Tainted with Negativity

Standing in the Time is the Chinese remake of Jimi ni Sugoi! Koetsu Garu Kono Etsuko, which was such a positive and inspiring Jdrama. This drama is an okay remake, but it just seemed like it was tainted with negativity. The writers extended the plot and added a lot of angst and drama to do so. The characters were immature, obnoxious, annoyingly selfish, and extremely unprofessional. All of the negative traits of the original characters were amplified 3x.

There are probably only 3 characters I liked about the same or better than the original: the editor, the restaurant owner, and the director of the proofreading department. Correct me if I'm wrong, there was a gay supporting character in the original and they replaced him with this young, annoying brat who pretty much slept and played games on his phone all day at work (if he even showed up).

There was just so much super unprofessional behavior that people could get fired over and yet, the characters would get away with it again and again. It was ridiculous. It seemed like the message of the show got lost. The drama went from something about proofreading, work ethic, and the importance of less glamorous jobs to that of the fashion world and modeling (the glamorous side). The direction of the show changed. Contrary to the original story, they focused less on the female lead (main character) and focused more on the male lead. And don't get me wrong the female lead was annoying, but I think the actress did a great job portraying her character. As annoying as the female lead was, the male lead was much worse in my opinion, especially in the second half. I'm beginning to suspect that the drama began to focus more on the male lead's modeling career due to the actor's popularity.

As I was watching this, I tried to figure out what I would have rated this had I not seen the original...the first half I probably would have given it a 7, but the second half really dragged and I wanted to give it a 5. Overall, it's probably around a 6. However, let it be known that the original drama is way better, so if you have not seen that, save yourself some time and see that instead.

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Fake Sports Drama

If you're watching for the Go part of this drama, you will most likely be disappointed. It's really just a fluffy romance drama targeting a middle schooler's romantic fantasy (or at least what the writer thinks is one anyway). The only difference is they use Go as a backdrop to make the story unique. 75% of the matches were depicted as CGI action fighting scenes. It really felt like an insult cuz they were like "no one is going to be watching for the actual Go stuff so let's just dumb it down and show fighting scenes instead." One or two animated battles would have been nice to add humor or be dramatic, but they overdid it. Most of these fight scenes were lame and absolutely unnecessary.

This drama is extremely cliché. Of course there are some cute moments, but a lot of times I was cringing cuz of the corniness. Let's just say it felt like it was artificially sweetened. The Female Lead is also kind of dumb and ditzy so that was a disappointment for me. I didn't really care about the main couple. My favorite character was the 4th Dan girl. Most of her scenes were amusing. As for the pacing of the drama, the 2nd half is very draggy, especially the last quarter of the drama. It really was a struggle to finish. Overall, this lands under so bad it's good territory. I would recommend it as a good hate watch or something to watch with friends so you can make fun of it. Maybe skip the last 10 episodes though.

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This had bad writing from beginning to end. The story would change directions without much purpose throughout the drama. Even from the start, it's unclear who the main character even is. Chu Lu's story was the most interesting. However, at the halfway point things take a sudden turn and Chu Lu's character changes for the worse. Things don't start picking up again until toward the end. The music was pretty decent since this is a music related drama. I really liked the friendship aspect of this series and how the gang chased after their dreams of becoming musicians together. The first half is light and fun, the second half gets much more serious and boring. The plot is somewhat of a mess. It felt like the writers could've wrapped up the series a bit better by closing the loop on some of the supporting characters and their stories. Overall, it's an okay drama to watch if you're absolutely bored. Luckily, it's not a drama that's easily predictable. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone or rewatch it though.

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If you're looking for something with a good plot, I'd say skip this one. The plot was really lame. It starts out as a revenge drama stemming from tragedy, but then quickly turns into a murdery/mystery. There's some romance/angst on the side as two guys fight over and manipulate the female lead. This was mainly worth watching for Hawick Lau, who's acting was amazing. Actually, this had a pretty great cast in general. It's just unfortunate it had a lame plot and poorly written characters. Most of the characters were inconsistent. They'd go back and forth (or were easily manipulated) and it was difficult to tell whose side they were on. The writer would spend multiple episodes over something really dumb and it was frustrating because you'd want the plot to move on already. Overall, I wouldn't suggest watching it unless you're extremely bored or watching for one of the main cast members.

