Hopeful Bond Against the Dark Odds

“It bothers me when one out of every seven of us is missing. I don’t know why, but I just don’t like it. I hope we can be all together. When we are all together, I don’t even think about wanting to die.”

This drama is an adaptation of BU and I'm glad it's really good. Despite some changes, they did an excellent job on the build up between the characters and their relationships, along with the actors' portrayal and chemistry. From the awkward first meetings to building trust with each other and getting closer together. I love watching their friendship and brotherhood despite their different backgrounds and problems. They unite to become each others' ray of light amidst the struggles they faced during the darkness of their separate lives. This drama is so heartwarming with the precious found family trope. But at the same time, the dark themes about their childhood traumas and family secrets are so emotional and intriguing.

This drama is so meaningful and deep while tackling various social issues about dysfunctional family, mental illness, discrimination, poverty, politics, education and more. The mystery regarding the past of their parents and connection to the principal shows how generational trauma starts and their children bearing the pain of their mistakes. Innocent teenagers are forced to suffer due to the evil adults that comes from each of their different environments. This drama is a reflection of reality that conveys important messages while providing consolation and angst to the youth who are beginning to face the world.

From the original BU storyline, this drama acts like a prequel that introduces the 7 protagonists while adding more details about their backgrounds and families. Eventually, this drama left with an open ending where the fantasy aspect of time travel only begins at the end. Hwan, the oldest of the group, carries the weight of responsibilities and guilt, so he goes back in time to save all his friends and prevent them from their tragic fates. He sacrifices himself while being stuck in time loops. This leads to suspicions and demands for Season 2. There's no official confirmation yet, but I hope they really make it happen so the boys' stories can continue.

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A realistic portrayal of teenagers in an apocalypse

I love that Duty After School has no specific main characters and it focuses on each students as a team. Some may find them annoying and dumb, but I love how they're realistic and relatable. They're still kids who are whiny, reckless and clueless about the sudden situation they got into. All they know is that they joined the military training to gain extra points for their college entrance exams. At first, they treated it like a camping with fun and games. They're even joking and mocking the soldiers instead of being scared. They don't have access to the internet and communication outside that adds to their ignorant behavior. Then they realize how serious the training is and the other students wanted to leave, but it took a dark turn when the real situation hit them and the rest of the students no longer have the choice to leave.

Before and during their training, I already love their class harmony and how real the characters feels like being immature and carefree teenagers. There's a lot of funny scenes that made me laugh and there's more intense scenes that made me hooked. After the first alien attack that they encountered, they are forced to face their new reality and grow too fast. There are times when they couldn't rely on the adults and have to be independent while working together. Despite everyone's differences from personality/mindset/ability and when conflict arises, they still keep hold onto their bond and trust each other. It's so heartwarming and admirable to watch all the students helping each other, growing closer and doing what they can despite being thrown into chaos. I became attached to these students who learned to be strong while gradually building their teamwork during the apocalypse.

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A broader exploration and deeper perspective to Sweet Home's universe

Season 1 is surely the best, but Season 2 is also amazing. Compared to Season 1 where the characters are stuck and staying inside their apartment, Season 2 explores more and shows the condition of the outside world. Season 2 has a more serious tone since it includes the military and government. It has political and power struggle that shows the perspectives of various characters - from what's happening with the higher ups who controls the situation and between the civilians who have to survive together. While for the monsters, there's now more variety of them from dangerous to harmless, and even those who are normal yet have special traits. But at the end, they're still humans who have their own feelings and stories behind their transformations.

The new characters are necessary to the plot and it completes the worldbuilding for this Season. My favorite characters are the soldiers and they deserves more credit for their important roles. The best part is when a group of soldiers made a coup against the evil government officials who were mass murdering the people for their own greed. Soldiers are like puppets who only follows orders from their superiors, but I'm so glad how they have their own mind and put their humanity first. It was so refreshing to see a better representation of the soldiers in this drama. I love how they organized a big shelter for the survivors, protecting them and risking their lives outside while also researching about the monsters. I also love how this Season didn't really have villains, there were bad guys at first but they easily got rid of them and even the monsters themselves showed compassion to the humans. For most part in this drama, the focus is on the teamwork and growth between the military and civilians who are working together against the monsters, while the old characters are navigating their new journeys with new people and adapting to the outside world with the monsters.

Season 2 did a great job with its worldbuilding, showing the perspectives of everyone and their different motivations while trying to survive from the monsters, humans and their own selves. It also gave us a grand finale with the return of an old character on his new form. Season 3 is even more highly anticipated and it might show us the epic battle between all kinds of monsters.

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A charming drama with unique main leads and their healthy relationship

"My Lovely Liar" is not on excellent level, but it's not bad like some people are claiming. It's simple yet meaningful. This drama has always been showed as romcom-mystery from the get-go. I like how the romance is not cheesy and the mystery is not heavy. This drama gives a good balance, along with the supernatural part about the female lead's ability and job as a liar hunter which makes it fun, and addressing mental health issue through the male lead's experiences as murderer suspect and being a reclusive person which makes it emotional.

The charm of this drama is the healthy relationship and gradual growth of the main leads. It's interesting to see how the relationship unfolds between the female lead who is a confident woman that takes the initiatives while the male lead is a socially anxious gentle man who balances the line. Some people dislike how they got in a relationship too fast, but it wasn't fast and they had a decent development, prominently how they got closer by casually eating out with each other, which is special especially for introverted people like the main leads. They gradually became friends who formed a special bond and learn about each other - understanding, caring and protecting each other in various things until they naturally gained feelings and open up with their secrets. It's such a good thing that this drama didn't add unnecessary misunderstandings since the main leads has always been straightforward and they know how to communicate with each other. TRUST and HONESTY are the main theme of this drama. I'm glad that they didn't need to push back their relationship and be stirred into conflicts, instead they helped and worked together to solve their problems especially about Doha's murder case. Their mature, stable, healthy relationship is truly important in this drama and it's one of the best representations in kdramaland. The chemistry of this couple is comforting and cute. It's heartwarming to see the healing process of Doha and Solhee, overcoming their own flaws while giving light and strength on each other through all the odds.

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“I hope you don’t forget that giving up decisively also counts as courage”

This drama is so raw, painful yet hopeful. It didn't just show the dark side but it also brought a ray of light. I cried so much while watching this to the point my heart aches. Everyone has their own reasons and situations why they ended up shutting themselves. It's perceived as something negative and shameful by other people, but there's still some parents who understands and accepts the way you are. It may not be a clear understanding and immediate acceptance, but at least they know you're feeling safe from the outside world and other people that scares you. It doesn't matter as long as you're alive and breathing. The only connection and communication you have to the world is the internet and getting comfort by finding strangers similar to you. But at the end, we can't stay like that forever and rely on someone else. The time will come when your ideal peace will be over. You need to grow, go outside the world, face your reality and embrace yourself. It may take a lot of time but it will eventually come. It might be too late to realize and act, but you will need to stand up for yourself and speak your mind before your regrets gets heavier. There are a lot of ways, you will find more things to love along it and it will give you reasons to continue to live. The bright stars in the dark sky are countless. Don't waste any other chances. You will be fine.

I'm glad I watched this short SP drama. It gave me a slap of reality and a sense of relief. We are all different yet the same, with different paths and paces in our lives but breathing the same air and living in this world.

PS. The title is a line from the song "Burn It" by Agust D.

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