Reviews

I can't stop laughing, and you're definitely meant not to laugh

I just started this series, I'm only on episode 3. I saw all the reviews that criticize this for being a terrible soap opera and that's exactly what I needed. From the undeserved romance to bad acting to the terrible shooting scenes, please get drunk or high and watch this, it's so perfect for shutting your brain off. It also doesn't hurt that the MLs are hot asf, make a very cute couple

EDIT: Please, it gets more and mroe ridiculous. My favorite thing has to still be the terrible gun "shooting" CGI, never gets old. The ending doesn't even make any sense, it's golden

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LOVE IT TO THE CORE.

I absolutely adored this drama from start to finish. The bantering, the lovey-dovey moments, the tension, the chemistry — everything just worked for me.

Chen Feiyu is a complete heartthrob. No doubt about it. Every time he smirks, my heart does a little flip. Wang Yinglu is utterly adorable and shines so brightly in her role. I love how her charming imperfections balance perfectly with Chen Feiyu’s presence — they stand beautifully side by side.

The storyline is decent, but there are too many side characters with too little backstory. Some appear, disappear, then suddenly reappear near the end, which makes certain parts feel a bit messy and uneven. I wish they had developed those characters better instead of dropping them midway.

I guess the production definitely got massive budget as the constant realm-switching, the visual effects, and the scenery are all colorful, vibrant, and surprisingly high-budget. It’s visually stunning and easy to get immersed in. Each scene is crafted so beautifully. The drama is incredibly picturesque, making it a pleasure to watch from beginning to end.

Overall, despite the flaws, I still loved every minute. The leads, the chemistry, and the aesthetic carry this show beautifully.

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Obsessed. I am OBSESSED.

I loved this. LOVED it. As an American, shows with BL are more common and easy to find, but this may be one of the best I have ever seen--ADORED the actors, cute story but honestly? The scene in the empty restaurant alone makes this one of the best BL dramas I have ever seen. Pretty sure I would walk to the ends of the earth for Park Seo-ham after that, because he is absolutely FIRE.

I was actually sorry this wasn't a bit longer, and perhaps even more developed (both ML had plenty that could have been explored just based on their surface notes, the OCD of Sunwoo, the back story of Jae...I would have been more than happy to watch them for 16 episodes. Seo-ham hasn't done much that I can find but he's got a fan in me for good after this.

Trust me...the restaurant scene. It is literally EVERYTHING.

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Good season, but so slow

"A good season with a great concept — but painfully uneven.
Zero-One has incredible music, stylish jingles, and one of the coolest tech themes in the entire franchise. The first 15–20 episodes feel strong and confident, like the show knows exactly what story it wants to tell.
And then… the Zaia Arc happens.

This part drags on forever — from episode 17 all the way to 36 — and most of its characters feel flat, annoying, or straight-up badly written. By the time the Ark Arc shows up, COVID forces the writers to squeeze everything into just a few episodes, and the pacing collapses completely.

I don’t recommend Zero-One as someone's first Kamen Rider season, but if you want a story about AI, humanity, and technology — this one is definitely for you.
The cast is likeable, the ideas are strong, but the middle and the final arcs seriously hold the season back.

In short: great start, amazing aesthetics, but the Zaia and Ark arcs ruin the flow."

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May not replace the classics, but it doesn’t need to

As a longtime Jin Yong reader and someone who’s seen more versions of Legend of the Condor Heroes than I can remember, I went into Iron-Blooded Loyalty cautiously. Retelling Guo Jing and Huang Rong is never easy - these characters are basically the blueprint of wuxia. But instead of trying to outdo past classics through sheer scale or nostalgia, this adaptation takes a smarter route: it streamlines the story, reframes familiar arcs through a modern lens, and - most importantly - nails the character work.

