Reviews

Season Three Returns With A Fervor that is Unprecedented!!

Taxi Driver is back with Season Three. The taxi is better, bolder & darker!

Obviously, avid fans were ecstatic when Season Three was announced. Once the deluxe taxi’s meter starts running, it doesn’t stop until justice is served. This season was no different; assailants were caught or even punished harshly based on their degree of offense. Somehow, the show stems past the earlier seasons; the storytelling is crisp, grittier and accentuated. As the main protagonist, Lee Je Hoon tons different hats; his costumes are quite colorful and sometimes hilarious. But Kim Do Gi’s personality thrives on these variant avatars that he undertakes while delivering justice to the poor victims. This season, Pyo Ye Jin seems more settled in her roles as An Go Eun; I loved watching her chirpy mannerisms while investigating criminals. Teammates Kim Eui Sung, Jang Hyuk Jin & Bae Yoo Ram complete this perfect potboiler.

Read the complete article here-

https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2026/01/11/taxi-driver-season-3-series-review/

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Bland narrative, bland directing, other than great fighting.scene, there is nothing this drama tried to offer. there is enough material the story will become engaging, but it's never materialized. Non of the character relationship has some short of memorable. All the actor here are underutilized. This is one of Gongjun worse performances I've seen. But i blame the writers for make his character insipid with no meaty material to work with. Talking about Sumuyu principal colluded with assasin world on paper is interesting enough but never been challenged and has great consequences to him that make me care about the conflict. . This drama is just has so many character with little substance. At times this drama is just too obviously preachy.

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Gel Boys changed my brain chemistry

Gel Boys genuinely changed something in my brain. I went in expecting a show and came out feeling like I’d witnessed a piece of real life. This wasn’t just refreshing — it was electric. From the very first scene, it felt different. No stiff direction, no obvious scripting, no forced moments. Just people existing, feeling, messing up, loving, breathing. It felt so real it almost hurt. Every interaction felt accidental in the best way, like the camera just happened to be there while something important was unfolding. The pauses? Devastating. The laughter? Warm. The chaos? Perfect. Nothing was polished, nothing was overly explained, and that’s what made it so beautiful. It trusted us to feel instead of telling us how to feel — and that trust paid off in the most incredible way. I loved how Gel Boys let emotions linger. It didn’t rush through moments or wrap them up neatly. It sat in the awkwardness, the longing, the confusion — all the things that make life messy and human. The characters didn’t feel like roles being played; they felt like people I somehow knew, people I cared about way too fast. By the end, I wasn’t ready to let go. It didn’t feel like a series ending — it felt like saying goodbye to a chapter of my own life. Gel Boys is raw, intimate, chaotic, and honest in a way that’s so rare it feels almost unreal. This is the kind of show you don’t just watch — you carry it with you.
No notes. No skips. Absolute masterpiece. 💙✨

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Less Plot, More Thought

Death’s Game is a show whose central message I fundamentally disagree with. From the outset, its moral framework feels shallow, heavy-handed, and more interested in preaching than in genuine exploration. That said, my biggest issue isn’t even the message itself—it’s how quickly the show abandons whatever thematic confidence it initially had in favor of spectacle and artificial stakes.

The series begins with a promising psychological fantasy tone, flirting with existential ideas like fate versus free will, personal accountability, and death as an inevitability. For a brief moment, it feels introspective and willing to trust the audience to sit with uncomfortable questions. Even though I didn’t agree with what the show was trying to say, I could at least tell the writers believed in it.

Then the show introduces a villain—and everything collapses.

That single decision triggers a major tonal shift. What could have remained a character-driven, philosophical exploration suddenly becomes a crime thriller. Instead of centering the protagonist’s internal struggle, the narrative externalizes conflict. Accountability shifts outward. Reflection is replaced with reaction. The protagonist stops looking inward and starts chasing a “big bad,” flattening the very message the show initially seemed committed to.

