Reviews

I knew it's gonna be so good

YES. IT HAPPENED. I've been waiting SO LONG for this series to happen. Today aired the first episode and it looks promising. The plot is entertaining, contains details and a lot of action - which is the most important thing in dramas for me. I hate those too cute stories, where the storyline is boring and easily predictable. I put a strong faith in this drama and hope that next episodes will be even better and won't disappoint me. Also I am a huge fan of Daou and Offroad. Their chemistry is INSANE and i see it in every of their shows - counting this one too. The looks they give each other are screaming of love and admiration. Daou sings beautifully and i'm glad the directors contained it in the first episode. I'm looking forward for the upcoming episodes, but for now my rating is already high.

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A MISSED OPPORTUNITY - A Storm of Potential, Washed away by Weak Execution

BIG BUDGET, TOP STARS, BUT HALF BAKED EXECUTION

Tempest drama is just another typical spy espionage thriller drama, boasting top stars, strong production crew and reputed director, screenwriter with big elements America, South Korea, North Korea, Mercenaries, International-Spies, Secret Agents everything looks solid right but it only on the story board and ultimately feels like a half-baked cake.

As a big fan of spy espionage thrillers; I had some good expectations for this drama, especially from one of my favourite director KIM HEE-WON but the execution fell down. While the story feels fresh compared to previous spy thrillers, the plot is poorly developed.

This really drama’s biggest drawback is instead of leaning into the genre’s elements – conspiracies, betrayals and psychological mind games it turns into chaebol-family conflicts in midway, slowing the pace and weaking the narrative drive.

Good at
• Initial episodes.
• Production design.
• Acting.

Major disappointments
• Underdeveloped plot.
• Midway focus heavily on family conflict rather than espionage.
• Forced romantic subplot.
• Lost momentum in maintaining real suspense and tension.

Technical aspects 6/10

Bad editing, the editing feels sloppy in some episodes. Scenes cut and jump too quickly, breaking the actual flow of the story narration and making it hard to connect to the scenario. Soundtrack and background score feels off but in early episodes it was on the track. Average Cinematography.

ACTING 7/10

One word- Underutilized talent of acting power houses JUN JI HYUN & KANG DONG WON, I loved acting and they portrayed roles perfectly but unfortunately the script doesn’t give their characters enough depth or opportunity to showcase their full range. Their characters becoming average in this context is a sign that writing failed to maximize their potential. Same goes to supporting actors they also given good performance according to roles.

Final thoughts—

Kim Hee Won is one of my favorite Korean directors; her making style is always best according to the story. She has delivered some acclaimed different genre works like—Vincenzo, Little Women, Crowned Clown, and Queen of Tears (the making style). Tempest feels like one of her weakest works. She missed bringing her mark - powerful characterizations in this drama.

Also, Screenwriter Jung Seo Kyung created a powerful story but failed to build the strong characters with enough depth. Also, instead of focusing on the story's key aspects evaluation, the narration shifts midway into a romantic track just when it should have taken sharper turns.

Some viewers may enjoy that romance subplot, but the as for storytelling aspect of this is a complete failure. Ok, let's take this as "the screenwriter approached the romance plot because they tried to create a dynamic relationship between the main leads and for a strong climax," but it backfired. Even the family conflicts sidelines the core story, and the plot twist also shows no impact.

Technically it is some appreciable - dark atmospheric tone, some well executed action scenes along with the alignment of the US-KR story setup and actors costumes. Even if the makers have a big budget and top stars and the best crew, sometimes the content is kingmaker. When makers fail to polish their strong potential into compelling content, the results inevitably fall flat. A story should be given what it really demands, forcing - in unnecessary elements only ruins it.

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VERY INSPIRING & MOTIVATIONAL

I have watched s1 ep 1 when it first aired last yr every week & s2 from 1st episode from first week to last ep every week.
for me it was that good. The show is about the members of iron girls participating in boxing tournament one after 3 months of training and another after a month of 1st tournament. Boxing needs stamina, practices and consistency. The fact that all the 4 girls are from acting backgrounds and are actress , i knew all four of them as actress before the show & in ha i loved her from business proposal.
This show proves hoe you gotta trust the process and work hard and you will get the outcome from the hard work .
Its very inspirational in kind of way when you start something new and you cannot believe in yourself .. you gotta work and trust the process.
I recommend watching the show and even after 5th ep you dont like it then its not your cup of tea.
The production team also gave their best , i dont know what the reaction of korean audience of this show but from my POV the show is good.
I also recommend this show who like one one of the iron girls , you will automatically like the show,

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Another day, another CEO romance mini-series

Or that’s what I thought when I started watching this office rom-com. But it’s actually quite a unique little gem!

