Reviews

Li Lianhua Has My Heart

It has been a while since I have watched a drama without the urge to fast-forward. I was completely invested from beginning to end.

I fell in love with Li Xiangyi, the fallen hero and I wished I could have his life as Li Lianhua, roaming around the jianghu freely in that Lotus tower and getting into all sorts of adventures.

I thought Fang Xiaobao was such a loyal cutie pie! His scenes and dialogues with Li Lianhua were my favourites.

And I don’t know why I was giggling like a little girl every time Di Feisheng appeared on screen, insisting on fighting Li Xiangyi 😉 Their dynamic was just so entertaining.

Oh, it was wonderful. I’m genuinely sad that I have finished watching it.

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Decent but Slow and Repetitive Story.

I went into *Agent Kim* thinking it was going to be a great revenge story about an ex spy (basically Korean John Wick). And honestly, the essence of that story is there. His daughter gets kidnapped, and he goes on a rampage trying to find her.
But that's where the story starts to feel really repetitive.
First, his daughter is dead... then she's not dead... then she's dead again... and then she's not. I understand that in reality you wouldn't necessarily know whether someone was alive or dead, but after a while it starts feeling like the story is just going in circles.
Which brings me to another thing: why don't they kill any of these people?
I mean, if your kid had been kidnapped by MULTIPLE gangs, you'd think Kim, Park Jin Cheol, and Seong Han Su would eventually start permanently taking these people out. But no — they keep leaving them alive, only for the same people to come back and cause more problems. The biggest example is Kang Guk Cheol, the SMD Director. Seong Han Su literally pulls him out of the water so he doesn't drown... and then just ONE HOUR later, he's kidnapping the girl again. Like, come on! That entire situation could have been avoided if he had just left him in the water.
I can somewhat understand not killing the SMD officials though because they're government officials, but when it comes to the gangs — people who have already committed some seriously terrible acts — it always comes down to a quick fistfight, they beat them up, and then just leave them alive. Maye that's just how the story is written, but it made the whole thing feel unnecessarily repetitive. The revenge aspect had a lot of potential, and the "Korean John Wick" vibe is definitely there, but I kept finding myself thinking, "Why are you letting this guy live when he's obviously going to come back and do the exact same thing again?" Overall, I think the story had a really good premise, but the constant back-and-forth of people being "dead," coming back, getting captured again, escaping again, etc. really started to wear me down.


Next, the casting. I honestly think they were perfect for their roles.

So Ji Sub fits the quiet assassin role perfectly, and bro is JACKED in this movie. His voice is genuinely chilling in some scenes, and he gives off the perfect "father turned professional assassin" vibe. He really sells that character. Yoon Kyung Ho is always one of my favorite comedic relief actors, and I never really find his scenes to be too over-the-top. I think they match his personality and acting style perfectly, and honestly, every scene with him is GOLD in anything! Joo Sang Wook, for one, easily did the most fighting in this movie. Bro kept getting left behind to fight entire mobs of guys in basically every fight scene. But besides that, he's both serious and comedic, which makes the trio work really well. It's almost like So Ji Sub is the serious one, Yoon Kyung Ho is the comedy, and Joo Sang Wook is perfectly balanced between the two. I honestly think the casting was one of the strongest parts of the movie easily.

Now, quickly, the soundtrack and music. I really liked the music in this show, honestly. The intro and outro were instantly added to my YouTube playlist after I heard them in the second episode! They fit the show really well and are definitely some of the more memorable parts of it for me.

Overall, *Agent Kim* was somewhere between decent and okay for me. It had a really solid premise, and there were definitely parts I enjoyed, especially the casting, soundtrack. So Ji Sub absolutely fits the role, along side the other main cast, the supporting cast works really well together, and the intro/outro songs are probably going to stick with me longer than some parts of the actual story My biggest issue was the repetitive story. The constant back-and-forth with Kim's daughter being dead, then alive, then dead again, along with the villains repeatedly being left alive just to come back and cause more problems, really started to drag the experience down for me I don't regret watching it, but I also don't think it's something I'd rush to watch again. The rewatch value is pretty low for me because once you know how everything plays out, I don't think there is enough there to make me want to go through the same cycle again.

I'd say *Agent Kim* is worth a watch if you like action, revenge stories, or So Ji Sub, but for me, it's probably a one-and-done. Decent enough to enjoy, but not quite good enough to make me want to come back for another round.

