Reviews

I just Can't. Glorifies Abusive Relationship, Stupid FL

My new thing is to start these KDramas at Ep 5 or 6, in the hopes that I get past the toxic, bullying ML that all of these Kdramas love to glorify. I HATED the ML. On a Superficial level he was not good looking at all and I didn't understand why all the girls threw themselves at him. His personality was awful. He treated everyone, and I mean everyone like utter crap. His love for his adopted sister was creepy and boarding on obsessive. Why do so many of these shows glorify, bullying, toxic, controlling, emotionally abusive behavior as "romantic." His constant need to protect could have been "romantic" if not for all his other behaviors. It's like the men in these stories never grew up passed the "Pull the girl's pigtails to get her to notice you" stage of life.

I liked the FL at times, at other times she drove me crazy. Her constant trusting of people who everyone told her not to trust. Mainly one of the main bad girls, don't know, nor care what her name is. She's so annoying, obviously fake and spoiled. Everyone around her but the FL can see it. The FL's best friend keeps saying this girl is NOT her friend.

The spoiled mean girl repeatedly embarrassed her and the FL being the dumb idiot she is, constantly ignored it. And why did the female lead hate her? Simply because the FL's brother liked her, even though it was clear the FL saw him as her brother. The mean girl barely talked to the FL's brother! Had zero relationship or friendship with him, but decided she would do everything in her power to destroy this girl. Because you know, the plot called for it.

The mean girl destroyed the FL's family by accusing them of killing her parents and kept saying "have you ever wondered why they adopted you?" Then she played 5 seconds of a 10 year old conversation. The FL never once questioned, how the mean girl got the recording, or documents or why the hell she would even have them to begin with. She had ZERO relationship with her family! But she believes everything she says and immediately cuts ties with her brother and her adoptive mom and dad who just the episode before they showed how much they loved her and how well she was treated. But all it took to sever ties was the word of a mean girl. I really hated the FL at this point because, her reaction made zero sense. At the very least hear the parents out and not just take the b### word for it.

She kept saying, I want to find out the truth, but she never actually did anything to search for the truth. And if the harpy spoiled b had "documents" as proof. It didn't dawn on the FL to take those documents with her? She barely even looked at them. The ENTIRE Scene was so contrived and completely out of left field and honestly ruined the show. Because it made absolutely no sense and made the FL look like an utter, unlikable, fool.

When the brother finds out the 5 second tape was doctored and she listened to the parents story she STILL cut ties with them. Saying "Until I know the truth..." B you know the truth! Who are you going to believe? Later she finds further documents that prove there was something fishy going on, but had nothing to do with her Adoptive family and she STILL doesn't make up with them.

Also while the Adoptive parents seemed nice, where the hell were they? From episode 5 - 9 they weren't in the picture. It seemed like they two were living on their own and the ML was making the FL cook all his meals for him and then spent all his time criticizing the FL's cooking. Was that supposed to be "cute?"

I'm on EP 15 and now the FL is about to move in with some stranger she just came across and clearly is in league with one of the mean girls? Again, how stupid is the FL? Not to mention the FL has her own apartment and wasn't looking for an apartment, but suddenly the show brings this new conniving girl into the picture without explanation? For reasons? Did I mention every single woman in this show is a conniving B that's out to get the FL? Again, for reasons. The FL did NOTHING to any of these women, yet she has 4 or 5 of them scheming against her. I HATE it when a show has ONE conniving B that targets the FL. This one has like 5!

I'm ready to bail on this. I may skip a few eps, but it's a frustrating show. I just want to get to the point where she realizes she was wrong about her parents but I'm not going to watch another 10 episodes of everyone ganging up on this poor FL, while she acts like an utter trusting, forgiving, idiot. Especially when she doesn't trust the two people she should trust the most - her PARENTS!

