Reviews

TOO many believability issues, but good acting and scenery

Turns out IT IS A FAKE BL drama (for those who do not know, why, the explanation is below in a hidden response).

As nearly every series that starts with a unfriendly state between the main couple, it lacks believability because in real life those lads would have “target assessing” glances on each other (though not openly), instead of being just annoyed. However, this is never showed because of the nonsensical formula that they are straight until they suddenly turn gay some time later.

In Thailand stationary militarised outposts are made of standard blocks that provide things like showers etc, so the show is taking liberties here for a bigger dramatic effect. Or the timeline should have been rewinded back ten or twenty years back.

It is great that they have decided to film in nature, and they even have some dark scenes with fire that look beautiful. NOT a school/university series, so it is already good. Showcases corruption of the elites, which is great. But too many things in the series are not believable:

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This was Incredible. I'll Never Do It Again

Let not the rewatch value fool you, I will NEVER rewatch this. Once was simultaneously perfect, but also too much. I cannot handle sitting through this story a second time.

When I saw Netflix add this to the 'coming soon' line-up, I expeditiously added it to 'my list' simply because of Tseng Ching Hua. So far, I've seen him in 5 shows, and he hasn't once let me down with his incredible acting skills. The man is incredibly talented — and the fact that he's beautiful to look at doesn't hurt either.

Moon Lee is also another actor that I wanted to watch. Just coming from binging both seasons of 'The Victim's Game', I wanted to see more of her acting. Who knew that her character, Chiang Hsiao Tung, would rip my heart out the same way that Chiang Hsiao Meng did in the previous shows? Ok, why do her characters have such similar names?
PS. I also just realized that I've seen her before in the movie 'I Am the Secret in Your Heart'. But seeing that I chose to wipe that entire story from my brain —because what the hell was that ending?—, I should be excused for forgetting her.

As for the plot in it's entirity, it's hard for me to write a proper review.

All I know is that my heart felt heavy throughout the 10 episodes. As the other reviews say, this isn't an easy story to get through. I went in thinking that it was a simple run-of-the-mill serial killer plot, and 2 episodes in, I knew I had to pace myself. This wasn't a story I could sit and binge in one or two nights. It took me almost 2 weeks to complete this 1st instalment, as all I could handle in a go was one or two episodes.

I literally finished watching 2 animated movies, one anime, and 2 seasons of 'How to Train Your Dragon' in the time it took me to complete these 10 episodes. I needed some palate cleansers after them.

When my heart wasn't feeling like someone was ripping it out and tap dancing on it, I was angry. Save for Chiang Hsiao Tung and Li Jen Yao, I was angry at everyone. From Li Jen Yao's mother (there's a special place inhell for mothers like her) to his dad (he should've been burned at the stake, to the teachers, the corrupt cops, plus other law enforcers, some of their schoolmates, and the parents of those disgusting boys. Everyone made me angry.

No matter how many times Li Jen Yao tried to save himself from drowning in the mess that was his life, they found ways to keep him down. To push him further in and suffocate him. And then they did the same to Hsiao Meng, all because she fell inlove with someone they deemed less than. Trash that they could bully, play around with, and throw away. Honestly, episodes 8 and 9 hurt in ways that I cannot begin to describe.

All in all, this is an incredibly well-done story, albeit a hard one to get through. The topics highlighted are important, and in a way, I have a deep respect for the actors, screenwriters, directors, and everyone who worked on this story. They did not pull any punches, and my heart and soul are black and blue from it.

PS. Some scenes made me sit and wonder how the actors, especially the two main ones, got into and out of the headspace required to express those emotions. Yoh....🙆🏾‍♀️

Now, I'm off to part 2. A part of me feels like it'll be cathartic, the other part feels like they'll just hurt me more. I feel like they aren't done wringing my heart out just yet

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I was in a modern C-drama slump but not anymore!!

Some thoughts on this drama...

1. Undeniably amazing chemistry. ML's character development and actors potryal of it was just amazing! he started off cold, and the actor perfectly showed it, and then as he got more involved with her, the actor's portrayal was so good. Both ML and FL did so amazingly.

