The Long Snore 无聊

This was one long boring Historical CDrama. GF and I kept trying to slog through it, finally throwing the towel in the thirtyish episode. Initially it was sort of decent, the FL is a strong character who is tough and has exceptional martial arts skills. She is hell bent on revenge for what was done to her and her family.

The memorable part of the FL's initial interaction with the ML is the competion with the ML in the Cuju match scene. I really enjoyed the Cuju match which is an ancient sports game going back to the Han Dynasty popular in the military and royalty. I felt it was executed beautifully although I cannot attest to the historical accuracy of the game play.

However, the story line and plotting became a big drag of revenge and messy plotting of political intrigue. Too many filler side stories and dragging things out un-necessarily. No chemistry between the leads, it felt like they would be better as siblings than lovers. The SML character who falls in love with the FL is annoying, not talking about the actor himself but the role. I don't know if the SML role was used as a contrast to the ML as a way to prop up the ML to the viewers; he was weak willed and undecisive. The princess SFL was also weak and fragile. It got annoying when she kept crying all the time, she does mature more later on as she goes through some hardships. The guard dude SML with the princess SFL chemistry was better and the love story between them was more engaging than the leads. You end up rooting more for them than anyone else.

Since its a big budget show, I need not say more on the production quality of the series. The acting was okay, the ML is on the stiff and wooden end of things. The FL and princess SFL did a pretty good job in their roles despite a messy drawn out storyline.

If one has insomnia and wants something to help them fall asleep, this might be the show for it.

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Slow Burn Healing Drama

It is a decent watch, the pace of the drama is slow and focuses more on the slice of life dynamics in the S. Korean countryside when a city girl from Seoul moves there to heal. The FL experiences the death of her mother, the breakup of her boyfriend, and the constant bullying and undermining of her in the workplace. She's stuck in a dead end job and her life in Seoul is falling apart. All of it is too much for the FL so she quits her job, sells almost everything she owns and with a leap of faith moves to the S. Korean countryside. The drama gently touches on themes of simple living, money vs time, and quality of life; these themes have resonated globally the last few years. These topics have made some question what is the meaning of their lives and does the rat race narrative fit into who they are and what they truly want. The Great Resignation, Lying Flat 谭平, and N포 세대 N-Give Up generation are examples of this.

As for the love story itself, it is a slow burn and pretty conservative. The FL meets the ML when she moves to the countryside. The ML is a librarian, he seems to have trauma in his past that has led him down the path of a low key lifestyle as a part time librarian. The acting is done pretty well, the FL does a good job transitioning from being depressed and just staying afloat but not truly living to someone who embraces living slow, simply, and stepping away from a status and material chasing world. The ML suits his part very well, he is boyishly handsome, sweet, and has a shy soft gentle nature in his interactions with people in the small community.

If you want a light hearted slow burn romance story that touches on themes of healing, slowing down and meditative living, this is the drama.

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Philosophy and Penalties of Death

This drama is dark with a philosophical take on what it means to take your own life and the value of life itself. I felt it took a strong opinionated approach on the value and the meaning of a life despite how trapped, sad, and dire one's circumstances are. In a world that is becoming increasingly hyper competitive with the sociopathy of capitalism , more socially isolating but at the same time hyper socially connected in ways that can be superficial and heightens the loneliness we feel with our comparative social standing to others, the protagonist is a victim of these circumstances. He runs into a series of misfortune and mishaps for years, he seems to be unable to catch a break and feels stuck in a life where he is constantly hustling in several lowly paid and low status jobs while his youth is being sucked away from him. All he wanted was to make a decent living in a real job, marry his girlfriend and have a family but it seems even that "middle class dream" is out of reach. What is a man to do when he is grinded down to the point where he sees no hope, no future worth living for?

The drama seems to take a hard stance or at least Death does when she puts the protagonist through a series of tests in the bodies and lives of different people from all walks of life who are destined to meet their end unless the protagonist can figure a way to avert death. If he averts death, he can have his chance to live again. Death raises the questions: Was it a selfish decision he made to take his life? Did he consider the impact on his loved ones? Did he take his life for granted? While he took his life, there were others who had no free will when their lives abruptly ended.

