, family and loves who have passed on.
The Bad: plot holes. Cliffhanger ending that can ONLY be explained by there were plans for a 2nd season (but never happened).
This drama was a 9.5+ for me right up until the last few eps. The open ending was so empty, the show just wrapped up with a shrug, leaving the exciting, stressful story we were following right at that moment on hold without explanation, leaving so much unresolved there MUST be a reason. I hate not giving it a better score. It’s absolutely worth watching, truly great. Just tell yourself maybe there will be a part 2 someday (haha) and enjoy the ride!
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