If only...

I really loved the premise of this drama — I was sure that I was in store for some emotional healing. And the drama did give us that in the beginning. The best part of this drama is undoubtedly the relationship between Tonmai and Thannam; there was no blaming each other and it really just felt like two people spending the time together they never could.

We were always in store for a little more drama, however; the question of why Thannam committed suicide was treated a bit like a mystery — and that's fine. I think the strongest part of this drama was when they showed just how much Tonmai didn’t know about her life, with the message that suicide doesn’t usually result from one big event or person, but from a lot of little stressors that build up over time until someone can’t handle it anymore.

With that being said, the drama devolves into a story that’s a little too cliche and overdramatic. We have a lot of scenes of parents slapping their children (with pretty bad sound design that actually makes them feel weak and unconvincing but that’s another story lol) and one big plot about one single person — Thannam’s birth mother.

I knew there would be a main plot but here’s where my biggest issue with the show comes in: I just don't agree with its final message. In the end it feels like Thannam’s decade of waiting for a parent who left her “for her own good” — with no goodbye and with no contact info — was treated like a good thing. It should be shown as a toxic relationship and a problematic parental choice, but ultimately Thannam was thanked, congratulated, and rewarded for it.

Since the story went that way, it started feeling like there was a weird emphasis on the irreplaceability of biological family, when I would’ve preferred the drama go the opposite way and show how adopted families, found families, and friends could mean just as much.

I know everything I’m saying here would massively change the entire plot of the drama in the first place particularly in the second half. I do still think there were good parts of the story; there are lessons to be had about forgiveness and closure…but it didn’t sit right with me and thus didn’t have the gut punch they intended.

Other than that, the acting was pretty good. I definitely think Thannam’s actress was the strongest of the bunch, but everyone did a pretty good job. Part of that is just character-wise, Thannam is unequivocally the strongest too. I like Tonmai but he felt pretty passive throughout and wasn’t really as interesting. I would’ve loved for Noina to get more of an intertwined subplot because there was so much potential with their friendship but she ended up just being really annoying.

So there we go. It started out good and was pretty well-written, but ultimately not a story I really supported.

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Dreams are expensive

I had been putting this one off for a long time thinking that I had to be in the right mood to handle something so heavy. It turns out, however, that it wasn't as dark as I expected and I realized I was wishing that it was. The entire time it felt like the drama was going at 70% intensity; it amped up a little during the climax but not for long.

It's interesting because I think this drama teeters between being character-driven and plot-driven and it probably could've gone deeper on both aspects — I found myself wanting to explore the character backstories and original lives more, and I also found myself wanting the plot itself to be a little more intense and harrowing.

Overall, I still think this was a great watch; the writing is solid and the performances are great, and I also think there are great moral questions to ponder. You find yourself rooting for anti-heroes and I always love that.

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A time capsule

This film was...surprisingly sophisticated and a decent female-centric melodrama for its time. It's pretty dramatic due to character decision-making and I know some things would seem like not a big deal in today's age — which is why I see this as more of a time capsule film. It was cool to see what story-writing focused on in 1960.

There are some annoyingly convenient plot developments (i.e. secrets being revealed because "she's sick and hallucinating!"), some narration that was so weirdly judgmental it took me out of it, some instances of cringy over-acting, and an ending that feels a bit superfluous, but it held up surprisingly well.

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Top notch political commentary

It's really hard to rate this.

As a drama, it drags a bit and sometimes the story is a little stilted and messy, and the teacher-student romance is uncomfortable but overall it's still decent.

As a piece of political commentary, however, it's fantastic. I think where this drama really shines is in how it weaves together the supernatural into that political commentary. And this is really the lens through which you should watch the drama. The romance itself is not the focus. Rather, the romance is simply an outcome of actions taken by characters who start to feel like pawns trapped in the heaviness of their cultural backdrop. Even the characters do not really feel like full characters, but rather like outcomes of the country's politics.

I felt like I'd never watched a show that was so intelligent and nuanced about its political statements (and I felt this about the movie as well, which I enjoyed less). It's simultaneously very explicit yet a lot of things are unsaid — and it manages to make a really powerful statement. I genuinely think that this is a drama you should watch only AFTER you do some reading on Taiwan's period of White Terror because it will make the characters' motivations make so much more sense.

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Second Lead Syndrome

This sequel season falls victim to one of the many tropes that sequels fall to, which is that the main couple is already together and the "new" obstacle that is introduced into the relationship is simply not as interesting as a fresh love interest who is every bit as charming AND would deal with the same obstacle better. The acting for the second lead was really good as well and he pretty much stole the show for me.