The pacing is fast, almost aggressively so. Major events that used to take dozens of episodes now unfold through flashbacks and tight narrative framing. If you already know the story, it’s easy to follow and surprisingly refreshing. The show keeps its focus squarely on Jing–Rong traveling the jianghu together, which makes it especially satisfying for fans who prefer seeing them grow side by side rather than drowning in prolonged tragedy.

Visually, the series still captures the grand sweep of Jin Yong’s world: deserts, grasslands, Peach Blossom Island, Mount Hua, the western regions - heroes come and go like turning lantern slides. You really feel the vastness of the martial world, its shifting alliances, and the constant tension between personal loyalty and national duty.

Bao Shangen’s Huang Rong deserves special mention - she is excellent.
Huang Rong is one of the hardest Jin Yong heroines to portray: too clever and she feels smug, too cute and she loses her edge. Bao Shangen finds a great balance. Her Huang Rong is lively, sharp-eyed, mischievous, and emotionally grounded. She sells both the playful “little beggar” disguise and the dazzling genius behind it, with expressive micro-reactions and a natural sense of rhythm in dialogue. She never feels modern or out of place, and her chemistry with Guo Jing is warm and believable. More importantly, she embodies Huang Rong’s core strength: intelligence paired with empathy. She’s clever, but never cruel; confident, but never arrogant.

Guo Jing, meanwhile, is portrayed not as “dumb,” but as pure and inexperienced rather than slow-witted - a crucial distinction many adaptations miss. This version shows his growth clearly: he observes, learns quickly, and makes firm moral choices when it matters. His sincerity is what makes Huang Rong fall for him, and the show understands that. Their relationship feels earned, rooted in mutual trust rather than melodrama.

Where this adaptation really stands out, though, is Yang Kang and Mu Nianci. Instead of flattening Yang Kang into a greedy villain, the show gives him real psychological weight. His identity crisis - caught between biological origin and upbringing - is treated as genuinely tragic. His hesitation, resentment, and eventual moral collapse feel like the result of accumulated pressure, not a switch flipped overnight. Because of that, Mu Nianci also becomes more understandable: her loyalty comes from compassion and shared suffering, not blind devotion or shallow promises of wealth.

Supporting roles are generally well cast too. Huang Yaoshi and Ouyang Feng are both memorable, with Ouyang Feng arguably being one of the most striking versions yet. The ensemble helps reinforce the sense that this is a living jianghu, not just a backdrop for two leads.

Most importantly, despite the streamlined storytelling and modernized structure, the show never loses sight of the core wuxia spirit: “For the country and the people - this is the greater chivalry.” That ideal still runs through the narrative, especially in how Guo Jing and Huang Rong ultimately define their paths.

This adaptation may not replace the classics, but it doesn’t need to. What it does offer is a thoughtful reinterpretation that respects the original spirit while speaking more clearly to contemporary audiences.

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Great beginnings-we wish will never end and will just stay there

The drama started off really good but I felt-confusion, turmoil and pain as how the story unfolded. Wanting to come of as strong but sadly the writing, dialogues and the execution of scenes never compensated the disarray in the flow of the story. Thankfully the leads have superb chemistry or else the drama would have really lost its course, for a simple mind of entertainment this could be a watch but for the critical minds- this was hard to watch. It's like the editors, writers or producers all pitched in their ideas and just filmed a drama for it-because they themselves do not know how to resolve themes they want to convey so it felt like it was a drama with a lot of melting pot of themes just simply thrown in- "okay we want- 'female fatale fight scenes but let's make her useless in the end and make the cripple male lead a man not in distress anymore'; 'let's make it about revenge but let's make sure the villain will be treated with justice but with the most underwhelming way so as to annoy the viewers'" AGAIN, thank you for the leads for making this drama work. k. bye.

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Marriage in its truest form

This is a beautiful ode to love in its sacred and enduring form. It's a wonderfuly crafted story and tastefully shot and directed. We are invited to witness how marriage found its footing between Sheng sheng and Mr Yu.

