Reviews

Despite low ratings on MDL, Loved it! Go with an open mind!

I thoroughly enjoyed this drama. The first 6-7 episodes went like a breeze. The friendship dynamic was really great to watch. Loved almost all the side characters. Enjoyed the ending. Everyone more or less got a happy ending in my book. I was scared it might go the "you and everything else" route but thankfully it didn't. Would have loved to see more of the reconciliation and return of the friendship maybe another episode rather than a 5 minute epilogue. But overall had a good time with this drama maybe since I binged it at one go without waiting every week. I would suggest to go with an open mind with this drama without carrying about the ratings and judge for yourself!

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Love (and hurt) Memories

"Hundred Memories" is a drama that requires attention to detail , it’s about understanding that it breaks away from clichés. You rejoice in the friendship, cry and feel anger over misunderstandings, sense the tension of danger, but also witness the unity that endures through it all! It has emotional themes such as family, friendship, forgiveness, and many others. From the very first episodes, we notice YR’s sweetness and strength. We feel her pain as she gives up her own desires for the sake of others something visible both in her family and friendships, but it wouldn’t always stay that way. She learns to express her feelings and keep chasing her dreams.

JH isn’t left behind when it comes to this strong friendship. She encouraged YR, took care of her siblings while YR’s mother was hospitalized, protected YR from her ex-boss, and faced many hardships, first with her brother, then by being adopted by an obsessive and controlling mother. She isn’t a bad person; she made mistakes, whether due to circumstances or her own emotions, but she had the chance to make amends to accept that love can’t be forced, to free herself from her mother’s control, and to return to being the cheerful, playful JH she once was.

At first, I was quite upset that JP ended up being “the one” LOL. I was really rooting for Jeong Hyeon! But considering that YR’s pure and genuine love had always been for Jae-Pil, it became acceptable and actually really sweet! It was a love born from hardship and friendship, between two families and between the two of them. ~Though I did get pretty frustrated with the boy haha.

The other characters were also essential to the story they brought humor, connection, and even more meaning to the concept of “family.” In the end, I was really afraid they would be separated; I missed a deeper reconciliation between them, but even so, I loved that they stayed together and that they would continue that way. <3

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Chosen Family (need a season 2)

Overall: "Our efforts were not wasted, right?" "Yes, it was worth it". The writing in this series is impeccable. Themes and characters I thought were random were later seamlessly integrated. Shifts between comedy and seriousness were impeccably executed. 10 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/title/82153387

Content Warnings: slap, internal and external homophobia, sexism discussed

What I Liked
- addressed marriage equality in a realistic way
- that I didn't know what the next episode will have in store
- discussion of sexism (one of the few romance series I have seen that passed the Bechdel test multiple times)
- how characters had their quirks, but still feel like people I could meet in the real world
- intentional characters, they might have seemed insignificant, but they came back later
- no cartoonish antagonists
- avoided evil ex cliche

Room For Improvement
- I couldn't really sympathize with the mom
- at times the pacing was a bit slow for me

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incredible drama! but male lead has resting :| face

This is my first time writing a review for a series. The story was definitely my favorite part of this one. The female lead's character was really well written, and the twists and turns of the story made sense without being too predictable. I kinda skimmed through the epilogue but that's only because of my personal preference. The story really hooked me and the production backed it up. The acting was good overall. (with one exception. see next paragraph.)

My biggest complaint is that the male lead needs to move his face a little more. I don't think his acting is necessarily terrible. (He doesn't strike me as especially good either, though.) But his face... It genuinely broke my immersion at points when his character would be going through it or acheiving his dreams and i was just begging him to move his facial muscles just a tiny bit. I started celebrating every tiny half-smile and started hoping bad things would happen to him so I could finally watch this man cry. Well, bad things certainly happened to him, and yet his face was as stoic as ever. The couple times he ever cried looked like the same exact face as when he was happy but with a drop of water carefully applied to his face by a PA. I know this is kind of the trend with a lot of dramas, but I just don't remember it being this bad. I mean just compare him to the second male lead and you'll see the difference. Honestly compare him to any other actor or actress in the show. Even compare him with the child actor playing the younger version of himself.

All that being said I still think it deserves an 8/10

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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

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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)

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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 🙄🙄🙄

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!!!

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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"

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