Reviews

Decepcionada

Gostei muito do piloto que foi o que me fez assistir mas o plot foi tão mal executado que me deixou TRISTE, o Teerak é extremamente infantil pra um rapaz adulto, me incomodou como eu não consegui sentir a carga emocional em cenas extremamente pesadas como onde o pai dele é extremamente bruto e homofóbico, chorei muito pelo peso mas o personagem em si parecia tão apático que me incomodou. Entendo ele ser tão mimado e amado pela família mas justamente isso que deveria ter pesado mais, ver o seu genitor que sempre te deu tanto carinho virar as costas dessa forma.

O muenfah parece um robô, atuação muito engessada do Thomas (pode ter dedo da direção, mas não sei) não conseguimos nos aprofundar no personagem pra criar um apego de verdade.

Episódios parecem um eterno filler, tem coisas tão toscas que me sinto vendo teatrinho da escola, ritmo cansativo demais e me incomodou como quando um arco acaba ele simplesmente nunca mais é pauta.

Me incomoda como produções bl desse jeito são tão aclamadas, deem o devido reconhecimento para as que merecem e não deixem de criticar trabalhos medíocres só porque são migalhas de representatividade.

De qualquer forma, fofo e os atores são carismáticos, espero que evoluam.

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The Long Ballad — Long, Dry & Where Was the Plot? ?

I’ll tell you what this show was: LONG. Just like its name. 😭

The Long Ballad has been on my list for the longest time. It’s highly rated, I love basically the entire cast, and the beginning was genuinely promising, so I really thought I was going to understand the hype. Unfortunately, somewhere around episode 15, it completely fell off for me, and the only reason I survived all 49 episodes was because I love the actors.

My biggest problem is honestly very simple: what was the plot?

I finished 49 episodes and genuinely couldn’t tell you what this show was trying to be. It starts like a revenge story, but that disappears. It’s not really enemies-to-lovers, it’s not fully political, it’s not fully about war, and there isn’t one strong central storyline carrying everything. The plot goes everywhere, the characters go everywhere, and some characters existed for so long that I genuinely questioned what their purpose was.

And because there wasn’t a strong enough plot, 49 episodes felt ridiculous. This could have been so much shorter. It became incredibly dry and boring, and by the end I wasn’t even excited to see what happened next—I just wanted to FINISH.

The female lead was also a huge problem for me. And this has nothing to do with Dilraba, because I love her. It was the writing of Chang Ge. She could be so self-righteous and arrogant that she genuinely annoyed me. She starts with this strong revenge arc, then that basically disappears, and eventually I felt like she didn’t even have a clear storyline anymore. Her character kept moving from one situation to another without an arc that felt satisfying to me.

Then we have a military/war drama with barely any actual WAR.

The comic-style battle sequences were a cool reference to the source material, and I respect the creative choice. But I don’t want comics replacing practically every major battle in a story built so heavily around military conflict. At some point, SHOW ME THE FIGHTING. 😭 It became genuinely frustrating because the story kept building toward these battles and then cutting away from the action.

The romance didn’t save it either. The chemistry between the leads was actually good at the beginning, which made it even more disappointing when the romance basically faded into the background. I never felt like their relationship was developed enough for me to become emotionally invested in it.

The storyline I enjoyed most was Zhao Lusi and Liu Yuning. I already love both of them, so they were such a treat here and definitely helped me continue. Even then, though, I wasn’t obsessed enough with their storyline for it to carry 49 episodes.

And then there’s Leo Wu.

Oh my God. GORGEOUS. 😭

Probably my favourite thing about this entire drama. The hair, the styling, the costumes—everything worked. He looked incredible, and I loved watching him. Between him, Zhao Lusi and Liu Yuning, those three basically kept me going.

On the other hand, I really didn’t like Dilraba’s styling. I understand that Chang Ge is supposed to be tomboyish, but personally, I didn’t enjoy the way she was styled throughout the drama. The overall production was nice enough—the costumes were generally good, the camerawork was fine—but none of that could make up for the writing.

And after ALL OF THAT, we get to the final episode and I’m once again asking:

WHAT WAS THAT?!