The acting is good, the ML has taken unconventional roles in the previous dramas and the FL as Death was in Parasite. It also has an unconventional approach where the ML reincarnates into different people, multiple actors take the lead in different storylines.

The storyline is incredibly fast paced, engaging, and at times difficult to stomach with its traumatic dark themes.

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"However, What They Don’t Teach You Is How To Be An Adult."

I got a few recommendations from my buddies a while back to see this. I saw the good reviews of it in the news and also on MDL. I knew it wasn't going to be an easy watch. I appreciate the film makers, director, writers, and all who participated in this production in having the creative courage to tell a story about a social issue that is difficult to navigate and properly tell.

This drama is gritty and tries to do a realistic portrayal of the characters so nothing goes through pretty pastel filters, you see the starkness as it is.

The focus of the story is about the extreme bullying a teenage girl deals with in her school. It starts off with her classmate who commits suicide due to the bullying. There's a difficult scene where her classmate's dead body is in the center of the school grounds with some students taking pictures of the scene and it was morbid. The FL goes to cover the dead body up out of respect, she becomes the new target of bullying.

Later on, her life intersects with a young thug who is an orphan. The FL and ML seem to have similar backgrounds of poverty and come from broken homes but they have different aspirations and trajectories. The FL is studious and does extremely well in school, she aspires to go to the best university. The ML has lived with a life of violence and has no direction. The FL gets his help to protect her from the bullying so she can focus on graduating and getting into a good university. Their relationship develops further as two lonely individuals who come to support each other.

The bullying continues to spiral out of control and turns into an absolute train wreck for the leads. Most of the adults in the drama give lip service on student bullying and turn a blind eye to it. It was difficult to watch towards the end when you feel the impending doom for both of the leads and the sacrifice one makes for the other.

Extraordinary story telling and deeply heartbreaking.

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With a sword, that boy cuts the rope, dividing this world from the next.

Came across this on Netflix and saw the trailer, it seemed intriguing and glad I got around to seeing the prequel to this popular manga series. I'll keep this review short since this is a well known series. As a warning, it is bloody and ultra violent at times but there were no annoying explicit sex scenes, thank goodness for that.

This was a fascinating watch about an assassin who was used as a part of a revolution to destroy the Shogunate. This drama had beautiful cinematography, historical settings, and costumes. The prequel storyline isn't complicated and had tight plotting so it was easy to follow even for people who are new or not familiar with the franchise. While it has its fair share of blood and a bit of gore, the sword fight scenes were choregraphed very well and there were some scenes were it was almost elegant despite the blood shed. I originally intended to watch this for the action and sword fighting but was rewarded with a lot more. The love story is subtle and stoic. While it is a main part of this prequel arc, it doesn't dominate and allows the other areas of the drama to stand out.

There were some well written scenes with poignant moments such as a philosophical conversation Yukishiro Tomoe has with Himura Kenshin, it questions whether all those murders were worth it for the peace he thinks he is fighting for and the morality he is sacrificing.

Even with the violence and blood shed it was tastefully done and executed.

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One of the Kind Drama

This is one hell of a damn good drama that will shatter your heart to a million pieces. It is a lush, breathtaking, and stunning epic historical drama set during the Joseon period of tumultuous change with foreign influences each having their own agendas on what they want to get out of Korea.

The areas the drama really excelled in:

- Impressive Immersive Storyline, very well written, good pacing, and tight plotting.
- Well thought out character back stories and narrative storylines, the viewer feels emotionally invested in the main characters. It is one of the best portrayals of strong female characters, Go Ae Shin and Kudo Hina top my list of favorite female characters.
- Excellent Acting, each of the main and support actors played their parts so well. They really captured the nuances and grey areas of their characters.
- Stunning Cinematography and Production, so many scenes where the cinematography just captures your attention. It is done exceptionally well with deliberation and it is simply breath taking.
- Great Chemistry between the leads and love interests
- Amazing OST, some of the songs are ethereal, sad, and whimsical at the same time.
- While it deviates from actual history and inserts fictional aspects to it along with some controversy, it still highlights a fascinating and absolutely tragic time. It explores the greed of corrupt internal traitors, sacrifices and the courage some make for a better future, meddling foreign countries with their selfish self interest, and Joseon caste system politics that leads to devastating childhood loss and trauma and makes their love forbidden.

It will be considered one of my top dramas for a while.

