Reviews

In my opinion, this is a really great drama. Even though it's based on the difficult subject of illness and is a real tearjerker, that blends perfectly with the many comedic elements. Personally, I never felt bored, and nothing dragged.

I'll start with the main couple, Tak Dong Gyeong and Kim Sa Ram. I love them. I liked everything about them: the initial hatred, then growing to like each other without losing the teasing dynamic. Their love was something you watched either with a smile on your face or with tears you just couldn't stop. The way they supported each other and how both were willing to sacrifice themselves for the other was beautiful. But in the end, fate won ;). On top of that, they had wonderful chemistry on screen. My only question: WHERE'S THE WEDDING? They talked about it so much, and in the end I never got to see it. What a cruel twist! Staying on the subject of Kim Sa Ram himself, I loved his character from the very beginning. His jealousy (especially of the young prince) deserves a special mention, as it amused me immensely. The divine elements were great too.

As for Tak Dong Gyeong's illness storyline, I can't count how many times I cried while watching. In my opinion, it was handled very well. However, I have one complaint. I don't really understand the part about her sudden recovery. Maybe I'm just dumb, but the way I understood it, he "sacrificed" himself in exchange for her not bringing about the apocalypse. So why did she recover? Not that I'm complaining, I just don't get it. Should I just chalk it up to a miracle?

Now I'll move on to the love triangle of Na Ji Na, Cha Ju Ik, and Lee Hyeon Gyu. I thought it was very interesting, and I think it could have been even better (though I don't know exactly how; maybe I was hoping for more jealousy from Cha Ju Ik, or more confusion on Na Ji Na's part and a slight conflict with Cha Ju Ik?). Anyway, I was team Cha Ju Ik, so I'm glad she chose him. He was a much more interesting character, and the two of them had insanely good chemistry (which at times, with a better script, would have been even more wow). The stage where they got into a relationship could definitely have been handled better, and I feel their story lost the most there. Plus, I still can't get over the fact that he never explained to her that in the past he was the one who wrote messages to her in Lee Hyeon Gyu's place, even though at one point, while texting with him, she wondered why he kept repeating that one phrase, the very one he had used back then when writing on Lee Hyeon Gyu's behalf. Lee Hyeon Gyu himself wasn't that terrible either, but he was still a big kid who put his ego above her. So I'm glad that this time true love won out over a first crush.

I'll stay on the guys' relationship for a bit, because maybe I'm being dumb again and it was mentioned during the drama and I just didn't remember it, but I still don't fully understand the relationship between the two guys. Why did they live together? Why did they have some kind of mentor-trainee relationship? Which, by the way, was extremely strange, because supposedly they were friends, but it was a peculiar kind of friendship.

Now I'll move on to the character of So Nyeo Sin. Overall she's an interesting character, because sometimes she does something and you think she's a good person, and other times she does something and you think she's the villain. The biggest oddity after finishing this drama is that I still don't know whether I should like her or not :'D. She's a bit like a character with bipolar disorder. At first she helps and supports the relationship, then she completely sabotages it, only to go back to the first mode again. Her motivations are never fully explained, though I think that once the flower started to grow, she understood where the story was heading, and she didn't want to lose it, which is where those moves came from.

I also want to talk about Tak Dong Gyeong's family, because they were all simply wonderful characters. Especially her younger brother Tak Seon Gyeong, whom I truly adored. He made me laugh many times, and I also liked his development over the course of the episodes. On the other side of the spectrum is her aunt, Kang Su Ja. I'm singling her out because I admired her strength, along with her pain, which the actress portrayed brilliantly and which struck a chord in my heart.

A bonus mention from me goes to Kevin, or more precisely his English-Korean conversations with others, in which nobody understood each other and everyone was talking about something different. I loved those scenes. Do I have a lame sense of humor? Maybe, but it won me over.

Finally, I saved the character of Jung Seung Jun, her doctor, for last. I'm looking for a conspiracy theory here, but was he just an ordinary doctor? He was the only one, besides her, who could recognize Kim Sa Ram to some extent. And this fact still doesn't give me peace.

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The Second Watch Hit Different ?