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A Medical Romance Gem: Exploring the Layers of 'Oath of Love'

I would say that Oath of Love is better than the average romance drama. It is realistic and a good reflection of how life, and real relaitonships should be. The ennding is very bittersweet, and I love Lin ZhiXiao's parents, mainly the Dad more lol. I feel like they were an important part of the story with many emotional moments. XiaoZhan pulled off his role so well. Eventhough I typically don't enjoy romance focused drama I quite enjoyed this! The medical themes were also intresting and really adds to it, and I liked the focus of family love too! The OSTs were one of the best features, espiclaly because it's between YangZi and XiaoZHan. Now, at times I found both Lin ZhiXiao and Gu Wei very annoying, and very immature. ZhiXiao's friends were kinda eh, as they encouraged her to stupid behaviour, and I just really don't like them. Overall, it's a pretty good drama with its shortcomings, but as I said I'm not a fan of romance driven dramas.

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Unrequited Love, Friendship, and a Dash of Comedy: 'Let's Meet Now'

This is a fluffy romance drama which was what I was looking for! I'm a fan of Zhang ZiJian which is what compelled me to watch this. Let's Meet Now offers no plot but rather just fluffy romance scenes. There are multiple themes including friendship, unrequited love and romance (duh). There is a portion of comedy which is also really enjoyable. The OST however is really something, and it just needs to go. To me it sounds really cringe and I don't know yucky. The ending tied off really well for the main couple but I felt the side characters didn't get their justice. An ending of just a few scenes indicating what happened to the side characters was very vague and unsatisfying. It's not exactly an open ending but just leaves you grasping at straws. If you enjoy romance, then I'll recommend it but other than that 8/10.

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Thrills, Chills, and Forensic Genius: 'Under the Skin'

I really enjoyed this drama! And I think it's definetly a gem amound Chinese crime dramas and also the start of my mini obsession with Tan JianCi lol. The aspect that makes this stand out the most is the way they solve the cases, using forsenic science. The focus on forensic portrait drawing is so well done, and really exciting. In a way to see how ShenYi will solve the next case is always so fun and exhilarating. The drama consists of multiple cases with no filler episodes all leading to the overaching case which involes both leads ShenYi and DuCheng. The other side character are also pretty memorable within the drama. At times, ShenYi seems like an absolute god that can solve anything lol and the music fits really well with converying and influencing emotions. I also think that ShenYi is kinda hawt lol. This drama does contain various triggering topics so be warmed before watching this, I think it's funny how this kind of thing scared me but I still wait it. I rate this a solid 9/10.

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I'm surprised of the overall rating, why 5+?

I honestly don't know where to start with reviewing this drama
Don't jump at me as I am just providing this viewpoint from a realist lens. So ladies if any one treats you like they treated the fl. Make sure your red flag buzzer SCREAMS.

I personally haven't read the manhua so not sure if this follows the same story plot, if it's this cringe so this isn't related to the manhwa at all
Plot/story was not good
Poor script writing
Acting was average
Music was average to descent
The flow and story characters were lacking badly

These are some of the bullet points that stood out clearly
1- No-one apologises to her, atleast not sincerely (ml says first empty measly sorry ep10)
2- fl lead is a total push over, she even smiling and chatting (near the end) to a cheating narcissistic ex and to the abusive boss "I felt a little guilty..." wtf dude everyone did fake pretend 180 in their personality... they still DID NOT apologise (I'm sorry followed by isn't that a bit comforting is gaslighting manipulation101)
3- can't blame her though since it's seems like hierarchy, misogynistic culture, it's kinda the norm sadly.
4- The ml is an egoistic gaslighting narcissist
5- The other manipulative low esteem abusive guy lead also displays same authoritarian behaviour towards the other second female lead character and ends up with her ?
6- Romance is forced and feels unnatural, lacking chemistry. Poor communication and ml decides to distance himself to sort things out leaving fl to cry out of self pity ? (neglecting girlfriend for multiple months!)
7- Fl is constantly threatened, told to be patient, stay in her lane, used and misunderstood by almost everyone. Like she let's a stalking fan who abused her in public, stay in the celebrities home (instead of taking necessary actions of someone barging in)
They all do as they please despite fl protest/annoyance and ignoring her opinion
The only abuse I approve is the fl's father beating the ml?

Did I say nobody bloody apologises for any of their actions (the 2 sorrys' in there were empty, the ml says I'm sorry after he talks about his struggles and the fl says you don't need to say sorry lmao), even the mum rudely speaking down to her didn't even utter any apologies urgh... The only decent individual is the manager of the ml

2/10 just for the acting effort and seeing Taeyangs cute brother (his chemistry with his colleague was way better!)
Why did I watch this you ask, because Prime is the only service I had, didn't have anything else to watch (although it took me too long to finish this ?) and I have a stubborn habit on finishing what I started. It was just tolerable enough to continue it giving me the chance to write this essay as I was watching along. Only watch this if you are bored af and don't mind sleeping through it ?
The only that will stick to me is most likely "wariso" ?

