Reviews

Una historia preciosa visualmente

Segunda serie de Freen y Becky muy bien lograda, la quimica es impresionante, las actuaciones mejoraron mucho asi como la confianza en escena y se nota. La cinematografía es maravillosa, al igual que la ambientación. Es una historia hermosa, romantica y sexy, con un drama muy bien hecho y resuelto, con una relación preciosa. Mi unico problema es que es innecesariamente larga, habian capitulos que si los eliminas te quedas en el mismo punto, podria entender porque algunos lo consideran aburrido, aunque para mi no lo es ni un poco, pero me es dificil ser objetiva con estas dos y su quimica. El final fue hermoso, pero la escena del falso secuestro fue rarisima e inecesaria, aun asi es una historia preciosa que merece la pena ser vista.

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Beautifully Shot, Worth the Watch

The East Palace — 9/10

The East Palace was honestly a really good watch. I wouldnt say the story was the strongest part for me, but the cinematography was beautiful and probably what i enjoyed the most. The whole drama had such a good visual style, especially the palace scenes, costumes and overall atmosphere. Every scene looked so well made and there were many moments where i was more focused on how beautiful the scene looked than what was actually happening.

The story was good enough to keep me watching, but there were some slow parts and i didnt feel that attached to every plot point. Still, the characters and their relationships made it interesting enough to continue. The chemistry between the leads was also pretty good and some of their scenes were definitely memorable.

I also liked the darker and emotional atmosphere of the drama. It had a nice balance of romance, drama and palace politics without feeling too overwhelming. Some parts could have been better written, but overall it was still enjoyable.

For me, the cinematography really carried the drama. The visuals, costumes, sets and overall aesthetic were just beautiful and gave the drama its own feel. Even when the story got a little slow, the visuals kept me interested.

Overall, The East Palace is not a drama i would say has the best story ever, but its definitely worth watching. I enjoyed the experience, especially because of how good it looked. It has its flaws, but i still had a good time watching it.

9/10 — mainly for the cinematography and overall vibe.

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A Stronger Season 2

Season 2 takes everything that worked in the first season and elevates it. Jeong Jinman has a much stronger presence here, though Jian remains the true core of the story. The emotional range feels a lot wider this time around as well. Season 1 was mostly pure survival in the one house setting. However, this season really opens up the world, introducing new settings and a solid lineup of fresh characters who are just as dynamic of the main cast.

It fell a little short for me as the drama was closing in on the end, with a couple of major plot points getting glossed over, which made the finale feel somewhat rushed. Despite that, it's a dynamic, emotional, and super satisfying continuation off the first season.

8/10 Fantastic Watch!

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A missed opportunity here; it needed to pick a lane.

I'm from a rugby-centric country (ie. New Zealand) so this was always coming up in my Netflix spotlight. After a year, and having watched a number of dark dramas, I needed to watch something light. I thought it may be another 'triumph of the underdogs' story.
This is not a story about the sport, or sports.
To start it was fun, I enjoyed watching the team coming together with the acceptance of Ju Ga-Ram. I think the series should have stuck with this theme of being a team. The first couple of episodes had me laughing out loud as it seemed to poke fun at the K-drama tropes. The story is sold to us as a rugby team "...which competes hard to win the National Sports Festival but always comes in last " - so why did we not see more rugby? We saw more shooting than rugby. I wonder if this was supposed to show the difference between individual sports and team sports?
The love story became a bit repetitive and boring. I-Ji just always seemed to blame everything on Ga-Ram which got annoying after awhile. The cast was good, a little too pretty for a rugby team but sometimes they came across as too juvenile (but they were my favourite part of watching anyway). Speaking of, Ju Ga-Ram, although he had moments we it came across as endearing the way he acted like a teenager half the time grated on me at some moments.
If they really wanted to do this story well they could have incorporated more of the team coming together on the field because that is where the sport really tells its story. I would have loved to have seen them progress as a team, playing against other sides - but when the opportunity arose it cut the story off and we shifted over to the shooting team. Rugby (like other sports such as rugby league, basketball, netball etc.) is a passion and is a rich vehicle for delivering stories about passion for the game, team work, dedication, and definitely about underdog sports. I wish they would have leaned into that, whilst still delivering the Korean feel.
I appreciated how they spoke about the seriousness of doping issues and the alienation of when professionals can't continue I feel this all got lost in the mish-mash of what this was about. Pick a lane - shooting or rugby, teamwork or individual, redemption or romance? Find Your Front!
I wouldn't watch this again, I had to force myself past ep. 7.