I dropped this drama earlier, but decided to give it another chance and honestly, I’m so glad I did. 🥹❤️

This time, Zhang Linghe’s acting completely shook me. I cried when he cried, smiled when he smiled, and somehow found myself feeling every emotion right alongside him. His performance made the story feel so much deeper and more personal.

And Zhao Jinmai deserves appreciation too. Her performance added so much emotional weight to the story, and together, their chemistry made the emotional moments hit even harder. 🥹

It’s such a deep and emotional drama the kind that quietly stays with you even after the episode ends. I genuinely can’t believe I was missing out on this.

Of course, there are a few flaws, but this time I’m choosing to overlook them because the emotions, the story, and especially the performances pulled me in completely.

Sometimes a drama isn’t the problem… maybe it’s just the timing. ❤️

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Not enough

It opens with typical inner-family conflict, women competing for a man, domestic scandals, and familiar tropes. Visually, the drama is quite pleasing and certainly lives up to the "splendor" in its title. However, as a survival story, it fails to generate real excitement.

While the characters face genuinely cruel circumstances, the lead characters' action against it feels surprisingly mediocre. Perhaps, though they accomplish impressive feats, the show's direction lacks the emotional payoff and spark needed to make those moments land, leaving the overall impact flat. Combined with overly cliché antagonists and predictable conflicts, the narrative ultimately gets dragged down, rendering the drama average at best.

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SOO PEAK MUST WATCH

Summer Night — 10/10 ☀️💗

SUMMER NIGHT WAS SO GOOD 😭💗 This drama genuinely gave me everything I wanted. It has such a warm, nostalgic, coming-of-age feeling that made me completely invested in the characters and their lives. It’s the kind of series that feels comforting while you’re watching it, but also leaves you thinking about the characters after the episode ends.

I really loved the storyline and how the characters were developed. Everyone had their own struggles, feelings, and personal stories, and I enjoyed watching them grow throughout the series. The friendships were also such an important part of the story, and I loved seeing how the characters supported each other while dealing with their own problems.

And the ROMANCE??? 😭🫶 The relationships had so many cute and emotional moments. I loved the little interactions, the awkwardness, the jealousy, the misunderstandings, and especially those quiet moments where you could tell exactly what the characters were feeling without them even saying anything.

Also, THE CAST??? Everyone looked SO GOOD. 😭 Like seriously, the visuals were giving throughout the entire series. But what made it even better was how well the actors brought their characters to life. Their performances made the emotional scenes hit harder and made it easy to become attached to everyone.

I also loved the overall atmosphere. The summer setting, friendships, romance, and coming-of-age themes all came together so nicely. It gave me that feeling of wanting to freeze time and stay in that moment forever. ☀️😭

Overall, Summer Night is an easy 10/10 for me. 💗 It’s warm, emotional, funny, romantic, and full of lovable characters. The story kept me invested, the cast was amazing, and the whole drama just had such a beautiful atmosphere.

Absolutely loved it. A comfort drama for sure. ☀️🫶💗

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Simple storyline, the compelling acting and outstanding chemistry sells it

There were a few things i disliked:
•the music dragged on for too long
•this show severely neglected it's side characters, they were just npc's moving the plot, and for the epidoses being as long as they were and them having that much screentime, the dialogue always revolved around duang and qin's love lives and no time was spent building everyone else up as characters. I can't even say that there were loose ends to tie by the end because genuinely nothing happens with both their friend circles...
• Along that same line, a lot could've been explored with jamie as there were various moments where he expressed complicated thoughts on love and relationships, he could've learned so much through watching duang fall in love and his situationship with marvis (their scenes were honestly a hard watch), his storyline ultimately gave nothing and he showed zero growth
•qin's emotional turmoil deserved more exposure, por portrayed the emotions perfectly but in terms of pacing/flushing out his process of facing his traumas and healing from them, it felt a little rushed and disconnected from the rest of the show, i would've loved if it was threaded through some of the earlier episodes. And i do get that part of the appeal was that the mystery of qin's personality was uncovered gradually as duang got closer to him, but it would've also helped to get a hint that qin had his reasons to be so guarded and stoic earlier in the show. His insecurity/jealously arcs also felt unresolved as i did feel like there was a bunch to unpack there.
Everything else was great, this imo is the perfect comfort show if you ignore everyone else besides the main couple, which is an easy feat as they literally steal the show, they both embody their characters perfectly, teetee has a talent for comedy but can also pull his weight in emotionally charged scenes. I was pleasantly surprised at the tongue in cheek humor from duang and his friends, it wasn't misplaced nor cringey. Por's portrayal of qin opening up more throughout the episodes was flawless. The conversations they had as a couple were mature, healthy and overall lovely.

