Reviews

Strong Chemistry Can’t Save a Repetitive and Over-Explained Story

This show has undeniable strengths, particularly in the acting and the natural chemistry between the two leads. Their connection feels genuine, and at first, that alone is enough to keep the story engaging. However, the series quickly falls into a repetitive rhythm that becomes impossible to ignore. Episode after episode follows the same cycle: breakfast, office, bedroom—repeat. While the make-out scenes are well executed and initially enjoyable, their constant presence starts to feel like a substitute for actual narrative progression rather than a complement to it.

What ultimately weakens the storytelling is the heavy reliance on post-credit scenes, especially Rin filming herself to explain her emotions. Instead of allowing viewers to understand her inner conflict through dialogue, behavior, or gradual character development, the show repeatedly tells us exactly what she feels and why she acts the way she does. These monologues feel unnecessary and oddly placed, breaking immersion and undermining emotional subtlety. Rather than deepening the romance between Rin and Khem, this approach makes the series feel over-explained and emotionally stagnant, leaving a promising relationship stuck in place instead of evolving naturally.

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A slow-Burn without the burn

Overall:
It really feels like the writer played things way too safe, making the whole drama emotionally bland and in my opinion - boring.
I guess it works if you're just looking for something to "watch", but there’s very little humor or emotional intensity to make it truly exciting. There's nothing here that really makes you look forward to the next episode, and I often felt tempted to skip scenes (including the romantic moments between the leads)

Cinematography:
Visually, the drama is just as uninspired: grey, generic backgrouns, basic, flat cinematography, and an overall lack of aesthetic identity. The OST is nothing special and functions more as background noise than emotional storytelling.

ML:
The male lead keeps the exact same attitude throughout the entire drama, has no real flaws, and is overly "sweet". There’s no emotional range or expressiveness, which makes the romance feel boring rather than engaging.

FL:
What I found most irritating is that the female lead only has two or three expressions: a serious face when she's playing the rich girl; the same repetitive (almost forced) innocent giggle every time she's with the ML or a pitiful "sad" expression directed at him.

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very agnozing slow burn with rushed? ending

This is my first cdrama & i must say i enjoyed it alot!
the first 30 episodes were full of intriguing schemes, and palace drama that was really entertaining, my favorite character in the first 30 episodes was definity XieWie, he is smart, calculating, 10 steps ahead of everyone, always with a backup plan. I enjoyed watching him scheme to have this revenge. But then the next 8 episodes were just so rushed and quesitonnable, with the toxic love he was exhibiting for JXN, their forceful encounters and the sudden declaration of love from the fl? it was so random. speaking of the fl, I really loved her premise of rewritting her own destiny from the past. My only problem with her characterization is the absense of supposed "bad" behaviour. She keeps on saying she lead a dark life in her past life, but in this life she seems to be a morally good person, so it is confusing, I would've loved her to have a hard time making morally good choices to show that she really isn't a good person. All in all, i did enjoy this show mainly for the political schemes of the first 30 episodes, the well written characters, the subtle romance of the first half. I wished they expanded more on the romance with the fl & ml before ep 30, it was such a sloww slow burn.

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A complete guide to what love is not.

Did you enjoy it?
Great, now take notes so that if anything similar to what you saw in this series happens to you, call the police, talk to your friends and family, and possibly a social worker or, better yet, a psychiatrist.
Νon-consensual violence, in any form, is NOT love and never believe the opposite, no matter how well-crafted it is presented by those who cannot escape this situation either as victim or abuser.
Having stated that. Good actors, script with strong choices, as much as the extremely problematic, even criminally punishable, story allowed. It could have been a 12 episodes series to achieve a cohesive story line and avoid repeating. Also, the changing (unbelievable as it is) happens in an instant like miracle reducing any attempt to justify the end. It could have been better if it has gone from ep. 9 to ep. 14.
As we are talking about fiction and not reality, as long as you keep the above in mind you can find interesting, moving or even worthy of study acting and directing moments in this series. Although I think it gives no redemption as the basic goal of cinematic art.
Finally, PLEASE stop using money and health as global love and situation translator.

Extra tip:
Fan Xiao – How many times should I take off my shirt?
Director – YES.
You Shu Lang – How incompetently good should I be?
Director – YES.