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Easily the best season

The best thing about this show is that by adding a mystery element, they create an interesting new more complex dynamic, with significant added suspense as they build up until the love vs. money choices are revealed in the final episode. But this also means that the interactions among the participants seem highly manipulated and/or edited to maintain that suspense. When added to the shorter 8-day duration of the filming, we simply don't get the depth of the relationships of some other dating shows. The panel is also one of the weakest I've seen on a Korean dating reality show.

What made this particular season so much better than the previous seasons is that it benefited greatly from a better cast, they did a much better job of introducing and letting you get to know that cast, and they tweaked the format in a way that added even more uncertainty and suspense to the final.

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Just the way I love my green flag man! Ding Yuxi ♡

I'm loving the series so far, and I fell in love again with my green flag man, Ding Yuxi! 😍😘 Currently watching and enjoying "The Road to Splendor" with my faves baobei, Ding Yuxi and Deng Enxi, as the main leads again, my beautiful and handsome #Xixi couple 🥰🫶🏻 This is already their 2nd collab and their chemistry is still so good, they're so sweet and cute together, ever since from their 1st collab at #MelodyOfGoldenAge 💕 Most especially ofc, I love my baobei Ding Yuxi, with his half-ponytail half-down hairstyle every time, it really suits him the best, he's so very handsome in that style the most! Plus, kudos to his expressive acting skills and outstanding performances, especially doing his action scenes himself with his excellent martial arts skills, it's really impressive until now, never fails to amaze me! 😍🤭💖💯 But it looks like my Ding Yuxi here in TRTS cdrama will always have his hair up in a bun style becoz he's not a nobleman, maybe that's why 🥹😅 Well, I love both of the leads anyway, and their story is good, it's a successful series. THE CHEMISTRY IS GREAT, THE DEVELOPMENT IS SO NICE AND THE PLOT IS REALLY PLOTTING 😌😉💚🌳🌿🍃

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Why DMD Friendship Season 3 Hits Different

I finished all the seasons, but this is the only one I'm actually reacting, reviewing, and commenting on. I felt like this season gave us a much deeper look at how DMD actually creates the BL actors we stan.

For North and Otto, I wasn't really scared, per se, because I had a gut feeling they'd end up choosing each other—even though Otto seemed like he wanted to explore getting to know Phupa at first. As for Ryupatji, I never really noticed Patji in the previous season, and I didn't feel like they caught any chemistry back then. So when I saw them now this season, I was surprised, but not completely shocked.

I also watched Khemjira, and seeing Pung here made me squeal because his acting is so good and he's just so handsome. I actually kind of liked that he didn't end up with Copper (sorry to their fans!). For me, Pung needs someone like Wave—someone caring and smiling, but with Otto's confidence. Someone who can hold his hand because he wasn't just treated as a fallback option.

I watched Your Sky before this, so I honestly never thought I’d see Wave, and I really felt for him. He was adorable, seemed so kind-hearted, and I just wished someone would notice that to the extent of genuinely wanting him to be their partner. In every episode, it felt like I always saw him standing beside everyone, always supporting—especially North. Always smiling. But his lack of confidence and insecurities felt like such a harsh slap of reality, reminding us that these guys aren't just fantasy idols; they're also real workers who feel just as insecure as we do at times.

I know this whole season is about finding a partner and that having options is normal, but with the limited time to really get to know someone, building true chemistry and comfortability has to be the first thing you check.

Overall, I love this season. There were scenes—particularly with Wave and Pung—that almost made me cry (okay, I did cry when Wave said he wasn't talented. Baby, you are!). I only wish that regardless of whether Wave and Pung found their partners within Gen 5 or outside of it, I hope they end up in a hella great partnership.

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Do you see me Go Seung Tak!!

A fun supernatural medical drama that is heart warming, funny and emotional.
How does one navigate the space between life and death? What if you discover a side of you did not know, depending of which side of the barrier you're on? How about gaining a brother and friend that can perform awesome medical feats through you?