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beautifully made but only worthy of watching once.

content warning: mentions of several deaths and suicide.

this drama has me heavily conflicted. i have been anticipating this so strongly and for weeks. i was giddy and overwhelmed with excitement to watch this piece of work [even more than with payback, prosecutor's proposal, & deep in]. i watched the first twelve episodes as soon as i possibly could yesterday and stopped in the dead of the morning to sleep.

i loved almost all of the scenes with changyang & qinglang. their chemistry was solid. i loved when they would play around with each other. i loved the way they whispered to each other. their intimacy was fairly solid too. their early scenes felt so genuine, natural, and fluid. unfortunately for me, i had spoiled myself and watched all of their kisses before i watched the piece of work itself [unknowingly]. the former is a testament to how committed i was to this BL before i saw it. i will talk about some of the issues i observed in the following paragraphs. i wanted to end this one with saying my critiques mostly start with the story as soon as changyang departs for hunter school.

you can tell that the creator and staff that made this story come alive truly care about the delivery and execution of this work. however, the story started to fall apart when changyang left. changyang's ambition can make sense to most but it felt random. he was in the mountains for eight years then all of sudden he falls in love then needs to leave right then? we never even got to witness his time in school which felt like a bad decision. his absence was felt and it was void-feeling without him being on screen for a majority of the work. one could surmise that the homophobia and societal / familial expectations exacerbated his leave but it was wack and traumatizing to watch. if china is actually still this antiquated then i feel strongly for the victims of these prejudices alive today. it was actually sickening to see how much homophobia was made a pillar in this story.

i am bewildered by other things as well. sister lan dying was slightly questionable for me but could be more easily accepted comparatively. i was glad that she did not fully disappear from the viewer once she died. she deserved to live. she clearly was an incredible character / person. almost every speech she gave made me cry.
qingtian's death, i still cannot get over. i am beside myself about it because it was nonsensical. i think from a presumptive view one can conclude what the events surrounding and leading up to his death meant but i do not want to guess ! changyang alluded that qingtian intentionally died or commit suicide. i think suicidal ideation is a normal response to loved ones dying but the way it happened was ??? he decides to run off to find the ghost flower, heavy fog randomly appears out of nowhere, then he is lost immediately. the only thing left of him were his shoe and the tool. what??? the sequence of this event was poorly executed, in my opinion. he is then basically never mentioned again especially compared to lan. only his mother and grandmother seem to actually be grieving [i understand grief is different for everyone]. grief is probably why qingtian made the decision he made. however, who can say? did he commit suicide or did he die to the elements?
shi yuhao's death does not make any sense at all to me. not at the time he decided to commit suicide. he did it on the anniversary of lan's accident which is wild. why did he do it? why then? why at all? why did he all of sudden become decent after all the torment, blackmail, coercion, and criminal behavior prior? was it because he managed the comeback so all of a sudden he had a conscious? nonsense. his character pissed me off so his actor did well.

i nearly despise the second main leads. their presences always set me off, internally. i liked them a lot prior to hao yu flipping the script on han lu after they were caught kissing by their show's production team. after that, their relationship was nothing but sloppy, toxic, and dysfunctional garbage. they never spoke about their feelings nor addressed prior obstacles. they never even verbally committed but were somehow boyfriends? they pissed me off every time they came on screen.

wenshu and qingtian were a different story for me. i wanted more of them. i could not understand the pacing of their relationship development. it seemed clear that they were being setup to be together so why did that not happen and instead we got what we got instead? i understand qingtian was still emotionally invested in his formerly actively living partner so i do not get why we got introduced to these two instead, in that way. wenshu then is written to completely disappear from the audience after qingtian's character conclusion. i think there was huge missed opportunity with these two due to bad writing.

there were almost no small production errors like i have noticed in other chinese BL. the cinematography was basically flawless; truly an incredible watch just from this point of view. there were only extremely questionable decisions made like with the punching sound effects, changyang / wenshu deciding to assault that random leech [whom we never see again after wenshu's visit / attack], and others i will mention throughout this review.
i personally do not care for how chinese dramas or BL are filmed. this piece of work was captured a lot more fluidly until changyang left. then it was just timeskips and random events pasted together one after the other just like in bittersweet love. i actually hate this stylistic choice. it makes tracking the story very difficult. at the end, it was said that FIVE YEARS had passed. i presume since the beginning of the show. who would know that prior to it being stated? that is unbelievably amount of time that elapsed. qinglang waited something like two years for changyang? or did he actually wait five years? that is deeply deeply deeply upsetting especially considering leads in BL are always written to be the worst communicators. real relationships cannot survive these kinds of conditions but i get this is fiction.

i have questions. why did the feng brother's mother just decide to leave the family and become a monk? why was changyang's father suddenly and randomly in prison? what happened to that random predator investor? who was the random disabled person who came back into changyang's place? i mean why him? why did changyang take an extended time to return? why did they suddenly "get married" with no proposal shown to viewers? why was their last kiss off? what even is hunter school? what was the point of that endeavor anyway? any good story would not leaving viewers with multiple questions.

in all, because of the second main leads, the storyline without changyang, and the false setup of wenshu + qingtian, i would probably never rewatch this. i find that so unfortunate because this drama was stunning and not lacking intricacies. apart from the cinematography + changyang / qinglang, this BL dropped the ball. however, i still rate it highly despite these gaps and the AI promotion, which was disgusting. objectively, the rating is probably several points lower.

