Reviews

Pretty Average Not Worth the binge (better if you just want side entertainment when cleaning lol)

I have a lot of things to say about this show. Let's get into it!!

LOVE TRIANGLE + OTHER RELATIONSHIPS
< Tian Yao & Yan Hui & Bai Xiao Sheng >
I despise love triangles, I hate it so much, there's so many issues with love triangles which I won't get into, just wanted to point this out that I absolutely hate it. However, it wasn't as terrible in this show for the main leads + second lead. At first the relationship between Yun Hui and Bai Xiao Sheng was super funny, every time they had a scene together I laughed because they feel like they would share the same brain cell sometimes, and it was so funny when he was the matchmaker for Tian Yao and Yan Hui. So at first they felt like best friends so I was so relieved their wasn't going to be a love triangle when he appeared, oh dear I was wrong. After a little bit I kinda did ship them just a little, however that was only because I thought Bai Xiao Sheng wouldn't end up liking her and how there wouldn't be a love triangle and how I was wrong yah that, and then he did end up liking her so then I had to feel bad, only up until when they needed to "fake" their relationship to achieve the book. During that arc that was when I stopped shipping them, and realized they aren't really compatible with another, and I ended up thinking their relationship felt better as friends, because of how Tian Yao had been the type of person to pay attention to Yan Hui to know her more, while Bai Xiao Sheng didn't kept attention to Yan Hui in that way, so then it felt more like a crush? Maybe even admiration, or just love without the romantic aspect. Anywho, so this love triangle wasn't as painful and it did make me support the main couple for sure. So his rejection, I don't feel at all bad, because I don't ship them anymore.

< Su Ying & Lu Mu Sheng & Yun Xi >
Now this love triangle here, so messy like what the actual heck is going on? Su Ying is obsessed with a man she saw a few time like we only got like 3 different scenes locations of them together, and it makes no sense, there's no real history between them that explains her undying love for this man. 40 episodes, I was waiting to know how the heck did she fall in love with him THIS BADLY, why the heck did he forget about her, and married another women for 20 years? Like there's not enough information about this damn love triangle at all. We are just expected to know, this women loved this man because of these 3 scenes, and this man doesn't remember her, even though he worked his ahh off to learn how to fight alongside her allegedly because he get no scenes about this just words, but despite his achievement for the women he said he loves, he suddenly was married with another women that we don't even know how they met, and how he forgot about Su Ying, nothing about what the heck happened during those 20 years. It really irks me because I really wanted to know what is their deep level of relationship that makes her this obsessed to keep him alive no matter what, how in the world did he end up with Yun Xi, like what the heck is going on I need more context. I really pitied Su Ying's sister, Ling Fei. She was already wrongfully taught by her community, and then misguided by her delusional elder sister, so yah it's understandable she ended up with so much hatred. (Thought I don't support her she was really irritating in the show.)

< Tian Yao & Su Ying >
How the heck did Su Ying seduce Tian Yao? Like I swear there is not enough context for big relationships like these that takes up so much of the story and character trauma, like no context what so ever. How did he make him fall in love with her, how long did it even take, like I can just image her not even smiling at all around him, so did he like that? Was she so mysterious he wanted to MARRY HER? Like history man, I need the history between them too.

STORY + LEADS
The story was honestly kind boring. It was surprisingly a tad bit more enjoyable when I watched it on 1.25x speed on Youtube lmfao. The FL wasn't too irritating however her character is also pretty boring, even though she was kind of over powered I did slightly enjoyed her not being weak, and being able to save the ML (which is almost all the freaking time so girl power!) The leads only kiss about I wanna say 2 or 3 times so this show is very PG13. The leads aren't bad, like I mentioned in the 'Love Triangle' section, they are written to be pretty compatible, and with Bai Xiao Sheng being the second lead, it made me not ship them with anyone else. My only complaint is that their relationship isn't that memorable. What I mean by this is that, they are plain and boring so the entire 40 episodes, and when they had the flashbacks, I didn't care for it because those weren't very memorable main lead experiences for me to sob over for. The acting wasn't so bad, though the actor for Tian Yao made the same "concerning" expression over and over again made me kind of hope he give me other expressions. His baby egg hatched era was just not for me either.

