Reviews

:(

Overall, the drama was truly good and I cried alllllllllooooooootttttt (fine for me). The first 10 episodes were so intense that I finished them in one sitting, but my head hurt so much from crying that I had to take two pills before continuing. It even made me feel depressed for a while.

However, I felt a bit disappointed with the ending. It would have been a perfect 10/10 for me if Sang Hak had been involved in the ending, even just as supportive. They didn't need to get back together (which | really wish for), but including him would have given the story a more satisfying and complete conclusion.

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Interestingly awkward with a side of boring

As I’ve noted before in other reviews, I need more than good-looking actors to make a series good.

I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

The series started off very interesting, but slowly washed away due to very poor execution. This was unfortunate because it had a lot of potential. The one positive thing about the script is it did a decent job keeping me interested enough to get invested in the characters. Although the script did a nice job introduction the merman premise, the rest of the script quickly became tedious with the most basic story elements. This became surprisingly bland at times considering the multiple storylines and conflict scenarios the views were given. This takes some real talent, or is it a curse? I’ll let you decide. The production team was smart enough to give the views just enough at the end of each episode to make you want to see the next one. The script did a lot of telling instead of showing which was paired up with a lot of awkward dialogue. It also did not utilize a core storyline very well. This could have been an island mystery series involving a BL couple instead of a BL series that happened to turn into an island mystery. Another execution problem was really poor director choices. It’s not a good sign when we get a flashback scene 17 minutes into the first episode on something that happened 6 minutes ago. This continues by giving the audience at least 1 visual or voiceover flashback in each episode. The worst is episode 7 in which we get 24 flashback scenes with only 3 of them serving an actual purpose. There is even a flashback montage (7 in total) that last about 2 minutes. Another thing that wasted a lot of screen time was the very long pauses between the actors’ lines. I guess this was supposed to make the scenes dramatic and/or romantic, but it just made the already awkward dialogue worst. On the positive side, the acting was very good considering many of the actors are new. I give them kudos for doing their best with what they were given. Even though it has beautiful cinematography and locations, this also became a problem. The production team relied heavily on this by giving the viewer excessively long scenic location shots. I will say the merman costumes and CGI were good. As for the background music, it was nice but the volume was too loud during many of the scenes.

Random Note:

New Drinking Game: Take a shot for every flashback scene. Caution: Only do this if you have a high tolerance for alcohol.

The ending, although happy, was a little lackluster. They also tried to jam in all the information about the island mystery in the last episode.

If you eliminated all the poor director choices that added to the wasted screen time, this could have been a 4-episode series (6-episode max).

The English subtitles on Viki were good with the exception of the timing.


******Potential Spoiler Alert******

I wish the production team focused on just a few storylines. This series could have been more interesting if the production team had slowly incorporated what happened on the island 20 years ago. Instead they just randomly introducing vague information about it midway through and wait for the last episode to give all the important information at once.

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It could be much better but..

It took me a while to collect my courage since horror is definitely not my forte, and if you can relate this, then let me tell you that ep 1, 2 & 9 is the only scary part. So, you don't have to worry too much about it.

Tbh, horror genre is quite new in BL entertainment, so I might put a lil bit of high hope in this one, and I have to say that I feel a lot of disappointment in this one..

1. There's too much side character storyline that I wish they could prolong. Cutting them short just to fit everything in 12 eps were kinda leaving the audience hanging and confuse. (You can clearly see this at the end when one of the character ask the questions to the other people)

2. The storyline itself.. is too slow. I know that this series is mainly focuses in Ramphueng and Khem but the romance is also a genre of the series and it started to get bloom around ep 7 which is more than half of the series. The ghost itself also rarely appeared in the early eps, and started to get heavy at the end, makes me thinking that you can easily skipped the whole series in half (started on ep 7) and still be able to understand the whole series.