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Reviews deceiving! It was an entertaining kdrama!

The reviews posted here had me hesitant to even commit to the kdrama! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!? This turned out to be an entertaining drama! What do you expect a new version of The Penthouse?!? The bodyguard interview and The chairman’s reaction and intuition drew me in. Yes tie in and trust the chairman gave to the bodyguard IMO was loosely tied in but the chairman’s intention was clear and set the objective for me to continue watching. The flow to achieve the objective sprinkled with comedy, thrills, action, corniness and suspense was there along the journey. Yes the twists towards end I reacted with WTF? how does that make sense?!? Regardless, it was an entertaining kdrama and I’d recommend it!👍👍👍

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Fast Pace and Direct Action: Keeping the signature style of Chinese monster web movies, the film doesn't waste time on lengthy exposition and quickly focuses on chase and confrontation sequences. Creature Variety: Features different dinosaur species on screen, creating constant shifts in the dynamic of the dangers faced by the protagonists. Escapist Fun: Delivers the classic B-monster movie format without false modesty or complex dramatic pretensions. Uneven Visual Effects: The CGI quality varies significantly, displaying clear budget limitations in several interactions between the actors and the creatures. Predictable Script: The story relies on traditional genre clichés, featuring archetypal characters and narrative choices quite familiar to anyone who has seen similar productions.
The film establishes itself as a fun and unpretentious option for B-movie and dinosaur story enthusiasts, standing out for its ability to deliver constant action within a classic survival premise.

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Cinematography is actually very impressive at times—not your typical j-drama. Very, very funny—some of the best comedy I've seen in a while. Really on-point depiction of the times, with the plot paralleling the changes in the bubble economy both literally and thematically in really interesting ways. Plot moves very haphazardly and skips over details in a way that makes it really hard to buy into any realism the show tries to suggest. That said, some of the twists the story takes are really surprising in a good way—this show becomes unexpectedly hard to predict at a point, and that had me hooked as hell I can't lie.

So many genuinely perfectly directed scenes. Most memorably, the bento salesman (ifykyk). I also appreciate the show for pushing the boundaries in how it depicts sensitive subject matter, though I wish it were handled a bit more tastefully at times. There's a wee bit too much SA just, brushed under the rug without consequences for my liking.

Annoyingly tone-deaf at times, frequently choosing comic value over emotional impact (e.g., how Muranishi's family was handled). The tone will occasionally make it seem as if the show is trying to portray Muranishi as a sort of honorable rebel, while the literal events depicted, viewed on their own, unambiguously reveal him as a self-obsessed coward. That disconnect colors the show all the way to the end, which specifically left a really sour taste in my mouth. I was so relieved when the last act made it seem like all this tone-deafness had been intentional setup for his eventual fall. It really seemed that way, until the final episode threw all of that out the window and awkwardly tried to redeem him, all while keeping him a totally static character. That's by far what irked me the most about this show—despite how much potential he has as a character, and despite numerous setups, Muranishi does not once, at any point, complete a character arc.

The side characters have a lot of problems too, especially around moral consistency. A character like Junko, for example, who's shown to be more skeptical than the others, would absolutely not be onboard with the Hawaii plan, or really anything Muranishi does past her first few episodes with the crew.

That said, the acting was absolutely phenomenal. That goes for the entire main cast, but Misato Morita in particular deserves infinite praise for this—I have no idea how she managed to mimic Kuroki Kaoru so well, down to her tiniest mannerisms and idiosyncrasies.

There's an interesting discussion around how faithful the show is in both its depiction of the porn industry and of Muranishi and Kuroki. With Muranishi, unsurprisingly, many take issue with how positively he's depicted, particularly in his relationships with his staff. The show strips him of nearly any indicators of misogyny, rather having him be the one to champion women's autonomy and agency against his rivals, which apparently deviates significantly from his actual reputation. Controversy around Kuroki's depiction seems to be much less about her interpretation and more about the fact that she's depicted at all, given that her last move before leaving the public eye was a massive infringement-of-privacy lawsuit. There's something odd about seeing someone so adamant about keeping her life private have her likeness imitated for a drama—especially one where that character attempts suic*de...