2. FL's hairstyle changed after she was in love!!! Hairy theory!!!

3. Maybe I am the only one, but I feel like they moved away too fast from the best friend's ex-husband. I for sure thought he was going to come into to play again, but nope, she moved on too, which I was honestly surprised about. But if you think about it, their relationship was very taxing on each other. He was consistently apologizing for missing or being late or whatever, and she was letting it go.

I had hoped she would acknowledge that kiss was a misunderstanding or whatever, but they were breaking from the start and needed to leave each other. So amicably end stuff, but I guess not.

4. SML was perfectly portrayed. At times I even thought he might be in the lead and they would add a reciprocal love triangle, but our FL was very smitten with her man lol.

5. The men's outfits in this show were TOP FREAKING NOTCH from the VR to IRL!

6. ML's mom doesn't really deserve much grace imo. She didn't even show the anger ML's dad deserved!! She wasn't even a little bit curious her whole life and just took things as they were. Also, why did she even end up with her husband's business partner?? Like, what's the lore behind that??

Overall, the last time i was this obsessed with a drama and was searching up every edit of the couple was Prisoner of Beauty, The Best Thing, and WBDB, and now this! I am so in love with them and how well the actors portrayed their characters. I love how steady they both were, but careful going into the relationship. And once they were dating, it was all in!! 10/10 drama

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Came for cute romance, left with a touching lesson of what life and youth really is about

This was an exceptional ride. I had heard of the anime before, didn't know it also had a J-drama. This show should be talked about, even when 20 years have passed; it is exceptional. This story was almost perfect in every aspect. Acting was god-worthily perfect. The story was very inspiring. Suddenly, I didn't watch a simple romance series, but a masterpiece. Would recommend for everyone, and I mean it. The slapstick humour was unusual at first, but by episode 2 I was totally enjoying it. Top-tier cast and story, I think nothing could even come close among asian series I have watched so far. The length and pace here were basically perfect for one season, very uncommon for J-dramas usually, in my humble opinion. The only thing that was just a tiny bit missing for me was relationship development among supporting characters. Would have loved a second season but at least there are movies I can watch. The funny chemistry between the leads was just perfect. I didn't even long for more romance, the story just completely immersed me. Oh, and of course the soundtrack - amazing!

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A Heartwarming, Pleasant Surprise

I came into this drama with 0 expectations. Mostly because dramas with idol themes tend to get cringe or childish at some parts.

But the way FL's character was introduced, I think I was hooked. I thought, even if the story turned out to be bad, I could still keep watching because Sooyoung as this "villain lawyer" was so convincing in just less than 10 minutes. Especially the way Kim Won Hae was hyping her up was so endearing to me. He lets her get away with leaving on time instead of being pressured to stay at a gathering which was cool. I already liked their dynamic from the first scene they had together.

Then I watched the first episode. Crazy but despite knowing previous idol-themed dramas tackled similar themes regarding the dark side of the entertainment industry, the way Idol I does it felt so raw, and I had never empathised as much as I did until I saw Kim Jaeyoung's performance as Do Ra-ik. I still remember my first impression of the character. This guy is rude as hell, and for what?? But then again, maybe his staff really did suck. His security sucks big time. No wonder that mf was going around cursing people. And then he got the panic attack. Damn, really felt for him. I couldn't hate him even though in reality, if an idol was exposed having attitude problems, while I don't think I would care to write hate comments, I probably would have believed he had a terrible personality from that short compilation clip. The writers really did their research on how fandom and anti-fandom works.

Anyways, the first few episodes were so good, even though I came into this drama knowing there was a romance tag, the first 3 eps made me think even if they didn't fall for each other, it would still be a good drama. Because beyond lawyer and client, the way they just connected as humans trying to understand each other, was very heartwarming to see. Especially that scene where Sena dusts off his socks, saying they shouldn't give up on the truth for the sake of the people who they lost. Got me bawling actually. Subtle yet powerful performance from the two of them.

