Reviews

WHY THIS SERIES IS SO UNDERRATED

I think everyone should know and watch Petrichor. It's good. We barely have this kind of Thai GL. I enjoy the storyline even though it's a bit rushed (only 10 eps sow what did u expcet? The book is 2 volume so yup). It doesn't really show much romance scenes between Tul and Cherran since they're both focusing to find out who is the killer.

Both Engfa nad Charlotte acting are so good, especially Charlotte. She really potrayed the character Cherran. I agree if someone say Tul is kinda dumb😭 I mean, we know that is your brother, but girl, HE'S A PSYCOPATH AND ALMOST KILLED YOUR GF WHATTTT, JUST SHOOT HIM ALREADY

The ending is different tho from the book. Tul and Ran did end up together in the series, but in the book they broke up since Tul cannot face Ran because her family caused to much pain on the other woman.

Read More

I LOVE APOLADA

The pacing of the story is just so perfect for me... Love how Apo already know everything but still let herself fall for Lada and the way she treated Lada better than her own family.

Also love when the cousin help her sabotaging the marriage LOL

But it's such a pity that they deleted some scenes from the book and replace it with others that for me is kinda unnecessary.

Anyway, Charlotte is very good at crying NGL,. Everytime I saw the fear and tears on her face, I feel it too. I SWEAR I CRIED WITH HER. And Engfa acting as Apo who energy just matched with Lada is such a cherry on top.

Love the hotel and villa vibes too, the whole seaside view is beautiful. And don't forget about the OST, I LOVE IT

Read More

Less Haunting, More Life—and a Little Bit of the Afterlife

I didn’t watch the first movie, so I’m going in blindly.

The movie started with an accident involving a white truck and a motorcycle. The accident was significant to the later plot but, I'm not going to spoil that. It then transitioned to a small temple where a funeral was being held—for a cat. That’s when I realized it was a comedy-horror. Xiang and Joed were the undertakers for the funeral.

As they were preparing to leave the temple after the funeral, they were approached by a man named Thup, who asked them to help with his wife’s dead body.

They arrived at his house, performed a ritual, and placed the body in a coffin. The family members would keep vigil for three days. Thup asked Xiang and Joed to stay for the night because he had no one else. He was so poor that he fed them the food he had prepared as an offering for his wife.

The movie then transitioned to a vigil taking place at a different house. The contrast was huge. The house was filled with visitors, who brought items and food as part of the ritual. Basically, it was like a feast.

An old lady, Grandma Joy, had just arrived home from work. It was late at night. Her grandson, Lod, lectured her while promising to find a job after his baby was born. Grandma Joy lectured him back. The next day, while at work, she passed away.

The family prepared for a vigil, with neighbors, families and friends contributing. Lo and behold, Grandma Joy came back to life. While everyone else fled the place, her grandchildren treated it like a normal day, happy she was still alive.

After three days, Xiang and Joed accompanied Thup to bury his wife. The monk suggested cremation instead. While preparing for the cremation, Xiang and Joed talked about Grandma Joy. They found it unbelievable, like something out of a movie, that a supposedly dead body had come back to life.

Thup was interested in the story and asked for more details, but Xiang brushed him off. Thup then decided to stop the cremation. Since it’s a comedy-horror, you can probably guess what happened next.

Lod sensed that something was off with his grandma. She was “nicer” to them. During an offering to the monks, we could see the suspense building as the monks looked at Grandma Joy.

We got our first ghost scene. Xiang and Joed saw Thup’s wife under a tree. They rushed to tell Thup, but he seemed happy about it.

Thup visited Grandma Joy while her family and friends were asking her for blessings, and asked her what she saw on the day she died.

She told them there were many people. She even saw people she knew. There was also a huge casket and a long line leading to it. The people in the line were divided between two different doors.

They reached another intersection. The left side had fewer people compared to the right. Grandma Joy decided to take the road with many people, where the road ended at a well and they had to jump into it.

