Reviews

a comedy with great chemistry

Overall: I enjoyed the chemistry with both couples. 10 episodes about 45 minutes each. There was a bonus scene at the end of episode 1 and also 10. Aired on WeTV https://wetv.vip/en/play/ev770x3txo1kfou/l41011jleaz-EP01%3A_Me_and_Who

Content Warnings: attempted murder, death off screen, manipulation

What I Liked
- chemistry
- sweet/caring moments
- cameo of the Khemjira leads Keng and Namping
- Knock Knock Boys on the tv
- they avoided a cliche in episode 9
- redemption arc for two characters

Room For Improvement
- not good world building: there was a large assumption made by a character in episode 1 and there were inconsistencies in the rules that they set
- nonsense stuff like going to bed with sleep masks but leaving a bright light on, leaving the curtain to the bedroom open when they don't want the butler to know what is happening, perfect hair when they woke up in the morning, one dead peacock that seemed to travel to every room the characters were in (update, I must have missed it on my first watch but it's Apo's "sleeping buddy" and they show him moving with it, I didn't take off any points in my review for this part lol)
- I did not laugh at most of the comedy (including toilet humor) as it went on
- the 'let me explain' and doesn't explain/the other person leaves without an explanation

Read More

Hard to say anything yet but seems interesting

Okay so first of all i know i have only watched 1 episode, so this is made by only reviewing that, first ep. This series seems interesting, literally a (love)triangle just like on the title. Honestly its really hard to say anything yet since it has only recently started but looking good and definetly gonna continue. I highly recommend watching the first ep and you'll kow after that if its your kind of series. Im excited where this series will go and what all interesting stuff gonna happen, cant wait!!
(also i gave music 5 just because i watched it with no volume so i dont know how it sounds)

Read More

My non-spoiler review:

I loved it. Favorite cdrama of the year. Finally a couple that is equal in everything (in mental and physical skills), a couple that avenges and kills.

As I am picky, I can't rate it a 10 bc of some 👎🏼, mostly technicals:

👎🏼 direction: the obsession of this director with the blinding lights and odd camera angles! Light in general, bc even at morning scenes the light looked fake.
👎🏼 filter: on the 4 main characters only it seems. Very jarring to see a scene where one was looking like a marble, without skin texture while the other (like an older actor) had wrinkles and underbags. And it was specially distracting when, for example, LQ was crying prettily but her tears disappear in her blurry face, which leads to...
👎🏼 make-up: I know they all have cakey make-up but it was terrible to see, for example, the younger brother crying and his numerous tears leaving a trace in his white face.
👎🏼 the permanent wind in their hair. I supposed for "aesthetics" but it was distracting.
👎🏼 I did not use the 1.5 speed any moment (as the Director wanted! 😅) but around ep33-34 the excitement diminished a little bit with the Storm Alliance and freaking XJS.
👎🏼 the Emperor of Jiunxi was a psycho and I loved him 😑
👎🏼 super personal one... iQiYI. For the 1st time I subscribed to this channel to binge it. But turns out, for the last 4ep I need to be Premium, not VIP. Meaning, pay more $$??? I had to watch the last 4ep illegally and it LQ 🙄🙄🙄

Read More

Pleasantly grounded idol romance

Immediately the photography of the show really stood out, it's very cinematic and would look good even theaters. The space and breadth within the shots is so nice, it honestly doesn't look like a gmmtv show if I didn't know what channel it's on. The cinematographer also previously worked on F4:Thailand which was also very good. The color grading is on the digital muddy side a bit, but it's not too distracting, because the beautiful photography and lighting makes up for it. The direction, pacing, writing, and acting are generally solid as well. One of the things the show does really well is showing a scene or situation in a certain way and showing a different point of view of what happened later. I also love how they let the romantic moments play out organically, letting the acting and the story carry it in the moment. That's how you respect the audience's intelligence. It's really nice that lead characters actually have a relationship, learning about each other, growing as individuals, learning how to have a relationship.

