Reviews

A Heartwarming and Unforgettable Series

The Air is one of the best series I have ever watched. From the very first episode, it captured my attention with its emotional storytelling and beautifully developed characters. Every episode felt meaningful, and I never got bored while watching. The chemistry between the leads was natural, heartwarming, and full of genuine emotions. Their performances made every happy, sad, and touching moment feel real. The cinematography was stunning, the soundtrack perfectly matched every scene, and the pacing allowed the story to unfold naturally. I laughed, smiled, cried, and became emotionally attached to every character. This series left a lasting impression on me and reminded me why I love watching GL dramas. It is a beautiful journey filled with love, growth, friendship, and hope. I will definitely rewatch it in the future because it deserves all the love and recognition it gets. Thank you to the entire cast and production team for creating such an unforgettable masterpiece. I highly recommend The Air to anyone looking for a heartfelt, emotional, and well-made series. 10/10, absolutely worth watching! ❤️

Read More

Solid healing drama and very memeable

I really enjoyed this show and the chemistry between the actors. I think it was a drama that is best enjoyed when airing. I feel like watching two episodes per week was perfect.

I enjoyed how funny and light this drama felt. I also liked the comedy of the show.

Shin Yeeun and Lee Jaewook are so good at crying. Like they made me so sad whenever they were crying. I hope they get to work together in the future on another project. Their chemistry feels very natural.

I also liked how the second lead plot was solved relatively quickly and how he became very lovable even if plutonic. I’ll miss the vibes this drama gave every single week.

Read More

A Lovey Dovely Drama With Touches of Emotional Scenes

In *Youthful Glory*, a medical romance drama, the vulnerability of lead character Do Ji Uin becomes a magnet for women who long to protect their man. Much of the series left me puzzled—how could a drowning incident involving a friend trigger PTSD in Dr. Do? Shin Ye Eun, portraying Yook Ha Ri, was a refreshing discovery. Her natural, unblemished features stood out in an industry often marked by cosmetic enhancements. Yet the drama never revealed how she actually resolve the scandal that drew her back to the island.

The finale was predictable, but I admired the production team’s effort to make the surgical scenes strikingly realistic. Comic relief came through hooligan Yeom Byeong Cheol, balancing the heartbreak of Ha Ri’s grandmother’s passing. Nurse Um Jeong Seon, initially unsympathetic with her deep-seated inferiority complex, underwent a heartening transformation. Meanwhile, Dr. Do’s battle against the governor seemed hopeless until Yeom, in a surprising turn, provided crucial evidence—even at his own expense.

The drama frequently highlighted the young doctors bonding with islanders, underscoring the spirit of community. Ultimately, each staff departed for better career prospects or National Service, leaving Nurse Hwang Sin Hye as the clinic’s steadfast fixture.

Read More

Tough it out!

Some may say that this drama has some similar notes as Hometown Cha Cha Cha
- For one, the story takes place in a small town wherein livelihood focuses on seafood
- The people are simple folks, who know each other's stories, and nothing quite escape their notice.
- One of the leads is in the medical profession.

However, this drama focused on a doctor who had anxiety due to his past experience. Being a doctor exempt him from being in an active duty, yet his assignment was not what he wanted nor expected. It also features the rest of the doctors and nurses with whom he has to work with. His presence somehow made a difference to the island folks as he placed treating people above liking or disliking. We see conflicts with a governor, yet he did not just bow to his wishes. In the end, he learned to tough it out as he matured, opened up his heart and be truer to himself. He may be anxious at sea, but his heart as a doctor remain intact. With the way the last episode ended, this can have a Season 2.

As for the actors, they all did a great job. The different characters bring flavor to the drama
- Lee Jae Wook - as Dr. Do played it well how awkward he was in trying to adapt in the island life
- Shin Ye Un as Hari is pretty, first time to watch a drama with her as main character. She is not a damsel in distress kind of character
- Hong Min Gi as Dr. Chiyeon, he played the 2nd guy who liked the lead just like in My Beloved Thief. I think his non-smiling face is good for that no-nonsense character. His character balances somehow the weakness of Dr. Do.