Grandma Joy’s journey ended when her soul returned to her body. Thup was happy to hear that.

Thup told Xiang and Joed about Grandma Joy’s story. They both said they believed in karma. Xiang reasoned, “Otherwise, why would every religion teach people to be good?”

All of that happened within the first hour of the movie. The first half focused more on slice-of-life elements, introducing us to the characters while showing us the contrast between Thup and Grandma Joy. The former without anyone while the later, surrounded with people.

The second half was where the horror kicked in. It wasn’t really about being haunted, though. It leaned more towards slice-of-life rather than horror. One part about embracing death while the other part about letting go. And sometimes, everything doesn't always go our way even how well we planned it.

It's not a perfect movie, but it made me think. So, it worth something.

Read More

The ML deserved better

Despite the FL being considered as intelligent, pretty, educated, total Mary Sue, I didn't like her. She is too selfish, wants to get a husband that she can control, but gives zero love to him, not even a kiss or hug, the husband gets nothing out of her. She is a total cold fish. She was previously married to other prince, the 5th prince, that one also didn't get anything from her but missed her too much, heavens know why. Something that is odd here is that it was the Emperor who ordered the massacre of the Gu family, but the Princess Xiaoning (now possessed by Miss Gu's soul) look at him without hatreness and is even warm towards him, but she despises her former husband (the 5th Prince). I felt sorry for the 5th Prince, his wife's soul inside this princess was after someone with a higher rank to protect the Princess Xiaoning's family (that is not Miss Gu's real family, why does she care?) The 5th Prince was a good husband who loved her, she didn't value him, now is trying to get another Prince who is younger, handsome, to marry her.

Read More

Kind of absurd, full of personality

Every other show: ACTUALLY, it was part of the plan all along! Carefully put in place by the mastermind behind the mastermind behind the mastermind.

This show: No, no, it was all pure coincidence.

Born With Luck is fairly unique for a Cdrama. It’s got a real absurdist flare, or maybe just absurd. It’s pretty funny if you like that sort of thing. Every ironic coincidence that can happen, happens. Meanwhile, all the characters are tripping over themselves reading meaning into things. The success of any plot seems to be 1 part bluffing and 9 parts luck. And we the audience get a bird’s eye omniscient view, so we can see whenever yet another character goes running full speed down the wrong track. It’s like watching a slow motion train wreck from the side- or rather, several train wrecks.

The main character is Zhang Yi’ang, a police detective who previously retired from the frontlines and is not taken too seriously by his colleagues, now pushed back into action. This guy- I could not tell for the longest time if he is actually secretly brilliant, or really the bumbling space cadet he seems to be. As the show goes on he transitions a bit from the latter to the former, but he stays likable and kind of unintentionally funny. Kudos to Lawrence Wang for that perfect blankish expression where you can just see the hamster wheel spinning in his head (while space cadet music plays).

Aside from Zhang Yi’ang, we also get several other colorful figures, from the police who serve with him to several different groups of thugs of varying skill levels. Everyone is a real personality.

To be honest, I didn’t actually particularly care for or relate to any of the characters. The show seems more about being absurd(ist) than emotionally engaging. Though I did sort of feel lowkey sorry for a lot of the thugs. They just had such personalities that I couldn’t help sympathizing. At least the show isn’t too brutal towards them- just a couple smaller deaths throughout that then turn into fodder for dark humor.

For maybe 5-10 episodes I thought this show was absolutely hilarious, but then I slowly started to sag on it. It didn’t get any worse or anything- it’s quite consistent- I think I just got a bit tired of the ongoing ridiculousness. I mean, I do think it’s impressive that the plot is able to weave together everything just so to form this house of cards. But I wasn’t that emotionally engaged and it really is kind of like watching a slow motion train wreck, which can occupy my morbid fascination for awhile, but at some point gets to be too much. Only in the last few episodes do things start to come together, whereupon I breathed a big sigh of relief.