The story has as grounded of characters as a a romance fantasy can have, but there's still plenty of humorous moments that are drawn organically from the interactions and story, which is how it should be. I really do like Po's journey that he learns that he has no dream and that's okay. That sounds funny, but it's true not everyone needs to have some sort of epic goal, just wanting to live a life with the people you care about is good. His conversation with his tailor shop boss who doesn't have a dream, tailoring is just his job and it's totally fine is so nice to see in a drama. Po's lost puppy face really does give him some cute boy privilege with many people kind of babying him. The job interview panel in the opening gave him good constructive feedback while rejecting him at the same time for his unprofessionalism and bluntness about prioritizing his personal life over film directing work. It's also cute that Po is basically an implied fanboy of Bright Vachirawit who was in F4:Thailand and formerly the Riser labelmate of the real life boyband that is playing the fictional boyband Mars in this drama. Po says he likes the song Good Time and Thame sweetly sings it for him. It's the the ost from Bright's storyline in the anthology drama Good Old Days and he wants to watch Bright's film Love You To Debt which becomes a major part and continuing reference of Po's romantic storyline. I highly recommend the film, it's very bittersweet with romance and a brutal look at cycle of poverty. Po is also privileged in the way that he has a great support system with his mom sending him some spending money, his best friend looking out for job opportunities for him, and his tailor shop boss continuing to give him a flexible part time job along with fantastic advice and time for him to spend with Thame at the shop.

Thame getting furious when he spots Po at the company thinking he's a sasaeng that snuck in is understandable because he is fiercely protective of his bandmates as someone who selflessly looks out for others, especially with the responsibility of band leader. The sasaeng issue is bad in all countries and it's also a real problem with these stalker fans getting jobs at the companies. It was funny that Po didn't think he would have stood out enough for Thame to recognize him just one time, but he was being too cute for Thame not to notice with him thoughtfully picking up a little kid so she could see the band walking out better. Thame trying to get Po to quit opens the door for Po to just to be totally frank and trauma dump his point of view of seeing Thame being just like his ex Earn, being selfish and leaving the band after using them. Thame also starts to open up that he's actually also in a lot of pain which opens Po's eyes that Thame is actually different than what he thought and wants to understand him more, which he asks directly. To anyone it would sound like a romantic request, but Thame hilariously takes things with Po at face value throughout the drama, but thank goodness his observant bandmates help steer him back in the right direction and he immediately take action to rectify the situation. The same with Po getting Thame to realize how he needs to reconnect with his bandmates. Respect to Thame for also knowingly going up on stage for the freestyle rap battle for Dylan who was mad at him and wanted to set him up for humiliation. Thame actually did very well for even getting as far as he did in the rap battle. Freestyle rap is a totally different skill from written, a lot of rappers do not and cannot do freestyle.

Po and Thame staying up all night talking to each other, Thame even staying on the line until Po woke up and sings to him is so cute. The scene captures new love so well. It's funny how Thame is one step behind his feelings, his actions are already all in, he just doesn't understand the context to what he's even doing, but it's great that he has people around him to clue him into himself and he immediately owns up to it and takes action. Pepper pointing out to Thame that this is romantic to Thame and Thame going to Po right away to find out via the proximity and the touch test of his feelings is funny and sweet. The whole band pointing out the Thame that he totally missed out on the atmosphere of physical intimacy time when he and Po went back to the apartment and he also corrects that as soon as possible too is also funny and spicy. I really like how he encourages Po to just walk on his own pace and let Thame adjust to him rather than the other way around. An issue that in asian dramas in general, is that the writing uses shows really toxic behavior with the use of jealousy for humor, but I think this drama struck the right tone without it going overboard. It's pretty funny how Thame really just stood there and watched Po pack up all of Earn's clothes. Thame also read my mind and sharpied over the Earn cup, which I had been thinking Po could have done in the first ep when the cups first appeared. I appreciate that the kiss scenes, which are extremely hit and miss in the asian drama world in general regardless of the sexualities of the characters, look normal. It's a surprisingly hard bar to clear for some actors and directors before they can even begin to convey the feelings of the characters in the scene. I love that Po and Thame act like that adults that they are without being juvenile about wanting physical connection nor the scenes being over done.

Pepper rejoined Thame really quickly, so his storyline is revealed later to be that he has also been dating. His girlfriend Gam is a very pretty staff Oner staff member that Jun also flirted with. Jun keeps accidentally flirting with his bandmate's significant others. The actor who plays Jun looks like a twin of Bilkin, they can totally play brothers. Jun is a fun chaos demon of a character. He's the sharp on the uptick, seeing through Thame's self sacrifice with th eslave contract to pay off the group's debts, and wanting Thame to succeed rather than be held back by the group. Jun may be a flirt master 3000, but he's got the romance too, it's sweet how he does Po's subtitling edit work so Po can focus on their music video work, bringing him to a cool speak easy style spot to work, and serenading him. It's so nice how he immediately backs off once Thame confirms that he really does like Po because he knows that Po already likes Thame. No petty drama, he just goes back to being a great friend to them both. The show via Nano flirts with pairing Jun and the prickly Dylan, but it doesn't happen. They don't have the vibe for it, so it's fine. Their Oner boss is the main antagonist, but since this show is a vehicle for promoting gmmtv's own boyband, it's really funny that it may the reason that they actually make her be a more three dimensional person that a straight up villain. She has a vision to expand T-Pop and she pulls her punches at the end when she allows them to keep their band name.

