Reviews

a promising premise wrapped in brutality

this show would be great if it weren't for the egregious and unrepentant police brutality. half of the cast is the one doling out the violence, and the other half happily defends the violence and remains friends with the perpetrators.

you might, like me, hope that they will learn through taejoo that violence is not the answer, that they are violating people's human rights, and doing way more harm than good. this seems to be the obvious arc from the first episode, as taejoo is introduced as a whistleblower for police violence/incompetence, and won't let someone go to prison with tampered-with/false evidence. that is an extremely likeable character. and yet, instead taejoo learns that sometimes, beating people into confessing (a method that does not work, there's a reason you cannot use confessions gained from torture) and creating false evidence is necessary. even the most reprehensible character, the asshole cop who's name i can't even remember because i hated him so much, who perpetuates rape culture, wouldn't help a woman being stalked if the others hadn't forced him, and nearly kills a man from "interrogating him" is one we are supposed to see as "the good guy". he's supposed to be a likeable rapscallion because at least he gets the job done. this is not background violence, or an uncritical portrayal of the police - when given the option of how to portray this violence, they explicitly defend it and double down on it each and every time.

because i have a brain, i can watch a drama that has cops beating people up, or intentionally disregarding proper procedure; most cop dramas (even asian dramas) contain these things, it's part and parcel of being a cop drama and being copaganda. it's in the cops' best interest for you to think that them having to do things legally is impeding "justice". but in those dramas i can think critically and understand that that is wrong, and not root for those characters, and most of the time it isn't the point of the drama. in fact, cop dramas are one of my favourite genres. i loved signal, and hoped this show would be similar!

but even thinking critically with this drama, and acknowledging the biases it is predisposed to have, i cannot defend it nor enjoy it. having watched all the episodes, none of which were aided by the egregious (and often-times comical) violence done by the police in every single episode, there's no conclusion to come to other than that this is the message we are intended to come away with - police have to beat people, and fake evidence, and torture people, because otherwise 'bad people' would be on the streets. bad people hurt people and deserve to be in prison no matter what it takes, and their human rights get in the way of that. but when a cop hurts someone, it's good, because they're a cop, and the bad people need to end up in prison.

i could talk about how i liked the characters, and the acting, but there's no character on earth that would let me look past such horrible violence and messaging, and i don't think this show really deserves the praise.

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Unreliable narrator done right

Clever storytelling. The show starts in Yoh's perspective, and only gives us his very biased interpretation of what is going on, based on his limited information. As the character learns, so do we, and each episode reveals more of what is truly happening between the two leads. This is how stories are meant to be told. And it is super exciting to see an unreliable narrator used in BL, especially since it doesn't happen often. But because it doesn't happen often, it's somewhat risky; people can drop these stories too soon, before the whole truth can be revealed. Or they get so sold on the lie, they can't let it go even after the truth is revealed. Personally, I'm glad this show took the risk. I love stories told this way. It's clever. And I definitely recommend watching all the way through so you can judge the entire story as a whole before deciding what you think of it.

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A medical drama giving Grey's Anatomy vibe with balanced fun, angst, romance and chaebol-ness ?

Growing up in a family of doctors, I have immense fascination and affection for the profession, for which reason I have a slight bias for medical dramas. Not bias in judging, but bias in the priority for watching the show.

I have watched most Chinese, Korean, English and Hindi medical dramas, and there's something about this show here that has brought me back to it several times for a rewatch. This show has now become therapeutic for me, wherein it would play in the background on a hectic day and I would relax to the beautiful melody of "It's Love" by Jungyup. Just the starting beats of the OST have me smiling and I can see every single moment between Hye Jung and Ji Hong flash before my eyes.

I like the character development of Hye Jung, and to be fair, PSH is one of the biggest reasons for me to keep watching this show. That coupled with excellent acting by some characters like Yoon Do, Seo Woo, Soon Hee, and Kang Soo keep me going. Soon Hee plays the role of Hye Jung's best friend beautifully and it is so amazing to see their bond traverse over the years. Similarly, LSK has delivered a powerful performance, like always, to the extent where she made me hate her character the first few times. You see her develop from this aloof personality to this strong woman who learns to prioritise herself, which is commendable. I also quite enjoy the cute and hilarious banter between Ji Hong and Yoon Do, kudos to both KRW and YKS for the amazing bromance!