Bai Jing works as a secretary for a high-strung, conceited, demanding CEO. She hates his guts and would do anything to quit her job. He, of course, is secretly in love with his secretary. Because he has the emotional capacity of a toddler in a sandbox, he thinks that tormenting her at work will somehow lead her to reciprocate.

It’s so cliche that it feels intentionally hammy, like the writers are winking at the audience in episode 1. Because just when ep 1 ends, we get to the real premise of the drama: Secretary Bai becomes trapped in a time loop. She’s doomed to relive the same day over and over again, until she can successfully quit her job and leave her boss. Or so she thinks.

There are more than a few twists and turns in the story, and just when the leads think they’ve figured out what’s going on, they’re thrown for a new loop (pun intended). At first, since the FL is trying to quit and the ML is trying to keep her at all costs, so they are antagonists. Then as the circumstances of the time loop change, so does their relationship, and they start working together against the problem.

The romance therefore felt naturally developed, at least on the part of the FL. I was rooting for them eventually. There’s a dash of mystery involved as well which keeps the non-romance bits interesting.

For such a young actor (he was 20 when this was filmed!), Wang Zi Hao does a great job. He really takes to the role of the cliche CEO, who’s both self-obsessed and FL-obsessed. It was fun to watch him lose his mind trying to keep his secretary’s attention via pigtail-pulling. Han Le Yao holds her own as well. Their physical chemistry was fantastic especially in the later episodes.

TROPES
- Boss/employee relationship
- workplace romance
- time loop
- one-sided crush
- ML falls first and chases first

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this series is in dire need of a doctor…

(…which is ironic since the author of the novel(s) is a doctor)
This review is mostly to vent my disappointment. The badly handled sensitive topics will be shortly talked about.

The writing is just plain bad. The actors did their best. At least one of the writers must be in their Wattpad phase. In case you don‘t really know what that means: It means that the writer writes without thought, just vomits their fantasies onto the page, re-uses the oldest and most successful tropes (which makes the story kinda unoriginal) and is not aware of what good writing is yet because usually your brain hasn‘t fully developed yet at the time the phase happens. Wattpad is a good place to make all these mistakes, get feedback and improve your writing. (lmk if this explanation lacks something). When you are in your Wattpad phase you think it’s soo edgy to write that your main character was raped by their love interest because they’re interested in the main character and as screenwriter it’s probably even edgier to show the audience a „memory“ of it happening to make us truly believe it happened. Just to turn around and tell us it was a misunderstanding and didn‘t happen? What a violation and manipulation. What a betrayal of the characters, the viewers and morality. Who approved of this? (I fully understand the disgust and anger in user eliot_rulez‘s review.)
Furthermore a Wattpad phase writer would bend the characters against their characteristics in favour of their wanted outcome. So, the actions and reactions of the characters seem stupid, exaggarated, out of the blue, wrong etc. I felt that a bunch of times during the series… like the emotions and reactions sometimes were dialed to the max so tropes and situations that normally take up several episodes in other BLs, got fired through within one or two episodes. On one side it felt like they did that so they could get to the NC scenes and on the other because they probably didn‘t get the budget (no surprise why) to have more screentime to tell the story.

What else is there to say?
- generally the chemistry between each couple was okay. The actor pairing worked.
- the acting ranged from „first time on stage“ to ok/good.
- a new rival just appears, does their damage and is gone again. (how in the world did Per survive getting stabbed three times in the abdominal region, lying and bleeding on the ground for at least 10 mins and then standing up, talking, being conscious through all this to then go to the hospital to have serious surgery? I‘m no doctor but what?!)
- as soon as the two main couples get together the writers use the jealousy trope several times which is exhausting to watch. These characters are not allowed to establish any trust in each other. Usually such things only happen when the series is long and they run out of other possible plot or it‘s a fundamental characteristic of a character. But they managed to do this when there‘s only 10 episodes and none of the characters showed enough jealousy throughout the series to warrant this. Damn.