This is especially frustrating because the strongest antagonist was already there: Death itself. Death, as an existential force, was far more compelling than any human villain could ever be. It was thematic, inevitable, and deeply unsettling. You could feel that, at some point, the writers genuinely believed in this idea. Unfortunately, they didn’t trust it to be interesting enough. They chose spectacle over substance, drama over meaning.

That lack of trust bleeds into the characters—particularly the main character. The first episode presents him as intelligent, driven, and calculating. But from there, his writing becomes wildly inconsistent. He knows he could die at any moment, yet does nothing to prevent it. He makes no real plans, avoids sensible decisions, and reduces his motivation almost entirely to money, and later, revenge. The loved ones he supposedly left behind—central to the show’s moral guilt-tripping—barely cross his mind unless he physically runs into them by chance or is reminded of the by something in his current life. It’s ironic, considering the entire premise is meant to force him to confront the consequences of his suicide.

The supporting cast is equally underwhelming, which is shocking given how stacked it is. Many capable actors give committed performances, but the writing boxes their characters into simplistic roles: selfish and greedy, or kind-hearted and doomed. We spend so much time anchored to the main character that everyone else feels narratively disposable. Even Death—the only character with real presence in the show—has so little screen time that her prominence in the marketing feels misleading.

To make matters worse, the show is suffering from a severe identity crisis. By the time it ends, it’s hard to say what Death’s Game is even trying to be. Is it action? Fantasy? Comedy? Romance? Horror? Psychological thriller? Crime drama? High school drama? Somehow, it attempts all of these within a handful of episodes, resulting in tonal whiplash rather than genre-blending. Nothing is given room to breathe.

The plot also prioritizes shock value above all else. Deaths are sudden, often illogical, and sometimes outright nonsensical. Instead of feeling tragic or meaningful, they feel engineered to surprise.

In the end, Death’s Game is all vibes and very little substance. It gestures at depth without truly engaging with its ideas, coming across as shallow and preachy rather than profound. I’ve genuinely never seen such a stacked cast wasted on such a nothingburger of a plot.

Still, credit where it’s due: the set pieces are visually impressive, and the production value is strong. Unfortunately, aesthetics can’t compensate for weak characterization and confused storytelling.

Overall, this was a lackluster experience. The show wants to be deep, but it doesn’t seem to fully understand the topics it’s tackling—and worse, it doesn’t trust its audience to sit with anything real.

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A love story where two hearts becoming each other's comfort

Just finished the last episode and it delivers exactly what its title promises a warm love story that shines through with emotion and heartfelt moments. This slow burning romance between Lin Yusen and Nie Xiguang captivated me from start to finish, demonstrating how a patient and steady love story can be the most rewarding.

The story follows the cheerful and positive Nie Xiguang, a business school student whose journey begins with an unrequited crush. After graduation and some heartbreak, she joins Guangyu Photovoltaic where she meets Lin Yusen, a former top neurosurgeon quietly working at his family's solar company following a career changing accident. What unfolds is a beautiful tale of mutual healing, personal growth, and finding the love you truly deserve.

The first few episodes focus heavily on Xiguang’s college life which is a crucial setup of her character display and the base of the story. It allows her character to grow, move on from her past, and be ready for the mature and steady love that Lin Yusen offers. What makes this drama so special is the natural progression of their relationship. Lin Yusen is the definition of a green flag. His pursuit of Xiguang is refreshingly mature as he gives her the space she needs, shows up when she needs him most and loves her with patience and respect. Their chemistry feels authentic and comfortable like sunshine filtering through a gentle forest. Song Weilong and Zhao Jinmai bring these characters to life with such wonderful and convincing performances.

I particularly appreciated how the drama shows the contrast between a love that makes you doubt yourself and a love that helps you flourish. The way Xiguang feels at ease and confident with Yusen is a central theme. This also applies to her friendships contrasting the supportive environment at work with her less trustworthy college friends. The supporting characters add wonderful depth like Jiang Rui who is the hilariously protective cousin, and Xiguang's decisive mother and the entire warm work family at Guangyu.

