Reviews

Well paced Medical Drama in 2024

This drama got me hooked since I started watching.

Each story arc was well paced without too much of “water injection”. The medical stories are also exciting.

The backstory for each character was well written, as well as the growth of each character over the 28 episodes. Personally like Su Yun’s character growth the most.

The acting of each cast member were superb too, and I think the made each character much more relatable and real life. The bromance between Zheng Ren and Su Yun also made the story light hearted and funny at times.

Overall, I think this drama is one of the best cdramas medical drama that I have watched so far, and I highly recommend this to those who are interested in a medical drama!

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Not Good Enough

Korean Drama '' Queen of Divorce '' is a dramatic law comedy.

The drama, first of all, focuses mostly on the female lead's story and her efforts to redeem herself and bring those who hurt her to justice. Therefore, there weren't a lot, or even any, legal cases other than the main one, which was a letdown, as the main lead was supposed to be the queen of divorce, even though she couldn't be a lawyer.

The romance, in addition, felt forced and it was boring, especially since they were trying to base it on a past that the viewer had never watched.

Finally, the performances were enjoyable.

So, overall, three out of ten.

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Cliche Plot with a Heartwarming Touch

Many compared this with CLOY - since both are from the same writer, some of the scenes are somewhat similar, but to compare, I think this is far behind. The starting of CLOY is already unique on its own, esp building a comedy on the North Korea's settings, whereas QOT is purely a story of a married couple - it's less fun but more realistic.

Cliche plot to expect - terminal illness, loss of memory, accident, gun shot - you name it. TBH the ending of the second last episode made me suck back all my tears and started rolling my eyes. Like, really?

But I gotta say, I do like the parts that make me cry - it gives a strong emotional touch on kinship and love, some of the lines hit you hard and made you look back in life, and also emphasize the meaning of life. [SPOILER] One very special scene that you might not find it in other dramas - the interpretation of FL's death at the end, it's really sorrow yet beautiful :')

Overall - watch this if you are finding a drama to cry on. I wouldn't say it's the most special one, I think the writer and casting itself gave this drama a huge "fame boost". I mean, how can you not fall in love with Kim Soo Hyun again? His crying scene is 10/10 - as always.

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Not Good Enough

Japanese Drama '' Living No Matsunaga-san '' is a romantic comedy drama.

The start of the series is smooth and enjoyable, as we get to know the characters and their situation. The dynamics are there and the mood is light and fluff.

But, as the drama progresses, things get a bit on the odd side. The main couple was somehow off, and not just because of their age difference, but due to the fact that he was acting as a father figure and she was way too young to be making important life decisions, hence, that twist in the end was a bit off. Also, the most frustrating part was the ex subplot, that was way too weird, as she was the girl's teacher and the guy's ex, thus, it was bizarre for her to be hyping up the relationship as she did.

Finally, the second couple was cute, but they hardly had any moments together.

As for the performances, they were okay.

So, overall, three out of ten.

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Good Enough

Korean Drama '' Flex x Cop '' is a remake of the Russian series '' Silver Spoon '', with a Korean twist of course.

The drama offers a lot of cases that the investigation team is called to solve, in their delightfully whimsical way. That way the main plot doesn't get stuffy, and the drama does indeed focus on the police enforcement, and doesn't simply give a few at the start only to excite the audience and then try to keep things interesting with unnecessary melodrama for the second half.

The main mystery case was also interesting and twisty and enhanced the drama of the characters more.

The characters, moreover, where all interesting and had smooth chemistry.

The performances, therefore, were all great and everyone did a great job with their characters.

So, overall, nine out of ten.

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How to escape toxicity and self-loathing in the midst of (b)romance

This very short BL series brought me a lot of conflicting feelings. I really enjoyed the ending of the story as it showcased the growth of both main characters. Some steps were taken towards less toxicity and self-loathing overall and that's clearly a win in my book as I was really afraid of a conclusion lacking nuance and realism.

On another side, I kind of wish the series would have been longer because even if the point of the scenario is very clear, the fundamentals of the relationship are a bit brushed off. There are a lot of elements that felt rushed and the storytelling definitely was more about a bromance than a romance to me. I indeed think that to go into a more romantic territory, the chemistry would have needed to be bigger and the scenario did not really provide a lot of opportunities for the actors to get there.

