Reviews

Just expect an unwavering female lead, and a solid role reversal theme.

What can i say... this is one of the most solid FL that i'd encounter so far in C-drama. Brilliantly scheming, almost always 10 steps ahead in every obstacle that was thrown at her. But also most of the girls in this drama are cunning. They were never inferior to men. It's refreshing to see this kind of trope that is consistent throughout the show about reversed roles. From the start, FL knew what she wanted and despite all the challenges, her goal remained solid and known. She may retreat at times, but only to look back and scheme some more to take over again. For her cold personality, she was moulded that way so it wasn't surprising even in her expression. She had to be formidable in and out because even in her own family, she was never safe. Then there was the ML. A scheming and cunning gentleman that could be on par with her. ML was warm and expressive in what he wanted. They were mostly opposite in how they showed themselves, but both were understandable. They may express each other's feelings differently but they love each other deeply. FL's way of loving him was not through words and constant affection, but she made him feel it through her support and giving him options in what he wanted to do. She wasn't a typical woman afterall. And ML wasn't the typical type of man who was afraid of showing affection. They just complement each other perfectly.

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sweet couple

1. On Acting Versatility
"Esther Yu once again proves her versatility as an actress; she is able to transform the character of Wei Zhi from a fragile and disappointed person to a fearless woman on a snowboard with such effectiveness."
2. On Expression and Emotion
"Esther's natural talent shines through in her ability to convey deep emotions through her eyes, making the audience feel every pain and joy her character goes through."
3. On Charisma and "Screen Presence"
"Esther Yu's on-screen charisma is undeniable; she has a unique aura that combines natural cuteness with high professionalism, making every scene in Ski Into Love come alive and captivating."
4. On Dedication to Character
"Esther's dedication to her art is impressive—from learning challenging skiing techniques to living the intricacies of a manga artist's life, she proves that she is an actress who is deeply committed to quality."
5. Overall (General Praise)
"Esther Yu is not just a pretty face on screen, but a very talented artist who always manages to exceed fans' expectations in every script she leads."

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The Romance went to go get some milk and never came back

I'll start this review by saying that I enjoyed this series a great deal. I liked the intrigue, the plotting, the outsmarting. Very clever characters. I loved the fight scenes.

I adore a strong and cunning female Lead and a matching male lead, and vice versa. This series had both.

I appreciated her Boss B personality and that she understood her role and priorities. I loved his devotion and strong sense of justice.

I enjoyed the character growth of all the other characters. I especially liked seeing the role reversal where normally it's a harem of women acting up. This time it was a harem of men.

But what I wanted to see was more romance. I wanted the couple to get together and stay together as they work as a team against their enemies. And one can argue that they did but it was more Flourishing Peony and I wanted Legend of Ming Lan where once they decided to get together, nothing was separating them through thick and thin and both were strong, cunning and badass leads.

This one was like romance brewing in the first 19 eps then pining and will they, won't they until ep. 36. So be prepared for that.

I also normally hate amnesia and secret identity tropes, but this one played them well.

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Great but Not Satisfy My Expectation

Overall this is a "great" drama. However, I don't know, but somehow i think the middle episodes didn’t really make sense to me. When the FL runs into the ML to stop his meeting with the SFL and confesses her feelings, somehow the ML doesn’t understand, gets mad, and pushes her away. It felt odd—rather than reassuring her and saying everything was okay and that they could face things together.

Furthermore, to be honest, I felt less excitement toward the end of the series. The chemistry gradually dropped, and the love story became quite plain. Of course, this is just my personal preference, and it might also be because I’ve watched many different types of K-drama romances.

A solid 7 ⭐ for story, but because my beloved Go Youn Jung is there, i added 1 more star. So, 9 ⭐ from me.

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Great Direction, Frustrating Characters

What a messy story. I’m honestly glad I didn’t watch this while it was airing. We have:

1. A desperate, hopeless romantic who is also a complete idiot: Fou4Mod
2. A straight-up asshole: Chian
3. A genius, caring, and sincere friend: Baabin (the only character I truly liked in the entire series)
4. An egocentric narcissist: Bua

I watched this mainly because of Director Boss Kuno, since I Told Sunset About You is one of my favorite shows. But I guess I’m just too old for this kind of story. Even though I usually enjoy coming-of-age narratives, this one was more frustrating than moving.

That said, the direction is spectacular. Boss Kuno did an excellent job visually and technically. In my opinion, this show does not need a season 2. It should end exactly where it is.

