Reviews

Oh, Juliet! What have they done?!

While writing this I kept asking myself, which was the worst. The script, the actors or my die hard need to finish whatever I've started. I take full blame for seeing this train wreck to the end. Nobody else. Just me. At 2x speed and ff, still it was painful.

It felt like a treasure hunt with no treasure at all.
1. We have a male character falling in love with another male character, who just happened to be a previous one night stand, all the while he's getting a blow job from a female character. Crude. Disgusting. Repulsive.
2. A female character who is willing to open her mind to becoming a lesbian because her female friend is in love with her. She asserts her love for men but considers it as her friend wants her to just get to know each other better. They've been friends for a while. How much more getting to know does she need? In so doing, will her V turn into P? No previous attraction seen.
3. Same said character is continuously rebuffed and rejected by a male character. Apparently, she buried her pride under her feet. So the female side character must be desperate and dull and hard of hearing. When will writers stop doing this? A whitty girl who recognizes that he wouldn't see her as nothing more than a friend and keeps his best interests at heart was too hard to write? Oh, they needed someone to be blamed for the unnecessary drama of the kidnap.
4. A brother of a male character keeps accusing another male character of raping his brother. The brother doesn't alert authorities but just stops talking to the alleged rapist. Sanity has left the room and the script. So his brother didn't know if there was a violation to his parts? He didn't say sexual assault for which the stolen kiss would fall under, but rape. His virgin brother wouldn't know if he was raped? One must always remember that in Thailand anything is possible. The more unbelievable the better, it seems.
5. The alleged rapist stays silent and doesn't seek the chance to clear his name until he has no choice but to. He starts a relationship and kisses his victim but only upon the dire threat of losing him, he begs for forgiveness. There was the usual separation and reconciliation but the ick is still there. How sick can a person be to steal a kiss from someone who doesn't know him like that AND is sleeping? Oh yes, I forgot, let's blame it on the convenient alcohol consumption. When all else fails, include alcohol.
6. A confused sexually abused male character attaches himself to the male doctor that showed him care and sympathy. To insert himself in the doctor's life, he renders the doctor's boyfriend unconscious. A search party ensues with numerous people with only the doctor finding him. Well, duh, who else would find him? Now here I would say, this was a story worth telling. Erase all the other crap, turn the abused character bat shit crazy who then stages an abduction of the doctor's boyfriend. Psycho continues to work alongside the doctor giving him much needed support until he unravels and is caught. This would be worthy of 8-10 episode easily. No, I guess that would mean expecting the actors to up their skills instead of parading around as juvenile uni students.
7. Four scriptwriters worked on this . FOUR! Then this got approval to be filmed. A director, to the best of my knowledge, who doesn't have a drinking problem attached his name to this. An agency with no reponsible use for money funded this. I will not blame the actors. Bills have to be paid and to stay relevant and gain experience, jobs have to be taken.

I purposefully left out all the characters names because they aren't worth drawing attention to or remembering. I am truly disheartened that 3 of the actors keep chosing projects that do not promote their acting abilities in a positive light. This is the true tragedy of it all.

Read More

It definitely started strong,

I haven't been this hooked on a drama in a while, but somehow this show has lost me around epsidoes 8-10.

I think the acting is great, the chemistry between the leads was pretty good, the romance is cute, and I loved all the characters however the plot lost heart somewhere and became very rushed.

[The King & Consort Kang]
Consort Kang who was supposed to be the King's favorite (probably because of the parallels with his mother) until Ji Yeong shows up and Consort Kang basically becomes non-existant in the King's life and the show never really bothers to flesh that out in any regard.

After a while they just stop having scenes together at all which was a total let down.

Consort Kang's character also feels all over the place to me?
Her loyalty lies with the evil uncle, so much so that she's willing to marry him, but she's still hell bent on getting rid of Ji Yeong for no other reason than because.....?

She's oddly possessive over the King for no real discernable reason and that makes her hostility toward Ji Young so plastic that it takes me out of the show.

It's clear Ji Young isnt a spy, she isn't a danger, and her only fault is apparently the fact that the King fell for her, which with his reputation why would anyone find it wildly out of the ordinary for the King to be getting around? Ji Yeong is only really a problem because everyone else is convinced she is for no tangible reason in my opinion.