3. The ending of Ramphueng.. killed my mood. I don't know if the others would love that kind of ending but not me. The fact that she have hurt a lot of people during her existence as a ghost, I feel like it should be more than that. This part really makes me wanna drop the series right away, making me rethinking my whole life decision in starting the series.

I know it can be much better as it's basically not about the cast skill or series production, but more towards the plot itself.. Due to their beautiful location and settings choice, the ost is quite pleasant to hear (ofc, casting the singer couple as the 2nd lead) and the acting of Namping is soo good, the way he switched between a few roles, and also Keng, the way he express his emotion, when he cried and feel too much of his emotion.. I must say, both of them just debut but it makes me wondering if it is just a lil white lies?

But still, for me, it's totally not worth to rewatch (unless you want to see the certain scenes), and I wish the company can give another series that's much better than this storyline to the couple. They have so much potential and it's definitely shouldn't be wasted.

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Interesting twists on rom com - lots of promises but pathetically disappointing messages

==== WRITTEN AT THE END
Wow what a waste of time. It had potential, trying to make young people's world visible, shatter some preconceived notions and stereotypes, and promote inclusiveness and the environment.

And ended up as a bunch of smart educated kids NOT taking the embezzlement files to the police, suing the university, calling the media, or whatever, etc, to end the crime there.

So the final message is that these people are just helpless kids kinda exploring some adult things but really clueless.

So that is why this was sponsored by Ministry of Culture or whatever it said at the start of the drama? That is how you brainwash the kids into complacency?

Disappointingly pathetic.


==== WRITTEN AFTER EP 8
This drama is generally cute college drama, but ... with some twists... i wonder what this drama is really trying to accomplish... It is using some unexpected twists to shock the audience...

For the first time ever, the typical asian drama plot is reversed - now the man is all heart no brains, and the woman is smart and frozen cold rather cruel. The exact opposite of a typical kdrama, which creates 100% of th plot by having FL do stupid stuff and ML save her.

I am also glad we get to see real women. Not some skinny chicks in mini skirts, like Jenny. Korean actors and actresses seems like are forced to be super thin and that is horrifying. That was fashionable in the West in 1960s... Now, what is fashionable is MUSCLES. And that is a lot healthier too.

I like that this kdrama addresses the topic of "good looking men" and how the looks are passing and not everything, and how many good looking become addicted to attention, fall and become entitled ppl, players, etc... That is a cool attempt to introduce certain equality between genders and to educate youngsters about years ahead and what really matters.

Also, FL is a comp sci major - how great. I am so glad someone is promoting engineering and comp sci, smart women, female engineers, etc. That is so cool.

This show also promotes LGBT.... which is promoted a lot lately, generally, there are so many gay romance kdramas now.... so ok, young people probably need to figure things out these days as the global overpopulation and no need for kids makes LGBT acceptable and actually ... desirable... :) but also clashes with the S Korea being the lowest with birth rate and Korean government and kdramas promoting having babies...

Then we have statements about no environmentally friendly golf courses and hotels... not using plastic straws and bottles... recycling.... Nature... Sure, I am on that...
but.... while ML is figuring that out, ML is wearing a necklace with a catholic cross... and a tank top with the Jesus crown of thorns.. Heck what was THAT??? So many gays in catholic church killing two birds with one stone...?
Then we have party crowd going in cars to some hotel in Nature... ????

Surprisingly LGBT community, at last in the USA, is actually rather wealthy and SUPER CONSERVATIVE and would NOT support green, organic, natural, saving environment, no golf courses and hotels.... They mostly vote Republican... and have taken over the entertainment, fashion, and many other areas of business and wealth and influence...

Then, what is the purpose of that sex toy at the end. It was rather ... cheap humor. I was wondering why that was introduced? Why does th audience need to see that? To shock or tickle the audience? Really? To make this drama so americanized, to have it based on shocking the audience with cheap trashy sexualization? Heck no. I dont watch anything western because of such lack of content and covering up the brainless trashiness by cheap tricks.

