Reviews

I learned about this movie from a clip on YouTube and knew right away that it was exactly my taste.

I've seen Lee Re in multiple series and always found her compelling to watch, but I was still a bit surprised how effortlessly charming she is in this role. Jin Seo-yeon and Chung Soo-bin complement her perfectly as people desperately in need of her character's effervescent warmth to thaw their frigid hearts.

I won't say much else except that if you like gentle, genial healing dramas, you might love this as much as I did. Recommended for fans of Love, Untangled, Hear Me: Our Summer, Linda, Linda, Linda, etc. (Just as those films are recommended for fans of this one.)

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A Masterpiece of Acting and Exquisite Artistry

The Scandal is not your conventional K-drama family romance or a period romance; it is a masterclass in psychological tension, repression, and hidden desire..It does have explicit sex scenes but ones that are necessary for the story. The slow, laid-back pace of the drama reflect the boring, slow-paced everyday lives of the elites of the Joseon Era, especially the women. This could very well be one of the most misunderstood K-dramas, until one looks beyond the surface.

While some may find the relationship dynamics as a "lack of chemistry," the show's brilliance actually lies in its calculated restraint. The bond between Lady Cho and Cho Won is defined by a heavy, palpable longing masked behind rigid societal facades. Ji Chang-wook delivers an incredibly nuanced, multilayered performance, doing the heavy lifting largely through his highly expressive eyes. He seamlessly transitions from witty and mischievous to chillingly predatory, only to later reveal a profound, heartbreaking vulnerability. Opposite him, Son Ye-jin commands the screen with flawless micro-expressions, perfectly capturing a ruthless intellect hidden beneath a calm exterior, while Nana provides a heartbreaking, raw emotional anchor as the virtuous widow.

Beyond the stellar acting, the drama is a visual and auditory triumph. The production team treats Joseon-era craftsmanship as an active narrative device-using traditional silk-making, paper-making, and symbolic landscape paintings to beautifully foreshadow the plot and mirror the intricate, slow-burn manipulations of the characters. The creative use of pansori music acts as a powerful emotional chorus, heightening the tension where words fail. Bathed in gorgeous, candlelit cinematography and meticulous costuming, The Scandal demands to be watched for its artistic depth rather than surface-level tropes. It is an exquisite, haunting character study that lingers long after the credits roll.

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A whole lots of misunderstanding

Falling into Your Mortal World had everything I love in a fantasy romance—fate, sacrifice, misunderstandings, hidden truths, and two people whose lives seem destined to remain connected. Yet after everything the ML and FL went through, the ending left me asking one question: Why weren't they allowed to be together?

Much of their heartbreak comes from misunderstandings and lies. Things are deliberately hidden, causing them to make choices without knowing the complete truth. Instead of being able to understand one another, they are repeatedly pushed apart by circumstances and deception. That's why I expected the truth finally being revealed to become their turning point.

What made the ending especially frustrating was the **red string of fate**. The story tells us these two are tied together and that their lives will continue to cross. To me, that symbolizes a love and connection strong enough to survive different lives, separation, and everything fate throws at them.

So why establish such a powerful connection only to leave them apart?

I understand that not every romance needs a perfect fairy-tale ending, and sometimes loving someone doesn't automatically mean you can be together. But here, the ending felt more incomplete than bittersweet. After all the misunderstandings were cleared and the lies exposed, I wanted them to finally have the opportunity to choose each other with the truth between them.

If their souls are destined to remain connected, I wish the writer had given us that final moment showing that fate wasn't only bringing them together to suffer—it was bringing them home to each other. ❤️💔

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the ending changed everything

let's start with acting, it was brilliant. no surprise there.
now the story,
I ALWAYS believed in something:
it doesn't matter if the drama is gold and plot is good if the ending is bad (not necessarily sad ending) then the entire drama I think is bad. now the reverse is true too, when the drama and the plot is trash if the ending is good (not necessarily a happy ending) then the drama is good.
kinda the same thing happened here, this drama was not good honestly the plot was all over the place and a mess, but the last two episodes was actually really good, it was filled with emotions and the plot suddenly moved forward. I really enjoyed the last 2 episodes. the ending especially was good too.
I don't know if i can recommend it to others but IF YOU STARTED watching it, don't drop it and watch it till the end, you won't regret.