Then came episode 4, when Raik saw the note that his lawyer REALLY believed in him. Some lawyers do not actually believe the client, they just need to do their job based on the evidence they find, or lessen the sentence. like his previous lawyer who was assigned to him. All he wanted was for someone to believe in him and Sena gave that to him. I felt touched as much as he did. So I was surprised the next day, after seeing her try to take care of him, Raik showed tiny signs of curiosity towards her relationship with her best friend. Don't tell me he's jealous?? Raik didn't seem like he was interested in anyone but himself, so when he showed interest in his lawyer's relationship with her friend + the prosecutor, suddenly I was thinking, wow jealousy looks good on him! He became so much happier just because he found someone who believed him, him running to her like a puppy while her expression was slightly sad made my heart ache. Suddenly I'm seeing their romantic potential with a tad of angst. I'm such a sucker for romantic potential and these two gave it to me. The hug was quite sudden, I wonder if Raik would hug his lawyer if it wasn't Sena, and I don't think he would have. Him suddenly getting protective in front of the prosecutor and being nosy about their relationship was hilarious to watch. At first I couldn't see how Raik was going to like his lawyer but the transition from having someone believe in him also made me believe his attraction to his lawyer.

The romance was also a pleasant surprise after thinking to myself, they could be better off just lawyer/client and idol/fan. I think it's because Raik's positive growth after liking Sena made me root for them. Sena too, I admired and appreciated her quiet restraint as Raik crossed all kinds of boundaries trying to get her attention. She was professional most of the time, and couldn't help but relent because it's Raik, her idol of all people, being nosy about her personal life. Let me tell you, this was the first time I loved the "she fell first, he fell harder" trope. Because Sena's love for Raik, never felt pathetic (at least, after he became her client)? Her character growth from putting him on a pedestal to just seeing him as human, was very beautiful to watch.

I'm a sucker for subtle romance who never get together in the end because it leaves so much to the imagination, but with Idol I, the two of them were giving "subtle romance" for 9 episodes. They had like one proper romantic interaction for every episode, it made you crave more from them. so it was my first time feeling happy they actually became canon in episode 10. This may be the reason some might find their romance unconvincing, but it was all that I needed to believe they were genuinely in love with each other. Throughout 9 episodes, their skinship was holding hands and 1 hug, most of their emotional bonding came from their deeply human conversations, getting to know each other and comforting each other, so it all felt very rewarding in episode 10 when their feelings become mutual.

Also, the best thing about their romance is that, even after they get together, THEY DON'T BECOME BORING! Some romantic couples suffer from being boring after they get together, like their original personalities suddenly die because they're in love. But not Raik x Sena. I think getting together quite late into the story helped, especially since they got together before the murder plot was solved. So their interactions are still interesting. The final episode with their dating era, was so sweet and adorable to watch. I'm not one to care for overly sweet romance, but with one episode left, Raik x Sena made you appreciate their romance SO much more.

Moving onto the characters, the drama started out with very few characters to root for. But when I tell you I was surprised EVERY character had decent development within the short 12 episodes they were given. The story paid attention to Raik and Sena's character development the most, but I still appreciated how much the other supporting characters grew by the end of the story. Shoutout to Jung Jae Kwang who played Prosecutor Kwak Byung-gyun, who started off terrible, in the middle quite wishy washy coz he was torn between doing the right thing and just following in his father's footsteps, and eventually doing the right thing. Him and the ML probably went through the most drastic changes (positively). Kim Hyun Jin as Chungjae was lovely as Sena's loyal best friend who loved her but eventually moved on and vowed to stay as her best friend, no hard feelings. What a great guy! And the standout was definitely Choi Heejin who played Hong Hyejoo. I wanted to hate her, but I couldn't. Fantastic acting from her. I did think her words for Raik was cruel when they broke up, she didn't have to say all that even if she was forced to breakup with him, but eventually we realize she was in a bad place mentally, so yeah they just weren't very right for each other.