DEATHS IMPACT LEVEL (in summary / horrible)
1. Yan Hui's Master = Zero Impact
Again, I'm a big softie towards elders dying in shows, however his death wasn't impactful for me. It's because the relationship between the Master and Yan Hui is way too weak for me to care about what they had, and the time they had together. The flashback was just a waste of scene time.
2. Yan Hui = No Impact Either
I couldn't emotionally attach myself to this character (or any character in the show honestly)
3. Fu Yin
His downfall/defeat felt so rushed or not as impactful as it was escalated to be.
4. Zhu Li's Father = What the heck was that death...
Bro... his death was the most disappointing of all like, I can't stand sacrifices like this. He might as well went with him what the actual heck.
5. Zhu Li's Mother = Eh
She was an extra character that was added onto the origins of the plot. I will say the actress for her is gorgeous

ANIMATION
The animation really through me off honestly lol. It felt so goofy and silly I just couldn't take anything seriously.

ENDING + OVERALL
The ending sucks. Well not suck, but was very underwhelming though I didn't expect much since the story was already pretty boring. This BIGGEST weakness of this show is the lack of developing the relationships, and the story, context, history. I don't want just a simple 2 minutes back story if it isn't impactful. There are short back stories from different shows that are so beautiful that I wished they were longer, for this show, these short backstory need to be longer to understand the characters as well as the story.

Hopefully I covered everything I needed to say in this review. :)

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Deserves all the praise!

A very heart wrenching plot. The title said "Queen of Tears" exactly, we all were in tears while watching each episode. This drama had taken me on a emotional roller coaster, with each passing episodes, from feeling heart broken for Baek Hyun Woo, feeling loved over how a women can admire her partner secretly to the extreme, feeling hatred and sad at the same time for the antagonist who finally died without getting an ounce of love he yearned for. I would watch this drama over and over again as I might never get tired of it. The chemistry in loving, misunderstanding, fighting and even waiting for each other, between the main cast has been the cherry on top, serving every emotion we needed. Sure gonna miss them as my weekend will never be the same without them, but let's hope for another masterpiece like this in the future. A story of love, family, reconciliation, friendship, character, sacrifice, perseverance, patience, selflessness, humility and so much more.

Lessons I learned from watching this drama - Cherishing every moment with your love ones because not all the time, they will be with you, you will part ways for sure so cherish every moments that you have and spend time with them as much as you can before it’s too late.

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Absolutely mindblowing acting

Loved, loved LOVEDDD! I normally don't leave reviews but I had to for this masterpiece. Every episode made me laugh and every episode made me cry. From the story line to the acting everything was amazing. I didn't know which plot twist would hit me next, the changes in micro-expressions of the actors drew me in. I felt like I was there with them, feeling what they felt.. When I though there would be cliche misunderstanding tropes, they proved me wrong time and time again. The resilience and trust the characters had in each other was mind blowing. I would rewatch this just for the heartwarming and cute moments but the ones that made me cry were the cherry on top. The build up to the ending was soo good. I did not expect the outcome of the villains to be like that but some things were a tad bit unrealistic which is okay because who doesn't love the protagonist halo. All in all 10/10. Its a MUST watch.

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Problematic and detestable.

I have a lot of problems with this show, but I'll start off with the most major one, the age gap. She was a 19 year old girl in HIGH SCHOOL and he was a grown ass middle aged man (939 but whatever he looks 50 in the show). Would it have killed the writers to make the fl a little older?? Or at least choose an older and mature looking actress?? Even the actors themselves had a 10 year age gap in real life I can only imagine how awkward it must have been... I was so uncomfortable watching their so called "romantic" scenes because all I could see was a father-daughter dynamic. She literally calls him "ahjussi" for god's sake. It is so creepy and vile that so many people support this and even more so, ROMANTICIZE IT. How and why are people not seeing a problem with this??

The story is nothing special, I was bored out of my mind and sometimes, I would play a game where I would try and finish the dialogue of what a character was saying or try to predict the next scene or plot point, that's how clichéd, boring and predictable this was. I was bored even while watching this on 2x speed. And of course all the 3 main characters are magically reincarnated with the same faces and personalities and conveniently meet each other again. What was the point of dying if that was going to happen? The constant flashbacks to Kim Shin's life 900 years ago were so boring like bro move on it's been a century ????. The main leads had no chemistry whatsoever, maybe this show would have been a little less detestable if Kim Shin and Ji Eun-tak were father and daughter instead of "lovers". The second lead couple also had no chemistry. Eun tak's character was plain and boring, she is a blank slate with no personality or mind of her own. Gong Yoo and Lee Dong Wook's visuals and bromance carried the show in all honestly. I genuinely cannot fathom how this hot mess came to be the 4th highest rated TvN show and most popular show on MDL...I honestly see this show as a stain in LDW's career, he has so many hits like A Shop for Killers, Strangers from Hell, etc...I wonder why he chose this show...