The one good thing about this series (imo): The third ‚couple‘ Tum and Klah.
Since the other two couples were thrown into a whirlwind of tropes and drama and did a speedrun through their relationship stages this couple went at a pace that felt the most realistic. Their whole set up was the most interesting: two best friends, one in love with the other, but the other is in a relationship with someone that doesn‘t love them and uses them for their own (non-sexual) benefits. I was mostly drawn to their story. But in the end I couldn‘t tell you whether they got together or not. And for them to have a more prominent role in the series they‘d need better writers.

Needless to say this was a disappointment. The first trailer looked exciting. And then we get this. Stabbed three times, yet still walking and talking.

I am kinda sad to say this but so far I have never encountered Lee Long Shi in a well written series. Unfortunately here‘s the next one.

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The ML acting was so freakin good! Plot was cute!

This was my first time seeing this male actor and all I can say was that he definitely carried this drama. This is my first time writing a vertical cdrama review and THAT is saying something. The fl, I’m more familiar with her and I do think her acting was decent. The storyline is very cute and straightforward, don’t you just love when a man likes you so much that he’s willing to chase you everyday. The ML was funny, a little childish but in a cute way, and protective! Also, VERY flirty to the FL and FL only! I paused so many times because the way the ML acts around the FL kept making me giggle lol he has the best personality. A total simp— more specifically, a LOYAL simp. He was charming and very likeable. Kudos to the actor, he can definitely make it big if he keeps up with the good work.

OKAY OKAY now to review the ACTUAL story. All the characters were fine, the side characters acting are all pretty decent, including the male friends of the ML. I love brother’s friend plot, so I didn’t really find the plot that new or odd. For me, the age gap is fine. I don’t necessarily find it weird but at the same time, I wish he didn’t like her at first sight when she’s like a high school student lol. Don’t worry tho, he only started to pursue her after she entered college. They didn’t really focus much on the family, mostly just to them which i personally enjoy hehe. The step brother, well, is a bit questionable but also I don’t really get what’s going on in his head most of the time. Overall, it was a good watch and will definitely rewatch it again!

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Fairly investing and brilliant acting

All of their acting exceeded my expectations. While there were plotholes the acting and story progression made me watch till the end. It was more character centric than plot centric, which I expected it to be the later.

The plot showed the how very clearly. How they are dying, how they are meeting, how they are separating and how to stop the curse of Leap Day but it would have been even incredible if it showed a why. They only focused on fixing the problem. I was wishing they would keep some theories on extraterrestrial elements and phenomenon as to why 2 people born on the leap days are sharing such cruel faith. This would have given more depth and clarity on the plot making it even interesting to watch.

I was fairly surprised with the acting. Gun is as good as he is, I shouldn't even say anything about him. Dew truly surprised me with his acting. Pond was different from his other roles. Pahn being new did a fantastic job. It is a heavy emotion drama and they did awesome.

The cinematography was flawless. Except the scenes of ep 12 I liked everything they did. The green screen could have done better. I loved the way the cameras showed different sides making us see the whole thing and everyone's emotions.

The plot could have gone deeper and explored more on the theories of physics, psychology, illusions, paradox and human mind. It felt too character centric but it was well made and very intriguing. It truly showcased how life, death and loved ones are all tangled in this world. Did tear up at some point towards the end

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Fatherless Algae

First and foremost, what's really with the title? I mean why a plankton? When I studied science, it is correlated with an algae and micro organisms. I don't get the relevance. It would have been better if it's A Frozen Sperm or DNA perhaps.
Anyways, this is not my usual cup of tea when it comes to drama. But, this...is definitely one of my rare exceptions.

It started kinda dark for me. ML is absolutely not a likeable character. But, who cares? as long as the abs are so hot right?!!! 😁
FL is also not a likeable character but more of pitiful. The chemistry of the leads are simply insane. Oh yes, another notable character, the second ML. At first, I thought I would love his character better than the ML but, as a man, he kinda felt weak in terms of being able to live independently. These three complicated characters gave this drama more depth to the story that will make you get hooked till the end. This was definitely well written. Like, how each character was entangled to one another.
no need to point out every scene. It is way better being watched than being read.