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really stupid, but entertaining

It's dumb. It's cheesy. It's unserious as hell. There are tons of plot holes. And the language thing makes no sense, truly.

BUT, it's entertaining!

The romance is cute: in a dumb way, obviously. The thriller/horror/mystery backdrop is quite odd and, frankly, hard to follow. But the whole thing soooo entertaining. The episodes are short, so they're easy to binge (mindlessly, of course). The key is to not expect ANYTHING with this drama, and also to not read too far into ANYTHING that happens or doesn't happen. Just go along with the ride and enjoy the gay sweaty gym boys being gay sweaty gym boys.

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Not my cup of tea.

I really tried to get into this drama, but it just didn’t work for me. My experience was very similar to what I felt while watching The Best Thing—another drama that everyone seemed to love and praise, yet I personally found painfully boring. So I think this comparison might help: if you enjoyed The Best Thing, chances are you’ll probably also like Shine on Me.

My main issue was the pacing. There simply isn’t enough happening in the plot to justify 30+ episodes that run over 40 minutes each. On top of that, many scenes honestly felt like blatant propaganda. Anyone choosing to watch this drama is expecting a slow-burn romance, not an extended lesson on photovoltaic technology nor company management.

Another point that really pulled me out of the story was the whole conflict about LYS somehow blaming her for his car accident. The logic just wasn’t there. Even if he was on his way to meet her, the accident itself had nothing to do with her. I mean… blame the truck driver who hit you, my guy.

The OST was another major letdown. I genuinely don’t understand this recent trend of using songs with predominantly English lyrics in Chinese modern dramas. Instead of enhancing the emotional impact, the music did the opposite—it made key scenes feel cheap and unnecessarily cheesy, completely undercutting whatever feelings the drama was trying to build in my opinion.

On the positive side, the FL is cute, rich, smart, and—most of the time—not a complete pushover, which is always appreciated. The ML is also likeable, but his background was just impossible for me to take seriously. You’re telling me this man is 28 years old, already a former neurosurgeon, and then—just like that—manages to switch careers and become a fully competent director of a tech company without missing a beat? Please. That level of career whiplash completely broke my suspension of disbelief.

Honorable mention goes to the FL’s cousin, who was genuinely a great character. The siblings-like dynamic between them was always a highlight, and their banter brought some much-needed energy to the episodes he appeared in.

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It was SO good until it wasn't

The start was so good, exciting and made me yearn for more, but omg did it go downhill. I was so incredibly sad because of that, because at first it felt like nothing could make it bad even in the slightest, but as I said already, that quickly went out of the window.

But before I talk about what I disliked so much, let me start with the things I liked:
1. Prapae. I immediately liked her. She is so nice, supportive and was there for everybody when needed. I also liked how she knew about Lava and Wave but didn't say anything until they were comfortable enough to talk about it themselves.
2. Honey. She was just this funny side character you see only a few times but still love.
3. Uncle Peng standing up to the bullies for his nephew and the island. That was quite heroic and nice of him; I didn't expect him to do it.
4. Jealous Lava. It was a nice watch seeing Lava get jealous. ;)
5. Lava's growth as a character was quite big, and I can't even start explaining about how proud I feel of him. I feel like a proud parent seeing their child grow and become the best version of themselves.
6. Lava's boxing match. I enjoyed watching this, as well as him getting ready for it, a lot.
7. The way Lava stood up to Tum after Tum said that he shouldn't get involved in any of Davin's business since he barely knows the prince after Davin got shot. I can see Tum's point, but in my eyes he was wrong for saying it to Lava.
8. Lava standing on business and looking for the person that shot Davin.
9. When Lava started treating Davin the way he treated Wave at first to make Davin remember. That was so cute omg, it definitely made me want to rewatch the first few episodes.