I could go on and on, but I think I've said enough. This show is a hot piece of garbage and I regret watching it. Watch this show if you hate yourself and like seeing minors getting groomed.

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A tragic fall from grace.....

Yes, the title is dramatic. Anyways, I was gonna type out a rant but I agree with a lot of the Korean comments I'm reading, they simply are relying on the reputation of the cast to carry the positive opinions on this show. I don't think I need to delve into the writing again but as a byproduct of the last few episodes they had to spend so much time wrapping up these stories which should have happened ages ago. Some of them were done in an okayish manner but the amount of plot holes, inconsistencies, and straight-up illogical moments were mind-boggling.

Overall, the very ending was super anticlimactic. We didn't see any real emotional romance scene or kiss, never saw the wedding. The two people carrying this show on their backs got virtually zero screen time when they were together romantically or touchingly. They speedran rebuilding their marriage from 0, getting married, having kids, growing old, and dying after that promise he made on their honeymoon in Germany. That part should have been the focus of the last two episodes and this show would have salvaged everything and been good. But instead, it was done in 5 minutes, and poof, the show is over.

Eunseong is some cartoon villain, god damn Plankton from Spongebob. The whole plot around him and his mom slowly becomes crazier and just ridiculous until the show goes on. I was making fun of him with my friend saying he was the Joker from Batman so when Bomi broke the 4th wall and said this show was like The Dark Knight I started crying of laughter.

The cinematography and directing took a very harsh fall, the camera work was so odd, and the cuts were jarring, a massive difference from the amazing shots they had in the first half. Not to mention if someone went through and calculated how much of this episode (and the last few) were flashbacks I wouldn't be surprised at how large of a % they would be. It almost feels insulting we need to be constantly shown these scenes every 5 seconds like the audience is the one with a brain tumor causing amnesia.

Overall the show is a 6/10 for me. Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Jiwon carried this show but had almost no screen time together in meaningful ways to help the horrific writing.

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Fails on the Story of a Fallen Angel

Honestly, I am blur as to what the writer really wanted to showcase and highlight about the story. But at least this series is far to be near the story of Thomas John Ellis's role as Lucifer in the American blockbuster urban fantasy tv series 'Lucifer' who both tackles the life of the castaway angel. Perhaps, the writer wanted to depict another side of this demonic character. i just find the story lackluster and failed to deliver a spectacle despite those good-looking actors, captivating location and production scenes.

The story simply lacks substance and spectacle of what the story of an evil creature should be depicted in order to leave an etch on the minds of the viewers.

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Overhyped movie?

This movie is good, one of the overhyped movie this year it considered as one of the top grossing movie this year maybe because of the castibg. I don't understand why it is talked about its not one of the best thrilling movies that I saw its just a typical ritual movie the story is very common.
The movie is not that bad its just a common story not that scary at all. The casting is great, they got the best actors in this film and they really did their best. The cinematography is great they got the best shots. It was nicely done.
Kim go Eun did a great job, she really nailed as a shaman, she really did the shaman chant excellently. I really love his acting here.
Lee Do Hyun is really given that his a good actor but he also did his exceptional acting skills in this film. But what caught my attention is that he looks hotter in this film.
Overall the movie is great and common, not worhy for an award.

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SUCH A COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP AND SITUATION

All in all this Drama is entertaining and in some ways very cute, what I like the most about this is the way the actors portray their characters, they are entertaining and have a very cute interaction, I must say that while most of the Japanese BL always give us very few or one kissing scene only, this drama seems there is a kissing scene in every episode ! how about that !
The story is complicated, the situation is complicated, they did not even made it clear why and how they broke up from many years ago .. after watching the episodes, it was revealed that it was all a misunderstanding reason of their breaking up and MIyata suddenly throwing the phone or what was that ? after seeing the picture of his Senpai. I was actually not really impressed with the story, why did it took too many years for Takashi to come back to Miyata ? or maybe he needed to be successful first.
I was kinda annoyed at Miyata, he liked his Senpai but he don't wanna date him , they even spent the night with each other ! he only hurted himself such a complicated situation because of pride. I hated Takashi when he thought that MIyata was an outsider with his family affairs, and yet he wanted Miyata to be with him forever , such a puzzled mind ! whats wrong with him ! It ended okay so that is enough for me, I almost got angry when that guy named Kyosuke who seems the person in charge of Takashi family or someone who convinces Takashi to follow his mother , I don't know who he was , because I thought he was a rival , but thankfully not.
Miyata was Adorable and so is Takashi , the drama is not rushed, only story is complicated, but it was entertaining and cute in some ways. I don't If I will be rewatching this one though.