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please give TutorYim better projects

I will repeat what's already been said, I waited months to see them again, I absolutely love Tutor and Yim but boi how they did them wrong.
I'm ok with over the top comedy and acting but there's absolutely nothing else behind, this is honestly a waste of good actors on a bad scenario
Even if the last episode was cute it was all over the place, I couldn't even tell if some scenes were in the right order (I'm sure you can tell what I'm talking about if you've seen it), WE KNOW they have chemistry and act great together but that was just confusing, I do hope they will get another show because they deserve so much more !
on a positive note Gus & Tong was a really cute storyline with a lot of chemistry, nice suprise, I hope we'll see them again soon!

Also one more thing, I don't usually mind repetitive OST but that was too much I absolutely hate this song

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Incredible side characters & secondary romance that stole the show to the detriment of main couple

This BL drama is about the encounter of emotionnaly closed-off almost 40 years old Jim (the owner of a Hainanese chicken rice diner) and charming late twenties Wen. There are multiple storylines as the drama follows the evolution of their relationship as well as the ones of their entourage.

I had some issues with the pacing of the scenario as well as the distribution of the scenes between the various relationships. I truly enjoyed most of the secondary stories but it was to the detriment of the main relationship of Jim and Wen. I love the ensemble cast but clearly some of the secondary storylines interested me more than the main one. I particularly liked the Li Ming and Heart story: they kinda stole the show for me. I also found myself caring a lot about some other sides characters: Kaipa, Alan and Saleng...much more than the main couple.

Regarding the main relationship, Mix managed to make Wen a likeable and endearing character. He is beautiful and sincere that you can completly understand why the other male main lead would fall for him despite his messy arc. The opposite was less true to me. Jim is a hardworker with seemingly good intentions but he is really closed off and has big walls (for good reasons). However, it is really difficult to root for him and to understand why Wen is so smitten by him. I wonder if the script would have given more room to them, it would have made a difference in making the growth of the relationship more romantic. Here, it felt that the relationship was working thanks to Wen hard work, in a rather unilateral and sometimes frustrating way.

The whole cast did a good job. Khaotung is once again very impressive and full of nuances: even in a side role, he made me care so much. Some of his scenes are gut-wrenching and I know that it is thanks to his great skills that the emotions flowed through so well. I also found First amazing in a very different and difficult role : he carried it very well given the context of his narrative arc. Fourth and Gemini chemistry continue to be really excellent, they had the best romance.

I liked a lot Mix performance but I wish that Earth would have been more charismatic in the role of Jim. He was not helped by the script but still, he was clearly the weakling in terms of acting skills among the main cast. I also wished that the age gap thing would have been better adressed. Here, it was a bit strange as Earth does not seem to have a 10 years age gap with Mix (in real life, they are only 4 years apart and are both still in their twenties)...Earth's character is supposed to be going on forty but sometimes his character talks like he is 70+ years old and that any change is impossible like he is at the end of the road...This creates clearly a disconnection in the story because you really need to suspend your disbelief when you look at Earth attempting to play that part...

I loved the cinematography despite some editing hiccups between scenes...Sometimes, there are jarring cuts in the music when switching from one scenes to another...The soundtrack is rather average outside of the generic which is very nice because of the song as well as the images displayed with it.

I would recommend this to people looking for a more slice-of-life BL with nuanced storylines and very good ensemble cast. The cinematography is good despite some editing hiccups and there are some really memorable scenes in terms of acting and stakes. The pacing could have been better and the main romance is a bit lacking story-wise (especially compared to the other storylines) but the series has enough qualities despite its flaws to be worthwile.

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That was painful to watch....