If this moment was going to be used to discuss the prevalent use of pornography in the last generations in the West - and perhaps that is a good thing against overpopulation? LOL but it is a bad thing for egotism..... - well those scenes did not have to last like ... 20 mins total? Why make such a big fuss about it?

because that wasted time and cheap meaningless content, I gave a low rating and got totally put off.

Some dramas like Bon Apettit Your Majesty created lots of plot just by showing food... Saves the script writer from having to think about CONTENT...

and I totaly dislike it when th content is thrown out th window

Also, I am very suspicious at this point... it seems as yet another attempt to americanize the Koreans and to cater to american audience and make them watch this and pay $$$$$ for th drama. Exactly the holywood/disney trick - put as much sex and violence and wild car chases as you can, the most lewd and explicit kind, and it will definitely make the movie/series very popular... HECK NO... I am quitting if kdramas become westernized. There is absolutely nothing worth watching in the west, and if Kdramas lose their creative CONTENT then bye bye kdramas too.

So I am not sure where this is going - is it saying - we are hip? is it saying - hey this is fun look at me? is it saying - we are sooo totally westernized, watch us, we are the same?

I dont know. But what I do know is that there is no reason to ruin a perfectly fun great drama with TRASH. No you are not cool when you show sex toys and sex in a drama. It is not cool. It is just trashy westernization.

The ONLY advantage that a kdrama has over a western piece is that a kdrama is creative, based on unique story and characters, has CONTENT, has CHARACTER GROWTH, solves problems in meaningful and warm ways, and promotes sane healthy living lifestyle.
So if a kdrama throws that out, ... there is no reason to watch it :) it becomes the same old western trash.


Kdramas now show ppl drinking whiskey, sleeping in beds, eating bread and pasta, drinking coffee, taking LOTS o sleeping pills, there are Catholic churches and crosses everywhere, like in every single drama... I dont get to see Buddhist scenes in the dramas anymore!!!!

So what is going on here, really.... ???

I will probably finish watching this on some rainy cold day like today but will fast forward through scenes that have zero content.
====

One more comment: I liked those Pilates machines and ML seems to have strong legs, so how come his shoulders and arms are so skinny?

I suspect that ML actor is some kind of fun loving party dude in real life, he is so enthusiastic and natural in those scenes, and very contrived fake in scenes where he is dumb and bland..... I wonder why he took this role.

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Mini-comedy (24 x 10" without credits) Country-side vs. businessmen

PLOT: The ML, an heir / CEO recently returned from abroad, decides to take over an ambitious golf course project on land dedicated to tea gardens. While his rivals conspire to take control of the group (cousin, uncle, FL2's one-side-lover, etc.), he goes to the village to convince the inhabitants. But the schoolteacher is quite seductive...

+++ Two very good leads (that I wasn't familiar with), convincing, with quite a few kisses, but the chemistry still needs work;
+++ The direction is well-paced. The visuals are beautiful, and the series mostly avoids the pitfalls of short-length dramas (where everything is abrupt and seems artificial).
+++ Pleasant OSTs

### The story is coherent, but it has all the tired plots: FL2's rival and one-side-lover, attempted murder, accomplice Bought because of his debts, etc.
### The business aspect doesn't seem very clear or realistic.

=> Entertaining series to pass a rainy afternoon (but one I won't watch again).
***************************************************************
Mini comédie (24 X 10" sans les génériques) Country-side Vs businessmen

PLOT : Le ML, héritier revenu de l'étranger récemment, décide de prendre en main un ambitieux projet de golf sur des terres dédiées à la culture du thé. Pdt que ses rivaux conspirent pr prendre le contrôle du gpe (cousin, oncle, FL2 one-side-lover, etc.) il se rend ds le village pr convaincre les habitants. Mais l'institutrice est bien séduisante ...