It showed babysteps from two people who respects each other but also keeping at respectful distance.. slowly but surely got closer. Mf Yu led by example. Thoughtful, supportive, encouraging and always emotionaly available. It allows Sheng sheng to be herself and also pursue her interest.

Supportive, understating vs strict, demanding parents were also a forefront of the story.

Many a times I forgot Im watching a short vertical drama. It felt like a film, a tasteful one with great cinematography. I'm amaze by the quality we cab now find in vertical dramas

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that was cute ... in 16:9 format ...

What's really sad is, that MDL has no structure with putting uncut and cut versions together or seperate it and in this case, the re-edit would warrant a new entry for sure because now this show now is a) like any other show and b) can reach a much wider audience. So I have to write the review here which suxx...

While the reel was not bad itself... it's a pain to watch. Thankfully GagaOOLala picked up the series with an horizontal re-edit, giving us 6 episodes of around 17 minutes each... And that changes the vibe of the show dramatically in my POV. Some cut's are still rough because such a reel has episodes of around 90 to 120 seconds, but most of the time you will not notice it.

Both leads did a very good job and the story progresses naturally and with the usual BL tropé of "should I do it or not". There is not much drama in it. It's just mostly smooth sailing which will bring a smile to your face. Of course it's also not an earth-shattering story but everything felt so in flow. This is a nice vibe show, you can forget your worries and just enjoy it. And that is, what I did. And so, if you have a chance, grab this show on GagaOOLala and forget the shitty world for around 100 minutes!

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Cruel City definitely has merits – it's seductive in its dark and elegant atmosphere, with a very well-defined noir aesthetic. The central themes revolve around morality, loyalty, identity, and the unstable hierarchies that crumble in this corrupt environment between crime and the police. There's a clear attempt to study how these people are corroded by the very roles they occupy, showing how the underworld devours convictions, bonds, and even the notion of who each person is. In this sense, the main relationships (Doctor's Son, Lee Jin Sook, and Safari; Kim Hyeon Soo and Doctor's Son; Doctor's Son, Lee Jin Sook, and Min Hong Ki) are well-developed, have depth, and truly carry narrative weight. As the ending approaches, we truly feel the impact of each of their demise. The world presented is not just violent; it's a territory where everyone has already lost something essential before the story even begins.

However, as the narrative progresses, it becomes clear how fragile the structure is due to repetitive plot twists—at a certain point, almost all the criminals are revealed to be police infiltrators, which dilutes the tension and impoverishes the dramatic fabric. The characters' decisions are almost always the worst possible, and no one seems capable of having a direct conversation to resolve basic problems. Added to this is the exhaustive repetition of the same situations: the criminals going after the main cast, capturing one of them, and at the last moment someone appears to save them, only for the cycle to repeat itself again and again. This redundancy gives the impression that the script is trying to artificially stretch the story. Another point that few notice, but which reveals glaring inconsistencies: it's surreal how wanted criminals, both by the police and by other criminals, circulate freely through the city as if they were ordinary citizens; always relaxed, never pursued, almost as if the underworld only exists when the plot needs it.

In the initial episodes, it's also problematic how the character Ji Hyeong Min appears almost like Superman: infallible, with impeccable instincts, and always showing up at the right moment. In several scenes, when he wasn't present, it became clear that he had no real use in moving the plot forward; he only becomes important when he starts being used by or assisting the Doctor's Son. Before that, he's just an unbearable character, artificially exaggerated.

The villains, in general, are generic and unmemorable, with the exception of Min Hong Ki, who, however, ends up wasted due to poor and poorly explored motivations, being reduced to a character who gets lost for silly reasons.