This are some of the questions this show addressed. I liked the characters, especially our lovable, smiley intern. The story, acting and music worked well.

My only qualms was a slightly lackluster romance, caricatured villains and that we did not get to see our intern truly develop into his own person, till much later in the show and that was not enough time.
Still recommend it!

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First Impression: Gelboys season 2

Overall: I wasn't into the first episode as much as I had hoped to be, but I'm giving this the benefit of the doubt. 8 episodes about 1 hour each. Airing on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/gelboys-2-episode-1-1ax2cmfaea8?lang=en_us

What I Liked
- styling
- sniff/cheek kisses/sweet moments
- the first recap*

Room For Improvement
- *I did not need that much screentime to be recap
- a bit confused with time jumps in the beginning
- I like apologies but the apology tour was too much for all at the same time in episode 1
- not into what the 2054 characters revealed

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the popular reviews on this are not an accurate representation of this show.

though my rating is slightly lower than the median average of this show, love sea was no where near as bad as some of the "helpful" reviews and otherwise made this out to be. it must be some kind of bandwagon hate train that happened around airing that could explain the low rates.

there are definitely problems with this show. namely, khaimuk was ear-grating in the third episode. she was annoying to the point that i actually became overstimulated from hearing her in that episode and i had to turn my volume all the way down to get through her scenes. i almost dropped the show entirely because of that episode. whoever directed that aya act like that needs to have their kneecaps caved in. she was whiny, pathetic, and her pitch was so aggravating. another problem involving her character was the GL storyline. it was trash and completely unnecessary. her and her partner kissed ONCE but also after their makeout session, her running away was just never addressed? then by the special episode they were together and reconciled. nope, nonsense. i think the GL storyline was deliberately sabotaged. these are just two issues that i observed. khaimuk and vivie single-handedly are responsible for this rating being this; i could even go a tad lower. i can tell that aya is an extremely talented actress despite never seeing her in anything else before. she was done dirty in this except for her wardrobe.

the storyline between the main leads had some unique and generic elements but it was fairly solid. i have never seen anything with fort & peat in it... man, these two HAD ME SHOOK with their intimacy. these two are the best kissers i have seen to date. i think they are even better than mile & apo ! their kissing is so natural looking, hungry, intentional, and complete-feeling ! every goddamn pair i have seen, apart from mile & apo, need to study under them as though their rent was due two weeks ago. their sex scenes i also have no notes for. they are quite good in all of their intimacy scenes. i wish thai production would allow for sex scenes to be more fluid [the removal or side-stepping of clothing, slower movements depending on the action] so that they make more sense for viewer experience. anyway, i can see why fort & peat are as popular as they are. their intimacy is why this drama sits at this rating as well.

the colorism in this piece of work was also something of note. mahasumut's skintone was mentioned around four separate times or so. i am guessing the creator, mame, is an older racist of some kind who made these works ages ago. i am not sure why a racist trope had to make it into the final production, but it is par-for-the-course with asian creatives, i suppose.

meena or otherwise known as nina nutthacha padovan was the breakout in this. she deserves her own mention, paragraph, and recognition. she blew me away. absolutely incredible performance from her and i wish her a prosperous future.

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Great potential, disappointing execution, and an ending that simply wasn’t worth the journey.

Royal Betrothal — Final Thoughts

Royal Betrothal was honestly a huge disappointment for me. I stayed until the end because I was invested in the story and especially the side characters, whom I often liked more than the main leads.

Unfortunately, I felt Chen Zheyuan and Wu Jinyan had little to no chemistry, and their pairing didn’t work for me. The main couple kept going in circles, and whenever the story became interesting, the drama would slow down with unnecessary scenes between them—only for the ending to feel extremely underwhelming.

There were also too many plot holes and unresolved storylines. My favourite side couple, Zhili and Di Nian, didn’t get the happy ending they deserved, while Nian’s death was heartbreaking. I also thought Zhishi and Fuzhi had better chemistry than the main couple, but their story became frustrating as they fought over Meng Tinghui.

Overall, the drama had potential, but the execution and ending left me feeling like I wasted my time. I stayed because of the side characters, not the main romance.

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