If Consort Kang only truly cares about working the the evil uncle to get the King deposed, why spend so much time targeting Ji Young specifically when she could be doing literally anything else? The show never elaborates on why I should care about the fact that Consort Kang loves the King, in fact the show tells me that she wants him deposed, but she is still catty and jealous because...?

Consort Kang starts strong but because the show just abandons her at some point her character just fell flat and she's more of a plot device than anything else.


[Court Lady Chu Wol]
Also, Chu Wol's extreme loyalty for someone who is very aware of how the court ladies are discarded also seems extremely out of place. Doing a job because if you dont you die is one thing, but her prison scene where she looked ready to jump out of her body to save Consort Kang was so comically dramatic for no reason? Maybe the scene would have made sense if they gave us insight on why she is so staunchly loyal, but otherwise it was just confusing to me.
Why? Why is Chu Wol so dedicated? Just, because....? It would have been nice if they fleshed out her character more.

[The Royal Family]
I know Yi Heon is a fictional take on a real tyrant, but I didnt expect them to soften the edges of that story so heavily?

The real Deposed Queen Yun was a woman who didnt come from any noble background, gave birth to the crown prince, and though the King seemed to love her she was essentially bullied out of the palace by other noble families (in what I've put together looking into this bit of history)
She supposedly lashed out and scratched the King's face, though she tried to hide it everyone around him jumped on the opportunity to force her out and have her deposed and executed, especially the King's mother.

In the show, they do a lot to sand off the edges of Yi Heon's family. The Dowager Queen and Queen Ja-Hyun especially. When I realized they weren't going to get any depth as characters I kinda tapped out. If theyre both decent people who care about the King and Ji Yeong, then what weight does the Deposed Queen's death even have?

The edge in the early episodes, that sense of venegence Yi Heon was after and the bite he had going after it evaporated at some point. I understand Ji Young changed him, but Yi Heon was at his best when he was a misunderstood tyrant with something to prove but that doesn't hold any weight when the key people involved in the Queen being deposed are presented as 'not that bad actually'.

When the grand prince was poisoned, imagine if we had gotten insight on Yi Heon's relationship with his step mother? Maybe how she neglected him, or favored her own son over him in a way that gives weight to him feeling lonely in the palace? How he wished his step mother would care for him like she cares for her son? Something? Like, give us a reason to care about the deposed Queen because when you present the royal family as mostly decent, except that one evil guy, the stakes disappear.

Queen Ja-Hyun had utterly no screentime outside of being the benevolent mother just caught somewhere in an evil plot that she has no relation to. For someone who *should* be important, she's barely important to the plot at all.

[Cooking]
The cooking in the show and how every instance of cooking is a race against the clock for something becomes this weight on the plot. The spectacle becomes more important than the story and the cooking takes up so much time the story doesnt get time to develop. It also becomes boring and predictable when the keep doing the same thing over and over, beat for beat.

I wish we had more scenes like the Dowager Queen remembering her mother rather than long winded cooking competitions against the Ming chefs, and dont get me wrong- I liked the Ming chefs, but they didn't do a whole lot to move the internal plot forward and that block of story is probably why all the other relevant things to a major backseat and ended up rushed.

Something exciting happening every single second doesn't really make space for all the other plot elements you built up to reach satisfying conclusions, especially when the royal drama was so interesting before it got watered down, like the writers gave up on committing to a complex plot.

[Evil Uncle]
Also, Prince Jesan, Mister Evil Uncle.

Who would have expected the guy who is involved with all the medicinal things would have some hand in the Prince being posioned?

For a man who was supposed to be the big master mind behind trying to get the King deposed, doing something so obvious felt like the writers gave up, like they just needed any reason for the King and Ji Yeong to follow the trail back to him to wrap that plotline up. Prince Jesan went from this foreboding villain where I'm waiting for this grand clash and story peak, to more so just a Scooby Doo villain waiting to get his mask torn off and then we all move on.

Choi Gwi-Hwa was so good in this role its a shame that it all fell flat. I could tell after a certain point, or maybe I just became disillusioned, but all the actors performances started to feel flat. Like, compared to the first episode by epsiode ten it feels like they're just reading their lines to get it over with. The story lost it stakes, the edge was sanded off, the royal drama isn't all that dramatic anymore, and all the cooking just became so painfully limp and repetitive.