In terms of the story, I like the swift shift we see in terms of the time period from Hye Jung's high school days to her life as a doctor. I also thoroughly enjoyed the storyline revolving around the grandmother and malpractice issue. What lifts it even more for me is LSK's brilliant portrayal of a person involved in the entire issue in some capacity. I also like how they keep it real by not giving it a fairy tale ending by putting the people behind bars for the main issue (not side issues like embezzlement). Hye Jung's acceptance of the issue and how her character derives peace at the end is very beautiful to watch over the span of the show and makes me happy for her. Totally love the grandmother, granddaughter bond. Though, I believe the show could've done without the unnecessary storyline of the stepmother and stepsister. Maybe even water down the story with the father to some extent. They seem like irrelevant characters to me and hence wasting so much time describing feelings related to them seems like unnecessarily stretching the show to me.

However, it's not all rainbows and sunshine. I am all for "age is just a number" and "age is no bar for love" but I'm just not able to understand the development of romantic feelings between the main leads here. He is a qualified and practicing doctor when he is teaching Hye Jung in high school. Which means she's a minor (if I'm not wrong) and it just gives me quite "pedophile vibes". Although it is not a huge age difference per se, it's just the timing of when it seems to begin that makes me uncomfortable because she was just so young. Although nothing happens, and it doesn't actually begin, so it's all okay. It's just uncomfortable in my head.

Another problem I face is the constant neglect of Ji Hong's feelings by Hye Jun. She seems to be walking all over him for most part of the show which really puts me off. Her aloof character begins to annoy but PSH's beautiful expressions make up for it and do not let me dwell too much into it. However, the shift we see in her character and the growth is commendable, which saves this show from going all downhill for me.

All in all, this is definitely worth a one time watch if you're into dramas with conspiracy, medicine and rom-com. It is not the slow burn or way too fluffy kinda romance, so, please keep that in mind when you go ahead with this wonderful piece of work!

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Could have done better without the "ending dramas"

I have never watched any of the male and female lead shows before this one. I have to say I actually quite like this show, they make a remarkable pair together - romantically and all -along with their funny antics. All in all, I would say the entire crew + casts did a great job bringing this series to life. Though they could have minimized the episodes and make do without the last few episodes with the extra drama and etc from the 2nd female lead and the greedy family. Those episodes, to me only, was quite a turn off and I ended up skipping quite alot of scenes from the last few episodes. Other than that, I would say this series is a good first time watch - especially if you like what you read in the synopsis. As for re-watching, it would really depend on individual to decide if it is worth the 2nd shot. To me, not really, unless I watch this for the funny, romantic and awesome parts and completely skip the last few episodes again.

The songs paired for this series is also quite nice. Looking forward to hunting down the songs.

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A fresh down to earth story among so many hyper romantic dramas

If you are looking for an exciting romance full of energy then this one might not be for you. Though i would encourage you to try an episode or two.

Its a story about quite adult issues of people between around 30 years old doing regular jobs. The female lead is a virgin at 32, which is established right away and she craves to have sex, not in a lustful way but more being embarassed about never having it. Her friends/colleagues have their own relationship issues, but she is romanticising all their relationships a bit. Overall focus is on her, but we get a little window into the others lives. Ending is quite nice and relatively sweet without glamour, just like the show . Its a chill watch and with 9 episodes less than 30 minutes each its an easy recommend for a weekend or midweek afternoon.
As both character leads are very awkward and inexperienced there is many awkward moments and misunderstandings, but they get resolved through actual communication, wow what a concept for a romance dram, but seriously its so nice to see a misunderstanding not causing some convoluted plotline for 3 episodes.

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This saved me!!!!!!

I started watching cdramas in 2020. I have watched and seen many dramas. however during 2022 I had a hard time watching them since the plots felt repetitive. However this drama from the beginning to the end I never got bored. The FL Shen Li and ML Xing Zhi is… words can’t describe it. The love understanding and trust they have for each other is the best out of all the dramas I have seen. There were no unnecessary scenes and I absolutely love this cast. I wish to see them together again. Most Xianxia’s I have seen are good but this one is spectacular where as most xianxia’s would have the leading so into huge troublesome misunderstandings this shows the love and the trust they hold for each other. The Legend of Shen Li, thanks for saving me.