For the acting, I think the actors across the board did a fantastic job. They’re able to capture the idiosyncrasies of their characters without too much exaggeration, so that these whacky personalities come to life. I also love how normal everyone looks, not pale and filtered like in idol shows. The way the characters are styled gives them more... well, character. And for example, the closing credits freeze on the actors’ more ridiculous expressions, rather than trying to make people look cool. Ironically this show does also star Tian Xiwei, who got a huge bump in popularity after Pursuit of Jade, the most idol of idol shows. But she does a good job here in a more muted side role.

The music in this show is also unhinged. But strangely catchy... two days later, still stuck in my head. It also fits the show way too well.

Overall I think this is a fun show to try if you want something that is non-idol but also not too dark, heavy, or serious. In that sense it definitely fills a niche that I would love to see more of. But the distinct style of absurdist, dark humor may not be for everyone, and for me personally it got to be too much. I’d give it a 7 (“entertained but not a masterpiece”) but then extra 0.5 points for being a non-depressing non-idol show.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





The ending is ok. The police figure it all out, and the final answer is not surprising by the end but also a pretty good reveal. What left me unsatisfied is that we don’t get to find out what happens to ANY of those sympathetic thugs, like what kind of sentences they each get. Zhang Yi’ang and friends get a pretty good resolution, though.

Read More

Good Fluffy Drama to watch

To be honest, I was not planning to watch this drama because how it was written in the summary. However, I got the time to spend to watch something fluffy.

However, I would say that drama was not bad at all. It's one of your typical smart kid who is genius person storyline but the different I do enjoy is that it talks about her challenges and how she see it from her point of view. It quite interesting to be telling a story about how she interact with others and learn to figuring how society work.

I know most people might think the high school piece is slow burning and took over a majority of drama. I think the story was well written on that piece because it shows her challenges that she was facing or things she has overcome because these things has never happen for her.

Romance for all the character was a very good blend, predictable but good. I am glad that there was a lot of logic thinking between the FL and ML.

Read More

A Misled Mess: Abandoned Premise, Classist Tropes, and Zero Astrology Logic

I picked up Spooky in Love for one reason: a cool supernatural premise filled with haunting, paranormal mysteries, and occult crime-solving. Sounds great, right?

Wrong.

Instead of an episodic ghost-solving mystery, the paranormal plot gets hacked to death—pun fully intended. In its place, we are forced to sit through a painful, zero-chemistry "slow burn" romance where the leads just stare at each other for hours doing a slow waltz of "maybe I like him, maybe I don't."

Then, like clockwork, out comes the same tiresome K-drama bullshit: corporate inheritance wars, boardroom backstabbing, and classist propaganda. If you’re born a blue-blood elite, you’re automatically beautiful, noble, and a saint. But if you’re a commoner or an orphan? Congratulations, you’re immediately written as the parasite and villain of the year (looking right at you, Min-hwan). I am so sick and tired of these tired, elitist tropes. Grow up—it’s 2026. Move past the classist propaganda already.

To make matters worse, the writers tried to sound clever by throwing in Saju (Bazi / Chinese Astrology) via the grandmother’s absurd warning: "Don't get close to anyone born in the year of the Water Monkey (Ren Shen / 1992)."

As someone who has actually studied Bazi for years: this is absolute, uneducated nonsense.

Bazi does not work based on just a birth year. Millions of people are born in a single year—there is nothing uniquely cursed about an entire birth cohort. If the writer actually knew anything about astrology beyond surface-level pop-clichés, they would have at least brought up a Day Pillar clash, which actually explains personality friction and constant interpersonal conflict. It just goes to show how lazy the writing really is.

Final Verdict: Do not waste your time. It’s the same old classist, trope-heavy garbage masquerading as a supernatural mystery. Utterly disappointing.

Read More

One of the Best Watch This Year

As Changsha is embroiled in turmoil because of both internal & external forces, the Mystic Nine reunite for a final battle!!