While the actors did the job, they were asked to... the overacting, overfunny stuff was just painful to watch.
In some of the serene moments the show would have been ok to watch and you see a glimpse of what the actors are capable of. But the direction/exectution/writing was the worst.
And why do they need stupid noises for any comedy style show in Thailand? That's sooooooo annoying.
If the show has true comedy no noises are neccessary to convey it. And why do they need to recycle the "comedy" music all the time? Is there no reason to do something new?
This show feels like a advertisment spot with some story around without seperation compared for example to "Last Twilight" where the spot is on the end and you can skip it. Also extremly annoying.

The writing of the main couple is very shallow, giving the side couple the much more interesting story arc.

Overall the second worst show of this year which you could skip without any worries.

And why can't I vote a 0 or at least 0.5? So my 1 should be a 0.

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Beautiful and Romantic

The opening graphics were beautiful, (reminded me of Tale of The Nine Tailed. Gosh, where can I buy the prints ). It sets the mood for the story and I took my time to see it on every episode. Kim Young Dae is so versatile, he can play silly and super arrogant, all while being handsome, like in “Sh**ting Stars”. The chemistry of the leads grew on me over time, but did take some effort to believe it by halfway through the series.

Not all fantasy stories have happy ever after, most keep consistent with the underlying premise. I thought this one satisfying but not unique. My all time favorite fantasy is “Goblin”, this series doesn’t reach Goblin’s standards but I still enjoyed it.

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Disappointing, not worth the time nor the effort

What happened? No, seriously, what were they thinking?! Jade was definitely a favorite of mine in Bed Friend – he was friendly, loyal, helpful, knew when to stick his nose into things and when not. He was an extremely likeable character. The Jade we see in this, is nothing like that. They turned him into a caricature, a cartoon-like character.

The plot was kind of boring. They were playing a game of cat and mouse with nothing much going on. Except for those awful comedic sound effects and Jade screaming half the time. They did tone it down a bit as the series progressed though. At least I think so. It could have been so much better if that just tried. Not the actors, but the writers and the team behind the production. That’s where the faults lie.

And then there were the plot holes that were never addressed. The weird scene cuts and jumps between the scenes. It made the drama hard to follow and understand at times.

Jade & Mai: Jade was a screaming mess half of the time. I really disliked what they did with his character, because he became this clueless mess who couldn’t string two normal sentences together. Why go to this effort to ruin a character? He had no real personality. And to be honest, neither did Mai. He was hot, and he liked Jade. That was his whole personality. Nothing more. It felt like very lazy writing, almost like they didn’t really gave any though to their characters. Yim and Tutor did okay, I guess. But with how exaggerated Jade was and how little we saw of Mai doing anything (except bright close ups because he’s just so perfect), it’s hard to tell. They just didn’t have a chance to display their talents.

King & Uea were also reduced to almost cartoon-like selves. I honestly found their “little” arguments annoying. Can you imagine how tiring it is to be in a relationship with someone who is constantly sulking with you? The lack of communication also left a lot to be desired.

Tong & Gus: I actually liked the two of them as a couple a lot more than I did Jade and Mai. They felt like a better match, I also liked that there was no authority / power struggle between the two. Their communications skills could use some work though. But I really liked the chemistry between the two characters, Leo and Tai did great here.

Even giving it a 4.0 rating seems extremely generous. All I know is, that this might be my last Domundi series if they continue going down this road.

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Movie is terrible

I watched this movie and found it terrible. There were some scary moment for sure, but even before we get to the scary parts there is a really confusing tripping intro to the movie where our protagonist is working out how to deal with his girlfriend's death. This was a clusterf*** of nonsense until we get to the hiking trip.

The only actor worth a s*** was David Chiang as he had some real complex backstory that actually had me routing for him, even when his ultimate decision was the massacre of the entire village and kill his daughter's rapist before having his body split into different wine urns. That was some dark stuff, but I can understand and even sympathise with why he did it. The other characters that went on the hike and got tangled up in this mess I really didn't care about, and of course they give the main protagonist the power to see ghosts. Convenient yo.

It ends with everybody dying and the the evil ghost end boss is still floating around, so basically nothing is really rectified. Terrible

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2nd time around:

Thanks to the New Years break in BL's I got a chance to watch this series for the second time.

My initial rating was an 8.
Second time around I did drop it down to a 7.5 rating.

You can check my Watch List and see that my ratings are pretty close to the average ratings of everyone else.
Some of mine do stray a little from the norm, but that is because I also factor in how a series makes me feel.