Overall, I give this drama a 7.5 score, perhaps the rewatch value pulled down my score. I like this drama as it touches the reality of depression, dealing with difficult people and learning to adapt in new environment. As I said in my other reviews, I watch dramas not just for entertainment purposes, but also to reflect on life, gain insights from other people and perhaps get some gems to live by. This is one drama that says that.

Aside from the story, I love the sceneries, the sunsets and sunrises, the forest walks. It is enough healing for one's soul.

Read More

To be honest, I can see why Jeff and Barcode chose to accept working on this project. There are many unique and promising ideas for a completely whacky comedy with much silliness -- the first few scenes reminded me of the iconic movie "Spaceballs", just made with an even lower budget.

With the right vision, a well-written screenplay and creative use of props and sets, this could have been a top-tier It's-so-bad-it's-good C-grade low-budget SF spoof.

I really liked the aliens' shiny cheap polyester clothing and their obvious hand-wavey misunderstanding of Earth's culture. I liked the poser-like "grandeur" of Prince Raon and Hachi's ever-changing dog-ears. I liked the reason for using three different languages in the series.

Unfortunately, the series doesn't hold what the first episode promised. Obviously, the circumstances of its history are partly to be blamed: Filmed by a Korean company (one which is now known for productions of questionable quality) and never finished, the material was then boought by another Korean company, who tried to finish the series. I don't know how much editing and general post-production had been done at that point, but to me, it seems that it must have been either extremely poor or not at all -- the end product shows much unevenness, jumps in continuity, and in one case, material from either the casting videos or a workshop was obviously used.

The cast's performance varied between "poor" and "quite a bit better than adequate".

Another point that did not help with the overall quality was that the script tries both to be a Whacky Comedy With Much Silliness and a sweet Romance With Tragic Background. Combining these two very different genres into one whole is not an easy task, and then the script introduces a third plot-line of Conspiracies And Backstabbing. None of it is developed properly, plot lines appear and disappear at random, and some characters lose any characterisation they had. No effort in editing could have saved this. The interesting points I mention above are toned down or not used at all (For example, I would have gone overboard with the language thing and let every alien character speak different languages).

I suspect that the script was already poorly written, but that the production was started by one group of people (who had a specific idea what they wanted to make) and finished by another group (who probably put their own spin on it), was certainly the nail in the coffin.

The potential for a silly C-grade comedy series was there. But it never came to fruition.


Was it good?
Not really. There were some great ideas, but none of them were developed well.

Did I like it?
I kind of want to see a Japanese remake, I think that could be brilliant.

Would I recommend it?
No.

Read More

Unnecessary Sequel

If i thought watching S2 was the screenwriter dumbing me down with those ridiculous philosophycal crap, this S3 made me feel like being zombified by them.

1. The whole season being triggered by quack professor obsessed with the afterlife, a crackhead enough to take down 2 people for him to get the useless answer that, mindfckingly, he never got til the very end. Like whaaaaaat?

2. A woman with a good husband and happy life who’s so hung up with her lost father that she’s willing to venture into the world she fought so hard to leave just to see him again. Like whaaaaaaat? If he’s dead, you won’t find him in borderland cuz that’s the land between death and life, and it’s not possible that he’s been in between life and death cuz it takes at most 2 minutes of dead heartbeat to traverse between that life and death, and he’s been missing for months (or years). And if he’s alive somewhere in the wilderness, then he would definitely NOT be in borderland. There’s just no way for him to be in the borderland so where is the sense of having Usagi following the professor to go to the afterworld? The professor isnt even a therapist she mightbhave wanted to consult with, so how did he convince her to go with him? She’s that fcked over her father’s disappearance that she’s willing to throw away the good life she has now, the good life that she was convinced her father would want her to have back in season 2, which is the reason why she fought so hard to get back to. How could someone who had gone through that, realize the meaning of life and found happiness suddenly throw everything again to follow this quack professor she knew days before just for the unplausible possibility of finding her dad again in the borderland? Where is the logic and sense in that? That’s a total mindfck the writers did on us the audience there.

3. There is no explanation whatsoever as to how the borderland citizens (the gamemasters) could influence real life people to want to come the afterlife, up to the point of arranging the death games in the real world. Like how? Nothing explains this.