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A bit too meta

The beginning was too silly and I wasn't convinced this is the drama for me. And then, bam! The end of the first episode they made me cry. When she saw her dad and hugged him 🥹😭
This made me hope for a hidden potential. And wasn't it much of a risk to continue watching. With visuals this beautiful and clear scenographic image it was very pleasant to watch (OST didn't steal my heart but it was still objectively very good).
And it all was looking very good until I reached the love confession and all of my engagement plummeted. Sad, very sad.
But it happens very often. Suddenly without angsty will-they-wont-they situation plot cannot hold on to the tension by itself. And the FL's disappearing act didn't help the matter. I get that it was part of the plot and the message (we cannot forget ourselves while loving someone) but not having lead actress 'present' for the best part of the second half was very disengaging. It also didn't help the matter that she had no personal conflict or agenda that would make matters interesting. It was there at the beginning, but then she truly became this clueless, sunshine side character.
The ending was... something. I hate open endings, but I hate boring endings more. This one was kind of both, but I didn't hate it. I do not love it either. At least there was some kind of vision and the plot twist. It was just a little bit too meta for me. And too much was revealed at the end. Sitting there confused for the better part of an hour is not what I count as a good time.
*how come they couldn't even have a kiss here, but in other dramas they almost go at it (looking at you Pursuit of Jade). Just wonder. It's so prudish for agult people to only hold hands and kiss on the forehead.

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cute but...

This is JBL is very cute and very open. The only point missing is the makeup department. Sometimes they look young and sometimes due to the makeup and the lighting they do not. Of course it would have been better to have actors somewhere closer to their age to portray them. Especially when you have watched "Takaras Treasure" Eito looks soooooo much younger. This is my only major gripe with this series...

Overall it was beautifully done, nice pictures, good vibe and yes, they really kiss which is an improvement over so many other JBLs. The story is not the most exciting but still interesting. Of course they serve all the clichés expected from a BL either in words or in pictures. The unique point is a supportive bigger brother.

Of course there must be drama in such BL, which happens on the end of episode 5 when Asamiya says something stupid and I wanted to punch his face immediately. "What is wrong with you?" At least they did not drag that on, it gets resolved with the encouraging words of Asamiyas friend who supports him from the "shadows". Also Mayama is growing, taking initiative and leaving his inferior complex behind.

This was nice and wholesome. As with most JBLs it's a positive story with a postive vibe. Production quality was good, but as mentioned above lighting and makeup were inconstistent. Especially Eito is superb in his role making the comedic bits believable and not cringe. This series is worth binging.

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Cute, Simple, and Just What I Needed

I honestly didn't know what to expect from this drama.
Not only because of the title — which already tells you pretty much everything that is going to happen 😂 — but because this was actually my first Japanese BL. So I went into it with absolutely no idea what kind of experience I was going to have.
And in the end, I think this was probably the perfect kind of drama for me to start with.
It's not complicated, it's not overly dramatic, it's simply a cute, light and very easy-to-watch school romance, and sometimes that's exactly what you need.

The story begins after a classroom seat change puts quiet, rather introverted Mayama Har in front of Asamiya Kosei, one of the most popular and handsome boys in the class.
Then Mayama finds a confession written on a worksheet:
“I like you.”
Naturally, he assumes there has been some kind of mistake. Because why on earth would someone like Asamiya be interested in him? Except… there is no mistake.
Asamiya really does like him.
And apparently, he has liked him for quite some time. From there, the drama basically becomes a very cute exercise in watching one boy trying to understand why someone could possibly like him, while the other has absolutely no problem making his feelings known.
And honestly? I had fun watching them figure it out.