That being said, I don't understand why this show got such a Low rating.
I've seen bigger production shows that were worse and got better ratings.

This series had some bad editing/flow issues for sure. Blame that on the post production ppl and the director?

But the acting was really good across the cast! Everyone of them!

I felt that Tiger played his character really well. It wasn’t the usual effeminate role that is commonly played, it was more Innocent child like adoration.
I’m just putting this out there in case any of the cast or crew see it and know that at least ONE person Really liked this show!
I hope all of the actors continue to get work and that I can see them more.
Especially Run and Tiger.
Full disclosure: I’ve had a Huge BL Crush on Run and his younger brother Games since I saw them back when “With Love” broadcast.
Attack me all you want! I think it deserved better than a 6.2 rating.

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It had a lot of potential, but it sizzled out by the end

The basic premise of the plot was very cliché – rich man falling in love with a poor woman who is working for him. Seen about a million times, but it can still be great. I liked the added complication of Vee’s missing mother and Mirin’s involvement with it. It added an extra layer of possible complications. I was, however, not a fan of how it all played out. They were really building up with all the problems, the way all relationships were becoming more and more complicated, the issues were pilling up… and then it just kind of fizzled out. It was very anticlimactic.

Veekit & Mirin: They were trying to make Vee cold, unreachable, and grumpy. He was just childish and kept throwing tantrums left and right. I am glad they dropped that act fairly quickly, even if his sudden change of character was a bit unexpected. Mirin was sweet, even if a bit too honest at times. I liked that. She matched Vee fairly well and didn’t let him trample all over him. I found the two cute, but I didn’t really feel the sparks. Which is a shame. Dew’s acting did feel a bit bland at times, I just don’t think he handled the emotional scenes well. I liked Kao’s acting better, it was more believable.

As for side characters, I think Chanon had a lot of potential. There could be a lot more done with him, his ambitions, and his mother’s plans. But they took the easy way out in the end. And he became another thing, another complication that just kind of sizzled out. Ewes was sweet and loyal, even if there were times where that loyalty might have brought her to the wrong side of things. Thanya was just plain annoying. She didn’t really have any personality beyond being rich and wanting Vee.

As I said, it had a lot of potential. But it was wasted as they decided to take the easy way out when it came to solving all the issues that arose through the drama.

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Heads & Shoulders Above the Rest

I want to start by commending the casting director because they did such a fantastic job.
Aside from the script/plot (although I agree it went a little bit sideways in the last 7-10eps) which was stellar, the success of this drama IMO stems from the fact that the casting director and director of this drama didn’t cast any popular “idol” and casted people that can actually act. What a refreshing breath of fresh air to watch a drama where nobody is conscious of their angles and trying to look good instead of actually acting naturally. I totally understand that dramas want to make money and they have to cast this idols and most of them can’t act worth a dime, even to save their lives, but since they are popular and bring in lots of traffic and have fans that will defend their acting until their last breath and swear to the heavens that we haven’t seen acting like that in history and if you dare state otherwise, you are thereafter branded a hater/anti (unfortunately a lot of reviewers fear the attack from the aforementioned mobs so they keep quiet instead of rocking the boat and give their honest reviews if the drama sucked or the acting sucked), this directors are unfortunately forced to work with this very good looking but extremely average actors. Also not just acting, the combination of average and recycled scripts are also part of the problem.
I honestly commend all the actors for a job well done, I can’t emphasize enough what an awesome and stellar job you all did, it was incredible to watch, I want to specially shoutout to the most outstanding character to me and that is Princess Yang Ying aka Prince Li, the Justice this young actress did to her role will go down in CDramaLand history IMO, she was spectacular, she was believable at every point of her journey, I was left in awe everytime she graced the scene, I can’t wait to watch more from her in the future, honorable mention to Yu ShiShan, Alen Fang what a fabulous job you did with that character (and that shimmy was definitely on point)
I wish the last few episodes weren’t so rushed and was fleshed out as the beginning of the drama, it felt like they just threw everything at us all at once but all that being said, IMO this drama is still definitely heads and shoulders above the dramas of its kind this year.
My only complain would be in the romance department, if felt like they gave us a lot without actually giving us anything, the romance started out well but it kinda frizzled out as they became official.
I highly recommend.

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