Plotwise it was okay; the switch was definitely weaker than the first season, but the variety show itself was decently fun and I think the side characters were good additions to the story.

Similar to S1, it was really Da-eun's plot that was interesting to watch; Byul's side at the cafe felt out of place and even though they wrote her "expressionlessness" into the story, her character just feels utterly bland.

Still, for a web series it's decent — it doesn't feel tropey or cringey and it's certainly fun to watch.

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Hits so close to home

The best films are the ones that creep up on you and this did exactly that. It's a slow burn for sure but it never feels that way and every scene hits really close to home. As someone whose immigration journey was the other way around (Taiwan to the U.S.) I honestly expected a little bit of distance between me and the content, thinking that Fen's experiences would be very different from mine.

So imagine my surprise when watching this movie felt like reliving memories; the feeling of being a fish-out-of-water, of missing home, of feeling lonely — I've felt that before. The ugly words that uncontrollably come out of your mouth during a fight with your parents — I've said those before. And at the end of the day still knowing you love each other, that "can you clean my ears for me" or "I cut a plate of fruit for you" means "I love you and I'm sorry" — I lived that too.

This movie is beautiful and I cried my eyes out. I didn't expect it to end when it did, but in hindsight I'm kind of okay with it. The film is a snippet of the life of a family against a historical backdrop and even after the movie ends, real life goes on.

這部影片就是那種會悄悄的走進你心裡的那種。劇情的速度緩緩的，但永遠不無聊，也不停的讓人念舊。因為我的移民方向是反的（臺灣到美國），我錯以為我和女主的經驗會有距離。

看這部電影的感覺反而跟回想自己的回憶一樣。那種不自在，想家，寂寞的心情我感受過。那些失控中說的難聽的話我也說過。那句『媽媽，妳可以幫我掏耳朵嗎？』中的『對不起，我愛你』我也都體會過。

《美國女孩》真的是一部溫馨，令人感動掉淚的電影。結局是有點突然，但越想越有理。畢竟，我們看到的是一家人的一時刻。影片結束了，人生卻不斷持續的。

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The first layer of social commentary

After watching this show almost two full years after it came out and took the internet by storm, I can absolutely see why this was the drama that wormed its way into Western circles; tonally and dialogue-wise, there were lots of moments where I actually felt like I was watching a show — the drama was a lot more explicit than most kdramas I've seen.

As a "death game" show, it's honestly not THAT exciting. The games are mediocre and fairly straightforward, which, as someone who loves puzzles and cerebral/psychological manipulation, was kind of disappointing. Instead, I think the show focuses more on individual characters and I think people who enjoy more character-focused dramas would enjoy that. This, unfortunately, in my opinion, worked against it for the simple fact that most of the characters weren't that engaging or likable enough for me to really feel invested in and root for them.

As a social commentary it works but it honestly feels over-simplistic, and I think the addition of very obviously evil "VIPs" (who, by the way, spoke in cringy English) made the vibe of the show less realistic and almost cartoonish. There are subplots that also feel half-baked and out-of-place...even unnecessary, and I don't think the final "twist" really added anything to the themes or the plot.

With all these criticisms, though, I can't deny that this is just a genuinely FUN watch. I blew through all 9 episodes in less than a day and had a blast watching them; the pacing is fantastic I was really looking forward to how relationships would be made or broken.

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Heart-pounding, heart-stopping

This was absolutely fantastic from the get-go — starting off by making us question the ML's identity, then watching the tension between him and the FL, and finally figuring out the mystery and having it play out...the story was extremely well-written and the performances and chemistry between the two leads was fantastic.

I also want to give massive props to the actor for Baek Hee-Sung, whose stare sent absolute chills down my spine.

I admit, however, that the ending definitely soured my love for this show a bit — I'm never a fan of the amnesia trope and while I don't think it was necessarily overblown in this show, it felt unnecessary and I would've loved for the leads instead to carry the burden and move forwards together (the way they'd been doing so far).

Still, there's a lot to love about this show from its story to its questions about humanity...and it's a thriller I'd highly recommend.

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Heartstopping, heartbreaking, heartpounding

This was fantastic. I wasn't one of the people who had to wait the full two years for the second season to drop but I can only imagine how satisfying it was to do that.

First of all, the stunts are absolutely top notch (as expected). The jumps, the fight scenes — it really makes your heart pound while watching it and I felt every bit of high stakes that the games established.