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Perfect example of not enough showing and too much telling

I don't want to hear about how amazing Phatsa is; I don't want to hear about the pregnancy signs; I don't want to hear about what XY & Z person did. I want you to SHOW me.

I also wanted to see Napitch & Sangnuea get some kind of resolution. In the last 3-4 episodes, I was more interested in whatever they had going on than anyone else in the series & we got almost nothing. I get that Sangnuea did a lot of stupid things and wanted all of them dead, but Napitch was feeling something, so I would at least like to know if he planned to fight and make the relationship work, or sleep with other people on the side. What made it worse was that Sengnuea barely looked like he had the will to live at the birthday party & that's the last we see of him.

Since I'm already talking about Sengnuea, the whole revenge plot was stupid. Made worse by the horrible subtitles & script. For one, this whole revenge plot could have been in any series. If you're going to do an omegaverse, why wouldn't you choose a problem that would only exist in an omegaverse world? It was off to a good, if not poorly edited/directed, start with the unwilling bite, but we quickly moved on from that to something mundane. Honestly, they could have just cut out the revenge plot altogether and focused on the characters' internal struggles, family problems, & society's views, and it probably would have been a better story. I say probably because I wouldn't put it past them to ruin even a simple plot. Look at My Stubborn.

The script made everything worse by being repetitive & sometimes having unnecessary dialogue. For example, Phatsa's father telling Nakhun MULTIPLE times in a matter of minutes that he wouldn't give his son to him. Not only was it repetitive, but they had already bonded with each other. You have no say anymore, Dad. In fact, you lost all say when you decided Phatsa didn't need to know about secondary genders.

That was also a very stupid plot device because it's impossible. You're telling me that in all of Phatsa's 22 years, no one has talked about alphas, betas, or omegas? No school he went to had a sex-ed class? Even if that was meant to be taught at home, everyone at school would have been talking about it. And just because he can suppress his scent doesn't mean that his sense of smell would be less; he would still be able to smell everyone. The explanation we are given for this omegaverse was also delivered very stiffly and didn't really explain anything at all. You can't just slap "omegaverse" on a series and have the job done; you have to put some work into it because not everyone watching is going to know what it is.

I didn't have high hopes for this series after watching and not liking ABO Desire, but it's Thai and Boat & Oat, so I was still excited. To my disappointment, ABO Desire was better. Because of its consistency, if nothing else. This series was just poorly written, poorly edited & directed, & in the first 15 minutes I could understand why people are rating it so low and just outright dropping it. The only real positives were the acting & the special effects. The special effects weren't invasive or used more than necessary. Phatsa's bite mark slowly healing was also a nice touch. The actors could only do so much for the show when the script is what it is. Oat, as always, slayed, but I was impressed with Folk & Jame both in acting and chemistry. The chemistry was good between all the couples.

Why did we have pointless scenes with kids that don't matter to the plot and are just there to stoke Phatsa's ego? That time could have been spent doing literally anything else, like, I don't know, developing the characters or the relationships. Or, hell, explaining anything about the world.

As I said, the actors all had good chemistry, but the NC scenes went on WAY too long, and after the first couple of episodes, I started just skipping ahead and only stopping when we got a bit of dialogue before skipping ahead again. It wasn't because they weren't done well; I was simply bored.

Also, there was so much dry humping. Like an unhealthy amount.

Another positive was the style, namely Phatsa's and the mothers'; I loved basically all their outfits. Maybe that & the cars are where all the budget went because between the very few filming locations, editing, & some of the camera angles, the show felt cheap.

They could give us a special episode or another season focusing on Naphitch and Sengnuea & I'll watch it, but I'll also hope that they get a whole new team to work on it. It may not turn out better, but I don't see how it could get much worse.