The drama lost heart somewhere, and it really sucks because it had a lot of potential, the spectacle of the cooking aspect was just way too disconnected that the plot came second to everything else.

Read More

Rushed but Refreshing: The Director Who Buys Me Dinner

Korean Drama: The Director Who Buys Me Dinner
10 episodes, each ranging from 10 to 17 minutes.

Now let’s get to the details. It seems the production faced financial limitations, which resulted in events being compressed in an annoying way. I didn’t like how the story ended in just 10 episodes without clarifying the rest of the plot. They could have reduced costs by removing some unnecessary side characters who were only there to fill the screen. I also didn’t like how the relationship between the two leads concluded this way. While I knew the ending would be sad, the story still felt incomplete due to the rushed pacing.

On the positive side, I loved the harmony between the two leads—their chemistry was amazing. What I especially liked is that, unlike other BL dramas, their love story was already established in a past life as two men. I laughed at several funny moments, like when he was drinking and the bottle was taken away from him. I also enjoyed how the main character acted spoiled while still trying to keep up with his lover.

The story itself is fresh and not repetitive, but the excessive cramming of events caused noticeable gaps and left parts of the narrative feeling empty. Overall, despite its flaws, it’s still a new and interesting take compared to the typical boys’ love dramas.

Read More

Full-Time Jobs? Nah, Just Full-Time Lust ?

Wow 😳 first time I’ve seen a BL with NC in every single episode, even the special didn’t hold back! The creativity was next level. That phone face-time sex scene? Pure heat, dripping with lust and chemistry 🔥. And the best part? Jun magically teleported straight into Japan and ended up in bed with Sorn. Talk about fantasy turning into reality 😏💦

But seriously… what plot? After 12 episodes and 2 specials, I still have no clue what these office workers actually do. Are they employed, or is the company just running on hormones? 😂 It’s basically a workplace full of horny employees navigating their “feelings,” and honestly, I’m living for it. Who needs a deep storyline when you can laugh, cringe, and enjoy every ridiculous, steamy moment?

Let’s be honest, we’re all here for the NC scenes and we’ll be coming back to rewatch them again and again for years to come.

Read More

Be emotionally equipped.

I love the chemistry—the acting is on point, the portrayal is brilliant, the costumes are stunning, the cinematography is excellent, and the OSTs are phenomenal. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Everything is perfect… except for their love story. It’s terrible!!!! It may not be healthy, but it does make sense. It’s believable enough. Thank goodness I did my research before watching! I had to mentally and emotionally prepare myself for nearly two years—and even then, it still took me quite a long while to move on after finishing it during the pandemic! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 ..can never be emotionally equipped for this. 🤭🤦🏻‍♀️🤭🤦🏻‍♀️

I pray I never find this kind of love story in real life. 😭🙏🏻😭🙏🏻

Read More

Brilliant concept, weak execution, this should’ve been a series.

This was a good movie with a fascinating concept, which is what initially drew me in. However, while watching, I often felt lost and had trouble following the storyline. The actors did a great job portraying their roles, but the plot itself felt underdeveloped and vague. I was left wondering about the purpose of each story since there wasn’t much real progression, just a lot of “blah.”

I honestly think this would have worked much better as a series, where the stories and characters could be fully explored. The idea behind Wonderland is really interesting, so I hope they consider expanding it into a drama in the future.

Read More

PTT - Loona (don't stream)

Honestly, I enjoyed this series, there is a lot in the first episode but like sometimes I overlook it and judge by how long I can watch it without cringing out. It was sweet at times but also like oh! I mean overall cute, kind of sad for the husband but like I mean... yuri... yuri is always the answer. The daughter was the reason I stayed watching, shes so cute like I love kids but like then I dont cuz my child (friend's sister who I often babysit) pmo a lot and shes a ragebait i swear.. offtrack whatever, but good overall :) I kind of forgot about this series, but the second season a little more wild, also ty for introducing me to imase.

Read More

Not Your Usual Time Loop

The drama opens with a highly promising start : action-packed, supported by dynamic camera work and great acting from the casts that captures the audience’s attention from the very first scene. The plot itself offers something fresh, presenting not just one, but five consecutive time loops. This is quite an ambitious challenge, as it requires maintaining audience engagement without slipping into monotony. However, the drama struggles in the middle, becoming somewhat draggy.
What I Like :
1. THE Bai Jing Ting
The main reason I tuned into this drama was Bai Jing Ting himself. Known for his excellent script selection and diverse project choices, he proves once again why he stands out. His portrayal here is consistently engaging.