4. The dramatic scenes on this one is even cringier than season 2. Of course why not we just opt for the couple straining themselves trying to hold hands between two moving trains when you can simply just jump across and hug? That gap was a no brainer for Usagi the mountain climber, but nope, lets just try hold hands instead 😒🙄 what a drama trope. And how did this badass spiderman FL suddenly needs to rely on a crippled man to get through the games? Guess japanese shows also suffers from cdrama plague of dumbing/powering down FLs just so the next male character could shine. OMG such cringeful of tropes they threw in there.

5. I dont get the kind of attachment Usagi has on the crippled professor. He offers empty promises, telling Usagi she could find her father in the borderland but when she arrives, she wants to go right back. But when Arisu lays a punch on the bastard when they reunited, she spared no second to come to his defense, yelling that he got them back together cuz he helped her clear the games. What the heck now? Girl, he’s the one who separated you guys in the first place for his own selfish desires, he deserves more than that punch even after he ‘inadvertently’ helped you reunite 😒

6. All that trouble to lure Arisu to stay in borderland as citizen for the gamemaster’s entertainment, then in the end the master of borderland would just let him choose whether to live or to die, whichever he chose would still not make him stay in borderland. What kind of mindfck is thattttt?? So what the hell is the point of this whole shenanigans? 🤬🤬

All the above made me thought the hours i spent on this stupid show was such a waste. There is no point whatsoever of this season’s existence. I shouldve dropped this on season 1. Like for real. I’m gonna go with my first hunch for the next shows. Don’t get reeled in by curiosity, woman!

Read More

Best surprise since Love Between The Lines...

Normally wait until complete to review but initial now due to the FL haters who appear to be rating and/or commenting without watching - #1 complaint about voice.* It's ironic to me as simultateously wating Love For You with Zhang Jing Yi who I've not watched before: acting verdict on hold but dubbed voice has me considering dropping as so monitone. Admire Esther's work ethic as dubs many/most dramas.

Brings us back to Esther - like not love her but admire varied choice of scripts, social media presence, and her acting that continues to improve since first watched in Find Yourself. Already had discovered ML; look forward to his upcoming modenr dramas (Touch Me Like You Lied and Purple Dalia). Will update review about story etc. after finale. *Loved Speed and Love but Ski Into Love challenging due to childish voice

Read More

feels like the target audience is people who fetishize incest

So this was one of my friends' first cdramas (said friend only vaguely remembered it but had fun w/ it), and one day when we were talking about the current era of cdramas having polyam vibes, Wanru's Journey came up as a recommendation bc I'm a sucker for a triad. TBH the premise already turned me off from being into the triad since Xiao Ru is pretending to be Murong Zhuwan (since they look identical), so as far as any outsiders know her and Murong Chong are siblings.............. like. why are we doing a pseudo-incest romance?????? Cause (minor) spoilers but the show definitely has a Murong Chong x "Murong Zhuwan" agenda. But I've watched things where I didn't care for or even outright hated the main pairing and still had a mostly enjoyable time so I was like "the whole mistaken identity situation is actually kinda interesting if you ignore whatever is going on w/ these two so I'll keep watching." Should've known that was a mistake given the pseudo-incest lmao.

Basically there's this whole enemies to lovers vibe going on with Murong Chong and Xiao Ru where he's repeatedly threatening her life over relatively minor things but then she'll watch him in secret and be like "he's so handsome 😍🤤". It's uncomfortable. I finally tapped out bc there's a scene near the start of episode 6 of Xiao Ru having written (erotic?) fanfic about Murong Chong (and I think his friend Fu Hong? I don't fully grasp the details of what she wrote) and he tries to strangle Xiao Ru over this but they get caught by Fu Hong and Xiao Ru is lying on the bed and Murong Chong is like..... basically straddling her so Fu Hong is like "wtf is happening???????" and then Murong Chong gets up and somehow his belt slides off??????????????? and he's like "[nervous laughter] it's not what you think" and it's like...................... he thinks that's your sister.................... no one would be thinking you are having sex unless they think you are assaulting her............................ and then Xiao Ru makes her clothes all disheveled to accuse Murong Chong of just that and it's supposed to be a funny moment????????????????????? WHAT ARE WE DOING???????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Basically the writers are weirdos who had a lot of fun playing up the pseudo-incest. I don't recommend this.