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An absolute masterpiece

Perfection is the word for all the actors envolved, but I need to name here Duan Yi Hong for his portrayal of chancellor Lu Buwei. He is so, so subtle in his rendition of the multifaceted personality that Lu Buwei was ... It was a joy to watch. I was annoyed by the choice the casting directors had for the character of the first emperor: while the scripted words and the historical records said he was a teenager, the actor's age was obviously 40. Good actor. However, it was easier on the viewer to let go of this blatant discrepancy, only when the script dropped the constant reference to the character's age. Other than that, of course, there is the issue of translation into English. While I commend anyone's effort for providing it, still, that should be handled with much more care. I read a lot of comments from bilingual people, those who understood both Chinese and English, who were unhappy with it. I for one, have no hint of what I really missed from Chinese, but I got an idea that something was amiss from the English lines. So, when translating for us, the international viewers, do not work harder, but better. Thank you.

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Best Kdrama 2024 in Crime

The plot is interesting also perfect! You'll guess who the main villain (last episodes) that's the only minus! The slow burn is perfect for me! I really love drama where romance is subplot! The second season of this drama will be more excited to watch in the next 1-2 years.
The plot revolves around crime, mystery of the main character is a rich guy a popular social influencer had joined the police force to solved crime for the sake of father on his elections to make his reputation for his company. All episodes are different story with beautiful cast and crime series.

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Such a roller coaster, but I enjoy the ride

This drama has many genres, and the genre keep changes as the story goes.

We begin the drama with dark comedy, then progress into romance, these two is the main genre. The progress is good, sometimes funny, other time is melodrama, little bit of trill, some heart fluttering moments, some family moments, pleasant plot twist here and there.

After 13 episode, the genre kind of sifted to makjang. The shift is kind of rough in term of storyline and editing, but the cast shining in this part. Emotional part tackled so well. The angst, the complex emotions of all characters. Especially the main couple, their acting play a big role here. Episode 15 is makjang peak. It will make you angry, it can make you anxious.

Then the last episode is heavy on melodrama. This episode is crafted so well. The cinematography, acting, editing, set and prop, lighting, grading. The team must be pour all their hard works on this episode. It's beautiful. Not easy to wrap that much plot gap and unfinish business from earlier episodes. But they do it right, the pace is also good on this episode. It also have a tone of slice of life, which is I love.

Overall, this is a great drama. There is some part that can be too tropey and cliché, but if you see in big picture, it's a great drama. But the highest regards goes to the cast. There are a lot of good actors in this drama. Actually most of them are seasoned one, and we can see that. They giving flesh to all character into a complex and unique being. Most of my rating come from the acting department. They give 12/10.

But let me give even higher praise to our FL and ML. They definitely carry this show. They are stole our heart. Jiwon and Soohyun give their all in this role. Their acting are stellar. And their acting is... having conversation(?) Like it's good separately but together, their acting speak to each other. Maybe this is what they called chemistry? At least acting chemistry, it's exist between them. Thank you for giving lives to Haein and Hyunwoo!

This drama is quite a roller coaster. But it's a pleasant journey. Not lie kinda make me angry on episode 15, but it's end in a very good note :) Thank you for cast and production team. It's a success drama for sure :) ❤️

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From Queen of Tears to Viewer's Tears

April 28, 2024

Queen of Tears is that Kdrama that I have been waiting for ever since it was announced. For me, I definitely had great expectations with this series and I think it did deliver that.

I do believe that the casts carried the majority of the little plot holes that kind of existed. Nevertheless, it was a great ride of show in terms of really feeling rom-com, angsty, dramatic, and mysterious vibes of it.

The chemistry is oozing, that was something that we all cheered and devoured. Like when are we going to find our own Hyun-woo? Our main leads put their best acting and solidified their A list Kdrama actors' status for sure. Before watching the finale, I have been seeing the reviews or the criticism of other viewers. And I must say, there is a point of overly hatred towards this drama. I definitely agree that certain plot tropes and progression could have been better in a sense. Like there are couple characters that were introduced but never really was served a sense of purpose in a way. But I do think that it is more on the minimal side, and it will only really really bother you if you pay attention like a detective.

For the first quarter of 2024 kdramas, I can definitely say that Queen of Tears deserve its popularity and support from both local and international audiences.

That 2 hour finale was amazing and I think that it something I would love to rewatch again as my comfort show.

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