And then we arrive at the point I wanted to make: the Doctor's Son's relationship with Yoon Soo Min. Before that, however, it's necessary to comment on the initial stupidity of having Soo Min have a romantic interest in Ji Hyeong Min in a forced attempt at a love triangle. Fortunately, this doesn't go any further, but even so, it shouldn't have even been started; The most appropriate thing would be for Soo Min to feel respect for him, nothing more than that. Returning to the bond between Doctor's Son and Soo Min: in terms of relationships, this is the weakest link in the drama, not due to a lack of potential, but because of the hasty and poorly constructed narrative decisions. Their relationship should function as a kind of emotional escape, a breath of fresh air within the chaos of the underworld that engulfs them. It required slow, gradual, intimate development, more shared moments, more meaningful silence, more building of closeness so that, when the inevitable conflict arose, the impact would be more emotionally impactful. But this doesn't happen. Everything is rushed, shallow, and devoid of the intensity that the premise demanded. Thus, what could have been the most powerful bond in the drama ends up becoming its weakest point.

As pure entertainment, it works. Some action or violence scenes are terribly done; the worst is when Kim Eun Soo tries to strangle Busan—that's a bad joke. Jung Kyung Ho didn't fit the character; his demeanor is too androgynous, too delicate. The role would have suited Lee Joon Gi, Lee Jong Suk, or another actor with a more badass style much better.

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Definitivamente, Cruel City possui méritos - é sedutor pela atmosfera sombria e elegante, com uma estética noir muito bem definida. Os temas centrais se articulam em torno da moralidade, da lealdade, da identidade e das hierarquias instáveis que se desmoronam nesse ambiente corrompido entre o crime e a polícia. Há uma tentativa clara de estudar como essas pessoas são corroídas pelos próprios papéis que ocupam, mostrando como o submundo devora convicções, vínculos e até mesmo a noção de quem cada um é. Nesse sentido, as relações principais (Doctor’s Son, Lee Jin Sook e Safari; Kim Hyeon Soo e Doctor’s Son; Doctor’s Son, Lee Jin Sook e Min Hong Ki) são bem trabalhadas, possuem profundidade e realmente carregam peso narrativo. Conforme o desfecho se aproxima, sentimos de fato o impacto do fim de cada um deles. O mundo apresentado não é apenas violento; é um território onde todos já perderam algo essencial antes mesmo de a história começar.

Porém, à medida que a narrativa avança, percebe-se como a estrutura se torna frágil pelas reviravoltas repetitivas — em determinado ponto, quase todos os bandidos revelam-se infiltrados da polícia, o que dilui a tensão e empobrece o tecido dramático. As decisões dos personagens são quase sempre as piores possíveis, e ninguém parece capaz de ter uma conversa direta para resolver problemas básicos. Soma-se a isso a repetição exaustiva das mesmas situações: os bandidos indo atrás do elenco principal, capturando um deles, e no último momento alguém aparece para salvar, apenas para o ciclo se repetir de novo e de novo. Essa redundância passa a impressão de que o roteiro tenta esticar a história artificialmente. Outro ponto que poucos percebem, mas que revelam inconsistências gritantes: é surreal como criminosos procurados, tanto pela polícia quanto por outros bandidos, circulam tranquilamente pela cidade como se fossem cidadãos comuns; sempre relaxados, nunca perseguidos, quase como se o submundo só existisse quando a trama precisa dele.

Nos episódios iniciais, também é problemático como o personagem Ji Hyeong Min surge quase como um Superman: infalível, com instinto impecável e sempre surgindo no momento certo. Em vários trechos, quando ele não aparecia, tornava-se perceptível que ele não tinha utilidade real para mover a trama, só passa a ser importante quando começa a ser usado ou auxiliar o Doctor’s Son. Antes disso, é apenas um personagem insuportável, artificialmente engrandecido.

Os vilões, de modo geral, são genéricos e pouco memoráveis, com exceção de Min Hong Ki, que, no entanto, acaba desperdiçado por motivações pobres e mal exploradas, sendo reduzido a um personagem que se perde por razões tolas.