The things I disliked:
1. Uncle Peng. Even though he was a great support and a "parent" for both Lava and Wave, he still had a lot of flaws, and I would like to point out two of the things about him I disliked the most:
1.1. Him being so secretive about his relationship with doctor Wut, making him feel terrible while the doctor was ready to come out and make it official. He kept insisting on keeping it a secret until he had to come clean due to someone seeing them together and telling everybody.
1.2. Him constantly picking at Lava. At first it was quite justified, but no matter what happened, Lava would always be his scapegoat.
2. Lava's behavior, specifically in episode 5. The way he was ignoring Wave instead of straight up talking to him and explaining that they have different ideas about their "relationship." Lava sees it as a fling that started at this island and will end here (he plans to move on), while for Wave it is something serious, and he is clearly in love with Lava.
3. Uncle Peng immediately accusing Lava in episode 6 after they got attacked. Saying that it's his fault, etc.
4. Lava addressing Wave as "Your Highness" after finding out that he is a prince/treating him differently, acting like a robot around him. I can understand he is shocked and doesn't know how to act around him anymore, but there is definitely a better way to go about it.
5. The 8th episode feels like a fever dream. I was confused the whole time. What is going on? Weird sound effects out of place, and random cuts that don't make any sense.
The weirdest, quickest, and most boring proposal I have ever seen. What is happening???
6. Lava's mother being incredibly self-centered and making everything about herself (which gets swept under the rug seconds after the conflict).
Acting like a victim, making her brother apologize for being "selfish" while she is the only one being selfish in there.
7. Everybody calling Wave a prince instead of calling him by his name, like he asked. As well as saying that Lava shouldn't get into the prince's business since he barely knows him.
8. Wave/Davin getting shot and losing his memory again, but this time he remembers everything from his past except for being Wave. That was so unnecessary.
9. Peng and Wut adopting Dao's baby in two seconds. This conversation came out of nowhere and was so awkward. Quite literally going like that:
Dao: Adopt my baby.
Peng and Wut: k.
DONE. Are we for real right now? At this point they shouldn't have added it at all.
10. ONE YEAR??? They haven't talked or seen each other for the whole year and then got back together like nothing happened. I would've understood a month or a few, but a year is a bit crazy.

Overall it could've been a 9 or a 10, and I really expected it to be, but it was just getting worse and worse the more episodes came out. Sadly the last 4 episodes were quite choppy, weird and just made me want to finally finish with this series.
I gave it an 8 because even though the end was pretty anticlimactic for me. I still mostly enjoyed watching this series, especially the first few episodes, so I'd say in the end it is worth it.

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A delightful surprise

A fun story with two leads who were cast against type and absolutely crush it. The script is wonderful, but the only way it could possibly work is if the two leads embrace the zaniness of their characters completely. Lee Jun Jae is absolutely perfect as vain, vacuous action star with a heart of gold, and Im Ji Yeon trades in her fierce and sexy vibes for a long face and frumpy wardrobe. Their characters are wholly unsuited for each other, but somehow they manage to make it work.

To address the elephant in the room: Before this drama was even released, the "netizens" were in a tizzy about the age difference between the two leads. Ignore every single bit of it. The writers of such nonsense obviously never bothered to watch any of the drama. The age difference was actually a part of why the two leads are unsuited for each other, and it is addressed in satisfying ways throughout the drama.

This isn't a perfect drama, but it is a very good one. The second leads' characters are not as well developed and their story arc is a bit rough around the edges. The villain's story arc needed a bit more work as well. But neither of these minor issues materially detracts from this unexpected and delightful surprise.

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greed will consume you if you let it

Okay, so I just finished this and have 30 minutes before my class starts, so let me rate this. I would give it an 8.5 out of 10, and yeah, this took me around a year to finish, and I am glad to get it out of the way finally. A lot of people liked it, so give it a try and see for yourself.

They had a fantastic start, I will give them that. Very action-packed, very interesting, and I really do think that they set this show up perfectly. I also think the plot itself is great, especially with how unique it is. I just don't like how they dragged it out at the end. I was dogging on their chemistry at the start, but it is lowkey really good and made this show bearable. Truly. The fact that they actually gave the niece depth and made her feel like an actual person, FUCKKKK THAT ACTUALLY RIPPED ME APART. I think they did that very well, and I also like the reveal with her at the end. I thought that was really fun. Okay, so the guy who plays Tin is to die for and lowkey so fucking sexy, and got sexier as the show went on. And I think the guy who plays Charn is lowkey chopped, but his voice is beyond sexy, and he has a lady killer smile, so I will excuse it. And that is kind of it, the plot and the chemistry.