Asamiya, let's talk about him.
Once he decides that he likes Mayama, he basically goes all in.
He waits for him.
He finds excuses to be around him.
He tells him what he likes about him.
He makes his feelings very, VERY clear.
What makes Asamiya's personality work, though, is Mayama. He isn't cold. He's just inexperienced and genuinely doesn't know what to do with this sudden amount of attention.
I actually liked that he doesn't immediately fall head over heels.
He needs time.
He needs to understand his own feelings.

One of the things I appreciated most is that the romance doesn't feel unnecessarily heavy. There aren't endless misunderstandings created simply to stretch the story. There is some hesitation and some emotional uncertainty, obviously, but the overall feeling remains warm. It's about first love.It's about the excitement of realizing that someone likes you.
It's about discovering what it means to like someone back. It's about jealousy, awkwardness, little gestures and those tiny moments that suddenly feel much more important because you're falling for someone.

Maybe this is completely subjective, but I can't imagine having watched this at a better time.
There is something about After Moving Seats that feels very summer.
The school setting.
The young characters.
The uncomplicated romance.
The light comedy.
The feeling that everything is happening for the first time.

It was exactly the kind of drama I needed: light, sweet, funny and uncomplicated. There were moments that genuinely made me laugh, and plenty of others that simply made me smile because the two leads were so cute together.

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Two Red Flags made for each other

This drama is perfect, the story is catchy and the way Big Jane become a softer person for his Little Jane despite his background and past traumas. I actually reproach that they didn't dig deep in this side of BJ and why he start doing favors in the first place.

The acting is top notch Especially Tee. His eyes are so expressive, you can feel his love for LJ and his sorrow when they broke up, he really did an amazing job for his first ever role and the chemistry is chemistrying. Despite their actual age gape, you can feel how they are comfortable with each other which helps delivering an excellent performance.

For me Little Jane is as much a red flag as Big Jane

He listen to gossips so much , let them guide him and his decisions and he judge BJ through them.
The shower where he imagine BJ despite him being in an actual relationship with Dan.
He treat BJ like shit after he paid his brother dept.
He sleep with the man responsible for his best friend death [in his opinion] the same exact day the said BF died and all that as a favor.
He himself demand two favors from BJ when he spent an amount of time criticizing him for offering favors to others.

So they deserve each other.

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LOVE IT ALREADY

As im writing this only 4 episodes are out but i can just foresee the future and still see myslef LOVING this series!

Just to start off the ACTING?? Wow. Just wow. James is EXCEPTIONAL. As much as we all hate his character (Nine) we cant deny hes doing an amazing job. His facial expressions, his hidden anger, his sarcasm, GOSH i cant get enough of it. Auau and save genuinely are so cute they are amazing aswell. Im genuinely getting pulled in due to their performance and it just makes me want to nige watch it iver and over again. RYUJINPATJI! Give them more screen time please 😭 From what i have seen so far they are SO promising. Renji never fails to make me laugh and time nealry made me cry omg..

THE STROYLINE HOLY! Ive seen a few people say "Its repetitive" "ive seen this before" blahblahblah. I have NEVER, seen anything like this series before. It wows me how unique this series is. It shows the reality of the acting world, what actors face, the pressures, the consequences and it shows what theyre truly up agaisnt and that is eachother! What us fans see on a daily basis from bl actors is not entirely true! And im glad gheres a series like mr fanboy that shows their struggles like saesangs, practices, hate, money etc. The love plot between auausave and ryujinpatji are so enticing aswell! They are both slightly enemies to lovers and im sat. I just KNOW they are gonna eat this series down!