All-in-all, this was a phenominally enjoyable show, though not without its share of contrivance and controversy. Personally, I would feel much, much more comfortable praising this show if it ended after S2 E7. Everything about that final episode had me genuinely writhing in my seat. Not only was it a stylistic farcry from the show I'd come to love, with shitty covers of "What a Wonderful World" and "Friday" replacing the iconic score during what were seemingly intended to be impactful scenes, but it also just took everything meaningful I took from the story and threw it in the bin in service of reaching some sort of happy ending for Muranishi, which he, as depicted, absolutely did not deserve. It would be one thing if he showed some like actual character development at any point, but he doesn't. He stays exactly as he always was, feigning ignorance and skirting around consequences through to the end. The montage at the end with the credits had me genuinely gagging. I really, really wish this show committed to taking its plot and characters seriously, but alas.

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Glad i kept watching

I didn't like the first episode and the in the later episodes re-appearing foot scene slightly grossed me out. But i am glad i always finish what i start, because this turned out a good drama. I was cheering and clapping at the end of episode 7, that moment felt so good!
A good drama about being comfortable with who you are, and doing what you love, those are the most important things in the world.
The handsome prince Goto Naoya didn't look very attractive to me. I saw pictures of him on Pinterest and he is actually quite good looking, so i don't understand why they chose to give him this look in this drama. He was quite adorable when he smile though.
Good acting, the chemistry and the kisses were ok.
The visuals and music were ok.

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Awful plot, decent comedy!

The plot is really really bad, but at least for the first 9 epis it stays out of the way & since the drama does not at any point take itself seriously this is almost fine. Potato Lab is one of those rare gag romantic comedies that are quite fun to watch despite the low quality storytelling. Unfortunately from the end of e9 onward the enjoyment drops off quite a bit. FL going to that funeral is intelligence insultingly bad, furthermore the usual conflict & conflict resolution that so often happens late in kdramas is as anti fun as always. Up to e9 I would have rated this at around 8.5 but they just had to ruin it, still don't feel like I wasted my time, so 7 it is.

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excellent spy story

I will actually try not to spoil the movie. After alot of drama watching a film seems as fragile as a butterfly's wing, and I dont want to ruin it.

Just finished the show and it is the real deal Zhang Yi Mou. Very beautiful.
Classic double and triple crosses.
No holds barred, no sentiment.
It is a movie, so not every end is tied up in a bow (his pregnant wife? and the ex-girlfriend?).
Patriotism, as in most serious spy stories, is a pretty bleak state. There are quite a few C-movies that I will never watch, but everything in the spy world is already a shade of grey, so you can feel secure watching it.

Straight-up, a movie about double-crossing spies and moles has got to be difficult to figure out. (I can hear the complaints already! For spy shows, if you cant stand the heat....) My wits seem to have been dulled by long dramas, so I may have to watch it again, but as with most good action movies, things seem to be settling into mental place in this hour afterwards.

Excellent sound and visuals, the lazy crawl of traffic on the elevated highways is a recurrent motif, with the focus on one big circular interchange. I do not think I saw a piece of red or orange in the entire film -- it is mostly blue and black, with some green and yellow for relief.

I really liked it. I was captivated by Jackson Yee. Want to see the next film he is in, sequel to this or no.

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The writing was really bad.

It started out pretty well, but then it slowly lost its direction. The story felt boring at times, and a lot of things could have been handled much better.

The part I hated the most was how quickly the FL forgave the ML. After everything she went through because of him, I really wished her forgiveness had been slower and more emotionally justified.

Her backstory was literally dumped into one episode, while the ML’s backstory was explored across so many episodes. Because of that, we never really got to feel the FL’s pain to the same extent. The audience was given much more time to understand and sympathize with the ML than with her.

I also wished the FL had remained more independent. She was actually quite independent in the beginning, but after she got the movie, she started feeling more like the ML’s shadow. Everything began revolving around him, and her own character development and ambitions took a backseat.

The second couple was honestly the best part of the show. Their chemistry and storyline had so much potential, but the writers never explored them properly. They could have had a really interesting and meaningful storyline if they had been given more screen time.

And honestly, why did the third couple even exist? Their story had very little to do with the actual plot. They didn’t even have a proper storyline, and their screen time was too limited to develop their relationship properly anyway. I would have much rather seen the writers use that time to develop the second couple.

Overall, the story had so much potential, but the writing was extremely sloppy. There were some really good ideas and interesting characters, but the execution just wasn't there.

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Taking a Step Toward Something New

I always adore when Asian dramas step outside their usual cliché comfort zone, so when I read the description of this series, I was already intrigued. Writing-wise, this drama does quite a few interesting things. Not only with its semi-educational themes, but also by breaking away from the stereotypical tropes found in other Asian series as well. Without spoiling too much, the writer handles the second male lead in a particularly fresh and unique way. Another thing I’d like to highlight is the amazing casting overall, from the leads all the way down to the extras.

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