Reviews

A Bad Trip

“Can This be Love?” was one of my most anticipated dramas this year. Unfortunately, it fell horribly flat.

Locations and cinematography are undeniably beautiful, but, as I’ve come to expect of Hong sisters’ dramas, characters lack depth. This is the third drama where Go Youn Jung chases her male lead, and it’s the most humiliating, unhealthy, and nonsensical. For me, theirs never felt like a true connection, but rather something imposed upon the male lead after persistent pursuit…It’s been a while since I’ve been this annoyed with a female character.

I also take issue with the insensitive depiction of Dissociative Identity Disorder. After watching a character with DID in “Had I Not Seen the Sun”, seeing it portrayed here as a cute—if inconvenient—personality quirk, feels problematic at best.

I believed “Alchemy of Souls” indicated writing improvement, but after this, I’ll go back to avoiding Hong sisters’ projects.

Read More

Incongruous

It had a good start—beautiful background for a first meeting that felt painfully sentimental. You could sense the love and longing in the space, in every corner of the house, and within both leads.

But as it progressed, that sentimentality started to feel unearned. The past was revealed to be more hot and fast rather than soft and lingering.

For a Queer historical romance, I found the buildup and danger to both be lacking. I craved real, profound yearning and stakes.

You already know what I'm going to recommend instead: I Feel You Linger in The Air and The Loyal Pin. Both tragic and painful, but centered around a hard-won love with moments of private joy throughout. Even "To Sir, with Love," beautifully ridiculous as it could get, made me believe in the couple gradually finding themselves impossibly in love with each other.

Or, if they REALLY wanted to be hot and fast, they could have taken a hard turn toward comedy and made it as non-serious and high-energy as "I'm the Most Beautiful Count."

But they didn't do that. I guess they wanted to have their cake and eat it, too?

I don't know.

All I know is that I'm disappointed.

Read More

A glorious watch as long as you haven't already seen spoilers

I watched this drama while it aired and with a group friends, and I think it was such a fun drama to watch together and discuss episode by episode. It starts off very strong and fun - with Hou Minghao as Jianglai kicking butt and Nazha as Shanbao looking or a husband. Then in my opinion, it becomes less "relaxing" of a drama and one that has deeper (but important) meanings. As the drama goes on, there's more to read between the lines about the characters. Sometimes, it's written to keep you in suspense and the outcome might not be as fulfilling, but overall, whether it was predictable or not, the acting and the story kept me hooked throughout the 36 episodes. The final arc felt a bit disconnected but if you take a step back, it actually does a great job of wrapping up the story and the drama's intentions to portray the gender-reversed storyline. It's actually quite clever and the cast delivered.

Read More

Love Me is not an easy watch, but it is a deeply honest one.

This drama portrays raw emotion — the kind that comes when life keeps piling responsibilities on you without giving you time to breathe. It explores exhaustion, guilt, loneliness, and the heavy burden of caring for loved ones while quietly falling apart yourself.

The series reflects how, as humans, we can become selfish— not out of malice, but as a way to survive.

At its heart, Love Me tells the story of a father and his two children, each dealing with grief and loneliness in their own way. It follows how they navigate life’s constant challenges and slowly learn how to express love more openly, more gently.

This is a quiet, grounded drama that doesn’t rely on big moments. It doesn’t offer easy answers. Instead, it gently forces you to reflect. It reminds us that everyone is fighting battles we cannot see — even those closest to us.

Quiet. Raw. Human.

Read More

beautifully portrayed story of war, trauma and love

The story of the show was okay, but what really made it stand out were the acting, the cinematography, and the osts. Everyone's acting, especially Chen Zheyuan's, was a masterpiece and made me feel every single emotion the character was feeling. The emotions, sadness, and pain were also very well portrayed by everyone. Moreover, I thought the cinematography, especially the war scenes were done very well. And my favourite part of the show was probably its OSTs. Every single one of the songs held such emotion inside them and was placed so perfectly within the scenes. They made me feel every emotion 10x more, and i think the osts were truly what made me feel emotionally connected with the characters.

Read More

A Slow Death

I honestly feel cheated.

After watching The Sign back 2024, I was blown away. When they announced a new BillyBabe project. I was buzzing. It was around the end of September 2024 and thinking wow, that's too long, how will I wait?