THE OST OMG. i love FANBOY omg. I have it on repeat all the time but i dont think anybody loves it more than auau LOL. At the beginning we only has the instrumental in the intro but now we have the whole song im ADDICTED. Also im not sure who else heard but they did the same this they didn in duang with you! Wan wan meow! ITS SO CUTE OMGGG. And also i just want to talk about the intro for a sec. ITS SO GOOD OMG. Ons of the first intros in a while i havent skipped omg. Its so good i can genuinely watch it all day.

Not much more to say but im so excited for the rest of the series and i know my boys are going to do an amazing job and i love them all so so much and i genuinely wish the series a great success! Please promote the series with whatever resources you have may that be your platform on apps or just word of the mouth. They are all amazing actors and severely underated so show auausave, ryujinpatji, james an nan some love and enjoy the series!!

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Like someone got a checklist of the successful elements but was unable to assemble it

My Rating is 7/10

My daughter liked this less than I did and gave it a 6.5/10. While I liked it slightly more, I can understand exactly why she felt it was not very good.

I think My Bias, My Boss is one of those dramas where your expectations going in make a huge difference. If you do not mind cookie-cutter stories that lean heavily on familiar tropes, characters without much depth, and cheesy romance moments, you could be okay with this. For me, though, I would not recommend it to most Asian drama fans and I would not watch it again.

It has so many of the ingredients that made viewers fall in love with Asian dramas: the fangirl and idol, workplace romance, CEO, love triangle, accidental kiss, staring, umbrella, separation, reunion and ring. But for me, it was like being handed a LEGO kit without the instructions. You have all the bricks and accessories you need to build something really cool, say Snoopy. You have the black bricks, the white bricks and everything else you need. But without the picture or instructions, you don't realize that those pieces are supposed to become Snoopy. So you put them together and end up with a black-and-white dog. It has all the elements, but it isn't Snoopy.

That is what this drama felt like to me. It had all the right pieces, but they did not quite come together into the thing they were supposed to be.

And I don't think I would put this entirely on streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu or Disney+. I think there is a broader Western influence creeping into Asian dramas in general. Even dramas on Viki and iQIYI, which I still think of as quintessential Asian-drama platforms, are sometimes adopting some of the same changes: shorter series, shorter episodes, shallower character development and side romances that do not get enough time to become meaningful.

I have actually had a pretty big discussion with other Asian-drama fans on TikTok about this, and I know I am not the only one noticing the change. There is a feeling among many fans that some newer dramas are taking the things that made Asian dramas special and changing them without really understanding why those things worked in the first place.

That is exactly how I felt here.

There was nothing fundamentally wrong with My Bias, My Boss. There was enough here that I enjoyed portions of it, which is why I landed at a 7 rather than lower. But it often felt like a drama that assembled all the right ingredients without understanding how they were supposed to fit together.

For me, Kang Ha-gi was okay as a male lead. He was smart, handsome, mature and competent, so he checked all the boxes. Kang Hoon made him likable, but I never became particularly attached to him.

I did like his connection with the cats, though. I thought that was going to become part of the romantic payoff, perhaps with the cats eventually being reunited once Ha-gi and Nam Da-reum got together. Instead, Da-reum simply gave them away, including the cat Ha-gi had been caring for and seemed attached to. That felt like another little element the drama introduced without really knowing what to do with it.

I also thought Lee Chan and Nam Da-reum actually matched each other better in personality. Maybe dating her longtime bias turned out differently than she imagined because she was not the center of his world, but the two of them seemed to naturally understand each other. I never really loved Da-reum and Ha-gi as a couple.

The 12-episode format also worked against the story for me. I went in thinking I would miss the traditional 16-episode Korean drama structure. Instead, by the end I thought 12 episodes almost felt like too much. I did not need more episodes. I needed more character development.

I would not watch this again. I would not recommend it to most Asian drama fans, and if it happened to be on somewhere, I would probably change the channel or leave the room. Once was more than enough.

Spoilers

The biggest problem for me was Nam Da-reum.