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Let me start of by saying this drama is not meant for everyone. It's a modern suspense/thriller drama, with a supernatural element making it refreshingly different. My favorite part of the drama was the gorgeous cinematography paired along with the music. It gave the show some visually stunning scenes.

The plot, however, is the drama's biggest flaw. It is super confusing, especially in the beginning because you don't know the girl's origin story. The main character is a mysterious lone wolf, who seems set on helping people along her journey. The more you follow her along, the more gets revealed. You have to watch the drama for at least 5-6 episodes to give it a chance. While a romance subplot does exist, there is little emphasis on it. It wasn't a problem for me, but I can see how many people would have an issue with this. The main reason to watch this drama is for the cinematography, supernatural elements, and for the badass female lead who kicks butt!

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Pretty Cliché Revenge Lakorn with One Crazy Twist

The one thing I have to love about revenge lakorns is that the characters will go to such extreme lengths for revenge all over a simple misunderstanding. Honestly, this drama is technically bad, but it's pretty entertaining. There were so many slipups that were lol worthy. For example, the ML would throw punches and his hand was very clearly not making contact with the other person. Then there was this another scene where FL's arm gets bandaged, but in the next scene the bandage is below the wound and you can see the "wound" showing above. These are just a few examples.

Also, this lakorn has one of the most insane plot twists I've seen since Well Intended Love. It gets revealed pretty early on and is so ridiculous and unbelievable that I had a good laugh. Other than this ridiculous plot twist, the rest of the story is very cliché and predictable. It has your typical tropes seen in farming and revenge related lakorns. I ended up fast forwarding through most of the villain related stuff cuz it was boring and predictable. It has the Forced Marriage tag, but it's also a Contract Marriage plot. It falls under the Slap/Kiss genre because ML is aggressive in the beginning and main couple don't get along in the beginning, but there's no slapping and kissing.

Production wise, the quality felt a bit lacking. There's a lot of flashbacks and the sound mixing felt off at times. It just felt super slow paced in the beginning. The acting overall was also subpar. However, I appreciated Sa Anisa Nugraha's acting as May. The way her character was written is another story. Overall, it's cliché, but entertaining. If you don't mind fastforwarding and enjoy watching badly made lakorns for humor, this is one that's worth checking out.

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It's very hard to dramatize curling, but it can and has been done. Unfortunately, this was not one of those cases. It was very difficult for me to get through. The acting, dubbing, and sound mixing were subpar. There were some poor music choices made for certain scenes and the bgm volume was so loud at times that it was distracting. I know this is a low budget mini drama so I wasn't expecting anything award worthy, but these few things ruined the experience for me. On the plus side, the episodes are super short. It seems like the purpose of this drama was to educate people on how the game is played. I guess they did this well. Unfortunately, the excitement of the game did not come through. The drama's aim was to promote the sport and get people interested. It failed to do that. However, I appreciate the friendship that was depicted. Who would have thought there would be so much drama among the curling players? The story itself has many sports drama cliches. Overall, I'd recommend skipping this drama unless you are an avid fan of the sport or the cast. I personally think it would have benefited from being in a movie format instead.

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Romcom with a Little Bit of Everything

It was just an enjoyable romcom with an older couple, which is so rare these days. It has that feel good romcom warmth to it, yet also covers some serious issues. In a way it reminded me of Sky Castle, but without the intense melodrama. They did the FL dirty when it came to fashion. Just because she is a mom doesn't mean she had to dress like an unfashionable ahjumma. I was low key getting stressed seeing FL dressed in those ugly sweaters that were tucked into those mom jeans. Anyways, this drama had a little bit of everything. It just hit the spot if you like this romcom thriller genre. They might have tried to bite off more than they could chew with all of the subplots the drama had going on. In a way, the pacing didn't feel too draggy because of them. However, the writing would've been better if they focused on a few. The last episode was kind of slow since they were winding down the story, but I'd say that's normal. It has some flaws so I won't say it's amazing. Overall, it's light and solid entertainment.

