Reviews

overhyped and underwhelming

I don't know if it's just me, but I was not impressed with this drama. After all the hype and everyone praising it, I went in with high expectations. The beginning was promising, but the more I watched, the more my interest faded. In my opinion, this drama is seriously overrated.

To be honest, I never felt any attachment to the characters. I simply didn't care what happened to them. The storyline had potential, but the execution fell flat for me. Also, I couldn't vibe with Jong Hyeop at all – something about his performance just didn't click.

I made it to episode 7, then gave up and skipped straight to the finale. And honestly? I didn't miss much. The last episode basically summarized the entire story.

Verdict: An overrated, average drama that fails to live up to the hype.

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An anti-hero between demons and gods

Ko ChenTung plays Han Chieh,an enormously attractive reformed bad-boy with a heart of gold, whose sad eyes stay with you long after the 8 eps of this Taiwanese supernatural drama are done (at 42minsea. = 5.5 + hrs runtime) He was hired out of hell to atone for his sins by straightening out the problems with ghosts whose attachments hold them back. The gods live close to the hearts of the people in this story, and the Third Prince, who employs our hero, communicates via talismanic messages and a small bird whose cage door is always open.

I am not generally a fan of the scenographic of grimy hallways combined with neon colored spiritual phenomena. But the cinematographer somehow gives the shots depth and movement, and the nighttime of Taipei in moments achieved a tranquil beauty in moments that melted my heart. The plot is relatively simple, a demon long-held in check has a plan to break free. A group which includes Han Chieh, his detective friend, a stray waif girlfriend and the inhabitants of a decrepit building, (both ghosts and humans) must detect the plan and defeat the demon king. It is funny, sweet, thrilling and desperate and I loved it.

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Not a bad representation of the novel "Bringing Home the Nation's Husband"

Read the book. Then watch the show. Then question every decision you've made.
Listen, adapting a web novel is basically performing surgery on something people love with their whole unhinged hearts, and this one mostly survives the operation. They smoothed out some of the novel's rougher edges, made him significantly less of a disaster, and reigned in the villain women to a more digestible level of terrible. Purists will have FEELINGS about the cuts. I had feelings about the cuts. We move.
What they kept? Perfection.
Wang Hao Zhen as the ML is not a performance, it's a war crime. The man KILLED this role with his bare hands and felt no remorse. Every scene, every look, every moment of restrained chaos — flawless. As usual. Annoyingly, consistently flawless.
Guo Yu Xin as Qiao An Hao is exactly who I pictured reading the novel, which almost never happens in adaptations and frankly deserves a trophy. She didn't just play the character, she WAS her. Together these two are so combustible the screen should have come with a fire warning.
The steamy scenes delivered. We don't need to elaborate. We all know why we're here.
The highlight of the entire show is them filming a drama WITHIN the drama — actors pretending to be actors acting in a show, inside another show. Filmception. Absolutely unhinged creative decision. Completely brilliant execution. Someone on the writing team deserves a raise and a nap.
The novel gives you everything. The show gives you the highlight reel. This highlight reel is worth watching.

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"Beach Boys" is very cozy and heartfelt drama.

"Beach Boys" is a good old Japanese retro from before modern technological wonders and all those smartphones—very cozy and heartfelt drama.

It’s like a life-affirming ode to youth: summer, sun, ocean, beach, the sound of the surf, as well as complete freedom and open roads—a real healing cocktail for melancholy, light and pleasant in taste, warming but with a slight bitterness, garnished for the mood with an umbrella of humor. Recommended for any time of year!

Are we happy? Are we satisfied with life, and how do we find our path, our place, our “own ocean” in this world?
The question of self-determination can be pressing not only at 17–18. At any age, people can rethink and change their lives, if only they have enough strength and courage—and the support of understanding, close people is very important.
But even if you yourself can only timidly dream of turning off the comfortable, well-trodden path, just watching it on screen is incredibly inspiring.

Young, wonderful Sorimachi Takashi and Takenouchi Yutaka form a magnificent male duo in this drama. The characters have completely different personalities and life experiences, but between them we see a true bromance, chemistry without any hint of ambiguity. By a twist of fate, finding themselves neighbors in a cramped little room, they gradually get used to each other—irritation gives way to patience, then comes understanding and genuine, sincere friendship.

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Half Baked Script

It started off well, like most of the kdramas these days, but then lost its way from 5th episode onwards.

Positives : Good acting from everyone including Park Min Young, since she could only move her lips, eyes and eyebrows, it maintained the suspense till the last episode.
Negatives: Half baked screenplay, or misleading dialogues.A cool investigating officer suddenly falls in love with suspect, yes, she is a seiren but don't make him say such cheesy dialogues. One person takes the photograph of the killer, another person has seen that person doing the act, and they all have closely interacted with the suspect, but couldn't recognize? And there are many questions which I can add - about the wine bottle and the letter from one of the victims and many other - these don't add up with the confession from the killer or his motive.