Read More

Same Story. Different Feeling.

I almost never write reviews but I couldn't stand the slander this series is receiving.

Firstly, it is predictable. We all must have watched a similar story in this language or another, but this was different in the way the actors portrayed it. The dialogue was fresh and simple. Every episode made me think deeply about my life.

I saw a comment someone wrote about it not being relatable. And I think our problem is trying to find ourself in every story. Making us assume we are the centre of the world. Meanwhile, we haven't lived every struggle or every fantasy, so what makes us think we can relate to every story?

This story is light-hearted, but not in a flippant way. It will make you think.

Read More

coming of age minus any of the hard parts

A story that is supposed to be centered around female friendship and coming of age is instead shadowed by a luke warm love story and nonexistent plot. The story did begin with the beautiful growth of two female friends and I do really love their friendship, loyalty, compassion, and tenacity not only toward each other but toward other women around them. The two lead ladies are so likable and pleasant to watch and root for. But then just as things really begin to get hard and our characters face their biggest obstacle the story decides to skip right over it and pick up in a place that makes the characters we previously met seem like completely different people.

Massive time jumps rarely work out well for story tellers and often just feel like a lazy way of getting out of writing hard scenes. Here the time jump was 7 years and it completely skipped over all the aftermath and depression the characters needed to go through following a life altering point in their lives. It was an easy way for the writer to just skim the hard part of coming of age following set backs and misfortunes that lead to character growth and maturity. Instead the narrative just jumps to these completely different characters that we no longer are familiar with nor understand how some of the characters even ended up where they did based on the understanding we previously had of them. All the important information that needed to be gained from seeing the characters experience things was instead just told to us in nonchalant snippets making the show feel like two completely different ones. Everything that would have been difficult for the characters to overcome or experience was completely skipped over. Yeong Rae and company finding new jobs, Jeong Bun being a single mother, Jea Pil's family actually going through the bankruptcy and him going to med school, etc. Every important development is played off screen cheapening the experiences.

My other major complaint is that almost every character spends the majority of the story pining for someone. And they were secretly in love for years without saying anything. One or two characters I can handle but the whole main cast was spending their early twenties just pining for one person but never saying or doing anything. Do none of these characters have backbone or courage?

Examples of unanswered questions: Why would Jong Hui run but not call? Was that not clearly self defense? What kind of trouble would have actually happened if she had stayed? But instead she just runs with nothing and doesn't look back? Han Jea Pil had such strong feelings for Jong Hui that he seems to have spent those 7 years pining for her and she is the reason he quit boxing but then the writers want us to believe that he actually loves Yeong Rae after 7 years and a ton of meddling from everyone around them? Why is everyone living with Yeong Rae's family? Why did Yeong Sik wait that long to make a move when he had known her forever? Why are Sang Cheol and Jea Pil still close to Yeong Rae after Jong Hui left?

All in all it just felt like this story had no real direction or centered plot and left me as a viewer feeling like the whole thing was pointless by the end.

Read More

Best drama this year so far!!

Love this drama so much. So funny, it's like a breath of fresh air from same old themes. Love both leads as well. Some of you may dislike the FL, but girl, her actions are justified. She's just trying to protect herself and her family from events that are bound to happen as portrayed in the original script.

As for both actors, a job well done. Of course, THE Liu Yuning, what else can I say and Li Yitong! She pulled Song Yimengs character so well. Comedy is also for her haha

Right now, I can't move on from this drama haha Even LYN said on his livestream that he cant move on from ADWAD and it ruined it for him. This drama set the bar so high that when he read other scripts, he just cant help himself to compare. So yup, this drama is highly recommended!!!

Read More

Revenge for the dead

There are many revenge dramas and movies out there. Some bad, some good and some exceptional. The Resurrected belongs to the last category.