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A beautiful, healing drama – exactly what I needed

So recently, I came across this genre of J dramas called Iyashikei meaning healing dramas. This is the perfect example. The original Japanese title is Shiawase wa tabete nete matte, which means “ happiness is eating sleeping waiting,” but the English title has translated it into: “Eat, sleep, then wait for happiness.” This changes the entire meaning. It almost sounds like you’re waiting for happiness to happen in the future and you’re eating and sleeping while you wait. But that is not the point of this series. The eating, the sleeping, and the waiting are all part of happiness. There’s nothing complicated about it. You don’t wait for happiness. You don’t have to do anything fancy or complicated. Happiness comes in the simplest of things. And I love that because it’s basically saying take the pressure off.
Mugimaki san reminds me of myself, as I am recovering from different bodily issues and injuries, wondering if I will ever be back to normal. She really captures the sense of despair and loneliness, and the sense of waiting that such circumstances created in the mind. When I first saw her, I immediately thought, “this actress has had way too much plastic surgery,” and I wondered how I could relate to the character when her facial appearance doesn’t look very natural, and didn’t seem to the healing nature of the drama. But her way of acting and behaving, won me over, as she is ever very sweet and so polite. At first, she comes from a place of not being able to take care of herself, and feeling overwhelmed. But as she moves into the new apartment where Tsukasa San has inspired her with food therapy, she pursue and studies the topic on her own. I find this to be very refreshing as opposed to being taught by him. In fact, he blatantly refuses to teach her about food therapy because he doesn’t want the liability how people might behave after acquiring such knowledge.
What I love about the series is that if you space for each of the characters to exist on their own, especially Mugimaki San and Tsakasa San, and does not force a romantic angle between the two. This allows both characters to breathe and exist in their own spheres, and just to be themselves, instead of playing out this romance script. It does happen with two side characters who discover that each other likes vegetarian food, and then after meeting once or twice, they decide to move in together. That story seemed a little unrealistic and rushed. But I’m glad they didn’t do it with the two main leads. I really liked how Tsukasa San went off the mountains for a week or two just to reclaim his freedom and clear his mind, while still having a place to come back to- the old lady’s apartment to call Home. All three of these characters have built a unique sense of home for themselves as they also redefine it. I love how each character has the freedom to be themselves, and do what they feel called to, while still maintaining a connection with each other. In this sense, they achieve a rare kind of balance between autonomy and connection. It is truly beautiful.
Silence is used a lot in the series, and music is used sparingly only when needed. It makes you feel like you’re really living there. It gives a really nice feeling of quiet, and relaxation. The food and dishes is a delight to look at an imagine myself tasting, but one thing that annoys me slightly not just in the series, but in J dramas overall is that when a young woman takes a bite into a new food, even before she chews for two seconds, she squeals in delight (maybe this is a social expectation to put on such a Performance), exclaiming “OISHII!!!” and they make such a big deal about it. Well, it just seems unrealistic that someone would get the full taste of something after one second of chewing. It feels fake and exaggerated. This is one thing I didn’t like about Mugimaki San- her exaggerated exclamations of how tasty the food is even before she manages to chew for more than one second. It has become a J drama, pet peeve of mine. But I can forgive that because the rest of the series is so chill, and healing, and exactly what I needed.

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First part is SLOW and the FL is a bit heartless

Tl;dr the FL treats the ML poorly and doesn't actually develop feelings for him until the last episode. I'll summarise the episode list below (with as few a spoilers as possible) so you can see what I mean. But if you want a romance drama, this part aint it. I imagine part 2 is a lot nicer, but I'd have liked a headsup on just how little of their romance there is in part 1.

1-8 Slow backstory to FL. Doesn't properly meet ML until ep 8.
9-13 Amazing writing, FL is cool, great chemistry with ML, made me squeal
14-21 FL falls in love with another man (what?). ML looks on sadly.
22-26 FL despises ML for no reason?
27 She realises how nice he is and falls in love.

So I get what they were going for with both their characters, it was just a really difficult watch because of the way they did it.

It's insane to me that theres more episodes of the FL being in love with another man than with the ML. Who wants to watch that? You can argue that they weren't *really* in love, but it is literally SEVEN episodes of them looking longingly at each other and telling everyone that they're going to be together while the ML looks on really sadly. It's exhausting to watch knowing that they're not the end couple.