Ardent fans of “The Lost Tomb Series” have regularly heard of the Mystic Nine clan. The only glitch being that out of the nine clans, only Huo, Xie, Zhang and Wu exist in the current timeline. This show answers the question of what happened to the remaining clans and why they aren’t mentioned anymore. The events follow the storyline from the 2016 version, albeit except for William Chen, the cast was overhauled, and we have a new ensemble taking over their roles. The story focuses on the Japanese invasion of Changsha while the Chinese military command tries to get rid of the Mystic Nine. Zhang Qishan is faced with the difficult choice of rescuing his unit members while protecting the Mystic Nine clan. There are no two ways to deal with this problem, so he is forced to use underhanded techniques his own people.

Read the complete article here-

https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2026/08/26/mystic-nine-series-review/#more-2572

Read More

Beautiful! Would be more beautiful with well written women.

This was a beautiful story. I've come to realize that my love for the enemies-to-lovers trope extends to enemies-to-friends and enemies-to-family. I really enjoyed the arc for the nephew/uncle and I like the premise for a "trauma scene cleanup" company.

As someone who really cares about how women are portrayed in media, I usually tend to avoid watching male-centered stories, not because they're inherently bad, but because I can't help but notice certain patterns. For example, on this drama, there were only two regular female characters, one (Na Mu) was portrayed as not a very clever person (refer to how she catastrophically misunderstood the uncle), the other one was blatantly evil and basically a villain. And we could also add Na Mu's mother, who was the archetype of a "nagging wife" while her husband was level-headed and sweet. Now I'm not saying these are necessarily bad things, female characters are allowed to have negative traits ofc, but once you start noticing this kind of pattern in media, you can't help but be perturbed by it.

Another thing that I thought was unfortunate, is the way the story got wrapped, I felt like we didn't get a proper ending, and not every loose end got tied, mainly because they were trying to keep it a little open for a possibility of a season 2, which never happened.

I made it sound as if I didn't like this drama, but don't get it twisted, this was a whole 9/10 watch for me lol. I loved the show, I loved the two main characters, and I loved the little stories we got each episode. The easiest way to my k-drama heart is through making me cry, and this made sure to do that :')

Also! unc is fine as hell, just saying :p

Read More

A vida é uma surpresa não tão agradável

Tava cozinhando esse drama há tanto tempo desde que lançou e só agora vim ver. É o tipo de drama pra ver na medida certa de tristeza, nem feliz demais nem triste demais. Os primeiros episódios deprimem, são deprimentes, mas depois, tudo só fica instigante. Existe uma sensação de que não acontece nada, então, a menor das coisas é um grande acontecimento e isso me obrigou a ir para o próximo e próximo episódio.

Esse drama é incrível, as atuações, a cinematografia, o roteiro maduro e corajoso ao fazer personagens reais. Às vezes, raramente, me senti confusa (pode ser desatenção minha, só), mas acho que a vida é confusa, então casa bem com a propostas dele hehehe.

Minha única reclamação é que os protagonista tem uma química tão hipnotizante em cena que eu gostaria de ter visto um pouco mais deles juntos.

Mas, cada pequena interação me prendeu ao extremo, ai... amei

Read More

Season 2 please with original casts

Good:
The cast. Casting of the trio could not have been better. The bubbly nature of Bai Yutang balances the quiet nature of LingLong and the calmness & stoic nature of ZhanZhao. All suited their role to a tee. The chemistry between BYT and ZZ is just brilliant. The bromance and banter between ZZ & BYT were top notch. Yang Yang is definitely back in one of his better performances after the demise of "Fireworks." It goes to show that if matched with the right leads with the correct chemistry, he can act well. Special mention to the little child actor who played Chang Hongbi/ Huo Xiaodi later on. He is so very very cute. His speech to save both Linglong & ZhanZhao was so touching & thoughtful.

