Reviews

Who knew Ha Ram was Jinu’s fantasy-era beta test?

I picked this one up because I’ve been trying to bulk up my historical K-drama watchlist — hoping to stumble upon another gem to add to the favorites pile. On paper, Lovers of the Red Sky had everything: fantasy elements, palace politics, and Ahn Hyo Seop looking devastatingly good as Ha Ram – the astrologer with red eyes needing some Visine drops. And for a while, that was enough to keep me watching.

The first half had promise - the world felt alive, the ensemble cast had depth, and even the villains were written with nuance. It wasn’t revolutionary, but it worked. Then somewhere around the midpoint, it’s like the writers clocked out and handed the script to interns. The story slowed to a crawl, buried under endless flashbacks and déjà vu dialogue. Every time I thought, “Finally, some progress,” we’d cut back to yet another memory montage.

And don’t even get me started on Cheon Ki. I wanted to root for her, I really did. But watching her charge headfirst into every situation like common sense was an optional skill was exhausting. Every time someone told her to stay put, she did the exact opposite — and not in a brave or clever way, just catastrophically dumb. When even your friends say “we almost died because of you,” maybe take the hint. Watching her blow up everyone’s sacrifices was like watching someone trip the alarm in a heist movie — over and over again.

Meanwhile, secrets in this show had the shelf life of a tweet. Apparently, in this universe, “don’t tell anyone” translates to “please broadcast this immediately.” By the finale, every secret had been spilled, and I couldn’t tell if it was poor writing or just comedic timing.

By the end, even the gods seemed to have given up. Samshin and Hyo Ryeong waited until the last possible minute to lift a finger against Ma Wang, letting everyone suffer just for dramatic effect. Still, I’ll give credit where it’s due — the cinematography was gorgeous, the art sequences beautifully rendered, and the royal portrait subplot was genuinely mesmerizing. Prince Lee Yul deserves a special mention — a second lead with grace, depth, and enough emotional maturity to step back without turning into a sulky shadow. We love a man with dignity.

Final Verdict: This drama is not a total flop, but definitely more Lovers of the Red Flags than Lovers of the Red Sky.

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Thrilling Action Drama with Great Cast

Action/Thriller with great chemistry and romance is my favorite genre. This was a worthy addition to the genre and definitely worth the watch. I am someone who am quick to skip scenes with plot lines or characters I don't like or care about. The only time in this drama that I skipped (and that was only a few times) were the scenes with the mistress and her mother. Those silly characters felt out of place in a serious, high-quality drama. The male leads were fantastic and the FL fit her role well. Rain was the star of the show, no doubt. There was too much crazy, maniacal screaming from the mother, but what would a Kdrama be without some hysterical female squealing? *eyeroll* I watched this in two days and enjoyed every episode. There were some unbelievable scenes and plot holes, but I don't mind that when there's overall good acting, good writing, and a well-done ending. This ended well, although, it may not completely satisfy the die-hard romantics.

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Get through the first 3 episodes ...

By the end of Episode 3, I was ready to give up. Everything was chaotic, and I had little clue what was going. Nobody was on the screen long enough for me to begin to care about them.

But I read a review that said to stick out the first few episodes, then it gets really cohesive, and really good. So I decided to give Episode 4 a chance, and I haven't been able to stop watching since then. Now I'm in the middle of Episode 10 ...

Even if you skip the first three episodes, which didn't help me at all, it's worth watching from Episode 4. I'm glad, now, that I did not give up on it.

It's really quite riveting now, and I expect to watch it all.

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Were the side characters' unnecessary stories more important than the main characters?

Beautiful cinematography, great location choices, a safe story, and a great couple. But the story was absolutely ridiculous.

Mai and Junle were one of the safest and most beautiful couples I've ever seen. The actors' chemistry and storylines were incredibly good. However, the biggest problem with the series was the introduction of too many characters. Yes, there are two main couples in the series, and I never liked the other couple; they were completely insincere. Just talking about their stories alone, so many characters were introduced that I couldn't make sense of. All I'm saying is, why is this even happening??? Mai and Junle were a really good couple. I would have liked another pairing for the actors, but other than that, the series was a complete waste of time.