I’d really like to see Boss Kuno direct a more mature BL series next, something focused on working adults. Fou4Mod’s character reminded me a lot of Teh (Billkin) in ITSAY, so I guess he has a thing for portraying this type of painfully pathetic character.

I’d give Gelboys an 8.5/10, mostly because of the cinematography.

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They should've waited to put season 3 out...

This season was definitely frustrating to watch, and I think a big reason is that this group is the youngest and hasn’t known each other for very long. In previous seasons, you could tell from the conversations that most of the participants already had some level of familiarity, which allowed for deeper, more thoughtful discussions instead of just figuring out the basics.

Episode three really highlighted this for me—when Namping and Aof asked what they look for in a partner and then followed up by asking who fit that description, many of them seemed unsure or hesitant. As an audience member, that uncertainty made it feel like they didn’t fully know what they wanted yet. I couldn’t help but wish they had more time to work together as a group before the show, because that same uncertainty carried through the entire season and became increasingly frustrating to watch.

I also understand why no new participants were introduced to “spice things up”—everyone was already new to each other, so adding another person would’ve just felt like adding another body rather than creating meaningful dynamics. I especially felt bad for Porsche, who barely had a chance to connect with the group. The significant age gap was very noticeable, and I think the season would’ve benefited if factors like that were considered more carefully.

Another confusing aspect was hearing some participants say they were there mainly to gain experience and grow as artists—which is completely valid—but at times it felt like that priority outweighed actually building or finding a partner, which is the core premise of the show.

Going forward, I really hope DMD chooses a group that’s had time to build a foundation within the company—through events, shared projects, and time spent together—so there’s both growth as artists and more natural relationship development, like in previous seasons. That said, I genuinely wish the formed couples the best and hope they succeed. 🤍

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Poor Wallace and Zhu Zhu! (Interesting idea, poorly executed)

Wallace Hou and Zhu Zhu were featured actors in THE TALE OF ROSE, an absolute MUST SEE adult drama. They didn't star together, which is why their doing so here is so terribly exciting.. Unfortunately this production had no idea what to do with these great talents.

Before I take the story apart, some peripheral stuff.

1. Everyone dresses real nice in this show. Too nice. Very distracting eye-candy here. Eleanor Lee was a show pony. Her white dress with black polka dots was crazy memorable. Wallace and Zhu Zhu were always smart looking, except that one time Zhu Zhu picked out his outfit. (Sorry Costume Designer! That tie wasn't!)

2. I have a rule about C-Dramas. If the opening sequence is uninspired or just plain annoying, the show will be the same. They say don't judge books by their covers, but I've never seen a C-Drama you couldn't judge this way. The opening sequence cuteness is annoying as hell. I don't mind lighthearted. I mind juvenile. I skipped it every time.

3. The songs in this show were perfect. They'd dip in, visit, and add something to the atmosphere. Other shows will harp on a few songs and pound them into your head. Not here. Also the background scoring was top notch.

4. The sets were too new and too perfect. Sometimes you have to show worn office chairs to make it clear people have been working there for years, not minutes.

5. Outside of Wallace and Zhu Zhu, the cast was rather bland. Being pretty in nice new clothing was all the production cared about. IN SPITE OF A STRONG WIND offers a strikingly similar office cast, and they're just so much better than this 'Disney' cast. One strange moment is when the young man of our office (Fei Qi Ming) walks by his STRONG WIND equivalent (Zhou Mai Jie).

6. Despite all my story annoyance below, Wallace was doing some great acting. I have a feeling he's not always thought of as a great actor, but despite this show's shortcomings -- he was THE reason I watched it through to the end. Zhu Zhu was pretty good too, but the story constantly restrained her.

THE STORY

So many issues.

1. Nobody had a backstory. Like the sets that didn't look lived in, neither did the characters. There's no male Doctor pursuing Zhu Zhu? Her Dad doesn't own a car? Wallace isn't aware that he's an obnoxious ass until the show starts? He's never had a pet? You don't think it would make 3 tons of sense that he's been divorced twice at this point and just given up on love? It's so bad that one character's backstory is introduced in the 2nd to last episode.

2. Is it true that in China you can simply see your Doctor any time you feel like? And she sees you in her office instead of an examination room? With no other staff milling about? Really?

3. The product placement in this show was over the top, and it damages the story. Deep in the series Shen Wu wears a big stylish jacket with the word 'meta' on it. We're told he's both frugal and semi-tight on cash. I paused the show and Googled that jacket. It's easily worth somewhere between $300-$500.