The story line and the smaller mysteries linked to the overarching main plot are good especially the mystery of LingLong's aunt death and BYT brother being the main suspect.

Bad:
His young follower, Ming Zhu'er should not have died.

Most of the c-Drama mysteries that I have watched usually have smaller mysteries that are linked to the overarching plot involving overthrowing the current emperor or a palace coup. Can't the writers think of something new.

Here's hoping there will be a season 2 with the original casts and hopefully, Chang Hongbi comes back to be ZhanZhao's new sidekick.

Read More

A Small Drama That Gets Almost Everything Right

Great fun!

What starts as a funny workplace BL about a beloved small-town cop and the younger officer who seems permanently irritated with him turns into something much more layered than I expected.

Duty First, Kiss Later is warm, romantic, genuinely funny, and surprisingly thoughtful about kindness, boundaries, intention versus impact, and what it means to make one person feel different from everyone else.

Takoi’s growth is especially satisfying because he never stops being fundamentally himself; he simply becomes more aware of how his words and actions affect the people around him. Shiono is a great balance for him—more observant, more direct, and patient enough to let Takoi figure things out at his own pace.

Their relationship develops naturally, with humor, jealousy, tenderness, and some genuinely lovely emotional moments. Even the police/crime subplot gives the story enough substance to keep it from feeling like a lightweight workplace romance.

Short, charming, well-paced, and very easy to love.

A happy and earned ending.


Original review:

Five Episodes In, and This Is the First J-Drama I Don’t Want to Drop

I went into Duty First, Kiss Later almost by accident. I started it while waiting for an appointment because I didn’t want to interrupt another drama I was already watching. Five episodes later, I am completely caught up and genuinely annoyed that there aren’t more episodes available yet.

That is especially notable for me because Japanese dramas usually do not work for me. Every J-drama I have tried before this one has been dropped by around episode 3. This is also my first Japanese BL, and apparently I have once again managed to choose an unusually strong first entry into a new country/genre combination.

The setup is simple: Takoi is a 38-year-old police officer who is beloved by basically everyone in his small community. He is warm, helpful, approachable, and kind to everybody. Shiono is a younger officer in another division who is talented, highly praised, on a fast career track…and inexplicably irritated by Takoi almost every time they interact.

Takoi cannot figure out what he ever did to make Shiono dislike him.

Then he finally corners Shiono and demands the truth.

Shiono kisses him.

That is where the romance begins, but what surprised me is that this drama has much more going on than a simple “straight older man unexpectedly falls for younger male coworker” plot.

The central issue so far is actually Takoi himself.

Takoi considers his kindness one of his best qualities, and in many ways it is. But he treats everyone with such intense, undifferentiated warmth that he does not always recognize when he is creating false expectations, crossing emotional boundaries, or saying something comforting in the moment without considering the consequences. Shiono sees this flaw much more clearly than Takoi does, and the drama uses it both for humor and for some surprisingly thoughtful character development.

At the same time, Takoi is trying to understand what it means that he has fallen for a man when he has always thought of himself as straight. I really like how this is handled. He is confused, flustered, and occasionally ridiculous, but his struggle is never treated as meaningless. Shiono also does not pressure him. Once he realizes how destabilizing this is for Takoi, he gives him space and lets Takoi make the important moves himself.

That makes their growing relationship extremely sweet.

What I am enjoying most is the balance. This drama is genuinely funny without becoming silly, romantic without becoming weightless, and surprisingly thoughtful about kindness, boundaries, intention versus impact, and what it means to make one person feel different from everyone else.

Episode 5 also raises the emotional stakes considerably, and the final scenes hurt in exactly the way they were supposed to.

Five episodes in, I am very impressed.

If you like adult BLs, workplace settings, an age-gap romance where the age difference actually affects the characters, grounded humor, and a relationship with something more substantial to explore than simple attraction, this one is absolutely worth trying.

Now I just need episode 6.

Read More