Absolutely stunning watch.

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Younger Female Version of Tom Hanks Cast Away?

I will first state I am a big Park Eun Bin fan so there is some bias to the review. She was awesome in King's Affection and Attorney Woo. She gives off Audrey Hepburn vibes and I am sure she will star in many more addictive KDramas in the future.

I will start off with the good parts:

-Park Eun Bin is in this! I don't need to say more.
-The story telling of the tragic back story of the FL and ML's childhood and abusive past is told well and you get a sense that they are holding onto each other as two lonely teenagers in a scary traumatic world.
-Who is the adult Jung Ki Ho? The story tellers keep you guessing. Who should the viewer root for as the love interest? I will take my stand, I am rooting for Kang Bo Geol.

There is room for improvement (there is no bad in Park Eun Bin's dramas haha):

-Her character and behavior is a bit too ditzy, perhaps she didn't get to emotionally develop since she was isolated for 15 years so there's some emotional stunting.
-The aspects of her surviving on the island is unrealistic and how she is still so pale when she is outdoors in the island. Where is the tan or sunburn???
-The two male leads being too helpful too soon to her when they barely know her
-Her relationship and idolization of a faded popular singer who fell from grace.

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Turned out to be an addictive watch

I started the first episode and before I knew it I had finished 6 episodes. This was different from what I expected, I thought it would be too cheesy for me. The first episode with the dark supernatural opening hooked me in even though this show so far is not dark, it is a light comedy romance. The storyline is unique and I think the writing is good. This made me laugh so hard in some parts, the ML being "entranced" by the FL is so over the top. She did a good job with her reactions to his professions of love for her, its to a point she's about to pound her head on the wall out of frustration. It seems there's a bit of be careful what you wish for.

Get a Grip Shin Yu!

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Some Contracts need to be Voided

There were some funny moments but having watched four episodes of this, it has fallen flat. I just could not get into it. My GF will likely finish this without me. The FL is attractive but her character is one dimensional and robotic. She's perfect in everyway: she a martial arts guru who can kick any creep's butt, she attended a prestigious overseas university, she's smart, she's fluent in English, she's cooks like a Michelin chef, and she's HOT. Her career choice with all these qualifications is to be a fake wife to men desperate to get out of some rut by bringing in a contract wife? Is it all attributable to a bad childhood and her sketchy relationship with the mother?

I'm not sure what to make of the SML and how that relationship is supposed to develop with the FL. It's another typical Asian drama cliche of teen love persisting into adulthood. There was a complete lack of chemistry between SML and the FML. The relationship chemistry between the ML and FL isn't much better. ML is supposed to be socially awkward guy who struggles with relationships. He has a mysterious background (it's revealed later on what he does for a living) who hires the FL so he can cook for her on the days she is supposed to be his wife. The show reveals the reason why he does it but it didn't make any sense to me.

It could have been executed better with a better plot and storyline.

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Not Bad for a Gender Body Switchroo

We had this on our watchlist since last year, the trailer didn't look that compelling so it was postponed for a bit but I'm glad we decided to give it a try. Don't like to watch shows where the character is a celebrity or its about the entertainment business, its not interesting. This show managed to make it work. Don't bother trying to apply any logic, rationale, or thinking to the series and why the body switch occurs.

The gist of it is an aloof male celebrity and an entertainment reporter do multiple body gender switchroos.

- Jokes, Jokes, and more Jokes. It pokes fun at itself, it makes fun of Asian drama cliches, and at celebrity idol culture and worship.
- Great chemistry between the leads and decent acting with the gender swap that happens repeatedly. The ML does overact sometimes during the swap. The development of their romance was good, a bit of a slow burn but a fair amount of hilarity in between. The part where the ML swapped with the FL and experiences his first period was pretty funny, of course he had to wear a white dress to top it all off.
- No long drawn out boring SML or SFL stories, the focus is mainly on the leads. It focuses on how they handle the gender body swap situations and their growing affection and attraction for each other.

Didn't really care for the backstory of the family dynamics of the ML, it felt like they were trying to force some trauma family story to add some complexity to his character and rationale for why he was moody and aloof.

I'd compare this series to kinda like going to an amusement park, its fun, its not part of normal life, and it takes your mind off all that studying you were supposed to do. I felt they were able to make it work between a male celebrity and a non celebrity average person because of the extraordinary circumstances that pushed them together.