E então chegamos ao ponto que eu queria: a relação do Doctor’s Son com Yoon Soo Min. Antes disso, porém, é preciso comentar a estupidez inicial de fazer a Soo Min ter interesse romântico no Ji Hyeong Min numa tentativa forçada de triângulo amoroso. Felizmente, isso não vai adiante, mas ainda assim não deveria sequer ter sido iniciado; o máximo adequado seria a Soo Min nutrir respeito por ele, nada além disso. Voltando ao vínculo entre Doctor’s Son e Soo Min: no quesito relacional, esse é o laço mais fraco do dorama, não por falta de potencial, mas pelas decisões precipitadas e mal construídas da narrativa. A relação deles deveria funcionar como uma espécie de fuga emocional, um respiro dentro do caos do submundo que os engole. Exigia um desenvolvimento lento, gradual, íntimo, mais momentos compartilhados, mais silêncio significativo, mais construção de proximidade para que, quando o conflito inevitável surgisse, o impacto fosse emocionalmente mais impactante. Mas isso não acontece. Tudo é acelerado, raso e desprovido da intensidade que a proposta pedia. Assim, aquilo que poderia ter sido o vínculo mais poderoso do dorama acaba se tornando o seu ponto mais frágil.

Como puro entretenimento funciona. Algumas cenas de ação ou violência são pessimamente feitas, a pior delas é quando a Kim Eun Soo tenta enforcar o Busan, aquilo é uma piada de mau gosto. Jung Kyung Ho não combinou com o personagem, o jeito dele é muito andrógeno, muito delicado. O papel cairia muito melhor no Lee Joon Gi, Lee Jong Suk ou outro ator com o estilo mais foda.

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Easy watch! Stay for the story telling, twists and great cast to portray the characters!

Everything from start to finish will have you seated and rooting for all the characters. However, at times it feels too flawless it seemed unbelievable. The deduction skills of both leads are sometimes a bit too much but that's what makes the high rating in this drama- it gives the satisfaction that gets you hooked. Li Landi is again superb! I always love how she is able to convey her emotions really a topnotch when it comes to evoking the right emotions easy to relate as a viewer- you almost sympathize with her. Saw her in Love of Nirvana loved her character there and same goes with this one, it seemed these kind of roles suits her a lot. What a great actress! The leads have "okay" chemistry-not explosive but it's there. Sometimes I can't help it but I also see a chemistry with the male lead and the second female lead- and voila! -they actually have a drama that's on-going filming- My Queen My Rules! LOL The twists are also good, the writing and how the story unfolded is easy to stay tune with. It would have been better they indulged to make into 40 episodes just to expound more on the idea of the sect cause it felt like the build up was there and then was rushed a bit towards the end. But Yang Shize was also worth a mention short appearance but portrayed it well as a conflicted man turned villain. But nevertheless, it was an easy watch!

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confusing with some dark and sweet parts

Overall: 10 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on GMMTV's YouTube channel https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLszepnkojZI6XS68TbMnSxkKingYfxiXv&si=f3hz9MktxKrIILB- (not available in Thailand)

Content Warning: episode 1 part 1 has a jump scare around 16:30, multiples murders shown, kidnapping, manipulation, near murder, trauma; past (murders, suicide, child abuse, near suicide shown)

What I Liked
- mystery
- sweet moments
- the setting, countryside vistas

Room For Improvement
- confusing start with multiple time jumps/memories
- love rival
- a lot of nonsense things
- the wrong character apologized in episode 10

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Carrying the Weight of the World!

The magic of this series actually doesn’t rest in the romance. It rests in the magic of how a little boy decides to bear the weight of the world upon his shoulders and carry that burden into adulthood.

There are many aspects of this series that we’ve seen countless times. A rich man who ends up falling in love and courting an ordinary woman. A rich man who lavishes her with bought out amusement parks, boat rides, restaurants, and so on. There is still the arcane belief that happiness lies in a relationship with a wealthy person, unfortunately, usually the man. It’s been said that money can’t buy happiness. It also can’t buy love, as true love has absolutely nothing to do with wealth.