Another point which I wanted to add - when someone dies from a building after a party, why the police investigation or alibi is asked only for the FL. This same issue was there for another kdrama -Idol I, except for the killer everyone else will be asked to prove their alibi.

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A late-blooming joy is still a joy

This story is about unrequited high school mutual crush which is getting an unique opportunity to explore a bond that was previously untapped. It requires balancing the nostalgia of the past with the reality of the present. It is but natural and sensible to gradually reacquaint with each other with active boundary setting. They gauge each other safely and are slowly rebuild their relationship through shared experiences and head towards having more stability in their relationship through honest and open communication. The crux of the story is when the FL comes to know that it had always been a two way crush.

The focus of the story is not about quick love, confession and dealing with other things like career, friendships, family dynamics. They happen along the way.
Their shared journey IS the focus of the story.
As written in synopsis " The feelings that had accumulated over the years fermented under the memories and became stronger in the test of reality"

Pros:
Acting- All round good- I love Miles Wei acting. He always delivers. This is no exception. We get to see great comedy between him and lawyer Liu which I thoroughly enjoyed and many signature Miles expressions, geatures and moves which were a thorough entertainer
Dialogues
Cinematography
Comedy

Cons:
The second male lead plot dragged
Editing pace could have been faster

In my opinion this show could have been completed in 24-26 episodes.

Final review: The ending is beautiful and gives a perfect closure to the series and all characters.

It's even more satisfying to see that every women in this drama is empowered in her own way.

1) Ruan Yu, progresses from a successful author to a screenwriter. Of course her secret crush and love story is a success.
2)The female editor-in-chief, Chen, gets promoted to headquarters and even recommends 👇
3) Shen Mingying - who always challenged her - to take over as the new editor-in-chief. Shen Mingying gets her true love too.
4) The girl who's crushing on Li Shican realizes her mistakes and decides to move forward.
5) Lyu Shenglan, who waited for years for Xu Huaisong, who was even prepared for a marriage of convenience, steps back at the right moment as if realizing they were not meant to be and focused on her career and achieved greater heights.
6) Even the younger sister, Xu Huaishi, who was still playful, into celebrity fan culture back in high school, gets into a top university. Hopefully she will get her true love too.
7) Tao Rong, Xu Huaisong’s mom, also reunites with her husband and makes peace with herself and the past.
8) Sun Miaohan, who didn't compromise on her self-respect and dignity, successfully auditioned for the role of female lead in Ruan Yu’s book adaptation
RIP Yao Xin

Perfect closure to the series.

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Very bad job

Honestly, I managed to finish this series and I don’t even know how. From episode 4 onwards, it just stopped being good. Vier seems like he can’t even think… and don’t talk to me about Stockholm syndrome, it’s just badly written.

Kelvin, who acted badly the whole time, ends up getting a happy ending I find that crazy.

I understand what the story was trying to do, but it’s so poorly executed. Kelvin and Vier lack depth, even though they had a strong background.

The GL couple deserved so much better, with a more developed story. In the end, it all just feels poorly done.

And honestly, NC scenes can’t save a series.

When you end up rooting for the villain, something clearly went wrong with the writing.

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I was waiting for the bubble to burst, it took 7 episodes for that to happen but I'm glad I stuck with it till the end.

I was wondering how will they walk around the matter without glamorising stalking by mistake or giving the stalker some excuse by the end, they kinda played it safe as I ended up accepting the final without any complaints.

The cast was amazing, and the characters were very likable and lovely, the four colleagues relationship was what I liked the most, I found myself enjoying the time they showed them caring for each other and helping each other out more than the romance.

Overall very enjoyable series, I just wish they made it a little shorter as the first 6 episodes are basically the same till the 7th where everything started to unfold ~~

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This one got me out of my drama slump era

I'm so happy to write this review. One of the most satisfying watches I've ever had. I won't say it's life changing or anything but sometimes you need a drama like this to cleanse your brain which is filled with seriousness. Also I don't like the forced bromance a lot of the time. This one was so natural and I loved it. I also like how for the second lead, they didn't make it his entire personality. In a lot of dramas the love triangle tends to irk me sometimes. But this one didn't have that problem. Also the humour of the drama is something I vibe with. It had mentioned hooked. One of the main reasons I stuck with it till the end.

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The destiny of your own making.