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How Fresh Litchi Turned Stale

It was one of the rare realistic Chinese dramas I've watched recently. I really liked it. It had some flaws, but they didn't affect the overall effect. Some of the actors also had weak roles. Apart from that, I was very impressed by the realistic and immersive exploration of the events surrounding the fresh litchi shipment, the detailed portrayal of the characters, the perfect reflection of the bureaucratic and hierarchical structure of the time, the oppression of the people by the authorities of the time, bribery, extortion, extortion, a concubine's demands for impossible things, the slightest touch of romance and family relations, the portrayal of trade and related services, the conflicts there, and the revenge. It's an adaptation of a novel. I congratulate the writer and director. They conveyed it beautifully. I also commend the writer's writing. I especially liked the lead actor, Lei Jia Yin. She played her true self. It's hard to act this realistically. She was that good. Congratulations. Also, Yue Yun Peng was great. Well done. GOng Lei was great. Well done. Feng Jia Yi was fantastic. Well done. Lu Liang portrayed a knowledgeable, experienced merchant beautifully. Well done. Our girl Li Luo Yi, who played Xu Er, was very good. Kun Yu was also very good. I really liked it. Especially in the final scenes of the last episode, her death scene with Yun Peng made me cry. Lu Fang Cheng was very good. It really angered me. I liked Zhou Mei Jun. Shawn Dou added color. He was charismatic. Zhang Tian Ai played beautifully. Beautiful portrayal. Well done. Nashi was very different. A different actor. I noticed the difference. Vivienne Tien also suited the role very well. Congratulations. I liked all the other actors. As I said, there were minor flaws, but with such a large number of actors, there's excitement. Overall, I watched a very realistic, constructive, and exemplary series, and I really liked it. I recommend it to those who haven't watched it.

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Mixed emotions, season 2 needed for clarification

Lots of positives, but also lots of negatives.

Cool premise, the ML and FL were vibing, acting was great, the first half of the series was really good story-wise, nice blend of science/tech/action...yeah. 👍

On the other hand, the second half of the series was a mess story-wise, I feel we pushed the science/sci-fi envelope a little too far with that ending. We went from tasteful sci-fi to Syfy channel sci-fi, and all that beautiful tension amounted to NOTHING 😭

Also, the whole time Woo's story involved a wife and child and then at the last minute we casually learn it's actually his sister and niece like??????? Also, wtf kind of plot is "lets send our seemingly only reliable bodygaurd/any form of protection out of the country at the height of our vulnerability! Oh and also lets provoke the enemy and get into a fatal situation while he's gone!" 🤦‍♀️ And 10 episodes?! That's all we get?! Our FL is possibly dead, or at least her physical form is dead, our company and research is in the hands of our enemy, and our ML just woke up feeling like Alice from Resident Evil! We need answers!

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I almost passed by this beauty

It took me two years to know that this drama existed. I found out about it accidently under another kdrama description on Netflix. Oh man, what a GREAT watch.

I am not a huge fan of Jang Dong Yoon. I only enjoyed "The Tale of Nokdu" from his previous shows, never stood out to me other than that. But he did absolutly perfect in this drama. Man he nailed the very well written character with his stable and balanced acting. The chemistry between him and the FL is so good. I really enjoyed the cheesy feelings and the butterflies i got from them, i enjoyed their tika taka and constant cute bickering. I found myself smiling often due to their great synergy.

If you are looking for a very light drama in a small town near the beach about friends and cute love, i recommend this!

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Go bonkers or go broke!

Prem, Nani and Joke (a.k.a. "the Father"), with support from very reliable Earn and FELIZZ member Jaoying, push "MuTeLuv" deeper into crazy territory – and everything is as it should be. Funny, bizarre, sad and scary, "Not My Father!" surprises with a layered story and concise writing, aptly translated to the screen by good, slightly unhinged performances. With minimal introductory exposition the show takes you on a well-paced ride where every section (episode) is weirder than the previous one.

While overtly a comedy with rom-com bits, "Not My Father!" stays serious where it needs to. It goes further than that when showing brainwashed cult members, conditioned to react to a silly song with an equally silly dance. It’s played for laughs, but when you think about – it’s not funny at all; actually it’s scary.

Three main layers of the story are tied to three main "crazies": Nani’s Wutkrai – the funny crazy, Joke’s "Father" – the sleazy crazy, and Prem’s Phupar – the evil crazy.

Nani does a decent job as a rom-com main character, almost entirely avoiding the annoying, pretentious pose he used in "Highschool Frenemy". His character is a bit full of himself, but is genuinely funny and has his heart in the right place – Nani mostly succeeds in conveying that.