There are some thoughts that I have, which I think should have been improved , story wise. For the ML, given the journey he went thru just to look for the biological father, It would have been great if he succeeded in finding the right one. Partly, to give him closure as well. Though, the father he loved and acknowledged reciprocated that thought a bit late in the end. Second, I was hoping his sickness can be cured by 2ML using TCM. And mentioning that skill, I thought that career would give 2ML a chance to be able to live independently. As for the FL, am not sure if she was thankful to meet the biological mom which she longed for. And yes, the ending that I was hoping for is that she'll get pregnant with ML. That her pre menopausal was a misdiagnosis from the hospital. She'll give birth to baby boy and will name him after his father. After that, 2ML will take responsibility being the father after ML left from his sad fate. These were just scenarios that I for in the finale.

Given said that, the ending felt lacking for me. Oh and I also ship Bong Suk and Yoo Gi Ho. I was kinda looking forward for any development on their chemistry in the end. John Na is another likeable character in this drama. I'm just kinda confused if he was an adopted son of Beom Ho Ja. And that BL feels between him and 2MLwas just hilarious.

Overall, this was truly a hidden gem. All the casts deserve a best acting award, specially the main leads. The best thing about this drama, it has a balance of everything....a dark, family oriented, hilarious, romantic, full pack action melodrama.
Gave this an 8.5 Could have been higher if only I got the ending I was hoping for.

Lastly, California Dreamin' rings to my ears after watching this. 😁

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Well, this thriller was… less than thrilling. So there’s that.

The show is dark. Really dark. Sometimes even melancholic. The characters are all soaked in hatred, violence, and pessimism.

To be fair, I probably wasn’t in the best mindset when I watched it, which might explain part of my reaction. Still, I almost dropped it during the 2nd episode… then again in the 4th… and once more in the 5th. Did I struggle through it? Yep. Never have I watched a thriller that felt this boring. Oh my gosh, it was painfully slow. I kept thinking there were so many chances for more exciting or impactful scenes, but instead we got bland character interactions on repeat.

The plot itself didn’t help either. On paper, it sounds awesome: men being murdered, a killer impersonator showing up years later, and a cop who happens to be the son of the woman behind the first crimes. That’s disturbing, shocking, and the kind of thing you can’t look away from—like a car crash. The concept hooked me, but the execution just fell flat. Honestly, I think most of the problem was in the delivery.


On the surface, it’s a gripping story about survival and pursuit. And yeah, it was sick, twisted, and depraved… but it was also really hard to follow and, weirdly enough, boring. Some parts felt super repetitive—especially the conversations, the characters’ behaviors, and Cha Su Yeol’s inner thoughts. Maybe if the series had been shorter, it would’ve had more impact and a much faster pace.

The big reveals and plot twists were tricky. My reactions were always somewhere between “Whoa, that’s surprising” and “Yeah, saw that coming.” I’d say the ending was clever and well put together, but still kind of predictable. Overall, it just didn’t land for me.

That being said, I might give it another try someday. I really liked the psychological angle. The screenwriter does a great job showing how people react differently to trauma—some turn it inward, some take it out on others—and both are equally destructive.

So yeah, 6 stars instead of 5,5. I kept watching, hoping things would finally click and come together. In some ways, they almost did… but not quite.

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Not really for me

I waffled about writing this because for me, this show was mostly style and no substance, a slick nothingburger that I ate happily enough while I was there but an hour later was hungry again with zero memory of what the burger even really tasted like (the tortured food metaphor feels appropriate here, lol).

First, what I liked: the set and styling was great. I enjoyed it. Everything and everyone was so pretty. The acting was mostly great as well, with special standouts being Joong as Fadel and First as Kant. Joong especially was a force as Fadel, most of the stuff I remember is his. He did such a great job showcasing Fadel's hard outer shell and the vulnerable man underneath who really does just want to be loved. For all the talk about Bison wanting that, it came across to me way way more with Fadel. I just wanted to gather that man up and tell him that it would all be okay, but at the same time I did believe that he'd be capable of cold bloodedly killing a dude and just sort of tossing the body into his jeep to dispose of. Kudos to him for that.