+++ 2 très bons leads (que je ne connaissais pas), convaincants, avec pas mal de kisses, mais une alchimie qui reste à travailler;
+++ La réalisation est rythmée. Les images sont belles, et la série évite à peu près, les défauts des short-length dramas (où tout est brusque et semble artificiel)
+++ OSTs agréables

### La story est cohérente, mais il y a tous les plots usés : FL2 concurrente et one-side-lover, tentatives de meurtre, complice acheté à cause de ses dettes, etc.
### La partie Business ne semble pas très claire ni réaliste.

=> Série distrayante pour passer un après-midi pluvieux (mais que je ne regarderai pas à nouveau).

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I loved everything about it

Disclaimer

What I am writing here are my views and thoughts about this series. Some of you may not like it. That does not give you the right to try to come at me with your opinions on why this series should get a higher or lower score and why it is better/worse than I think it is. You have your own opinions, and I have mine. Kindly respect that.

It's been a while since I actually binge-watched a series in less than one and a half days and thoroughly enjoyed it. The length of each episode was good, as I didn't get bored while watching them. The actors were phenomenal in their roles, portraying their characters in a way that made me cry/ be happy/be sad/ angry with them as well as for them. The music for this series was, of course, top-notch, making me bob my head along with it as well as (try to ) sing along with it.

I would have liked to get to know more about the ML's father as well as at least see the face of the person who trained him, but I guess those aspects add to the flair of this series. And, who knows? Maybe they might touch on these aspects in the new season when Hwang Min Hyun finishes his military enlistment this year.

I believe I like this series as it shows people that in a bad situation, you can still have a dream where you can better yourselves. That they should at least continue fighting for these dreams when there are negative things around them and in their lives- that's what I got to take from all of these characters. This was truly a wonderful and surprisingly entertaining series. Even though I originally watched this series for the MDL 2025 Watch challenge, I am glad that I did, and I highly recommend this series to other people who are wondering if they should give it a watch.

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All the glitz, none of the substance...

This drama had everything: royal aesthetics 👑, sparkling costumes ✨, and hype-worthy couples… but the writing and directing destroyed it all. 😩

The main couple — We all know they can act, but here their chemistry and performances felt off. Zee showed *minimal to no* facial expressions—please, give us something 😭! A smile, a tear, anger, joy… anything. NuNew was okay, but his character became irritating fast. He started as a prince with potential, then turned into a randomly singing, love-sick puppy. It completely ruined what could’ve been a strong arc.

The second couple — So much potential, barely any screen time. They had the story and the acting to save the weak plot, but were given nothing. Honestly, their storyline was more interesting than the main couple’s. And their ending? It didn’t even feel like an ending—just a hug, a “sorry,” and pushed aside 😑.

The third couple — The worst handled. If you have no story for them, don’t add them. Net & JJ deserved better. No beginning, no ending, no moments at all. Why were they even included? 🤦‍♀️

The NC scenes that were hyped were completely bland—no spice, nothing. The action scenes were laughable. And the ending… wow. Just a ring, a two-minute kiss, and suddenly that’s the conclusion? No answers, no closure, nothing.

The king’s death also felt random, like “we don’t need you anymore” and—boom—dead. Ava’s POV had potential, too, but the writing kept toning her down for no reason. So many storylines, zero payoff.

Verdict: So much potential, utterly ruined. A royal mess. 👑💥

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Fun Watch, Bad Writing

Was this series easy to watch and have great chemistry? Yes. Was the writing good and did I like the characters? No.

This series was really entertaining if you just turn off your brain and watch without thinking much but the second you sit down with it, you realize how toxic many parts of this was.

I hate most of the time when people say stuff like this, but if Pat was a man she would have been the villain of the story because she was SOOO TOXIC and OBSESSIVE to an unhealthy level. Her character was one of the main flaws of this series but somehow I still rooted for her? So maybe that's an issue on my part lmao.

Pat was also horrible with boundaries and some of her advances came off very creepy and bordered on SA. I also don't understand why GL series still have characters kissing the other when the other is almost black-out drunk, it's 2025, we can do better.