Cutie-pie Xia Xiao Man lives alone in a lovely apartment she couldn't possibly afford... with a clothing collection that doesn't quit -- and soon complains she's going broke. How are we supposed to respect her if she's got the financial finesse of a 9 year old? (I originally went with 12 year old because I'm American, but because this is China I dropped it to 9.)

(The next paragraph is SPOILER-ISH, but it only spoils a minor development in Ep. 11.)

The entire Harley thing? First we're told how religious their owners are about their bikes. Then Zhu's Dad parts with a bike like the skin of banana. The entire show Xia Xiao works at a Chinese car dealership, one long ad for that car, and then Biker Dad buys 5 of them at once without anyone asking why. (It's because the explanation is so unbelievable they just skipped it.)

Look, if modern programs needed embedded product placement to exist, sure, I get it. But you have to do it the right way.

4. The pacing is awful, which is a shocker for such a short series. 16 episodes long but somehow only needed 10. Every episode is loaded with filler.

I started to think, hey, I know -- maybe this is merely Season 1 of an interesting series, which is why they're in no hurry to move things along. But from what I'm seeing in the last episodes, nope -- they simply don't have a story to tell.

The series title has a question. It's answered by Episode 3. So this critical plot point dies almost immediately.

I thought this series was going to be about a really charming handsome rich guy that simply isn't interested in women. They throw some hotties his way, nothing. They throw some gay hunk his way (just to make sure) but nothing. They spy on him to make sure he isn't secretly married, big nope. That would have extended the premise the length of the series.

Instead, what we have here is MEET YOURSELF syndrome. It's a romantic story that resolves itself too early, and so we're left with focusing on clothing and dull subplots, because 'the show' is basically already over.

5. Who honestly believes Zhu Zhu shouldn't give up on Wallace and find a nice guy? Who honestly believes that Wallace shouldn't have continued with lovely and charming AF Vivienne Ten? Nothing makes any sense. Oh, and the way the story took out the girl with the camera was so deplorably bad I would have ditched the series then and there -- were it not I was episodes away from finishing. And what kind of gentleman ditches her at that moment of need? God awful.

6. Episode 11 is so bad I'd advise viewers to skip it. Oh, and the fact you can skip it without damaging the show confirms that this show is full of filler.

(The next paragraph is SPOILER-ISH, but it only spoils a minor development in Ep 11.)

Another example of how bad Ep 11 is involves Wallace looking for a lost dog. He and Zhu are running around town and -- OH NO -- the dog appears to be dead floating in water. Anal retentive Wallace heroically runs into the 5 inch deep water to rescue the dead dog, only for us to learn it's a doll -- of the same exact dog with similar coloring. Something that on planet Earth has a 1 in a billion chance of happening.

And the way Zhu's Dad's pals gave up their favorite toys with no problem and accepted a ginormous gift from him with no problem? Again: this series appears to be written by 9 year olds.

7. The one thing you can rely upon C-Dramas for? Tears. These people are the best criers on the planet. Even lighthearted shows take a moment for tears here and there, to create contrast. This show? Nope. Nobody gets to cry until the end. There's only a dozen times Zhu Zhu should have choked up, but no-- we can't have real emotions, now can we?.

8. Continuity issues everywhere. Brother in law borrows lots of money. Do we ever learn why? Nope. Wallace tries to teach himself how to be a surgeon. Does that ever come up again? Nope. The pushy 'get married' Mom disappears from the story for too long. The girl in wheelchair vanishes.

*****************************************************

Believe you me I wanted to like this. It started okay but then became clear it was junk food. Wallace and Zhu carry this series as best as they can, but it falls apart too many episodes before the ending to recommend.

Poor Wallace and Zhu Zhu. :(

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Family is such a nuisance isn’t it?

This series is about letting go of the performance of the false self and living with integrity in one’s true Self: When one is performing for the mother character, the job environment, playing the "good daughter" script, true Self is obscured by a false mask. The trauma of self betrayal that originated in childhood and the family, unconsciously dictates one’s behavior and so called personality throughout life. How does one become a people pleaser who seems unable to change? It’s a trauma response and the story is a realistic story about how the eventual breakdown and healing can begin, along with the setbacks along the way. How to not live a fake life smiling in front of the parents while clutching your stomach in pain as your true Self screams? In the beginning, living a lie for survival seems easier, but the compromise and self betrayal on one’s soul makes it intolerable for one’s inner integrity. It takes great courage to live a life of honesty and integrity according to your own truth and values.