And First as Kant was great. He had to walk a really thin line there for a while - we the audience had to be able to see through Kant's mask while but still find it believable that Bison would not, and then he had to slowly work in Kant actually starting to feel things amidst all the lies. And he did so well. No one does subtlety like First Kanaphan, but I do hope that he gets to be more expressive, if only because I sometimes think having to play all of these reserved or subtle characters all the time makes people think he can't act. And I would be horribly remiss if I didn't call out the boat scene specifically, because my god was that a masterclass. Just...whenever I see him do his thing I am so impressed.

The chemistry was on point, too. Say what you will about the speed of their love or whatever, but JD and FK never miss when it comes to this.

Now the stuff I was less into: I'm just going to get it out of the way right now - I thought that Style is the best Dunk has done yet, but yes, he was still the weakest of the four. He is improving though, and i think that he does much much better when he's not being pigeonholed into the sweet, naive little virgin roles that he was getting for so long. My biggest critique for him as Style was that he sometimes overdid it.

The really unpopular opinion I have though is that I thought that while Khaotung was good, it was the weakest performance I have seen from him to date. Now I'm not a particular fan of Khaotung's (I like him but I won't watch a show just because he's in it) so I've not seen his entire backlog but Bison is not his best work of what I have seen, in fact it's my least favorite. I didn't believe him most of the time, and the line that he was suppose to walk between charming and chilling never worked - I found him to be more charming more successfully but chilling never landed for me, and I think he overdid it about as much as Dunk did, which was very obvious whenever he was in an emotionally charged scene with someone acting more subdued - notably the boat scene and the scene where he and Fadel find out about Lilly. Oh, and the beach reconciliation scene with him and Kant. An actor can mostly only act as well as the character is written and so I mostly blame the writers, but I wish someone would ask him to dial it back just a bit, sometimes.

Also, speaking of Bison, the betrayal from Kant never landed for me the way it did everyone else. I didn't hate Kant or think he needed to die for what he did or apologize and grovel for years. Bison and Fadel kill people but the show and the fandom wanted me to believe Kant was the horrible one? I couldn't help but find that amusing.

I was also deeply annoyed with some of the structure. I noticed this in OF too, so it's not a new thing, but it felt sometimes like things just happened to happen. And the way that plots were just dropped or ignored the second they became inconvenient. Kant is being blackmailed with his brother's safety to work for the cops? Suddenly a non issue when he makes up with Bison. Kant's water trauma? Totally not made worse by Bison nearly drowning him, nosir, he's over it now because love. There are other examples I'm sure but like I said, a lot of this show left my head directly after I watched it.

Last but not least, everyone was so incompetent. The cops couldn't manage to take down two assassins that could barely find their own bums with both hands (seriously, who forgets GLOVES), Kant clocks the CCTV at Fadel and Bison's house but I guess immediately forgets it's there, Bison was literally being photographed from three feet away, cops standing there bold as brass, and he noticed not a thing...literally the only two people who got their jobs done with any degree of competency were Lilly and Style.

I had decided not to watch because the novel was so bad but I am weak for First Kanaphan, okay, and I caved. I'm not sad I did the thing because it was better than I expected, but I also feel unsatisfied and disappointed. I will not be coming back to this one.

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Not the best wuxia BUT still entertaining and good fight scenes

It is my humble opinion that one should only write review if he or she has completed watching the series. The earlier part of the series was a bit messy but it did get better after api 13 or so. Cheng Yi was emo and cried a lot as Xiao Qiu Shui but i could understand it as he is a modern person travelled into ancient time. I feel that its his way of interpretation but most people are unable to accept or misunderstand his interpretation/performance. I love every scene of Li ChenZhou and Cheng yi nailed it. Other actors all did their job well too esp the villain of the show. The series also promotes a lot of moral and good values. What is the purpose of living? It is to live with joy, live without any regrets, live life to its fullest but doing the right things. Overall my entire family enjoyed watching the series but we wont say its the best series of 2025. I would say that the production team do indeed need to reflect on their work as they could have done a lot better.

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