I found her completely unlikeable through a large portion of the drama. I understand that she was an intense fan and wanted to be near Lee Chan, but she deliberately joined his company hoping to run into him. Fine. You got the job. Act like a professional.

She was not exactly a sasaeng in the extreme sense of stalking him or invading his privacy, but her motivation was still fandom first and career second. I even wondered what Kang Ha-gi would have thought if he had seen all of the Lee Chan merchandise in her apartment before making some of his decisions about her.

The early fangirl scenes with Da-reum and Park Mi-mi were the height of cringe for me. I had so much secondhand embarrassment that I almost quit watching. My daughter practically tuned in and out during those episodes and thought they were nearly unwatchable.

Then Da-reum gets accused of being a sasaeng. I understood why that upset her, but I also thought the drama was being a little generous in separating her behavior from the motivation that put her there in the first place.

And then she actually dated Lee Chan.

I thought that was a mistake.

Even if Lee Chan wanted the relationship, Da-reum clearly was not feeling it in the same way. I think dating her bias while she was still sorting out what she actually wanted only hurt him more.

And honestly, I thought Lee Chan was a better fit for her in personality. He understood the fangirl side of her, and they seemed to naturally click. Maybe the reality of dating her bias was disappointing because he had a career, responsibilities and a life that did not revolve around her.

That seems to be something Da-reum struggled with. She needed to feel important to the person she loved. When Kang Ha-gi was busy trying to uncover the mole and was not spending as much time with her, she became upset too. I found some of her reactions selfish because he had a legitimate responsibility to deal with.

He supported her career, and I thought she should have been willing to support his career in the same way.

That insecurity made the romance harder for me to buy. Ha-gi was willing to give her room to pursue her ambitions, but she sometimes seemed more concerned with how much attention he was giving her than with understanding what he was dealing with.

I also had trouble with the star necklace and bracelet situation. Once Da-reum and Lee Chan decided not to be a couple, those items still felt like an intimate connection between them. In other dramas, a necklace or bracelet from a man to the female lead is practically a romantic symbol. Here it was treated almost like a fan connection, but it felt much more personal and secret than that.

And I kept thinking about Ha-gi. I would have been hurt by it if I were in his position. Da-reum never really telling him about that connection made it feel even stranger. You could argue it was simply a fan thing, but the way the drama presented it made it feel like an inside secret between two people who had decided not to be romantically involved.

The cats were another little thing that bothered me. I thought their connection through the cats was cute and expected some kind of payoff. Instead, Da-reum simply gave them away, even giving away the cat Ha-gi had been caring for and appeared attached to. It was such an odd choice that I kept wondering what the point of establishing that whole connection had been.

The whole thing with Park Mi-mi getting time with her own idol was ridiculous to me too. The odds of Da-reum working closely with her bias were already pretty slim. Then her friend conveniently gets regular access to her own idol after discovering Roy was working as a deliveryman. That was just too much coincidence.

The romance tropes were everywhere, but often felt awkward. We got the catch-and-fall with the long staring session, "sleeping" together, accidental kiss, umbrella, separation, reunion and ring. I could almost check them off as they appeared.

I don't mind these tropes when they are done well. The problem was that here they often felt inserted because the writers knew fans expected them.

That is my bigger issue with some newer Asian dramas. It sometimes feels like the writers know the tropes, know that fans like those tropes, and then make sure every one of them appears without necessarily understanding the emotional details that made them work so well in the first place.

The fangirl moment with Yoon Choi was another example. Just a couple of scenes earlier, Yoon Choi was creating complications around Lee Chan, and then suddenly Da-reum was fangirling over her. I understood the joke, but it felt awkward and disconnected from what had just happened.

The idol group's reunion after nine years also pushed believability for me. With so many active K-pop groups, I had trouble believing a group that had been off the radar for that long would suddenly have such a major comeback. It felt more like another element the writers wanted to include than something the story really developed.

Then there was the Paris trip.