Read More

War Wuxia, actually not Romance

If you like real Wuxia and war politics you will like this
Ignore the bad reviews from people who
1) compare with season 1
2) compare with the book
3) compare with the previous casts
DON'T COMPARE. Be professional and non bias in your reviews, this is a drama and a new story in it's OWN RIGHT

However, despite the good story and acting, Chinese drama needs to shorten,it gets boring

Needs to simplify, people come for entertainment not to learn exam and memorisuze names

Chinese producers and directors need to stop trying too hard to make everything arty, like slow motion aerial views with wind blowing and poetry in every scene -,hello! GET ON WITH IT
All the cast are very good looking,both boys and girls, and acted very well

So in summary there's a lot of positive in terms of good story and good acting. Worth watching if you like Wuxia

If you are looking for fast shallow romance then this is not for you

Read More

Husbands and wifes dynamic we never thought we need

All this time, we think marriage is scary and terrifying, of course it is, still is.

The best part in this movie is the family dynamic, they still love each other in different ways after their divorce, and their new partner understood their partner past history and trusted them. even after a divorce you can still be family, even though you are not longer a lover.

i also absolutely love seeing the villain couple too, they loved each other so genuinely, they love their partner crime as well, so funny. Hyeran kidnap Sinae, to get her husband back. What a devoted couple.

not to forget the plot twist at the very end of the movie, hinting there will be a second movie is absolute cinema.

Read More

Nauseatinf roller coaster ride

To be honest, this series started with a compelling premise: the daughter of a respected general becomes a Grand Princess caught in the deadly political struggle between the Regent and the King’s uncle. Add a handsome love interest and a disgraced prince, and it seemed like all the ingredients were there for an engrossing historical drama.

Unfortunately, the writers became so obsessed with plot twists that the story lost its way. Watching this series felt less like following a well-crafted political intrigue and more like riding the biggest roller coaster at Six Flags except every climb was followed by another unexpected drop, twist, and loop.

Every revelation was immediately replaced by another. Just when you thought you understood someone’s motives or identity, another twist turned everything upside down. Nothing was ever what it seemed until the very end, when every secret was suddenly revealed. It tried to be the perfect whodunit, but instead became so convoluted that it was exhausting to follow. I found myself spending more time trying to piece together the plot than becoming emotionally invested in it.

The romance, which should have grounded the series, felt like an afterthought. Instead of driving the story, it merely passed through it. Even more disappointing, the male lead often felt like a supporting character in his own drama.
Ironically, 24 episodes should have been enough to tell this story, yet so much time was spent on unnecessary twists that the emotional arcs and supporting characters never had the room to breathe. By the finale, I wasn’t surprised by the revelations, I was simply relieved the ride was over.

For viewers who enjoy nonstop plot twists and intricate palace conspiracies, this may be entertaining. For me, however, the series sacrificed coherence and emotional depth in favor of constantly trying to outsmart its audience.

Read More

No villain, just life being cruel

Honestly I wasnt planning to watch this in the first place, i know how cliche it will be and since i already dropped speed and love, i thought this is the same. it also uses brother-sister dynamics but thank god, it just for a short while.

The best part is they are not met by chance, or by coincidence, they met by choice. Xixiao seek her to buy her notes and Zhouwan seek him to get money from her mother who is currently his father's mistress. surely, at first, she only tried to get money for her grandma surgery, but she surely make him fall too hard. when her grandma died, he stayed by her side, and that is very profound. they runaway is absolutely cute (though i dont recommend it irl). i love how nonchalant he is but still expressing his feeling obviously.

they said there is a lot of misunderstanding in the drama, surely it is, but in my opinion, they already know and understand each other well even though they dont know anything since they dont communicate, but they immediately forgive each other is golden.

there's a lot up-down in the drama, and i keenly follow through with the updates. there's biggest plot twist at the finale, and i absolutely love it.

Read More