Joke deserves praise for his performance as a manipulative conman, a sleazy fraud with an earplug prompting personal details of his victims. All about "Father" is a fabrication, including his self-confidence; once the fake front is peeled off, all that’s left is a slimy weakling – and not a very bright one. Joke does a lot for "Father" to be like many real-life cult leaders: an unimpressive figure, a literal nobody followed by hundreds of people for no apparent reason, a guy you want to punch really hard – but can’t decide whether it’s because of the fake smile, condescending tone, arrogant behavior, stupid clothes (which his followers copy – much to your dismay) or all of that together.

Saving the best for last: Phupar is the only character with an arc – a sad and tragic one – and Prem truly brings him to life. Hiding inner struggles, secret doubts and desires – that’s something Prem portrays very well, and not for the first time. Phupar’s fall starts before the events of the show and we get only small hints of that: Prem’s kind and gentle, but inexplicably sad face lets us know that not all is well. The more Prem smiles in "Not My Father!", the scarier it gets. Initially it is a forced smile hiding problems eating him from the inside; later it becomes the smile of a madman, possessed and cunning, cold, calculating. During his final confrontation with Ploy, after a moment of weakness, Phupar smiles again, seemingly full of joy – but his eyes cast the same flashes of insanity as Kan’s eyes during his confrontation with Thap in ep. 9 of "My Magic Prophecy". Seems like GMMTV discovered that it’s actual actors can portray more complex characters – and that they can convincingly portray villains. The truly disturbing part of Phupar’s story is that we don’t get a full explanation of his downfall. Did he turn dark just because he wanted to be popular, adored and loved again? Was it egoism and nothing more? What really happened to him in ep. 3 – was he actually hallucinating or just being manipulated into believing he’s hallucinating? Whatever it was: lost, confused and abandoned he followed the only remaining path – to the abyss. Every time the real Phupar came out from behind the facade, digging himself out from beneath the crazy, I felt sorry for him, I wanted to hug him – and that’s Prem’s doing too. Well done, sir, very well done indeed.

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Deeper than expected and not all is fluff and sometimes 2nd chances work out...

This was a surprising series. While the premise was nothing we hadn't seen yet, it was done in a good way. Some things can't be changed even when you try and some things change without you doing anything. While they could us not spare all of the clichés, most of the time they approached all the problems and conflicts in a mature way which is rare in thai BLs.

We get a new cast which was not experienced but did a good job with the help of veteran actors in the form of their pas and mas. Flute playing "Win" is the only young actor with experience but he was also the executive producer and he founded his own company to bring this show to life which is quite impressive. And he did something right. It's not just fluff, it's also serious, it's not childish but the emotional stress of all the characters was played out very nicely. Of course they have room for improvement but for a first installment it was good. While chemistry was good, they struggeled a bit with intimate scenes. Of course the show did benefit that they could play the instruments and they can sing. The only thing not resolved in a satisfactory way imho was Nuts conflict with his father (and his dislike for music). It's quite open-ended but I won't nitpick too much on that.

Overall this was an enjoyable series with dark undertones, good OST and a nice vibe. If you have passed up this show so far, you should give it a chance.

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Well written with a lot of hidden symbolism

As the title suggests there is tons of hidden symbolism that i found like underlying tones of prostitution and abuse which though very subtle can be noticed in some episodes,The characters are amazingly well written with each character maybe relating to a different demographic of people or audiences ex: i really relate to chiaki and kotoha and their constant display of insecurities throughout the show along with ryuunosuke and his pursuit of perfection.I also love how even the "Evil" characters have redeemable characters that somewhat add this relatability to each character .I was really drawn towards Dayuu and her backstory which made me really understand and almost justify her sadness . overall a very deep show for it to just be a "kids" show as many people say,But i guess im a little biased towards all tokusatsu shows.

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Meh...

I was looking foreward to this, but i was quite dissapointed. The story had much potential, but the execution was bad.
I would have liked to see a bit more about the reason why Nut's dad was so opposed to music, because they showed that he used to be a musician too.

The actors probably don't have much experience acting, because most of them felt quite unexpierienced.
Especially the actor who played Nut.
The dynamics between the friend group felt off, they just didn't feel like best friends.
There was no chemistry between the 3 couples. The "bed" scene with Nut and Win looked so akward..

For me Bom Panupong Janchai was the best actor, and i just saw that he is the one with the least acting experience. I just hope that in the future he will sign with one of the better Thai company's, because then i see a bright future for him.

The visuals and music were ok.

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