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many cliché including plot twists.. but still emotional

the trailer was truly promising, first episode was just... wow!! it was funny, emotional, intriguing.. main lead actors are superb.
every episode made me emotional and to await for a week for the next 2 episodes was a pain in the ***
OST is superb, some songs are stuck in my head (even tho i don't understand korean bc i'm italian) but still mumbling and singing them non stop..
Plot twists were predictable and the villain.. well.. that wasn't surprising

This drama let me down during the final trial.. i mean, i wished to see more of that and how they discovered things to bring the villain down. i feel like the speeded up the thing and that let me down a bit.

i wished for more lovey dovey scenes during the last 2 episodes and maybe they could manage some things better.

Even tho i think i will rewatch the whole thing more than once bc it made my heart ache, my eyes wet..
the chemistry between the two Kim was incredible and i love them. i will truly miss this show.. and the potential it had
hope the 2 extra episodes will be great (cast interviews and reactions to the show if i'm not wrong)

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An okay show to watch over the week/end if you like the leads

Overall its an ok show that doesnt overstay its welcome. Wouldnt push anyone to watch it, but if you are interested in it, i wouldnt push you away from it.

The story is a bit basic with inclusion of mind reading. Which was handled in an okay way until the female lead gave way too much weight to one picture book and its story about her power. Some parts regarding the power dragged a bit and some were nice. I would rather have them focused on eating food than the power, honestly the power could have been more of a background thing and it would probably work better for me.
The male lead is a bit too pushy at points for my tastes, but not to a point of being creepy, though it gives weird vibes. The female lead is supposed to be a company boss (even though its a small company), but she seems rather meek even with her employees/partners.
The sideplot of the chocolatiere friend's romance was IMO more fun to watch. Maybe because it wasnt the focus, so it didnt have so much baggage with it.

Acting was decent overall. My main issues would come from the behaviour of the two leads, which i dont know if it was intentional or the acting so i wont be too critical there.

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heartbreak and perfection

wow. WOW. i am speechless. I went blind into this drama without looking at the sypnosis or anything and thank god i did. It was so perfect and the ending???? i am devastated it broke me into a million pieces i fear no drama will make me recover from it.

I was already familiar with ZYT acting but i have never seen LX so i was excited to see him and I must say he is an excellent actor and I cant wait to see more of him in other dramas/movies. ZYT of course did an amazing job in acting and I fell in love with her acting all over again. I do want to see them both act again in a drama/movie as I felt like they had an amzing chemistry.

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A fantastic and well made prequel of the original 1954 film.

I never really liked or bothered to watch the countless films that followed the first Godzilla film because most of these sequels exploited the " bad monster destroys cities" theme again and again and again without having any serious plot or character development. Where the first film was all about how human actions affect our environment, the sequels were all about disaster entertainment based solely on the special effects and the scary monster that in the process wasn' t that scary after all.

I'm glad though that I've gave a chance and watched this prequel that has all the things that I enjoy watching. It is focusing on the characters, and it is a great commentary on the consequences of war and disasters on people and society, the survivors' guilt syndrome and the honnorable suicide that was and still is used as an "excuse" for the most horrendous crimes or the most stupid actions.

This prequel makes Godzilla a support character. The monster is still there but in the background and it is the actions and the reactions of the characters that make the monster actions get some meaningful and realistic impact.

The production is great, the special effects very realistic, the depiction of the era accurate and the music compliments nicely the scenes.
Overall is a great film to watch after watching the original 1954 one in order to get in the mood and see what Godzilla was actually all about. Kudos to the producers of this film that they managed to make Godzilla relevant again.

9.5 out of 10 from me as I reserve the perfect 10 for the original first film.

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This drama is very good and also from this drama there are many moral messages about life that can be taken from this story. Actually, I almost didn't want to continue watching this drama because I really didn't like ML's character at the beginning of the story, but I don't have any dramas that are more interesting than this drama and there is also something that makes me keep clicking on the next episode.

But fortunately the ending was good, and the character development was also visible. It's just that if you ask me about the shortcomings of this drama, in my opinion, how could someone who really hates someone be able to easily say "oh I was wrong, now I understand."