My only minor wish was for more screen time dedicated to their life as an official couple as the 'getting together' phase takes up a large part of the story. However, the final episode showing their happy married life with their daughter was a perfect conclusion that many modern dramas fail to deliver.

Shine On Me proves that sometimes the most beautiful love stories are the quiet ones where two people simply bring out the best in each other and become each other's comfort and strength. A truly delightful drama that will leave you feeling warm long after watching.

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The Revenge of Repetition

Before season 3 of Taxi Driver began airing, I remember reading an article, I think a feature piece, on Lee Je Hoon and his thoughts returning to the series. Now, I may be mis-quoting him, but I think he talked about the general pitfalls of creating multi-season dramas - like Taxi Driver.

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According to me, these can range from anywhere between tiny changes or big overhauls like
1. Changes in storytelling format
2. Changes to the cast and/or crew
3. Réduction/increase in episodes
4. Lack of story to tell
5. A complete loss of identity and essence
And the funny thing is, Taxi Driver did not commit any of these faux-pas, it's been the exact same from the beginning, so what happened?

Maybe it's that - maybe it's because they've been executing the same thing for 48 episodes now. But that's not what let me down about this season. The formula was a little different from it's direct predecessor, and a lot different from the very first season (atleast for me), without losing track of what the show was initially and will always be about.

The heart and soul of the show is obviously and outwardly, revenge - but it's also about retribution, growth and second chances. The Rainbow Taxi team is the core of the story, and all three emotions and the elements I would associate with them are completely intact in this storytelling operandi.

So what was missing? I'd say.. a little bit of magic.

The thing that made Taxi Driver, Taxi Driver, was what was missing. The formulaic narration apparently made the writers think extra hard about what they wanted to do, and in all the effort they put, I think they forgot to ask themselves if they enjoyed writing the story, and if we would enjoy watching it. It's a very solid effort, you can tell there was a lot of blood, sweat and tears put into this by everyone who worked on it, but whether those were happy tears, I cannot confirm.

The excitement, the rage, the sadness and the relief - all emotions I felt prior - felt tamped down. But the worst part was, it's like they tried so hard to invoke them in spades, but fell extremely short.

Each individual case was new, the indication that this form of storytelling was popular was obvious through the immense scale of filming locations and the sheer amount of celebrity cameos, from popular Hallyu stars, Dorama regulars, and even guest roles by actors whose works I'm incredibly familiar with, and that got the blood rushing.
The cinematography was vivid and fast paced, the acting was on point and all the individual components, adjudicated as individuals, left nothing to crave.
But as a whole, a sequel and in retrospect - they left much to the imagination.

I still enjoyed watching it but it was hard not to be bogged down by the same things that bogged down the drama. Lee Je Hoon was amazing as always, and so were the rest of the cast, all the leads and guest actors.

But unfortunately, I'm a little disappointed.

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started it good, but fell off

Toxic series of the year! It started with much potential, and fell off but to be fair the story itself is really hard to watch. The acting is fine, Hao Yiran is really good with his emotion and deliveries, Yunqi on the other hand did well despite being rookie and has great potential for improvement.
The biggest problem of this series is the ENDING, It felt like it was so rushed. One thing FX needed the most is nit YSL but a therapy. Also them being together is not needed.
Overall, series did great but no rewatch value. A new series with YunQi and Yiran with better plot is a must!

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12 Letters: A Perfect Tapestry of Selfless Love

12 Letters is a flawless masterpiece, intertwining 1991's resilient teens with 2026's linked adults through magical letter exchanges. At its beating heart, the romance captivates with profound selflessness—the leads' unwavering support, quiet sacrifices, and tender devotion craft a bond that's deeply moving, natural, and inspiring.

Their chemistry ignites effortlessly, every selfless act elevating interactions into pure emotional poetry. Those giving, heartfelt moments beautifully showcase love's noblest essence, leaving a lasting glow.

Beyond that, the story's realism shines; strip the fantasy, and lives unfold vividly authentic. 1991's characters burst with rich depth, each a fully realized, relatable soul. Episode 8 delivers a brilliant emotional peak, amplifying these selfless themes masterfully.