The games are just as fun and provide really intriguing questions about human nature (which is always my favorite part of these survival shows. Compared to season 1, this season is definitely more heavy but slower paced. They spend multiple episodes on individual games, but it actually never feels slow or draggy. I even enjoyed the games where the characters were split up and we saw how different leads handled different sorts of games.

Until the very end, I felt really invested in everything: the characters, the world-building, the story.

The ending was a mixed bag for me; I think it managed to do something rare for me, which is simultaneusly wrap things up with a nice bow, while also leaving room for a season 3 if they decide to write a plot beyond the manga. I felt both satisfaction and completion, while also acknowledging that it used some tropes I don't really enjoy on principle, leaving me wanting the story to continue.

Other than that, I do think that this season suffers a little from the same thing season 1 did, which is that the backstories for each of the characters are interesting and add a lot but many of them stop just shy of "enough," and maybe part of this is just that there are a lot of characters and they kept adding more and giving even one-off antagonists backstories. I think that's valid because it certainly avoided the over-simplistic "good vs. evil" dynamic but I'd still rather have seen more scenes and various moments from our main characters' past lives (think of the American TV show Lost).

Overall, I would highly highly recommend this entire series and I know it will go down as one of my all time favorites.

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Heart-pounding, great at characterization

I can 100% understand why this became a classic and why it birthed an entire genre. I absolutely loved it and I felt so much tension from the start of the game to the end.

I think what this film does really well is characterization; there are 40+ students and the film manages to humanize all of them in one or two scenes. I think the main characters were actually pretty bland compared to some of the side character so I was glad that we got different perspectives. In that sense, the film feels almost like an anthology of different stories.

There's some iffiness around how the law was passed and how things work in this world, and also around some plot points that were annoying or simply triggered by stupid decision-making.

I think the acting in some of the scenes were also a little stiff — especially in some death scenes — but overall this is a film that holds up.

I know there are a bunch of comparisons to Hunger Games which took inspiration from this, and as a baby of the dystopian YA era I have to make a comparison too. In one quick sentence, it's this: Battle Royale is better with its characters, Hunger Games is better with its world-building.

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Great introductory saeguk

This is a great historical drama to start out with for those who haven't really watched any and are worried about the roles and terms being difficult to follow. It has some cliches but it doesn't make them seem overbearing and if anything it actually helps the drama be more understandable which, as someone who had not really watched saeguks before, I found very enticing. The plot is more than the politics.

I know a lot of people complained that this drama got draggy, but I completely disagree. In fact, I feel like this one of the best paced kdramas that I've ever watched. I really love slow burns and I think TKA dedicated the perfect amount of time to the backstory, to the political tensions, and to each character. Not once did I think that the story wasn't moving forwards or was leaving me confused — there was a brilliant balance between very tension-filled moments and domestic, comforting scenes.

I think the story was fleshed out really well. There are some questions I have left near the end and I found some of the extended fight scenes a little meh and lacking in substance, but overall I think this drama was really well-written and well-acted. The ending was really beautiful and bittersweet and I think the story couldn't have gone any other way.

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The Repetitive Misogyny of Second Female Leads

When it comes to Asian dramas, especially school web dramas, the saboteur second female lead is no new plot device.

When it appeared in season 1 of Best Mistake, I was pretty forgiving because it made sense — the new girl joins the group and the old character feels like they're getting pushed out. When it appeared in season 2 of Best Mistake, it was a little annoying but I felt like the main characters and their high school lives still had that light-hearted nostalgia. With season 3 kicking off with YD and HH broken up and with the addition of even more characters, it just felt like this season was rehashing the same old plots it had done before. The FL being locked in a dark room, being left on the side of a lonely street, being the subject of false rumors and photos...it's just all so overdone, even just in previous seasons. And having all this in the light of many second male leads being their typical soft and caring and heartbroken selves...it just highlighted the problems with how differently women and men are written.

And so, the plot itself just felt very annoying, with many of it being triggered by these second female leads or being self-inflicted to make drama for the sake of drama, whether it was a miscommunication or simply questionable decisions. Even though the tertiary characters had less of this, there were far too many love triangles. I'm actually someone who typically enjoys them and the commentary about different ways to love — but that's only if done well. With all these characters starting to act very similarly and just being so bland, it felt unnecessary and like lazy writing. Love triangles are fine but there just has to be more to the characters than that.

Even with all my criticisms, I appreciate the vibe and the style of the show. Visually it's bright and fun, and I loved seeing my favorite characters from Light On Me in a cameo.