Nagi collapses in her old fake life and leaves it all behind. She finds a cheap apartment with quirky new neighbors and makes a new life there- a long vacation, free of employment, family, and her pain in the a$$ boyfriend.

Even if her ex Shinji seems like the typical ego narcissist who’s simply grieving the girlfriend that got away, there seems to be something tugging at his heartstrings deep inside. Nagi chan’s authentic true Self that is unconditionally lovable and loving and does not need to be or look any particular way to be lovable. There was this way that he looks at Gon San when he speaks about his love that is very endearing like they both share something in common with each other and that is their love for Nagi Chan.

Gon San starts off as a F-boy who’s dead inside and basically infects all the women he “hangs out with” with his zombie virus of sleeping with them and getting them addicted to him in a kind of anxiety attachment style. He’s nice but he truly lacks life force and like a parasite he feeds off the attention of women yearning and longing after him. He’s oblivious to his nature and lacks self awareness, but when the next door grandma calls him a sinful man, it was refreshing to hear that kind of honesty. He starts off merely a zombie who infects others with his zombie virus of sleeping with random women. The without understanding his own transformation by Nagi, he asks Shinji one day: “do you have any wishes? You know, I don’t think I’ve ever had one. The desire of the girl in front of me was my only wish. Because I knew what they wanted me to do, I wanted to do it for them. But right now, even if she doesn’t have any desire, I want to do something for her (Nagi).” In that sense he is a mirror of Nagi who does the same with men. Eventually he clutches his heart and says he wants to do something for Nagi Chan. He says it’s the first time he’s had this feeling. He says something beautiful later to Nagi, as he takes her hand, “You know, when I think about how I ended up hugging you and kissing you, I can’t remember those. Right now, I can’t do such things. Because I’m embarrassed. This is the limit. My past and present self… look completely different. So I think people can change if they really want to.”

It’s as if the heart of the dreamer, even if she doesn’t fit in with the shallow socializing conversations of the people around her and isn’t a “people person,” she touches them deeply with her vulnerability and her very presence, which affects them with love.

I think the theme of this show is getting in touch with your own heart. You can read the atmosphere around you and try to live to please others, doing what other people want or trying to fit into some social template but what is the heart saying deep within? Past all the pretenses, these characters show that there is a love beneath all the ego’s defenses against emotional intimacy.

Reading the air and living with a mask on and constantly regulating oneself and personality is death of the true self. It is suffocating, and both Nagi and Shinji experience a collapse based on this suffocating mask. An outside person can make you happy no matter what they do.

I don’t get why Nagi always gives her food to others and they don’t really do the same for her (except the bar guy Mama who made her a chicken and rice bowl). She needs to just cook and eat for herself and stop trying to sustain and support everyone around her.

It’s no wonder the at Nagi turned out to be an incessant people pleaser because her mother is highly narcissistic and manipulative, and her father is nonexistent, so she constantly had to read the air to survive as a trauma response from childhood. It led to her not knowing what she really wanted in life and simply drifted to whoever paid attention to her and seemed interested. She didn’t know what she was truly interested in for herself because she was never given the emotional freedom to explore such things. She doesn’t listen to music, doesn’t have any hobbies, and doesn’t really know what to write for her wish list. Gon San is a mirror of this because he too reflects the desires of the women who are in front of him and doesn’t know what he wants for himself. Until Nagi lit a spark in him. All the people who are simply going through the motions of reading the air and surviving these stock social interactions are living hollow lives and dead inside. Even when Nagi goes to visit her mother, despite living with her natural hair for so long in her vacation, she transforms back into her straight haired corporate doll version, which is disappointing to Shinji as well who knows all too well how the family creates expectations to wear such masks and perform for survival. He tells her she’s already lost the battle if she goes and visits the mother looking like that. Nagi’s mother plays the perfect narcissist when she tries to manipulate Nagi into visiting her and covering the costs for the renovation of her house using her amazing nonexistent Tokyo job salary.. and when Nagi expresses that there’s something she wants to spend her money on (starting the laundromat business), and will support with whatever funds are leftover, the mother defaults to the manipulative line “it’s ok I will just beg around and try to borrow some money from others.” Ah typical narcissistic mother! This, the mother, the family mask and its conditional love based on Nagi’s performance was the origin story of her suffocation and drowning feeling. Upon visiting her mother and the mother using the line “I’ll just beg around for money and pay them back penny by penny,” Nagi immediately picked up the corn (which she hates) and ate it, and then immediately transferred 700,000 yen to the mother. This is how the narcissist always got what she wanted. Even after her long vacation and liberation, it felt like she fell back into the old traps of childhood trauma and motherly gaslighting. The mother is a parasite and robbed her daughter of her savings money even though she has no job. That was very sad to see. All of a sudden, her new friends like Sakamoto and her new laundromat dream don’t feel real anymore.