Subtle side plots and intensities add enriching layers, while the letters weave clever "what ifs" into a seamless whole. Exceptional script and production values make it transcendent.

Blind viewing was a revelation—must-watch for cdramas blending angsty historical grit with modern resonance. Selflessness here redefines relationship goals. Absolute perfection! 10/10.

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This was super cute and super sweet.

The boss was a bit cold at the beginning, but never cruel, and was ultra sweet once he started to like the employee.

The relationship was mutual - no reluctance and avoidance that made the whole relationship feel uncomfortable / dubiously consensual (even despite one character being a virgin). Both characters were equals within their relationship, despite the power dynamic at work, and both took the lead, took initiative, and took care of the other at different times.

There was lots of casual physical affection, and it didn’t feel overly chaste or sanitized like KBLs often do. All proper kisses, and one implied sex scene (with a cut to the morning after). The movie version includes a shirtless make out in bed scene before it cuts to the morning after. I felt it could have done with an ending kiss in the finale though.

There were three things that kept me from giving this 10 stars: the ex-drama, the employee’s default behavior of running away when things get hard, and the consent issues.

For the ex-drama, the employee had an all-consuming crush on this guy back in college, but the guy never reciprocated and it turned out that he had dated the boss for a while. He’s now a friend and business client of the boss. This really bothers the employee, to the point that they almost break up when the boss doesn’t understand why it’s a big deal. To be honest, I don’t understand why it’s a big deal either. If he was truly over him, why would the hurt over the ex wanting the boss instead of him in the past still have any bearing? I wanted a more definitive statement to show that the employee was truly over that guy because I didn’t get the impression that he was. After the conflict is resolved though, the ex never shows up or is mentioned again, so that was good.

The employee has never been in a relationship before, so it makes sense that he doesn’t really understand healthy conflict resolution. But after the first fight around the ex, the boss tells him that they’ll work through things together, just don’t run away. But in the end, when the employee doesn’t get a full time position, he does the same thing and shuts down. They’re not explicitly fighting, but he avoids the boss for several days while still having time to work on a project with the other intern and to look for jobs. And he didn’t even seem unhappy about the lack of contact. That annoyed me, especially since it was in the finale, because it felt like a lack of character development. That would been the perfect moment to showcase the employee confiding in and leaning on the boss. When the employee apologized for shutting down again, it felt like a hollow promise since that seems to be his default response the minute things get emotionally difficult.

For consent, there were definitely a few times at the beginning that read like sexual harassment, as well as a few dubiously consensual moments. Because their relationship was developed in the workplace instead of outside it, because the boss made physical moves without clarifying anything verbally (even ignoring the drunk scenes and power dynamics), and because the employee kept calling the boss “Department Head Kim” for a while into their relationship, the beginning did feel a bit like sexual harassment. Also, the boss kisses the employee’s cheek when the employee is drunk, he carcasses his hair while both are sober in the office, and he kisses the employee for the first time while the employee is even more drunk on another occasion. There’s also a scene where the boss is annoyed the employee is avoiding him, so he grabs him by the wrist and yanks him a bit aggressively to get him to talk.

That being said, when the boss makes a move to initiate sex and the employee tells him to wait, he does stop and they discuss before proceeding. The employee is the one that decides to continue and the boss doesn’t pressure or coerce him in any way.

Also, it’s really minor but the idea that the video thanking the company that the employee and his co-intern made after not getting full time positions would 1) go viral, and 2) make the company regret not hiring them was a bit ridiculous. The video was super cringy and not dissimilar to a student project. It would have been more believable if they hadn’t actually shown the video they had made and left it to the viewer’s imagination.

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"Whats the matter with you, b*tch?"

Its a question Jane's best friend asks her at one point in the series and I happen to strongly agree with this question. Her character sure is.. interesting. Incredibly naive, like she was just born yesterday kind of naive. But that's ok, you expect some personal growth from characters as the series progresses, which she does, slightly..