It has twists and turns, it has shocking and emotional moments, it is gripping from start to finish. It is a suspenseful cat and mouse game and it is just so different than anything else I've seen in the genre.

But one of the most important things in any revenged-themed story is to feel for the characters and here you don't only understand them, you root for them.

I won't start talking about acting, directing and all that jazz. The series is phenomenal in all aspects and everyone that likes "darker" dramas should definitely give it a watch.

For me, it's better to start watching this completely blind, unless you have any TW (which is the reason why I advise checking the tags if you do).

And lastly, I can't help but say this. It is such a pity that some productions don't get enough attention or promotion simply because people tend to avoid series made in (insert country name).
If this was a Spanish or American series, or even a Kdrama it would become very popular, but now barely anyone knows this even exists.

Anyways enough with the rant. I'll leave you with a quote from the drama.

"It isn't the despair that hurts the most. It's the endless hope"

Read More

a shallow story that lacks substance

First off I would like to admit that a drama format of 8 episodes ~50 minutes each is sometimes not enough to bring out the most fleshed out characters, deliver the most believable and meaningful character development on screen, or to express properly the subtle changes in each character's emotional side or trauma, which is best portrayed through interactions with other characters and the choices that they make along the story. But still within the same time constraints of such a drama format, there have been many masterpieces that gave birth to memorable characters, moving moments, and heartfelt scripts, some even created a cultural phenomenon and left a long-lasting strong impression on many a viewer. so to say that simply a shallow story or half-baked character development arcs is owing to time constraints would be an insult to such successful short format dramas.

watching this drama made me feel like I was reading a short comic book. Not just cause the story sometimes felt childish with an avalanche of convenient coincidences, or that the characters felt two-dimensional lacking depth, but also that the writers relied almost solely on the script to express all character's feelings, reasons behind their decisions and their regrets...I mean there is so much a script can do, but having to stretch it to the point of making it feel like an on-stage actor's monologue or a cheap speech bubble on a comic frame that summarizes people's intents and feelings in just a couple of words, it felt lazy on the writer's side.

Adding insult to injury the script was just so amateurish and cringe it pushed me to eye rolling and shutting my eyes to avoid watching the pure cringe taking place on screen.
the story and chatacters were cute and all but lacked in believability and relatability which didn't help, add to that the fact that the story featured an extra dose of cliché to the point I actually appreciated the meta moments where the drama made fun of its own clichéd tropes.

the romance to be honest was lacking imo, which might have been for several reasons, one of which is that the whole story felt rushed to the point that it didn't provide enough material that shows the gradual development in their relationship. we need the back and forth in intercations, the ups and downs in the relationship, the pushing and pulling of their mutual attractions etc, such scenes are exactly the key to building a strong and believable chemistry between even the most unlikely Combination of actors. this drama mostly skimmed over all that and rushed to create attraction out of thin air, the writers depended in this part on the unexplained "card" of each being the other's miracle exception to their phobia, she's literally the only person he can touch and he's the only person she can maintain eye contact with....that is a sure way to provide an inescapable base on which to push any romantic scenario to its climax without the need of much gradual development.

to put it bluntly, I felt the two actors didn't exude chemistry between them, even watching the finale I felt like it was just that "two actors doing their job to earn their paycheck" that's how their chemistry was lacking for me.

the acting overall was not bad, oguri shun did the best with what he was given and delivered the most cringe script with his utmost degree of professionalism, and even though I mostly like the actress I was annoyed with her acting here, I know she was aiming to portray someone who has to avoid eye contact with surrounding people, but sometimes it felt her movements even when she was alone felt so over the top fake and annoying.

would I watch this again. no probably not. and it will join other dramas that I will eventually forget into oblivion.

Read More

IF ALL CHARACTERS CAN BE MASS MURDERED FOR AN UGLY PLOT, THIS SHOW WILL BE THE PRIME EXAMPLE.

I’ll analyse characters with my perspective for you, because there is no plot. Only assassinated characters. This will be my review.

1. YEONG RYE:
uhmmm…. sigh! I liked her so much as the drama began. But I’m telling you she feels like this two-faced green flag wrapped not so green flag. Do you get it? It’s more like, to her, Jeong Hui’s sacrifices never mattered. On the surface she missed her. Inside she didn’t like how JH came back for her friendship and love. I get that YR and Jae Pil have now become closer but she freakin KNEW that her best friend liked him and he liked her as well. You broke the girl code dude. Could’ve not longed for his love when she got to know that they both liked each other or at least, when JH left because of you!!