You also couldn't pay me to care about any of the side characters, especially Nam. I was so close to dropping this series at one point because Nam wouldn't leave Pat & Prem alone and it was just getting repetitive and annoying.

However, I would recommend watching this series to most GL watchers just because of how entertaining it was. Despite my complaints, I was sat every week for this mess and I feel like this would be a very easy binge. Also the leads had great chemistry and I hope to see them in a future series with better writing.

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Scandal Eve — A Thriller Shot Like Spotlight With a Soap-Level Scandal

Review (Episode 1):

Scandal Eve tries to look like a serious investigative thriller—full of sober shots, ominous music and intense stares, as if it were filmed by someone trying to remake Spotlight or All the President’s Men.
The problem? The entire plot revolves around a scandal so small it belongs on a tabloid gossip show, not in a political thriller.

The first half of the episode is pure tension with no context: you don’t know who these people are, what the company does, or why you’re supposed to care. The script expects the viewer to feel pressure without giving any reason for it.

And when the “big scandal” finally drops, it’s almost laughable: an actor had a one-night affair five years ago. In Japan, private life can destroy a career, but the drama never explains that cultural context—so for an international viewer, there’s nothing here that justifies the atmosphere of crisis.

Then comes the press conference, filmed with the gravity of a political confession, when in reality the content barely rises above TMZ-level gossip. To make it worse, a simple question from a reporter sends everyone into panic, even though the situation could be answered calmly with basic logic.

In the end, Scandal Eve looks elegant, but the story is inflated and dramatically hollow.
Lots of silence and intense gazes… with nothing underneath.
A thriller in form, a gossip show in substance.

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Why is Revenged Love so adored?

Perhaps this should have been an editorial rather than a review.

Regardless, I did enjoy Revenged Love. As a confirmed fujoshi, I do love a good BL (Boys Love) story, whether in book or drama form. If you don’t know what a fujoshi is, just know this was written by a female and directed by a female. There are a bunch of social studies as to why us fujoshis like this genre.

Truth be told, the Chinese do BL better than pretty much anyone else I’ve read. My theory is censorship is so bad, they’ve got to make a compelling story, junk never sees the light of day.

I stuck with this show because of previous reviews, the good and the bad. My hope is this review will help others understand why Revenged Love is worth supporting.
When searching where this was filmed, it is actually a little sketchy, Taiwan or China. Rumors have it filmed in Wuxi which is mainland China.

Why is this important? Censorship.

There are many parts (basically two men kissing) of Revenged Love that are banned in Mainland China. If this bothers you, this is not the drama for you. If this is your first BL, you might want to watch The Untamed, Guardian, or Word of Honor first. They will get your feet wet in this type of genre without the commitment of watching a REAL romance between two men.
If you are a fujoshi like me or want to watch an interesting romance regardless of gender, please fire up the Viki app and enjoy the show.

Characters:
Revenged Love has a primary couple, a secondary couple, and very slyly, a tertiary couple. All six men have some sort of connection to each other. Zi Yu plays the lead character extremely well. Tian Xu Ning made for a compelling broody male lead (I LOVE BROODY MALES) to Zi Yu’s sunny scheming Wu Qi Qiong/Wu Suowei.

Zhan Xuan and Liu Xuan Cheng did well on the secondary romance. I felt their story was fleshed out pretty well and believable.

Story:
The story was engaging, but not the best BL story out there by any stretch of the imagination. When we are talking source material, there are more compelling tales to be turned into dramas.

Wo Suo Wei is a straight man who is violently dumped by his girlfriend. He tries to improve himself, only to be violently dumped again. He wrongfully assumes that Chi Cheng is the cause of all his problems and schemes to get revenge.

Chi Cheng is no innocent. He’s rather a thug until he and Wu Suo Wei grow closer. The other two couples help or hinder this relationship fraught with drama and snakes. Watching them both change because of the relationship is rather sweet.
Oh Yeah. If you can’t stand the sight of snakes, this drama is not for you.