The next best thing is the OSTs! Gold Boys/Raik songs weren't catchy at first listen, but since I wanted to be immersed and understand Sena's fangirl feelings, I found myself listening to the songs on repeat, and I have been obsessed with the songs ever since. They have less English lyrics so it's harder to memorize, but I will keep repeating the songs until I have them memorized. As for non-idol songs, the ballad "To Our Beautiful Past" is definitely the best song out of the OSTs. Such a beautiful duet. And "Everytime I Close My Eyes" that plays whenever Raik thinks about Woosung, had me very teary, especially the funeral scene. The rest of the OSTs matched well with the scenes and while I thought the OST during RaikSena's first kiss scene was generic in terms of melody, the lyrics were very heartfelt.

Now, the negative aspects of the show to me, was just the murder investigation. I had watched an interview where the actors said it has legal aspects but it's not an actual courtroom legal drama so I kept that in mind. Sena didn't get a lot of chance to show off her lawyer skills in the court which was too bad, but it doesn't make me think any less of her skills. HOWEVER, because the legal/murder investigation plot was very thin, it does make the characters who were supposed to be competent, look very bad. The mystery was done well in that it kept me asking not just "Who killed Woosung?" but "What's her relationship with him?" or "What happened to Woosung before he died?" There were little mysteries like that throughout the drama which kept me engaged. But, the killer reveal which was acted very well, made me annoyed because it didn't align with the clues they had given us in the earlier episodes. For example, they said the stab was in one shot, and had no signs of struggle. So it was either a very skilled person with a knife, or someone the victim knew that made them let their guard down. And yet, the reveal was that it was just an accident?? I would have prefered it was planned! But the crime scene was so sloppy, why did the initial investigation not catch the culrpit sooner? I'm just gonna believe the killer's father cleaned up the crime scene and covered up the evidence so the investigation went poorly otherwise I'll be mad.

Final Verdict: If you come into this drama with low expectations, you will enjoy it a LOT. And it's probably better to bingewatch so that you don't waste time thinking of theories but it ends up out the window as soon as the killer is revealed lol. When it comes down to it, this drama feels like a human, healing hurt/comfort drama about two lonely souls who come together, and exploring various characters's relationships related to the murder. And I was very much comforted by these characters, especially Raik, Sena, and the victim, Woosung.

9.5/10 coz I'm biased towards everything but can't give a full 10/10 because of the poor murder investigation. Enjoy!

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OMG THIS DRAMA AHHHHHHH

If it were possible i'd rate it higher than a 10. I wasn't expecting it to be this GOOD. Like i thought it would be a mediocre drama but boy was i wrong. THIS WAS EVERYTHING I WAS LOOKING FOR. After speed and love i didn't think i would find another drama to be obsessed with but this omg words can't express the amount to pain my cheeks had to bear just by smiling throughout. I cried with them, my heart ached and i laughed with them and i swooned over them. GOD I WANT TO REWATCH IT AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME. THEY ARE THE HE SUYE AND SHEN XIFAN OF 2026. BRO MY INSTAGRAM IS NOW GOING TO JUST EDITS OF THIS BECAUSE WDYM. I CAN'T EXPRESS MY FEELINGS FOR THIS DRAMA LIKE IT WAS EVERYTHING I WAS LOOKING FOR. ALSO THE LEADS OMG THEY ARE THE GREENEST OF GREENEST FLAGS. ALSO THE THINGS XIAO ZHIYU SAYS LIKE HELLO. ALSO THE THINGS HU XIU SAYS LIKE GUYS I LOVE YOU. I wish i had a man like xiao zhiyu.

" As long as you're by my side, i'll always look forward to tomorrow"
- XIAO ZHIYU <3333333333

" You aren't a part of my plan. You were written in my life"
- HU XIU <33333333333

i don't know why remember the dialogues but hey i am obsessed.

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Okay drama

Compared to most cdramas,this drama is just ok,so overhyped!! Not deserving of so much unneccesary hype.



yes the drama is ok,but why 8.9,Cdrama land is a weird place nowadays,this drama is at most an 8.4,not bad but nt perfect!!!



The male lead acting is so wooden,i was so confused watching him,or should i say annoyed. The fl is ok but very indecsive,i was not having it. The Second male lead carried this drama but still,nothing made sense to me,idk. i hate things that annoy me for no reason,highly unneccsary.