I watched the final 4 episodes on 2x speed, so that tells you a lot about this show lmao. I use the term "Vecna special" in my final episode review because they genuinely gave this show the Vecna special. They had been building up to fight this guy the entire show, and they kill his ass in like 5 minutes and go on with their lives, so I think they should have done that better. I can't lie. Also, if you can't finish this show because, like me, because you thought it got boring when they started to drag the plot out, I recommend 2x speed because it helped me understand everything so much better and actually finish it. I think they had a lot of irrelevant fucking side characters that we should have cared about, but I really didn't because they were very one-dimensional in my opinion. The young master, I think his character is fine, but I wish they had gone into more detail about him killing his mom in childbirth, and more on the fact that his dad hates him. It would have been interesting to see, but they did a one-off, and it was kind of forgettable. THESE FIGHT SCENES ARE SO BAD. OH MY GOD, THEY WERE AWFUL. The show got boring around 5-8, like shit in the fan and fell all over me. This show is one big libality, oh my god. WHY DID WE KEEP SINGING? STOP, I AM BEGGING, STOP PLEASE STOP. CHARN IS JUST SO UNNECESSARILY EVIL, AND I DONT KNOW WHY THEY DID THAT. LIKE AS SOON AS YOU THINK HE IS GONNA COME AROUND HE JUST DOES SOME EVIL SHIT AGAIN AND I THINK THAT WHOLE THING WAS BAD CHARACTER WRITING. Just an insurmountable amount of greed and awfulness. Also, the romance building got paused when they would do the plot, and then they forgot to unpause it, holy fuck. Okay, that is all.

Overview time, most of it will be positive until the lower half of this show lmao. "This is so courtroom-coded. This lawyer guy has a very sexy voice. THAT BITCH FUCKING FLEW. The lawyer has a freaky smile lmao." "SHE JUST GOT FUCKING RUN OVER HOLY FUCK, I KNEW SHE WAS GONNA DIE. They did not need to show that. I knew she was going to die. Survivor's guilt." "This lawyer shit will send his family into debt, dude. They will drag you through hell." "Villains aren't born, they are made." "Them adding more to the niece's death is just making it so much sadder, bro." "There is a reason people act the way they do, and that can impact the way they see the world and the people in it, young master. I don’t know what his real name acts like that because his dad has mistreated him his whole life." And which we found out later was because he killed his mom during childbirth, and I wish they had gone into more detail with that. "A good guy turned evil by society core." "Charn is not a villain, but if he is, that would be a crazy fucking twist." He lowkey was evil as fuck. "I understand both sides of this story, and I am very interested to see where this is going." "Not trying to be that person, but are they going to fuck?" BRUH. "Charn is so fucking hot, I can’t explain it. It's the smile and the demeanor, it's just so hot. In a mean sexy lawyer." "This show is one big liability. Also watching at 2x speed. Charm is a good lawyer, I can't lie. This show is dumb af. Grandma is a pimp. This plot is lowkey bs, and they are dragging it out." "Young master is very dead wife pretty when he is not being an embarrassment to the family name." "He straight-up ruined the kid over. Oh my God, like intentionally that’s awful, Jesus Christ, and why is he just shifting the blame on everybody, and he blamed his own son. Oh wait, that’s low-key really interesting and so awful." "Charn evil for the love of the game." "At least the Senator knows he’s evil, but Charn has spent this entire show pretending to be good.  The Senator ran over that little girl because she crossed him. He’s been evil since the start of the fucking show, he’s corrupt, he's capitalist. We know that. Mr. lawyer boy, he’s been pretending to be good this entire time, but he’s fucking awful, genuinely awful, and like you’re crying, you’re showing all these emotions, but you’re still going through with this shit because you are evil." "The show is unintentionally very woke. The ex is so funny. What is fucking happening right now! Charn, it’s just straight up evil for the love of the game. Teamwork is the dream work, I fear. There is an ungodly amount of fighting in this." "There is no way they’re getting married after all that, like we have not had any romance building whatsoever. Like we’ve had, but at the same time we haven’t. Charn is a terrible fucking guy, and are we just gonna forget about the fact that he’s a terrible guy and just like be happy and bone for 30 minutes? Holy fuck." "Just like fuck ass Stranger Things, they killed the villain in the first five minutes, then drag that shit out for another fucking hour and a half, dude."