As a whole, Revenged Love seems to be made on the cheap when you compare it to hidden BL stories like Guardian, The Untamed, and Word of Honor. Please don’t let that stop you from watching. This is set in modern day which is much cheaper than fantasy BL.

Dramas like Revenged Love need to be popular and make money.

Why?

So that the really cool banned stories that haven’t seen the light of day like: Eternal Faith (based on Heaven Official’s Blessing), Immortality (based on The Husky and His White Cat Shizun), and Winner is King (based on Sha Po Lang) FINALLY get released.
These are 3 (there are more) FANTASTIC books that were made into drama but NEVER released because of CENSORSHIP in China. My theory if shows like Revenged Love make money and have lots of viewers, some company outside of the mainland will by these unreleased dramas and release them…….because these are amazing shows are on a shelf somewhere rotting away.

Is Revenged Love the best BL out there?

No. But it is the best BL we can put our eyeballs on. So a plea to my fellow fujoshis. Watch. Watch as if the fate of Hua Cheng and Zie Lan depend on it’s success. You may enjoy it like I did.

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Amazing Soundtrack and Graphics

Bai Lu is one of my favorite C-drama actresses. Her acting is mature and emotional, and any drama she's in, I'm always adding it to the list. Moonlight Mystique is no exception.

First of all, I was very impressed with CGI quality. It was off only in a couple of places toward the end but otherwise very even throughout all the episodes. The sets were also beautiful along with costumes and makeup.

The music was amazing. It added an extra layer to an already very emotional story.

As far as characters go, I loved that each one had a backstory, and all of the stories were interesting. In a long drama, it's almost inevitable for me to skip scenes, many times bogged down with long dialogues and random characters, but in this drama everyone's scenes were beautiful and meaningful. I appreciated that.

I also liked that we didn't have too many exposition episodes and got right down to business.

ROMANCE (mild spoilers below)

I think for the first time in history of watching C-drama I actually liked a second CP and was just invested as into the lead couple. Also toward the end of the series, I started to guess what the true purpose of Fu Ling's character was. Honestly, when my guess came true, I was heartbroken.

Main couple had a very healthy relationship, if not a little boring. I think what really made them shine was obvious chemistry and the things they would do for each other. I enjoyed watching that. They had a lot of beautiful scenes together. I do think that Fan Yue's character started strong but became too soft. Still, the actor was made for this role. He needs more roles in xianxias and wuxias. He rocked all those outfits. Plus, his development aligned with his character's arc.

I also think Chang Hua Sen needs proper lead roles moving forward. I really liked him in Journey to Love. He was a little unhinged there. And here too, at the end. But the man can act.

I do think that it was a little unfair to the second couple for them to end up the way they did. I think they deserved a better ending. However, if that's the source material, I won't argue. Let's put this way-I've seen better fantasy, but I also was very impressed with the quality of music, sets, costumes, story, and acting in this one, so I am not going to take off any rating. As far as watching for pleasure to relax (and that's why I watch), this was one of the better ones I've seen this year.

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Annoying leads in a mediocre storyline with nothing new to offer

I had huge hopes from this drama but it turned out to be absolute generic and dud. This is one of those drama where things get sorted out in last 2 eps and till then all you get is an immature, obnoxius and bratty FL and a doormat of a nostalgia clingy ML who just can't take NO for an answer and also not move on. At this point it is not even funny but annoying to see when the two are together. This is one of those dramas where I would rather have the leads not end up together. The chemistry between them is mediocre to say the best, hell FL has better chemistry with 2ML and even their conversations are somewhat decent to watch.

The issue with the drama is that things between the leads makes you so frustrated that even when they get together you won't feel any spark or butterflies watching them. It simply bores you and does nothing else.

The cast is good but got screwed by the mediocre and draggy story

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