You had 49 episodes. How do you make a drama that long and still not have enough time to give everyone a properly satisfying conclusion? With that many characters and storylines, the ending should have been the moment where everything finally came together. Instead, it somehow made the entire drama feel even more unresolved. At the very least, after making me sit through 49 episodes, GIVE ME A GOOD ENDING. 😭

That basically sums up my experience with The Long Ballad: the cast was there, but the plot was not.

I wanted to love this so badly. I love the actors, the beginning had potential, and I went into it expecting to understand why it’s so highly rated. Instead, I spent most of it bored and wondering what exactly I was watching.

If you love the cast, I can understand watching it for them—because that’s literally what I did. But for the story itself? Absolutely not.

Too long, too dry, too scattered, barely any romance, barely any actual battles, and nowhere near enough plot to justify 49 episodes.

I finished The Long Ballad and my biggest achievement is simply that I finished The Long Ballad. 😭

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This might be a long Review!!

I just finished watching the show and boy was it an underwhelming ending!! I loved the premise of the show. I liked the characters, their chemistry and both of them are Very good looking people and the editing of the show was amazing(which was unexpected and refreshing). But with that I don’t know if it was the direction or their acting which at many occasion felt very inapt. The situations where they could’ve shown more emotions than just a still face was more than many.

The characters were not at all strong despite showing them powerful and wealthy, nothing was in their control. Half of the plans they made were fail, and most of the scenes did not make sense. Especially the scene where they talk in morse code! Like what the hell??? If you know he is there and you are anyways going to save him then why wait for the villain device a perfect plan to flee? I mean the whole time the villain was the one winning, and he would’ve won if he did not have a change of heart! The end where Hui Leuk To just kneels down and admits defeat for no particular reason was just embarrassingly senseless and made me loose some of my hair out of anger! Like bro you have a Freking gang just 2 meters away, use them!!

I also have a lot to complain about Fei Foon, who was not a fair boyfriend. This might be an unpopular opinion but I did not feel Hui Leuk To was a bigger red flag then Fei Foon. In fact, Vincent was a very nice boyfriend after the initial episode, whereas Fei Foon would leave him on the blink of an eye! I mean when Vincent said he did not kill the man, Fei Foon does not even stop for a second to think he might be innocent, and even blames him for being untruthful? Like bro how long does he know you for telling you his whole life history? And that was very hypocritical of him too (with him hiding from Vincent for six months that he was police officer!) On top of that it pissed me off that he was always ready to give the villains the benefit of doubt which he never gave to Hui Leuk To.

All in all, despite all these complains I did like the show a lot and the story was very different and interesting. I watched a good show after a very long while and the couple made me giddy and smiling a lot of times. Some of the dialogues were also sweet and made me feel the butterflies. So all in all, I will give this show an 8 out of 10.

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Improved visual quality, but suffers from inconsistent plots.

The theme of "Jinn" is not foreign to me culturally, and it has become a central theme of most of the Indonesian and Malaysian horror films I've watched growing up. And the Pattani Malay spoken in this movie is something I'm very familiar with as well. But in Thailand, this theme is rather new, as their horror film revolves more around the core Buddhist cosmology, like karma, reincarnation, and merit-making. So I was simply giving this film a shot given that Thailand doesn't have many movies centered around the Muslim community, especially in the southernmost provinces of Thailand.

Set in Narawathiwat, the core of this film is pretty much similar to the first one, which is the black magic practice from the Tok Nenek (in context, it refers to the dark practice passed through generations). The focus this time shifts to "Qareen," with a new set of protagonists. While it doesn't really offer anything drastically new compared to other Islamic-themed horror films I've seen, it definitely has that signature Thai horror film style that really elevates the production quality. The visual, production design, and atmosphere of this sequel are noticeably improved, establishing the eerie tone from the start. The CGI is way more polished too. As for the jump scares and the variety of ghosts in the story, it works well, though for a horror enthusiast like me, it still feels somewhat mild.

All of the cast did an amazing job, especially Mim Rattanawadee as Diana, a young newlywed whose life takes a dark turn after she vanishes into the mysterious Budo Mountains. The way she switches between two completely different emotional spaces is genuinely impressive—the vulnerability of a young, terrified wife with the harrowing, physically demanding states of supernatural possession. She's really reinforcing her status as one of Thailand's new contemporary "scream queens."