I understood what the writers wanted to do. Ha-gi is such a good guy that he supports Da-reum's career enough to let her go, and then we get the separation and reunion. I actually liked that part of his character. He was willing to support her career rather than make her choose between him and an important opportunity.

But the trip itself felt like it was there mainly to give us the separation trope.

Then came the reunion.

And then the ring.

I just did not feel like the relationship had earned that level of commitment. Da-reum spent a good portion of the series thirsting after her bias. Then there were late-night encounters, a relationship with Ha-gi, a six-month separation, a reunion and suddenly the ring.

It felt like too little actual relationship-building for such a huge romantic payoff.

And there was barely any family or friend involvement before that happened. The ring practically came before any meaningful "meet the family" stage. I miss that in some of these newer romances. Relationships do not exist in a vacuum, and seeing family and friends become part of the couple's lives is one of the things that can give an Asian drama more emotional richness.

I also had a hard time with the lack of depth in many of the characters. Ha-gi was fine, but he was mostly the smart, handsome, mature CEO who checked the boxes. Lee Chan had more potential for me because his personality seemed to fit Da-reum better, and I wish the drama had explored that dynamic more.

Too many of the other characters felt like they existed mainly to serve the plot or introduce another romantic complication. Neither of the side romances really engaged me, and whenever the drama switched to them, I found myself wanting to get back to the main story.

There are things I liked. Da-reum was genuinely good at her job. Ha-gi was likable enough. Lee Chan and Da-reum had a natural personality match. The cats were cute. There were funny moments, some cute moments and some genuinely sweet scenes.

But I kept wishing the drama would slow down and actually develop the people rather than move them through familiar romantic beats.

That is ultimately why I gave it a 7, and honestly, I feel a little generous.

I think there is a real difference between using the familiar elements of Asian dramas and understanding why those elements work.

Asian dramas at their best let relationships breathe. They let characters change slowly enough that you believe it. They give family, friends and side characters their own histories and relationships. They include little moments that may not advance the plot but make you understand why people love one another. That richness was what I felt was missing here. My daughter and I ended up watching the same drama and coming away with almost the same basic reaction, just with slightly different numbers. She gave it a 6.5. I gave it a 7. There was enough here to make me finish it, but not enough to make me want to watch it again. It had the bricks. It had the accessories. It just never quite became Snoopy.

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Wtf sooo good

Klar — ich würde hier den anfänglichen Zweifel und die spätere Begeisterung schön hervorheben:

I don’t think I’ve ever watched a series with this much deep meaning behind it. But honestly, at the beginning, I couldn’t really make sense of it at all. After the first episode, I was actually pretty close to dropping it.

But then it completely blew me away. The way everything came together and the deeper meaning behind the story left me genuinely amazed, and I ended up being so incredibly impressed by it.

One important note, though: please take care of your mental health when watching this series. Some of the themes can be quite heavy, so make sure you’re in the right headspace for it. ❤️

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A tender coming-of-age romance

This was a very tender coming-of-age story; like many dramas of this genre, it is nothing original, and that's not bad. This was sweet, with typical puppy love growing pains. It was low in drama but with enough heartaches and sweet moments to make this an enjoyable journey.

For a 30-minute per episode drama, the plot develops nicely and the pacing feels fine. I would have loved more episodes or for them to be 45-minute episodes to flesh out the story more, especially the family relationship that, although it was good, had a lot of potential for more character development.

I find this production to be a comfortable series to unwind with.

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10/10

I don’t think I’ve ever watched a series that I could empathize with this deeply. I’m a victim of bullying myself, so I could relate to so much of what the characters were going through—the anger, the sadness over what happened to them, and the sheer desperation.

Because of that, I don’t think this series is suitable for people who are still struggling with their own experiences. So please, take care of your mental health and be mindful of your own limits before watching.

The entire story is brilliantly written, and the actors did an incredible job bringing it to life. The emotions felt so real, and that’s what made this series hit me so deeply.

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