2. The Unique Plot
From the teaser alone, the drama promised something thrilling and action-packed, and it certainly raised my anticipation. The twist on the traditional time-loop concept felt refreshing. Having previously read a Japanese novel with a protagonist looping nine times, I found the idea of five loops particularly intriguing.

3. The Comedy
Every here and there they can always insert a joke and the banter, especially Ding Qi's line is sharp and entertaining. I also appreciated the moments where both protagonist and antagonist exchange jokes in the midst of serious situations—adding an unhinged but amusing dynamic.

What I Don't Like :

1. The Villain’s
I don't know, I expect him to be evil EVIL but Despite having wealth, intellect, and the power of multiple loops, he fails to fully capitalize on these resources. The result is a villain who comes across as unintentionally weak.

2. Script and Execution
While the story concept is superb, the script don’t live up to its full potential.

3. Forced Romance
Scenes between An Lan and Ding Qi often shift the tone into Romance all of sudden, further amplified by mismatched background music that is both overly loud and disconnected from the action sequences. The romance feels unnecessary and theatrical, lacking genuine chemistry between the characters.

Conclusion

Despite its flaws, the drama remains entertaining and enjoyable. The strong premise and Bai Jing Ting’s acting make it worth watching, though better writing could have elevated it into something truly exceptional.

Read More

"I'm not a step behind, you're always a step ahead!"

Inspired by a true story of a mom working in a laundromat who fell victim to phishing, Citizen of a Kind showed that bad guys really should avoid ticking off the wrong ahjumma. Especially if she has equally tenacious friends.

Single mom Kim Deok Hui is in dire straits financially after her house burned. Initially denied a loan, a bank manager calls her suggesting a special loan for low-income applicants. In order to qualify she has to borrow money from loan sharks to meet all the requirements. Then the bottom falls out when Kim discovers it was all a scam. The police are no help and without the money she and her kids are left homeless. Misfortune continues to fall. When a Korean worker at the call center phones her asking for help to escape, Kim sees this as her chance to bring down the criminals and get her money back.

Ra Mi Ran was perfect for the role of Kim Deok Hui, the loving mom who was determined to find the people responsible for stealing her money. Kim fearlessly tracked down every lead, despite the police and Detective Park being fairly feckless. Yeom Hye Ran as the bilingual Bong Rim as usual gave a strong performance. Gong Myung as Kwon Jae Min acquitted himself well as the imprisoned caller desperately wanting to escape. Jang Yoon Ju was the weak link for me. Perhaps she was supposed to be the comic relief but her vocal intonation was set on shriek for most of the film.

Knowing it was based on a real woman who lost so much made the stakes high for the film. The film itself may have not broken new ground but the ahjumma posse tracking the criminal organization across two countries was entertaining to watch, largely due to the actresses’ performances. The film had comedy and thrilling moments with some violence and everything held together by Ra as the justice seeking ahjumma. Worth a try.

21 September 2025
7.75 bumped up to an 8.0

Read More

DONT CANCEL ME PLEASE

I didn't watch this series until after Affair, I did hold off a bit but whatever I finally watched it and idk. Okay, acting was good but the story was just like bleh. I LOVE freenbecky trust, but this series was just a little cringe, especially freen's character, she just pmo and I know she's supposed to give that leave me alone vibe, which is why I said good acting, but it was kind of hard to watch. I had really high hopes with this series, and it was okay. I know this is THE gl show but idk for me it was love senior, which is worse but like there was nothing else to watch lol. Anyway, I really enjoyed the series, I did watch the re-runs so that's why it's ranked higher than my original opinion. Just a little cringe but I mean they paved the way and I know The Loyal Pin is better, i'll go watch that one soon.

Read More

Well

Okay, this movie is really good, I recommend, but there's just so much going on. I find it silly how she fell in love with the girl she only befriended because she envied her relationship with her crush. I mean the girl was so cute and sweet and kind of sad to see her getting used like that. Some scenes were good but also questionable, idek how to explain it, but the way homegirl undressed herself for the guy was a lil crazy. Ending was good though, she finally came to her senses of who she truly loves, so I thank that guy for bringing them together, but it was a little eh, good movie tbh.

Read More