Oh yeah, one more thing, in my opinion, I suggest you stop watching until episode 35 after ML proposes to FL. I think it is the best and most touching ending to the story. after the proposal there is only a transfer of shares and some unimportant points so enjoy watching

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Interesting premise but too many plotholes in the world-building

This show was interesting at times and it dragged at others. It's only 6 episodes but somehow they managed to drag it at times and at others it felt rushed.
As other people have mentioned in their reviews there is a flaw in the world-building of the show. There are too many questions left unanswered in terms of how society works and what things are different, especially when it comes to reproduction and what kind of things they were doing to solve the problem of the decline in male population. It gave me the impression that nothing was being done science wise to try and understand why it was happening or how to solve it. I think at one point it's mentioned how they created artificial sperm or something of the sorts? It's just mentioned in passing but it's never explained. In a society like that you would think the few males would be exploited to no end as sperm donors, and would create issues of everyone eventually being related if the pool of men is that small. The artificial sperm would obviously solve this to a certain extent but then if they're capable of making artificial one, shouldn't they also be able to overcome the decline in born males? It brings the question if the problem then it's the mother carrying the child, in which case, and considering they can make artificial sperm, maybe make an artificial uterus? Anyway, I'm getting too much into this, the show just simply didn't care in explaining anything. Even if it had been complete fantasy and surreal, some kind of explanation would have been welcomed.
The premise in terms of the world and the plot itself is interesting but it lacks enough exploration. The lack of it would have been passable if all that had been a background element and the plot had revolved exclusively about the show and the FL's character participation in it, but it does involve the bigger issues into the plot and as such it's not satisfactory as it is.
The show part of it it's also quite a big plothole in itself. It's never really explained why it exists in the first place. It's not like it's giving anyone hopes or anything if also the women usually chosen to marry those men are from rich families. Why are they pushing the marriage thing onto those men? They should be forever donors lol it wouldn't really matter much who they marry as long as they contribute to the whole population lol It's said it's the 7th time the show happens, by this time the whole population already knows it's fixed if all women chosen are from rich families and it would have lost all spectators. Sure, the men themselves would be equally popular like celebrities, but no one would care to follow a show to see who they marry, it wouldn't be them so who cares?

Someone in the reviews said this was a trying to be somewhat of a mix between Squid Game and Hunger Games, and I totally agree. I haven't even watched Squid Game although I know more or less what is about and certainly this shares the looks. The music in the last episode when the female contestants are presented was very close to the Hunger Games one, it was blatantly similar.

Acting is generally ok, some of them are better than others. Characters wise, I feel a lot of them were quite superficial and we don't learn anything from many of them, or we learn one thing and that's just their whole vibe. Almond was an interesting character in his more grey area, but it was unsatisfactory how his motivations and decision at the end is not explored more. FL's character was ok in the very beginning, then it's too silly and cliché (girl that doesn't care much about her looks, it's a black hole eating and is clumsy and can't read the room) to then being a more mature towards the end. It was inconsistent and they could have avoided that cliché phase altogether. I'm generally not a fan of the troupe of childhood acquaintances to adult lovers, here it was worse that in other shows because it was pretty much instant as soon as they recognise each other, and their childhood experience together was very brief, or at least it's only shown in a very summarised way, what doesn't help their case either way. As it happens often I was more invested in the side love story and progression of Chanel and Max than the main characters, they were more unique and they had obstacles to overcome. Sure, it's not really explored enough, but for what it is, it was better in my opinion.

Things are kind of left there and then there is an "epilogue" 4 years later. It brings many questions, especially of those that were left behind. Then we have the classic evil laugh, almost, because the evil queen has found their location HOHOHO I mean, it's not like they were super secretive in their location, they're not even covered by woods or anything. I don't know... haha Either way, I don't know if they're doing a 2nd season of this or not, and if not, what a silly way to end it.

Despite all of this and other flaws it was surprisingly passable and entertaining in a general way????!!! How is this possible really??? Maybe it's because my expectations were quite low but I thought it would be worse. I think it being 6 episodes also helped it a lot in that respect. It didn't overstay its welcome much.
My rating goes for interesting idea and for the general entertainment it provided, surprisingly.
It's generally watchable but keep expectations quite low and don't question much of anything, otherwise your brain cells will combust, mine are certainly fried at the edges and I'll move on to something else immediately before I dwell too much into the details of this and I see the back of my head and steam out from my ears lol

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Everything was fantastic…..except….

This BL/bromance Drama is probably one of the best I’ve watched. It had a great plot that kept you guessing, right up until the end. If you are in to physical type BL’S, you will not find it here. It is kind of left to your imagination with glances, pecks on the cheek, sleeping together, oh, and the lube scene, LOL. The acting was outstanding with very good chemistry between the two ML’s. I did not like the BL 2016 Addicted, but people keep comparing that to this. This was so much better than that. DEFINITELY worth watching it. I am hoping there is a Season 2, or there are too many unanswered questions. It would have been a strong 10 for me, but those unanswered questions turned it into an 8.

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