I love the opening generic of the series: the drawing effect in addition to the song was a winning combination. Overall, the production value was okay. The budget was not there but it had a strong indie feeling perfectly fitting for the drama.

I would recommend this to people looking for a more serious BL story. Rather than being about a romance, it is more a bromance to me and what makes it really worth it is its realistic and nuanced ending. I wish there had been more time to develop the romance but I appreciated the overall take of the scenario regarding the evolution of the characters.

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Good Enough

Japanese Drama '' Eye Love You '' is a fantasy-office romance with a cute couple, but a messy fantasy story.

First of all, the love story was enjoyable. The couple had chemistry, which aided the drama a lot, and the comical misunderstandings were cute. The second couple was entertaining as well.

The office drama was also nice and the relationship between father and daughter was so sweet!

However, the fantasy element was all over the place. The drama seemed to forget about it for most of the series' length, and then, they tried to add some melodrama to it towards the ending, but they only ended up mishandling the whole affair.

Finally, the performances were great by everyone in the cast.

So, overall, six out of ten.

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Tori Matsuzaka is mesmerizing

Tori Matsuzaka was the perfect choice for this role! After watching this movie I can't imagine anyone else playing the character. To tell you the truth, he is the only reason to watch this. The perfect, gorgeous, psychotic killer with the mesmerizing eye and devilish grin!

The FL was ok, at least she didn't turn into a damsel in distress. For some reason Mackenyu was in this even though his character was almost non-existent. The rest of the characters were pretty much Japanese crime movie 101.

I would love to see the story fleshed out more. Who is this captivating ML and how did he get his powers? Turn this into a series and watch the cat and mouse games continue!

Another movie to watch after turning your brain off. Don't worry too much about a deep story line and don't expect any life lessons from this. Just enjoy the ride. And the eye candy.

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An appreciation for MDZS is almost a prerequisite.

8/10

IMO the drama doesn't stand up on its own. An appreciation for MDZS is almost a prerequisite.

Over the years, three separate attempts were made before giving up on this drama. Until I recently fell down the MXTX donghua rabbit hole and binge watched all three series of MDZS donghua in a matter of days. So I restarted and finished TU, finally.

I like the MDZS story. The live action is ok. I was moved in parts but it lacked humour. Actor performances varied, LZ only came to life later on. I have not read the novel yet but I know of the relationships that are omitted in both the donghua and the live action. I don't mind this, if you're looking for it, the subtle looks and smiles are there.

I suppose the biggest complaint of the drama is the pacing, I watched a lot of the show at 1.5x and it didn't feel sped up at all, I often went to increase the speed to find it was already at 1.5x (Netflix max). The first 20 episodes were verging on boring, when are they going to "get good"? 20 episodes of lashings and getting beaten down.

The next 13 episodes, a lot happens and was actually paced better than the donghua.

The drama becomes far more interesting when we're finally out of the ginormous 33 episode-long flash back and deal with the matter in hand.

The ending, the final showdown, was a big let down. Visually non threatening, in fact I was often just distracted by the red paint on WWX's neck or ZWJ looking like handsome squidward. The heartbreaking moments for ZWJ....meh, I felt nothing here. I felt more heartbreak for Xue Yang. And then finally 5mins of WWX walking in the mountains...huh? What?

Random observations. Wasn't it uncanny how much Jin Ling looked like Jin GuangYao? The opening credits was bland, I skipped every time.

Honestly, I'm just glad I've finally completed it. I doubt I'll ever rewatch, maybe fan made edits, the fandom is very talented.

Off to go appreciate more MDZS in it's various forms (manhua, audio, novel).

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Everything stays in the family… kind of.

I’m not gonna sit here and pretend like both romances in the drama were not questionable, they were. I also have to give props to the director and writer for doing their best to deal with potential issues a story like that could present. Age gap, family relations, grooming, predatory behavior, lack of informed consent - all that could have been an issue, but somehow they managed to avoid shooting themselves in the foot - for most parts.