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Formulaic Love Story that Falls Flat

This floated up to the top in the Netflix global rankings so it got my interest, I also have seen the ML in Red Sleeve which he exceled in his role. If you want a light romance comedy that pretty much sticks to the typical tried and true KDrama formula of rich handsome chaebol and commoner but special girl who catches chaebol's attention, then this is it. Nothing about it stood out for me, it was just tried and true recycled themes assembled together in a new KDrama.

The ML is a rich chaebol heir who has a weird competitive relationship with his step mother and he hates fake smiles. Typical cold inaccessible chaebol KDrama male lead. The FL is innocent doe eyed multi-talented girl next door who gets hand picked for her job as a gym equipment butt sweat cleaner until she gets promoted to the hotel desk lobby and eventually by the side of Mr. Rich Hotel Chaebol. Their initial meeting is full of misunderstandings and for some reason she is sooooo NICE to everyone except him who she mixes up as a Pervert. The FL's personality not the actress herself isn't too interesting, she's just Nice.

I started to get bored by the fourth episode, they need to add some color and complexity to the characters and to the story line. Perhaps it might get better but don't think I will continue with this and will sit this out for later episodes.

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Funny and Silly

Another time travel love drama which is really overdone these days in CDramas and KDramas. However, the acting especially from the FL is funny and comedic. She suits the part very well and is cute as a button. She does a much better job in this than Meteor Garden. Forget about the plot, story, the predictability of it, or any of it making sense. Stick your brain in a box and leave it there while you watch this.

I did an initial eye roll when the GF wanted to start this as she was anticipating it for a while. The first episode wasn't that great, it started to get pretty good between the second and third one. The chemistry between the FL and ML is pretty good, lots of banter and ML is of course Mr. Bad or more like Mr. Egotistical. Haven't really seen the ML before this, his acting is funny and expressive. I would consider him one of the better CDrama actors so far in the romcom category. The chemistry between the leads is one of the main selling points of this series. I snorted multiple times when the ML kept asking her what she really wished for at the fountain. At one point, the ML comes up with a plan to fulfill her wish and the scenes that ensue were enjoyable and hilarious. The ML eventually falls for the FL first, of course she is clueless to all his shenanigans to draw her in.

The SML and FML characters were not engaging and their scenes were boring, there was a fair amount of fast forwarding through those parts.

I'm watching it for the acting, laughs, chemistry, and banter between the leads. A good light hearted youth comedy.

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It's not just a bad prosecutor that is bad with this.

I was excited when I saw the trailer for this and had high expectations. After 5 episodes, I really could not get into it and probably the only person who feels this way. It was non-sensical and unbelievable with the ML's behavior in how far he can get away with things. Most people love vigilante justice but for gods sake make it more believable, have more deliberation, and thought put into the ML's actions. I find it hard to believe he even made it this far with his impulsivity and extremeness such as when he took on dozens of thugs with his kendo skills and comes out as the Gladiator Prosecutor who beats the crap out of everyone.

The acting is fine for the characters, no criticism of them. Its the storyline and character development that needs more work.

If its a bad plot with craziness, I can put up with it as long as it can keep me engaged or at the edge of my seat. However, its just plain cartoonish at this point if not predictable.

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Puppy Love with Good Looking Leads

I decided to give it a try despite being skeptical. The first episode was ok, I wasn't sure if I should continue but by the third episode I thought it was good enough to keep watching. It is a light romantic comedy so far, the leads are cute and SOOOO good looking. I saw the ML in Rookie Historian and wasn't thrilled with his character or the acting. His character in this KDrama really grows on you, he's not weak or too nice. He's a reserved guy who is cautious with people and more so with dogs which is a disadvantage for our adorable FL. I thought the development of the relationship between the FL and ML felt like a slow burn even though he is clearly smitten by her after four episodes. There's also a hint of their previous fate and destiny in their previous lives which might give more context to why they are drawn to each other in their present lives. Maybe its me but there were moments between them that gives you butterflies such as the umbrella and elevator scenes. I'm rooting for their relationship and can't wait for the FL to realize her feelings for the ML. I wish they didn't delay the episodes as it is has been a bit of a wait between them.

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