I’m not saying that just because JH has done so many sacrifices, now YR must be grateful to her till eternity and clean her feet or something, but YR could’ve really chosen not to still harbour feelings for her best friend’s boyfriend. Her own feelings were more important than anyone else’s. She said goodbye to her first love, but never truly did. On the surface she sacrificed, but never really did. Felt like a show. And I think there are many such things like that. MISS KOREA!!! It was your friend’s dream all along. You knew it. No, the scholarship excuse doesn’t suffice.

YR’s character felt so shallow. I felt like she is something, but was portrayed to look like something else. Just because she is the FL the writers wanted her to look nice at the end, so they made JH the bish. But to me, YR felt like the real problem here. The writers just forcefully tried to install that she is the HERO. But it felt like a hollow well.

2. JEONG HUI:
What is she? God’s most unfavourite child or something? Like bro… is she even human at this point? Sacrificing her most important life choices left and right as if she is Jesus or smthg. Didn’t girl start off as someone who has a backbone? Now the writers don’t want her to become a bigger emotional ride on people’s minds cuz she is not the FL, so they turn her arc and make her the villain? What in the world??? SHE EFFIN DESERVES HAPPINESS!!! Tell me one character in this huge ahh casted drama that would choose JH over everyone else? Girl is like STRONG STRONG to choose these people over and over. She DESERVES the best…. away from all these people and drama. And gorforsaken for once she blurted her trauma, she is made to look like the villain? Everyone blames her and looks at her like she is guilty? Ew… they were never her people and she gave away everything she had for these very people. SAD.

3. JAEP PIL:
He is not the red flag. Sure. But definitely someone who feels things just for the sake of feeling things. All the bond that he shared with JH meant nothing to him. He was fully aware that she she still liked him before she had to leave everything and go. So now no feelings, bye???? Then YR. He wants her because he wants to pay back for what she has done to him and his family. More like repayment of loan with interest than love. It’s like he ticked boxes. We are compatible because I don’t eat tomato, she takes mine. Okay. She took care of my father. Okay. She loved me first. Okay. All boxes ticked. And then, oh competition! I must win. So let’s repay and win??? If this is real life, I swear they’ll get separated sooner or later because there was never love from his side. When the repayment is enough, there will be nothing left. I felt bad for YR in this thing because she deserved love. Not a conditional clause.

4. JEONG HYUN:
??? What happened to my Mr. Cool? His character had so much potential. But because he was not casted for the main lead, he shall suffer. No other reason. Character development what? This is character deterioration. Man had seven years to get closer to YR. He went away? Why? I understand JH for being away for seven years, but what reason did this man have? He loved her but didn’t put the effort at the right time. Anyway, his character felt like he was being reduced just because he is not the male lead.

5. YEONG SIK:
Consitently the only good guy. Bro doesn’t lift a finger tho. Never goes and puts efforts to get the girl. He just waits until she gets exhausted and comes to him. IDK if I had to feel good for him waiting and helping her when no one is there or bad because he never actively took the stand to show his love. He is just there in the background eating popcorn. He’s like- “Tell me when all of this drama is over. Things will fall in their places. I don’t have to do anything.” What in the ‘Eat Five Star and Do Nothing’ is this??? But I can never hate him. I felt like he was the only consistently been character out of the plethora of them. I only wished that he got involved a bit more.

6. MA SEONG CHEOL:
Play that ‘Eh? Eh? Ehhhhhh??? Ehhhhhhhhh!!!’ sound please. So much happened with this guy, but no one knows why it happened because it was never shown. I loved his character in the first half, it brought all the fun. But again, bro was sidelined. Then they came up with a new story for him. And no fly was convinced. How did he go from loving one woman to the other? It was only iterated that he likes taking care of the child so now he wants to take care of the child’s mom. The end??

SUMMING UP:
Worst plot. All characters are assassinated for the leads to get their ending- a story which doesn’t make sense. Waste of a beautiful cast and potential packed actors. Love you Dami and Shin Ye Eun. This drama can’t overpower my love for you. lol. This drama is more frustrating than healing. Didn’t expect this ridiculousness from a writer like her.I would rate it lower if not for the actors working hard and doing their job and the first half of the drama where the friendship between YR and JH was actually celebrated unlike the second half where all essence of the drama is lost for Hero making rubbish plot. I finished it just because I began watching it. Sick ride. Never recommend.

Read More