The ML is absolutely fantastic. Loveable from the very beginning, always looking out for the FL. He's the only reason I kept watching until the end.

But the FL and ML also never really get a chance to talk. She has far deeper conversations with all the other men around her. There's not really a good bonding moment for them that isn't just him rescuing her. She dislikes him for a good portion of the drama and I kept waiting for them to talk it out. Like her explain her reasoning but... no she just keeps brushing him off with no explanation. A lot of the time she just STARES at the ground. Not saying ANYTHING. It's frustrating and rough to watch. There's one good moment at the end where they talk it out, but it doesn't explain her general dislike of him for the other 26 episodes of this drama.

I'm guessing (or hoping) that part 2 addresses most of these issues, but I Just wanted to write this review because I would have liked a headsup on how slow their romance is before watching.

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Cha Woongki's natural aegyo could power all of seoul istg

okay I won't lie, I started this BL off a little confused, but this is one of those shows that I think needs a minimum of two watches because it's just that good.
Yeowoon is a mirror of Myungha and yet his kindness only extends to Yeowoon. Self love is important and as much as it's preached about and encouraged, it's easier said than done. It is easier to be kind to others even if they are facing the same issues we are, but then we can be so judgemental of ourselves without any grace.
I love the full circle moment of the "mission" changing to "make Tae Myungha happy" rather than Yeowoon, because that was the ultimate goal of the mysterious "senior".
The plot was so interesting to me and it kept me on my toes. I laughed, I cried, and I feel like this is one of those shows that will have a lasting impact on me. I am already eager for a rewatch to catch what I missed in the beginning.

random thoughts:
- the makeup was harsh on Myungha ngl (also why did they try to use makeup to cover how big Yeowoon's lips are)
- i'm actually happy that Sangwon and Kyunghoon didn't end up together like I thought they would
- Myungha is ruthless telling Sangwon he basically doesn't look after him because he's not Yeowoon lmao

**might edit after a second rewatch <3

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What happened??

The comeback of Leng on the BL screen, and now with a different partner, August. This one is kind of different since it’s not under GMMTV.
Alrighty, starting with Ep 1, it gave me a good first impression. Leng did a great job showing his “bad Gaew” character. In my mind, this is not the same Leng I saw in Kidnap. 😂 He and August have good chemistry. Maybe those soft-launch posts on IG and then the hard launch really helped build the chemistry they have. The other actors who appeared in the series are somehow familiar if you watch a lot of Thai series, and they did a good job too.
Now to the storyline. Who doesn’t love a back-to-the-past genre? I personally love this genre. I already knew I’d be expecting some yearning and angst from this one. The first few parts of the story had a good introduction to the characters, and I liked the progression of the relationship between Dech and Gaew (Great).
However, that’s it.
In the middle of the series, I started noticing some flaws. The story of Dech’s brother, what was that for? I honestly think the series could have progressed even without that part. Yes, it might have been there to show the viewers that Great can’t change the past no matter what, but there was just too much screentime spent on that idea.
Usually, series where someone goes back to the past develop a purpose for why it happened to them. So what was Great’s purpose? There might have been something to do with Falcon’s villain story, but that wasn’t highlighted very much. Imagine it was solved just by burning everything? That’s it? 😭
So storyline-wise, it started good but fluctuated downward until the end.
The romance part is a slow burn, but it was so slow that they had to squeeze the Falcon conflict toward the end, which ended up giving us no good closure. And I have to admit, the kissing scenes and NC scenes felt like they lacked a bit of workshop. Or maybe the actors were awkward? I don’t know. 😂 I was also looking for more romantic lines with depth, especially since most period series are known for those kinds of lines.
On a lighter note, I like how connected the characters are in the present time. I also loved their scenes at the end of every episode.
But the ending... was it rushed? Was it really supposed to end like that? I don’t know again, but it honestly didn’t really fit my liking.
Overall, I don’t think this was a bad series. It had a really interesting premise, a strong start, and a lot of potential. I just feel like some parts could have been developed more, especially the storyline and the romance toward the end. These maybe just wasn’t completely my cup of tea.

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