I hope cdrama casts better male leads pls,so dramas wil be watchable. nothing serious,lets just be happy with better dramas.



ok guys,

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absorbing, quality adaptation

the original is one of my fave K dramas but this adaptation also stands strong on its own. the main leads delivered and the supporting cast was equally good. I was particularly moved by FL's acting. her eyes alone can deeply convey different emotions. you feel for her, and you get absorbed in her pain, her worries, her joy, her hope. as for the ML, I became a fan of Mark Chao after I watched Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms. he did not disappoint.
weeping may tarry for the night but joy comes in the morning: this was beautifully expressed in the story in a steady, hushed, thoughtful and impactful way. excellent acting and powerful storytelling.

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When a Man’s in Love is a story about a man who was ill-treated, deprived of opportunities in his teenage years, separated from his family, and pushed onto the wrong path, eventually becoming a loan shark.
One day, he goes to a bookstore owner to recover a loan, but the owner is unable to repay it. He pleads with the man, asking for more time and promising to come to his office later to return the money. However, he asks him to leave immediately because his daughter might arrive at any moment. Unfortunately, his daughter witnesses the situation.
The man leaves with his associates after seeing the owner’s daughter. Later, when the owner still fails to repay the loan, he is beaten by the man’s men and dropped back at his house. There, his daughter confronts them. All of this is witnessed by the man, and he orders his men to leave her alone because he sees his own teenage self in her—how he struggled alone with no one to help him. This makes him decide to help her.
Gradually, he develops feelings for her. On the other hand, she does not feel the same affection toward him. She feels burdened by gratitude and, because of that pressure, accepts his feelings. From here, the story takes a twisted turn. She becomes involved with two men at the same time, which really irritated me. If she had no feelings for him, she should have been honest instead of cheating on him. While being with him, she has an affair with another man.
Throughout the drama, I felt bad for him and kept wishing that he deserved someone better. Although the drama has a happy ending, I was not satisfied with it. What I wanted to see was stronger love chemistry and more time for them together. They do meet in the end, but it feels too short. The drama needed one more episode to provide a better conclusion.
The acting was good, though the drama progressed at a slow pace. I also liked the supporting characters, especially her mother and the way she supported him.

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Actually the plot was decent.

I check if i have seen this Huang Yunyun drama while i actually have seen that and realized i had seen this drama last year since i am not quite familiar with Jin Wang face (forgive my face blindness).

Plot is about Twins are born and the Taoist said that twin flowers blooming together are a calamity for the Prime Minister's family. One of the girls is destined to be a phoenix, other one is destined to bad luck. FL family throw they baby into the cliff. FL was saved by Taoist master. In order to obtain the purple energy, she drugged and kidnapped ML l to escape a calamity, she sexually assaults the ML, causing him to become infertile—and then runs away with twins. ML legs was quite healed after that-but he pretends to being disabled for political purpose.

The only one who suffers the most from beginning to end is the ML. He tells the FL, "I know you'll run away, but even though I'm not as strong as you, I'll still chase after you. You know I have the ability to chase you." Fortunately, the FL is eventually won over. ML is quite respectful to FL choice even he can force her but he knows FL more than FL itself. Luckily ML had the twins as his cupid over FL. The twins are quite smart and wise children.

There is no misunderstanding between the leads ML knows the real FL so there is no identity mistake. I like the ending for every characters in there, they got deserve ending. The only downside is that the MLs acting could have been better perhaps this is one of reason i don't remember the actor.

Recommended to Watch despite the flaws.

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I can't believe we now have NEPHEWS ✪ ω ✪

When I watched the series, I really enjoyed it, and I thought the ending was great. I don't usually watch specials because I think, "If it were important, they would have put it in the series, right?", but then I saw the buzz about this "Endless Special" and decided to watch it, just to see if it was really worth it or if, like many specials, it was just a compilation of scenes that didn't make it into the series because they were deleted or something... HOW WRONG I WAS! If you watched the series Denied Love, then you NEED to watch the 2 special episodes because they are perfect, and they end the series in the best "fairy tale" style. I believe that unlike many specials out there, this one is a MUST-SEE.

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