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What's unique about this lakorn is that the guy is forced to marry the girl in order to pay off his family debt and save his family's honor. It's usually the other way around. The supporting characters are great. The Cupid Gang makes a really cute team, especially with how they hang out and take care of Kat like good friends. I also liked how there weren't any cat fights and annoying, screaming girls who chase after the main guy. King, the only girl clinging to him, isn't even evil like how you typically see in lakorns.

I couldn't stand how Kat is childish and speaks like she is 7 years old for most of the drama. It's mainly due to her character arc to show that she becomes a mature woman by the end. However, it's hard to look past. Also, the plot in the beginning is a bit slow, since the main couple doesn't interact that much. Things start to get more interesting once the couple is forced to deal with each other. Overall, the lakorn was pretty decent, especially if you were looking for something a bit different to watch within the forced marriage trope.

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More of a Murder Mystery than It is Sports

The drama starts off in the world of Ssireum (traditional Korean wrestling), which led me to believe this would be more of a sports drama that would introduce me to the sport. Instead, it ended up being more of a criminal investigation drama that takes place in a small town. The investigation part of the story was incredibly boring and forgettable. I've never been so uninterested in knowing who the killer was. The wrestling part of the story was also a disappointment, but it got better in the 2nd half for the limited scenes it had. The most impressive thing about this drama was Jang Dong Yoon's weight gain transformation for his role. My favorite character was the dog. It was an odd mix of murder mystery + sports + small town drama + friendship/youth. Whatever this combination was, it did not work for me.

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Not terrible

I went in with low expectations and mainly watched for the cast. If you're watching for the same reason and generally like this genre, then you will probably find it decent. I'm not saying it's amazing, but for the most part it was enjoyable. Seeing the main character level up is pretty satisfying. After completing this drama, I see why people were disappointed. It didn't help that they had high expectations to begin with either. This drama had a pretty decent cast, ost, and production (considering it was filmed many years before it actually aired). The story is pretty good, but the writing is kind of weak. The beginning was really confusing. The writing assumes you've read the novel or synopsis and know most of the backstory. After a while, you finally begin to understand and enjoy the story though. Many people also found the pacing to be off, but it was not a problem for me.

The problem mainly occurs with the ending. When it comes down to it, this is essentially a revenge story. However, when it comes to the highly anticipated revenge, it was just not satisfying. The moral or point of the story seemed to be lost. Also, apparently the drama ending is different from the novel ending, so novel fans must've been extremely disappointed. Clearly, there was a lot of stuff that got cut out. Was it budget cuts? Censorship? Who knows? There were also a lot of missed opportunities. I could see they tried to touch on some things (such as parallels between crown prince and "that person"), but unfortunately they did not have the time to explore further and failed to hit the point home. If you're considering giving this drama a try, maybe watch while skipping the last two episodes? That way you can enjoy the drama without being disappointed.

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Super average and generic

It's a super average and generic school drama. It has your typical shy and naive female lead and a cold male lead that secretly likes the female lead, but likes to tease her a lot. The actors are super young so when there's a time jump, they seem like a bunch of kids playing adults. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but just know there will not be much on screen romance because of it...it's basically a lot of puppy love. Speaking of time jumps, this drama goes back and forth between the past and present. It can get pretty confusing to follow because they don't pick up where they left off. The female lead's parents are super strict, she's practically a prisoner. It was all very suffocating to watch. The only unique thing this drama has going for it is that the male lead is a dancer and he's got moves. You get to see some cool dance routines because of it. Also, one of the pairs is really cute, but we don't get to see much of them together.

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Detective Chinatown 2 is not quite as good as the first movie, but it is still laugh out loud funny and entertaining.  It still has the same classic, ridiculous humor as the first one.  Watching the main characters run around New York trying to solve a murder mystery and landing themselves in ridiculous situations is worth watching.  Add in the cast (some old, some new) and some fun music and you've got yourselves a solid good movie.  The actual storyline part of it was a bit weak considering there were a lot of characters and a lot going on, but it was still decent overall. Although this is a sequel, you do not have to watch the first movie to see this one.  You might miss out on a few jokes, but it wont affect your understanding of the plot at all.

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