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Exciting but gets a little messy

The best part of this drama is hands down the antagonist, who is just the most intriguing kind of serial killer. We get a backstory showing her how she got to that point and what she's feeling (or what she's not), and I really loved the layer of moral grayness in her reasoning behind the killings. It really made me question the blurry line between right and wrong and think about who has the power or right to decide who deserves to die and who to live.

All this, paired with the eccentricity of the female lead who has her own blurry backstory, made for a really interesting dynamic between the two not only when they were playing their game of cat and mouse, but also during their very intense confrontations.

I thought the side characters on the team were also great and had their personalities and roles, each with a different worldview that meshed well together.

As the plot progressed, it started to incorporate other antagonists and manipulators that were related to politics or familial secrets; while I'm not necessarily surprised because I knew the story had to get bigger than a single killer and her accomplice, but I just felt like the additions started to get messy and I was not at all as interested in these other people with other motivations. It just felt too common and it seemed to stifle the potential of the main antagonist.

Though there were some parts that felt a little rushed — especially in light of all the new antagonists and characters that were added that I mentioned above, I still felt like the drama wrapped up the storylines nicely.

Throughout the entire show, the OST was great and it definitely made me feel the intensity in every scene.

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Carried by PangWave

The shining beacon of light in this drama was Pang & Wave, whose chemistry was just off the charts. I absolutely loved their development from enemies in the first season to being an unbreakable duo in this one, I loved how their personalities and plans complemented each other, and I loved that no matter it was these two characters together who were not only the most dependable when shit hit the fan but were also the most fun and domestic when they were just hanging out together. PangWave shined in every single scene they were in.

Aside from that, I definitely felt like The Gifted: Graduation was inferior to its prequel in every way.

While the new additions to the cast did grow on me, I didn't like how much the show focused on them at the start. They were simply annoying and felt very obviously like plot devices. The show got better once the main cast returned — not just because of the nostalgic factor but just because the characters were better developed — and the new characters were more suited in their secondary roles.

Still, I really didn't enjoy how some established characters from Season 1 had spiralled downward in their character arcs; while it was hinted at in the original series, development here just felt very sudden and out-of-character, as if they were being used for the plot's shock factor instead of having their characters grow naturally in one direction.

In terms of the plot, I really think it tries to do too much in too little. There's a good story in here somewhere with the Director's backstory but it has one twist after another and at some point you stop feeling shocked that there's another betrayal or another moment of in-fighting. (There was a lot of infighting in this one, which I didn't enjoy and it felt like it was simply there for drama.) There's some parts of the plot that feel too convenient or characters that suddenly disappear because they're not useful anymore. And maybe I think there were just too many characters, and sometimes the show chose to focus on the ones that were the least interesting. I could not find it in myself to care at all about what the government was doing and I felt like those roles could have been given to characters in power we already knew and it would've had the same impact.

Still, it does wrap up the story nicely and I think the moments between Pang and Wave were well worth the watch.

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Refreshing main couple

Plot-wise there's really nothing special about the story of a cold male lead and a bubbly but clumsy female lead who find themselves in a contractual marriage, but something about the way it was executed was very refreshing. There's still some scenes where I personally found the female lead's optimism to be more like naivete, but overall it didn't affect my enjoyment of the show at all because it wasn't stupidity, and I could genuinely just chalk it up to differing worldviews.

In fact, watching this was overall a really fun and light-hearted experience and I know that's mainly due to the absence (mostly) of the miscommunication and sabotaging second female lead trope. There's hints of it, but none of them felt like true dangers to the main couple, who were just so cute together and communicated really well throughout any sort of issues they might've run into. Chinese dramas rarely do this, but when they do it makes for a really happy drama.

With that being said, I kind of wish there were more scenes of the main leads, whether it's discussing their families (which we just seemed to skim the surface of for each) or just showing more friendships. I'd honestly also be okay if we just spent a little more time on their love story and having them get together later.

I know I'd rather have those kinds of scenes than either of the side ships. While I liked some of the side characters individually, I really didn't care for any of the romances between them, and while the main couple was relatively drama free, it felt like the side ships had all the drama but none of the feeling of importance. There were miscommunications and jumping to conclusions and it just all felt very cookie-cutter cdrama second couple.

I know part of the inability to go into depth is that this drama is relatively short compared to other Chinese dramas, but I think it's also the amount of time dedicated to the side characters that could've been spent on going deeper on some issues and themes. Still, this is a fun and light-hearted watch if you want a contemporary rom-com that feels low-stakes.

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