What a pleasant surprise - well done tropes, little fun changes to established often used plotlines and themes, the variety of the characters with vibrant personalities and experiences. No unnecessary additional murder mystery that drags the whole plot, no family drama no one cares about. It has exactly all that romantic comedy needs and nothing else. And that’s perfect.

And what does romantic comedy need? First and foremost: romance. Whenever we are talking about leads, second main leads or just supporting characters, they serve and deliver. Shin Woo Yeo and Lee Dam gave me a perfect example of fighting against all odds, defying destiny. I especially loved how they used the red string of fate in the drama (not only in context of leads) - be it to add more angst and internal (and external) conflict, give closure to certain plotlines, or expand on presented themes. Probably the best use of red string I have seen in dramas for ages.

Usually I really dislike the “innocent, inexperienced, pure female lead”, but here I cannot even be mad about it, because it was fitting the context, and while she was inexperienced in love, she was not naive in terms of other relationships. They did not make her dumb in all areas to show how little she knows about love, and that is something we usually don’t see. I truly appreciate the variety of experiences presented depending on the characters. Some were experienced in both love and casual dating, some were inexperienced in one, but more experienced in the other, some were inexperienced in both. That’s why female leads “innocence” (for the lack of better term) was not that annoying, and did not stand out too much - she was just one type of many we witnessed.

Then we had Shin Woo Yeo and I adore how imperfect he was. The boy had flaws, major ones. He got jealous and not in a cute way. He was egocentric in his thinking, made many mistakes trying to find an easy and quick way out of complex situations, his communication skills could left a lot to desire and even when he was literally told straight to his attractive face what someone expects and what would hurt them, he confidently more often than not made the wrong choice. All that made him much more interested character.

Then we have the recycled trash Gye Sun Woo - cannot believe, with what he did, I still somehow ended up liking him by the end. This ain’t your loyal puppy second male lead. He would for sure fit the cold main lead who turns soft by the female lead role more. And it’s so refreshing to see this trope being placed into the role of simping over a female lead with no choice of getting her - it’s like reliving your youth with Gu Jun Pyo getting what he deserves. All that said, even though I would never get on this ship, I also love how there was in fact great chemistry between Sun Woo and Lee Dam - maybe in a different drama life this could work.

All I can say about Yang Hye Sun and Do Jae Jin is that they were the most adorable characters ever. The fact I love both Kim Do Wan and Kang Han Na made it even easier to adore the characters they played. They were kind of a reverse version of the main leads, but not a complete copy just switched. Do Jae Jin, while innocent, was not inexperienced. Yang Hye Sun while experienced in love and the heartbreak that comes with it, was still open to romance and innocent. While they mirrored the “one more experience than the other” dynamic of Shin Woo Yeo and Lee Dam, their different personalities led them to completely different choices and attitudes.

Then we have a whole cast of well written supporting characters with their tiny twists. Choi Soo Kyung was for sure the comedic relief, but her character was also established to be extremely smart. Younger siblings of the leads were not the annoying teens, you could see the family bond even through the bickering. Jung Suk almost had no screen time, but still did not feel like a filler character - be it his friendship with Lee Dam or connection with Soo Kyung, even if not many, his scenes were also fun to watch.

Not all characters were as well written though. We could not escape dumb bullies who gossip, because they have no other thing to do and have low self-esteem. There are just some things in k-dramas you cannot avoid.

Plot wise, I appreciate how long they did not fully explain how the male lead can turn into a human. Not that I’ve put a lot of mental power to try to figure it out myself, I was just taking whatever they were showing with little neurons firing in my brain - but that tiny mystery had solid pacing that I was curious "how it works", without being annoyed how long it takes to get the answers. All the plots got proper closure, some expanded and explored more than others, but the ratio of how much we see of each point was well balanced, without random slide quests overshadowing the main story.

The acting was mostly great. I enjoyed how the actors were able to present many instinctively viewed as contradictory traits and made me feel like the characters still made sense. Shin Woo Yeo was not interested in humans and love, yet he was still a rather warm person even at the beginning of the story. Lee Dam was innocent and inexperienced in love, but strong and assertive in her relationships, Yang Hye Sun had that sophisticated air around her, when she was in fact on the little dummy side, Do Jae Jin was highly emotional, but at the same time emotionally strong. It’s really not that easy to present characters like that without making the audience feel like their personalities change to whatever the story needs to at any given time.

In terms of production value or soundtrack - all adequate to the story they tried to tell, but not mind blowing in any way. Do not remember one song nor any scene that was especially visually stunning.

Overall, for sure one of the better rom-coms in recent years. Why? Because it did not try to be more than that. It did not try to blend 643857485 different genres jumping from one theme to another. The story was simple, but told in an engaging manner, the characters were easy to love, the romance was romancing.

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