Lee Young Joon is the Vice-Chairman and partial owner of a massive corporation. He’s also a bit of a narcissist. If you look up the true definition of a narcissist, Lee Young Joon only fills some of the boxes, but not all of them, which leads us to believe that he’s conceited and full of himself, but he’s not necessarily a narcissist in the typical sense. Yes, he’s bossy, overbearing, demanding, and he must always get his way. However, buried underneath is a man who is capable of deep feeling.

Enter, Lee Young Joon’s secretary, Mi So Kim. While Lee Young Joon is very smart and capable, it’s obvious that the person juggling and taking care of all of the balls in the air is his unwavering and loyal secretary. However, after reaching her boiling point in having to work for nine years for the self-centered Lee Young Joon, Mi So Kim decides that it is time to pursue something else, thus leaving Lee Young Joon in a quandary.

However, there is far more than meets the eye when it comes to the relationship between these two, and it’s here that the true heart of the story takes off. As children, Lee Young Joon and Mi So Kim were kidnapped by a deranged woman and kept inside an abandoned building. Cable ties were used to bind their hands and feet. Mi So, who was only five, has spent years trying to find the “mysterious” boy who not only saved her life, but also did all he could to prevent her from seeing the nightmare images from that fateful event. It's endearing and heartwarming to find a young boy who takes on that kind of responsibility.

Lee Young Joon feigns memory loss of that day, and even goes so far as to deny that he was even the boy who was with Mi So, thus opening the door for his jealous and envious brother, Lee Sung Yeon, to believe that he was the one who had been kidnapped, due to the amount of guilt their parents placed upon him. Too often, parents forget how lashing out can create deep psychological scars and even manipulate memories.

Rather than confess to Mi So that he was the one who had saved her, Lee Young Joon decides to deny it in order to prevent her from reliving that horrible past. In short, he does everything in his power to protect her, even from those memories, and we find out that Lee Young Joon hasn’t suffered any memory loss at all, but is simply bearing the brunt of it, even to the point of suffering horrible nightmares and scars. This is how we learn that Lee Young Joon is a truly noble and loving person because, just as Mi So has been looking for him since she was little, Lee Young Joon has also been looking for Mi So.

There is an absolutely adorable scene shortly after Lee Young Joon takes little Mi So home after the kidnapping, where she professes her love and even proposes marriage to him. Sometimes the most profound memories are those we have as children, and in this case, even years later, their dreams come true.

The series is essentially wrapped up by the 12th episode, and as another reviewer pointed out, the last four episodes contain mostly filler stories. One of the things that hurt the series was that too much attention was given to the romantic relationship between the co-workers. Frankly, while there were some hilarious and silly moments, I really didn’t care because I wasn’t invested in them. Anyone who has been involved in a workplace romance will readily tell you that they are a bad idea. Even the awkwardness created by the relationship between Lee Young Joon and Mi So, should be enough to give anyone pause before entertaining one.

The performances between Park Seo Joon and Park Min Young are first-rate, even if their chemistry was a bit inconsistent at times. Park Seo Joon’s crowning performance is still in “Itaewon Class,” and I felt that Park Min Young gave a better performance in “Her Private Life,” mostly because she had better chemistry with her male lead in that series.

Most of the humor is provided by Park Seo Joon as we see how silly and awkward he makes Lee Young Joon, especially when he’s praising himself or telling Mi So how great he is. He does have a few cringeworthy moments when he crashes Mi So’s vacation, or when he tries to plan out their wedding, even going so far as to pick her dress for her. His friend was correct: he’s like a bulldozer. However, it’s hard to escape Park Seo Joon’s charm, which reminds me a little bit of Michael J. Fox as Alex Keaton in “Family Ties.”

Overall, this is a good series that would have been great had they cut it to twelve episodes. However, don’t let that sway you. The last four episodes are still good, but they just don’t quite hold up compared to the rest of the series.

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