Now, despite the improved visual and good performance, the main issue with this film is its screenplay and narrative. While it tries to highlight the concepts of testing one's faith, the script is haphazard, lacking depth to make the whole idea cohesive. The story doesn't have enough meat on its bones. Plus, the editing feels rough and jarring too, making some scenes feel disjointed. While the first 30 minutes managed to lay out the plot decently and build up the scary atmosphere, the shifts in between the story of Anas's quest to release his wife's Qareen, to Lin's desperate escape through the forest aren't clearly explored.

Overall, while this sequel is better than its predecessor in terms of production quality, it unfortunately suffers from inconsistent and confusing plots. That said, I wouldn't write it off completely—it has potential and could work as an interesting entry point if you're looking for something different and haven't explored this theme much before. To me, it's nothing special, just solidly average.

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Not bad but not good

KDRAMA NO LONGER THE BEST THE TOP
BEING DISAPPOINTED CONSTANTLY BY NEW KDRAMA

STORY - FML likes idol and her work both so joined the company, there the idol is really interested in her he is 2nd ml, I felt like scenes with him were longer and unnecessary

ROMANCE - ml misunderstand, that FML likes him and slowly he falls for her but that was start their interactions were cute I really liked how it was going until 2nd ml came and it was a mess, FML is weird in this once she says she liked him for long but as fan only then agrees to try dating her idol to reject him saying I can't see you as man etc and in that 2 dates she went her pics got leaked and that dragged for long enough ? finally 2nd ml was gone and ml started to be honest but FML confessed first all this shit for 9eps ? I am like where is ROMANCE now ? the confession felt forced and random they only had interactions but nowhere they showed if FML liked him she was only interested in her idol ? they don't show FML being interested in ml at all and suddenly they started started dating? even after that there's work more than romance I watched till 11 and 12 she says I wanna go abroad ? I really liked the first part second part went downhill

they had chemistry but the story, pacing was bad

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nothing burger

I didn’t enjoy this much aside from the fight scenes. Both backstories felt flat, especially the comatose friend, the “resolution” was basically the bully getting beaten up. He should’ve been in prison for attempted murder. I get that the show isn’t aiming for realism, but constantly introducing a bigger, stronger bully every episode got repetitive fast

The best moments were when they were masked and actually delivering revenge. It was also strange how in the first two fights he didn’t look particularly skilled and only won through sheer perseverance, but by the third fight he suddenly became an elite-level fighter. The jump in ability didn’t feel earned.

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Six Episodes In and I’m Hooked — Mystery, Action and a Cast That Can Actually Act