What we’ve got, rather than just a romance, was a found family trope drama. The bond between Wei Qiao and Wei Zhi Yuan was deep and meaningful, slowly transforming into a partnership. They knew each other's shortcomings, they understood each other’s pain, they found home in each other’s presence.

Whenever the drama did a good job transforming the brotherly bond into a romantic one is a matter of opinion, personally I was quite fine with it. Being an overanalyzer, I appreciate how the show made me reflect on their relationship, examine how much of the connection was form on shared trauma and how much was driven by pure love. I’m glad the writer, with how the plot and characters were written, kept reassuring me that what they had was more than just codependency. Do I think both of them should go to therapy? Of course, but they are not the first, nor the last BL couple to never truly address or deal with the trauma.

We witness a story of two people who were abandoned and who found peace and happiness with each other. They had to face a lot of setbacks, both external and internal, to finally admit to each other feelings and allow themselves to be loved and love the other. The journey was not easy, but with love stories like that, it shouldn’t be. For me to enjoy this type of romance I need to understand it first, I need to feel like the characters also understand their own feelings. That they thought about it, talked about it, that there is no misunderstanding. And Unknown managed to do just that.

What made it possible were obviously the performances. Chris Chiu made the confusion and the strong internal denial Wei Qian was facing so real and raw. The way we could see on his face what he wanted, and how it went against what he actually did. The constant regret and fear of the situation and the feelings he could not quite understand and accept. Then we have Kurt Huang as Wei Zhi Yuan - from a chaotic teen, to resigned young adult, to confident adult. We witnessed his growth, we saw his dedication and unwavering feelings. And it all seemed so real on the screen.

All that said, there was one aspect of the show I just simply could not comprehend. One directing and editing choice that ruined quite an important scene for me. And I just cannot understand who thought this was a good idea and how no one questioned that choice on all the steps of the production.

Overall, it was less about finding a lover, and more about finding home. A partner that can understand and support you. One that you can rely on. One that always has your back. A partnership. Sharing the burden, sharing the happiness. A drama about finding a family and then working hard to keep it, in whatever form it might be.

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Free will or the fate

I somehow grew to like these short historical c dramas. First of all they are short so they do not have time to waste on fillers and unnecessary side plots. Second of all, they are historical i.e. costume dramas which have no relation to real history. And finally, they are pretty to watch: pretty people dressed in pretty clothes inside pretty sets accompanied by pretty music.

Fortune Writer is one of the better ones, combining seamlessly costume drama and characters-inside -a-book drama. Even though the plot gets a bit complicated and repetitive, it is certainly worthy of the watch.

The story follows Yun Qui, the daughter of the Prime Minister as she realizes that she is a character in a book, written by the fortune (or fate) writer and decides to rebel against her tragic fate by lying and manipulating other characters. I loved the FL: she is an unabashedly gray character, not entirely evil but not far either. When the drama started, I thought she was a side character molesting the usual pretty and kind princess.

The story is tightly written. The mysteries are revealed one at a time steadily. The characters are not what they seem to be , there is a depth in them which is a nice change for a short drama. The main point of the story is the duel of wits between YunQui and the Fortune Writer. She is convinced that she is the sole master of her own fate which the FW refuses to admit. The whole concept of FW is an interesting one: they come into existence when individuals have something they deeply desire so in order to obtain it they are allowed to manipulate the lives of other people. The FW invades bodies of such people. Yun Qui refuses the offer eventually, and lets everyone in her vicinity have free will. Could this be a pique to the current politics? I wonder....

The acting was solid though I found the chemistry between the leads lacking: the main actor has one expression throughout the drama. Whether he is in love or in pain, hungry or constipated, it is always the same stony face! But I loved his line: "Just keep lying to me! I don't care!" He was in love!

I needed to suspend belief a few times especially when falling off of a cliff or when arrow wounds were concerned. At one point, the FL has an arrow buried in her shoulder, pulls it out (no visible blood) and continues as if nothing happened. When a friend sees her a few minutes later, he gives her a handkerchief she uses to wipe her chin, the arrow wound has somehow magically disappeared. This made me lose concentration badly!

Another good point for this drama is that the version on youtube is mercifully free of audio problems: they found the way to air a complete drama without cutting the sound. This is the first!

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