Thankfully time stops for no one and when the pilot was released early 2025, I thought, YES!! Give me that angst, tear my heart out with the aching and tragedy.

😂

If you haven't watched it while reading this. It's nothing like that.

We are back and forth back and forth, ghost fight in the middle, and then a quick unravelling of the past. With the most lukewarm ending I have ever experienced. Not even anger. Just ok, that's it. Sure.

What feels like nothing for the first few episodes, people standing around talking instead of showing us,some CGI and then it's all laid out with repeated scenes to fill in the gaps. Quick death. Quick resolve. 3rd life teaser. End

I'm genuinely disappointed in the production.

Billybabe, the costumes and the sets, all beautiful. Everything else was hacked to death

The scenes I was most looking forward to were first life Kaewta's death ( see, dramatic b!tch) and it was so anticlimactic that I winced physically. I was left to believe his killer beat him from the tree, and left him to die for DAYs in Thai heat.
No. He took a smack to the head, watched his rescuer come towards him and die. Within hours. I mean, it's a death I guess, but not I wanted 😂

Then there was a whole real life conspiracy that just stopped. None of those people were involved in Kaewta's death so why were there?

Kun Yai just died. No explanation, nothing from the monk. He just went with a tear and a wimper and Saen followed him off screen.

Also, Granny Yam was the most unnecessary character. What's was her point? She was just there randomly and dies off screen, twice.

As we move to life three, I honestly had no idea what was happening. Other than they would have to have died in order to reincarnate but I'm left wondering if Yai did.

The timelines don't seem realistic either. There's 30 years between life 1 and 2. What happened to mum. How old was she when she had Kaewta?

I'm sure the special ep would have told us something, but so they spent so much time in the first half doing nothing that they then had to chop whatever they planned and rush the ending. Where was Saen, Sophee, the needless brother and the maid. Just forgotten.

I really do love BillyBabe and I wish them all the love and luck in the future, including a better production team.

Read More

Fun

I really enjoyed this drama mostly for the female lead and second male lead but also for the scenery and patches of side stories.

While there were several turns that had me doubting the plot, and risked major moments of second hand embarrassment. I believe they kept an okay balance and had me pressing that next episode button over and over again... secretly wishing I could take a day off just to binge...

I loved the female lead, every part of her, every personality of hers, her acting, her being an actress, her smile. Everything, While I have seen her in dramas before, this is the performance that puts her on my crush-list, and will have me deliberately checking out more of her work.

Its not a perfect story, and it has some points that feel under-explored, and kind of iffy. The last episode is a mess a true victim of lazy writing, feels a bit like oh we have 30 threads to tie up in just one episode, lets add another thread or two instead of offering proper closure.

But other then that its a fun watch.

Read More

A Beautiful Story

Sad and beautiful at the same time. Billy and Babe did an amazing job in this! The emotions, the humour, the romance, all just so perfect! I did get surprised at the end with one character. Far more redeeming than I thought. Those two women though. Wow. How on earth did she even get reincarnated after all that?? I started rewatching this around episode 5 or 6 while waiting for the next one to come out. Definitely on the repeat list! The reaction videos are also good. Billy's reactions are hilarious. Even knowing it's just the first time they see the final edits, you'd swear they don't even know where the story is going. Half a point off just for the fact that annoying woman said "Miss" so much, she had me ready to strangle her and it detracted from the enjoyment.

Read More

Less really would have been more here

Can This Love Be Translated? is a tricky one to review. It was marketed as a rom-com, but rom-com it was not. What it was, however, is one of the most visually beautiful dramas I’ve ever seen. From Canada to Italy to Japan to Korea, every location was stunning, and by the end of the show I was ready to book my plane ticket to Banff, Canada ASAP. The use of so many international locations made the show feel fresh and different, especially after watching countless dramas that recycle the same office buildings, apartments, and parks. Nostalgic? Sure. But also boring. This drama definitely stood out visually, and I genuinely enjoyed the entire cast.

As for the main couple, I actually think they worked well together, but the romance often felt stagnant because of the story choices. The pacing of their relationship was all over the place, sometimes rushed and sometimes completely stalled, and while that may have been intentional, it wasn’t always enjoyable to watch. That said, the FL’s quirkiness was often very endearing, and Go Youn-jung really shines in those types of roles. I also have to give credit to Kim Seon-ho, who was genuinely impressive with the amount of language learning required for the role.