A "slice of life" kind of series with GL, that unfortunately lacked a lot of story in my opinion, I didn't mind that it was chill with only a hint of drama, I still felt it needed something more going on. There are plot elements that should have explored more to give the story substance.

I felt there was aspects of the story that should have been introduced earlier on instead of the "filler" elements that somewhat plagued a decent % of the series earlier on, which was an odd choice in my opinion for a series so short. Thankfully the last half does improve somewhat. Not to say it doesn't have its moments, the phone-call scene is hilarious. But good individual scenes sadly doesn't make up for the show as a whole.

The two leads are good together on screen, its cute and sweet, whilst majority of the other stories and scenes with the other characters were severely lacking in my opinion, overall it has some highs, a lot of "skip" moments and in the end that makes it just a somewhat enjoyable, but slightly tedious series to watch. I'd recommend it if you enjoy a mostly-no drama "slice of life" series, with an air-headed lead, some humerus moments here and there, that has GL sprinkled throughout.

I think a lot of the problems I had with the show, could have been solved with more episodes to evolve the story as it goes on (the ending feels a bit rushed as well) and if they had injected some better story elements into the first half.

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Strong ideas and messages, weak execution.

"Like a Palette" is one of the books by Zezeho that I really enjoy, so I was looking forward to the series. But as much as the series is faithful to the book, the way it was brought to life is rather weak. At first glance, it seems like your typical student romance series with the senior-junior romance trope. But it delves into some ideas that set it apart - the self-discovery, self-acceptance, and the impact of societal prejudices, particularly transphobia. The series handles these sensitive topics with care, depicting the struggles in a respectful and impactful manner. Unlike many other GL series that shy away from explicitly naming the characters' sexual orientations, this series boldly embraces and celebrates lesbian identity. By doing so, the show normalizes and validates same-sex relationships, challenging the stigma and misconceptions surrounding LGBTQ+ individuals.

One of the refreshing aspects of this series is the portrayal of a supportive and loving family environment. The main character, Jane is surrounded by a circle of family members who offer unwavering support and encouragement. And the mom is definitely a positive character which is different from the typical moms we see in most GL series. And I like the jazzy OST.

While the series is commendable for tackling these important issues and the underlying positive messages, the execution falls short in some areas. The acting needed a lot more polish. Jane, portrayed by Thongfah Alicha, is the star of the show, but Thongfah’s somewhat unnatural performance diminishes the impact of the character, hindering the emotional connection. Her dialogue delivery sounds weird too. Even Prigkhing’s good acting can't help much. But the rest of the cast deserve praise for making this series more bearable. And Prigkhing-Fah's on-screen chemistry is somewhat lacking, making Dai-Jane's dynamic less convincing.

On top of that, the pacing feels a bit choppy, with certain scenes and plot developments lacking coherence and smooth transitions. And while the cinematography is okay, the visual storytelling fails to give the key plot points the impact they deserve. There were quite a few times I wasn't only cringed at Jane's acting, but also the awkward camera angles.

Overall, Like A Palette has the potential to be an engaging series, but the execution and acting just don't meet the mark. While it may not be a flawless series, its bold approach to storytelling and commitment to addressing vital societal issues make it a noteworthy addition to the genre.

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Did i just said car service - 5283 goodbye?

Did i just said car service - 5283 goodbye? Honestly, this series has been a ride from the very beginning. I loved Season 1 for how raw and fearless it was, and Season 2 for how it deepened the characters and their bond as a team. Watching them grow, struggle, joke, and stand together through every case made Rainbow Taxi feel less like a concept and more like a family. By the time I reached Taxi Driver Season 3, I already cared deeply about this crew, and somehow the show still managed to deliver something fresh, heavier, and just as gripping.

Season 3 was amazing in its own way. It raised the stakes, hit closer to reality, and reminded me why I fell in love with this story in the first place. I loved this team, their journey, and everything they stood for. For future watchers, I genuinely hope you give it a chance. Taste is subjective, and not everyone looks for the same thing in a drama, but if you want action with meaning, a strong team dynamic, and a story that doesn’t shy away from darkness, this one is for you.

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