Okay, yeah. I guess watch it, and if it gets boring, 2x speed will be your best friend. Okay bye!

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A Matter Of Fate!

To me, this is really an underrated drama. I found it to be so much better than the reviews. Although I never saw the K-Drama version, being a fan of Yusei Yagi, I found the series to be very enjoyable. He was great as always.
From the very end of episode 1, it really pulls you into the story. Yusei works great together with Kyoko Saito. Although there's not much chemistry between the two at the start, it definitely becomes apparent deeper into the series.
It starts out as a lighthearted drama, but quickly turns into a dark mystery, and it branches off into several mysterious stories. What you don't realize until later on, is that all these different directions you find the series taking, eventually it all comes together. Each question left unanswered is completely explained by the final episode ... showing how events from the past are all connected in the present.
An enjoyable series to watch with a satisfying ending as well.

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Ridiculousness on multiple levels

I watched this drama because it was so highly recommended by one of the Kdrama influencers I've been following for several years. Oops! I won't make that mistake again. Despite its relatively high production value, this drama was ridiculous on a bunch of levels. It starts out with several badly choreographed underground MMA matches, which are quickly forgotten and have nothing to do with the rest of the plot. Then it transitions into something akin to Fast and Furious, with lots of pointless street racing through the middle of town that culminates in THE BIG RACE in which the ML is involved in THE BIG CRASH and disappears, because why not? I finally had to fast forward through the car racing--something I rarely do--because it got so monotonous. The romance at the heart of it also got monotonous enough to fast forward through huge chunks of it too.

The FL is played by Esther Yu who really leans hard on the aegyo button. (This is the first time I've seen her, so I guess that's her thing?) In the first half, the stylists do a pretty good job of making her look like a living anime character, before changing her look in the second half to something more appropriate for her actual age. (To be fair, it's actually impressive.)

More ridiculousness: ML is able to recover from a near death experience in which he broke nearly every bone in his body, complete his studies for his college boards, attend a prestigious university and get his engineering degree, work at an auto design firm for a few years before becoming a wildly successful consultant, and somehow accummulate enough wealth to buy the house he was raised in AND a mansion AND a popular coffee shop/restaurant--ALL during the six years he is in a self-imposed exile from the love of his life because yes, they did use the "I'm breaking up with you for your own good, in a completely unforgiveable way, even though we promised to never be apart again" trope. (I hate that trope.) I can see how some might find this drama entertaining, but great art it is not. You have been warned.

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a roller coaster..loved It!!

this drama is made up of 3 parts and each provides a specific vibe you can enjoy.

at the very beginning I was laughing my ass off cause the drama was so cringe I couldn't take it seriously.

these 2 almost "step brothers" are separated during childhood and end up having different lives never really leaving each other's heart.
once grown up they reunite and find out their bond wasn't a "familiar" one but a sexy one.

the first episodes feel like a standard "step bro" porn video. I kid you not. they thirst over each other even thou the FL finds out the are not blood related literally at the airport on the way to meet her Step bro for the first time after years.

maybe it's just me but it was so cringe I laughed for episodes.

after this part we get into the core of the drama which has a more "fast and fury vibes".

if you were there for the first "f&f" movies you know what I'm talking about. neon lights, hot girls, illegal racing , the whole "family" spiel.. It was really enjoyable and a bit nostalgic.

the third part is a complete romantic drama.
we put aside the adrenaline and dive into grieve, love. suffering.

this drama has something for everyone.

this drama is super enjoyable up until the 20th episode. I get that they have to explain how things developed, what happened in those 5 years the protagonists were apart but it dragged for so long. I skipped like crazy. so many flashbacks, so many long scenes, they film the actors walking in the Sunshine for minutes at the time....

the best part of the show is the main male lead. man can this guy act. he was good and I mean...Gooooood

esther yu? I love her but I see her limits as an actress. so far I watched like 3 dramas with her as a main lead and she always ends playing the naive, clumsy, awkward girl. I don't know if she is being type casted or if this is her range.

please watch it and enjoy.

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