Story-wise, the first six episodes were solid, but episode seven marked a noticeable shift, and not for the better. I usually don’t mind mental health themes in dramas, but the way this one was handled didn’t sit right with me. If Do Ra-mi had remained more of an inner-voice concept, that could have worked. Instead, the show seemed to introduce something resembling a multiple personality disorder, which is a complex and serious condition, only to treat it in a way that felt rushed and oddly flippant.

That said, there were moments where the portrayal felt more thoughtful and artful. Some of the visual and symbolic interpretations of her internal struggle were genuinely interesting and well done, and they hinted at a deeper, more nuanced exploration that could have worked beautifully. The problem was time, or rather, the lack of it. The female lead is clearly not okay for several episodes, then literally says goodbye to Do Ra-mi, and suddenly… she’s kind of fine? That’s not how that works. I’m no expert, but reducing something this serious into a few conveniently resolved episodes ultimately felt unsatisfying and underdeveloped.

And then there’s the ending. Yet another ridiculous one. Was it necessary to reveal, within the final 30 minutes of the entire series, that her parents were alive this whole time? No. Absolutely not. And then, to “heal,” the female lead simply disappears for an unspecified amount of time and magically returns cured. Nope. No. Not buying it.

What’s frustrating is that this drama didn’t need all of this. I never thought I’d say it, but the show would have been better if it had just stuck to a quirky female lead (which this actress does so well), the love triangle with the Japanese actor, and the male lead dealing with unresolved feelings from his past relationship. And I’m someone who loathes love triangles!! But honestly, that was more than enough. Less really would have been more here. There was no need to cram a poorly handled, overly complex mental health storyline into a drama that already had plenty going for it.

Read More

Beautiful acting

I think for a 12eps serie, we should have gotten over with the past in the beginning and focus on developing the present.
BUT the overlapping wasn't bad or confusing (if you couldn't follow you're slow, sorry).
I wish they investigated a little bit more Rhudee from the past, but again it's an historical drama, back then eloping was reason enough to be forgotten.

The love was soooo beautiful, Billy and Babe are so underrated, it's sad they deserve all rhe hype. They played so beautifully. Such professionals, the sex scenes were very intense of course, but really what they deserve flowers for is their acting. This drama was to me as beautiful as I feel you linger in the air....
Music, sceneries are so beautiful.
It's not a perfect drama but definitely a good one.
Sophee?? Girl get help! No man deserve to loose yourself like that, even if Khun Yai is a catch, girl dignity please 😮‍💨
I think it's definitely for people that are into emotions and slow pacing.

Read More

it was 10/10 until eps 23&24

I thought all of the characters were written so well, the actors were great, everything was delightful. Then the writers decided to ruin the good vibes. I wish I could erase the nonsense and damage done to the integrity of the female lead character in those later episodes—she went from being mature, direct, and thoughtful to frustratingly irrational. Could have been the ultimate, so disappointed. Hoping the last 5 salvage the nosedive writing somehow. Still 1-22, peak writing and story. Low music rating because half the songs feel like AI slop lyrics. I will likely try rewatching this show again as a comfort and skip these episodes because it had made me so happy otherwise! The leads are beautiful, costumes in the VR part are amazing, and the humor is top notch.

Read More

Again a wasted chance...

What's with all the "periodic" series in the past six months? It's all very lacorn style, over-dramatized acting, female villains and generally a story which does not make much sense. They build up a conspiracy against the crown which fades into nothingness. And because they are lazy writing a good script, there has to be a doppelganger which can be overtaken by a ghost...

I'm very sorry, this is also one of the series which is mostly bullshit. While I like BillyBabe (and of course their chemistry is undeniable being a real couple) and I think they can act, it's wasted with this kind of story. Maybe this only resonates with asiens or it resonates only with women, but for me it's just boring and unbelievable. This series makes some up with very good cinematography, very nice costumes, the dancing which was for sure a chore training for and the music in general.

Storywise this was a dumpster fire. Generally it's watchable, but mostly a waste of time.

Edit: Billy & Babe left Idol Factory, was anounced on 31st January 2026... good for them!

Read More