It seems that all three - Nagi, Shinji, and Gon are struggling with the same thing- trying to gauge the moods and atmosphere of others and then adjust themselves to that as a trauma response- no wonder they’re in this triangle together. But they’re in a healing phase and it takes time. It’s better not to go back to those old family systems while the soul is healing. Sometimes it feels like 2 steps forward, 1 step back, but progress is inevitable.

When a traumatized mind is healing from the effects of narcissistic abuse, it can be hard to understand why this person seems to regress and go back to old ways of people pleasing and money transferring. It was frustrating to see Nagi give all that money to her evil mother. But if seen through the eyes of compassion, I can see a wounded child that needs love and is trying to bargain and earn it still and needs to learn that this kind of family love is conditional and not real.

It was interesting to see Shinji immediately revert back to his family performance role when he sees Nagi’s narcissistic mother, and he starts shucking and jiving by making up lies about Nagi’s situation to please her in attempt to save Nagi. Again a trauma response. Seeing the two of them together in front of the narcissist mother was very telling that these are two children who have grown up reading their parents’ reactions and trying to survive. Shinji’s description of Nagi’s mom and her smile as “scary” was exactly it. It’s all about lying and keeping up with appearances. This is the life that the family teaches them to live. Sad sad and pitiful. But I know it all too well.

One of my most favorite scenes was the family breakdown- where the truth is revealed about both sides- that Nagi quit her job and works in a bar, and Shinji’s brother doesn’t work in America but in Japan and has written a tell all autobiography- he comes to crash the party and drop a few truth bombs like how Shinji’s dad has another family and how their mom got more plastic surgery. Seeing Shinji working so hard to keep the lid on, Nagi in that moment realizes that they are both the same, suffocating underwater, trapped in the family hell of lies. Ultimately Nagi’s narcissistic mother has this to say after the family lies fall apart like a house of cards: “I knew it, this is the kind of person you chose, Nagi. It’s always been like this. Even if I let you do anything your way, you would never do it properly. You’ve never met your mother’s expectations! Not even once. And the last one, it’s this.” And for the first time Nagi opens up while the truth has taken the stage: “I hate you. I’ve always hated you. For forcing me to listen to you and making me feel guilty for pretending to be a good person outside, for expecting me to do things you cannot do yourself. I hate you… I’m sorry, I cannot live for you, mom. Just life by yourself. I will also live for myself, by myself… although I can’t meet your expectations, and look this terrible.. I feel really happy to live this way.”

Even though both men ended up being very sweet in the end, I was really hoping that Nagi wouldn’t end up with either of them, and would just go off into the sunset alone in her True Self. Her transformation and power at the end is undeniable and it’s perfect that she ends up living in this new found power instead of partnering herself with some dude as the “happy ending.” The ultimate happy ending is this. She is happy with herself and being in her own skin. And I loved how her apartment building was demolished as a symbol of its purpose being finished. It was truly the perfect and healing series.

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Solid

Another rare J-drama that's pretty decent.


I'm not sure what it is about J-dramas but they've been on a downward trend since the 2010's. I feel that it's harder to find J-dramas than can compete with the sheer star power of K-dramas and the spectacle of C-dramas. They usually are missing the inclusivity of Thai dramas too.

Despite this, I can not bring myself to completely write off J-dramas completely like some other drama enjoyers have.

The sole reason being that… Japan REALLY knows how to put a mystery series together. It's like… the ONLY thing they've got a leg up over the competition in.

Usotsuki Rhetoric is a decent mystery series that varies in cases and presentation. Our main character has the power to detect lies and has a complex about it. She meets our ML and starts to grow as a person and change her perception of her power.

The music is alright, the visuals show a bit of care, and the setting is modest but well utilized.

The cases are all pretty unique and span from simple domestic spats to decades old murder cases. It's fun to see that lie detection isn't enough to solve a case.

The true gem of this show are the characters and the relationships between them. This show is definitely a cozy vibe that is more interested in dissecting human nature than putting forth the most impossible cases.

It's okay, but I like it.

Not as good as Kyoko Okitegami
but better than Don't Call it Mystery most of the time. Solid Japanese mystery drama.

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