First Impressions After 6 Episodes
I’m writing this after six episodes, so obviously this drama still has plenty of time to break my heart, lose its own plot somewhere along the way, or do something completely ridiculous.
But so far? It’s really, really good.
Compared with quite a few dramas where we get beautiful people in beautiful costumes and sometimes that’s where the list of attractions ends, someone here apparently had a revolutionary idea:
What if we gave them a script too?
And mysteries.
And actual pacing.
And gorgeous sets.
And very good fight scenes.
And actors who, in addition to being beautiful, actually act.
Madness. I highly recommend doing this more often. 😂
Luo Yunxi
Luo being Luo — you can always count on him.
And above all, you can count on THAT FACE.
You know the one.
The face that somehow manages to say all of this at once:
“I know more than you do.
I may also know something I don’t yet know that I know.
I find this mildly amusing.
I’m also slightly tired of existence.
I have a bad heart.
I will probably die.
But before I die, I’m going to look fabulous while solving a seventeen-year-old mystery. And probably a few others along the way.”
😂
His Li Si is calm, elegant, intelligent and difficult to read. Luo isn’t going for big emotional displays here — at least not yet — but even when he barely says or does anything, you can tell that the character is thinking.
And then he starts moving, and we’re reminded that Luo Yunxi can turn a fight scene into something halfway between combat and choreography.
Fang Yilun
I was particularly curious about Fang Yilun because he’s one of my favourite actors, and I usually enjoy him most in roles where he gets to be more animated, clever, cheeky and just a little fox-like.
And here?
I got an Ice Block.
Meng Rui is a warrior, a stiff, dutiful man who apparently eats regulations for breakfast and reads the code of honour for relaxation.
And much to my delight, it turns out that an Ice Block can be acted too.
Fang doesn’t simply stand in front of the camera broadcasting: I’m beautiful, the costume will handle the rest.
He’s present. He listens. He reacts. He thinks.
Tiny changes in his expression are enough to show that information is registering and that something is happening underneath that very controlled exterior.
And when it’s time to fight… well.
Meng Rui stops being an Ice Block and becomes a very persuasive argument for watching costume dramas.
Fang Yilun’s strength and physical dynamism combined with Luo Yunxi’s elegance of movement are a particular treat for the eyes.
Shen Yujie
And thankfully, between these two gentlemen, we also have ENERGY. 😂
Bai Zhenzhu feels fresh, lively, curious and competent, and she actually reacts to the people and events around her. Shen Yujie brings exactly the kind of contrast this group needs when the other two members are a man who looks as though he knows every secret in the universe and another who appears to have solemnly sworn never to have fun for as long as he lives.
Together, they make a trio whose development I really want to watch.
And that is probably my biggest wish after six episodes:
Give these three more interaction.
The chemistry and potential are already there. I want more conversations, teasing, friction, growing trust and all those little things that make us reach episode 30 not only wanting to know who killed whom seventeen years ago, but also realizing that we don’t want to say goodbye to these characters.
And the drama itself?
So far, it simply doesn’t give you much opportunity to get bored.
The mysteries are interesting, the atmosphere is appropriately dark, the pacing is good, the supporting cast is doing an excellent job, the sets and costumes are beautiful, and the action scenes are clear, fluid and genuinely enjoyable to watch.
It isn’t just people waving swords around attractively. The movement has rhythm and character, and the fighting styles feel suited to the people performing them.
And one more thing matters to me:
I’m not watching this drama simply because I like the cast.
After six episodes, I genuinely want to know what happens next.
For a mystery drama, I think that may be one of the best compliments I can give.
So, as a humble representative of a certain European country 🇵🇱😂, I would like to report to the international kisskh community:
If you feel like taking a break from romance and trying a costume mystery with gorgeous visuals, a fast-moving story, great fights, intriguing cases and three main characters who actually have something to do — give Shadow Punisher a chance.
I have no idea yet whether it will become one of the best dramas of the year.
But after six episodes, it has all the ingredients to become one.
Now please, for the love of drama gods, don’t screw it up.
I still have 24 episodes to go, and I would very much like to come back here after the finale without having to take back a single word. 😂

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Nothing new (or great) here. At all.

Clichéd. For me, it was a run of the mill palace intrigue (scheming empress dowagers! Surprise villain! etc) mixed with heavy mommy/daddy/terrible parenting issues (everywhere) and just a smidge of romance. Overall, I didn’t find anything or anyone super interesting. No chemistry, just adequate actors doing their jobs adequately with one standout (see last para).

The first third or so of this drama is the best part; the leads were way, way more engaging and watchable as enemies than lovers.

The love story between leads had all the passion and longing of a potted plant; ML was doing all the heavy lifting but there wasn’t much to work with, FL is a stunned, barely there lamppost much better suited to be a friend. Such a bummer!

The melodrama really amps up in mid-20s eps with crank-the-volume-down wailing royals, goofy death plots, bad decisions, and revenge arcs that feel so dull. All of this has been done to death and there’s nothing here rises above in any way.

Chen Zheyuan’s boyishly handsome looks are sometimes at odds with the character. FL had a strong start, but character was reduced to only saying flat, inspirational lines and quotes and being like a mommy/friend advice giver.

The cruel/callous/spoiled/apathetic/whiny playboy Emperor of Jinxiu (Qin Tian Yu) was by far the most watchable character of anyone and he absolutely chewed up all the scenes he was in. His twisted little hurt-me love obsession was the most interesting thing of the whole saga. Towards the end, he was the ONLY character I thought brought energy (albeit negative) to this drama and gave it a pulse.

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I went into this show based solely on the fact that Zee is in it and I wanted to see him act more. That I will say. Its one of those times where I am going though an actor I like and watching everything basically. I did go in from just Zee but what kept me watching was the constant question of who actually did it. There were literally so many times I thought I had it but were guess I didn't.
So, I think that this is one of those thrillers that does a good job of making several characters look suspicious, and I kept changing my mind about who was responsible for the incident. That is something that I really enjoy when I watch thriller mysteries. I want to be able to guess along as I watch the show. I axctyually genuinely has a blast coming up with theories and look for little clues in each episode, I binged this over a 3 day period where I took like 5ish episodes a time so I had time to think as well. It was amazing.

The three female leads were another highlight for me. I especially thought Pim did a great job as Queen. Queen is honestly a character I found extremely idk how to explain it better than just straight up unlikeable and unredeemable. She is selfish, manipulative. She played that part super well fantastic actually if I had to say so myself. She really made it be very easy to side with everyone around her rather than her. But even though I disliked her character a lot it that actually made me appreciate Pim's performance more because I became genuinely annoyed with the character.

Visually, I enjoyed the overall mood of the drama too. The cinematography, flashy colours, and the overall atmosphere fit the darker story and helped make the mystery feel more intense. It gave the series a slightly glamorous but also quite uncomfortable feeling, which suited the characters and their relationships. Great choice on the directors part when they were choosing the lighting for the show. It became incredibly immersive the further I got into the show.

For me, the biggest strengths are the performances, the complicated friendships of the 3 friends, the atmosphere, and especially the mystery surrounding Queen's death. So I think my overall feelin on the show is that I found One Night Stand to be a fun and addictive mystery drama with strong performances and plenty of betrayal, secrets, and twists. IF you like those then it's definitely going to be a great watch for you. But do be warned about the fact that there's some non consensual parts within the show so if it makes you too uncomfortable either skip this one or skip the drama as a whole.

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High potential, But not satisfactory

This drama has started on very strong. It came out around the same time as "against the current", which is a masterpiece in my opinion, so I was really excited to watch two wonderful dramas at the same time, unfortunately I was disappointed.
This drama has started on super strong, the beginning was very interesting. The atmosphere very dark and ambiguous making you hooked. The revenge storyline, the characters, the acting, everything was wonderful at the beginning, which makes your blood boil and makes you jump in anticipation to know what will happen next, I dropped this around episode twenty, because it felt very incomplete. After the first few episodes the revenge was dragging on and on forever, and the female lead felf like an accessory to the male lead. Like literally, the male lead always saves her. He's the one who always do things for her. The female lead was just there doing nothing. I wanted to finish it in case it gets better later on, but I've seen some spoilers, and I do not think it will get any better. So I've decided to drop it. Honestly, it has a wonderful beginning, and a high potential, unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations. Especially with against the current as its rival, it just felt much more lacking. the only good thing about this drama is the acting, and the atmosphere, the tense dark, ambiguous atmosphere was wonderful, though other things were very, very lacking: the storyline, the character development, the pace, everything else, it did not give us the satisfaction of watching a revenge drama with a good revenge.

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Messy, Exaggerated, But Surprisingly Satisfying

Not an airtight plot by any means. Pacing was perfect. The acting is definitely doing a lot of the heavy lifting, and some parts are exaggerated while others feel surprisingly real. Still, the series works well overall, especially when you look at its message and social-awareness aspect.
Some parts felt weird to me, but there were also several genuinely top-notch episodes, and the series kept getting better as it progressed. From Episodes 3–9 were easily my favorite episode in the show.

Objectively, I'd call it a good series with noticeable flaws. Subjectively, it depends heavily on the lens you watch it through. For me, the overall experience was definitely worth it and surprisingly satisfying.

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Some remakes should not have been made at all...

and this series is one we could have lived without. While there is/was controvery that Prommy is 21 and Boongkee is 16, the problem from the beginning is that Prommies charisma is like that of my wall. He is sooooo boring to look at, his acting is stiff and I have no idea how he got the role. Boongkee is a bit better but not close to good.

The whole cast is "colorless" in their acting abilities. The only exception is "Che". While "Peek" and "Boom" of the original series were also only 15 and 16 they delivered a much stronger performance. The script was also watered down and dumbed down, so to not create any controversies. So there is also no kissing or nc-scenes in this series, because that's Thailand and there was only one person under 20 doing a serious nc-scene.

Overall this series should have never been made with that script and most of the cast. It's boring as hell, the comedy cringe (with the typical thai soundeffects), the acting is stiff and there are too many episodes for too little content in the script. My advice is to just skip this series. If you have no clue what's it about, just watch the original, which is also not great but far superior!

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