Just don't desire too much...

'Sweet Home' truly exceeded all my expectations. I did not read the webtoon so I will not address any plot differences between both versions.

I already knew Song Kang was a great actor but he still surprised me a lot in this show. I really liked his character even though he was sometimes too dull and absent-minded for my liking, but obviously he was like that for a reason.

Lee Do Hyun was definitely my second favorite character, as he was very mysterious in the first half and even kind of dislikeable (I never did), but the turn he had in the second half and how so many things about his personality were clarified really added a ton on the type of character that he was.

I don't want to get into much detail because I don't want to tag this review as a spoiler, but I really loved every character. I think all of them had a clear role in the survival hope; even if some characters were clearly dumb and annoying, even those were properly built even if they didn't have such a strong background (some none at all). Every evil character was absolutely crazy, the "good" characters all knew their places and stick to them well.

I have a major complaint on the CGI for the monsters as I believe the production of the series was very carefully done and the cinematography was of the absolute most artistic style for this concept, but I feel like they invested too much on the settings and cinematics (and cast) that they forgot or ran short to invest on a better CGI. Still, even if it's ridiculously bad you get used to it after a few eps.

I loved the whole concept of the monsters and their transformation always blew my mind. It just kind of stresses me because I really don't see how they can overcome this in the next season(s) if there will be any, but I'm anticipating more of this show in the near future, hopefully.

The cast was amazing, I really loved Song Kang and Lee Do Hyun's dynamics on their characters, as well as how they complement all together with the rest of the cast. I'm just a little dissatisfied with Lee Jin Wook's character, since it was very promising but after his arc developed I think he lost that unbreakable and powerful aura they gave him.

Anyway, 'Sweet Home' is absolutely a must-watch and if anyone reading this is concerned on whether or not this would be too horror-y and scary for you, don't think so anymore! I'm a real coward when it comes to horror and stuff but this one was nothing like that so you're safe to watch it!

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Unconventional K-Drama

'Extracurricular' is a whole rollercoaster. It took me 2 days to finally decide to write this review because this drama is a lot to sink in and process.

It starts with what looks like a simple high school story with your regular poor main lead who struggles to make friends and live a normal life after his parents abandoned him, and then turns to be a dramatic and crazy story with bits of Tarantino.

As a film lover, I must say 'Extracurricular' exceeded my expectations considering this is a K-Drama. I've watched all genres of K-Dramas but never have I ever seen one dealing with such deep topics from the perspective of high schoolers. If you've watched many dramas too, you'll know that Koreans are very reserved about how they portray high schoolers, since they're still children, and you'll mostly only see criminal/taboo behaviors from high schoolers in K-Movies. So, to see the characters of this amazing show deal with topics like prostitution, explicitly about minors, or sex trafficking was pretty much a shock. I know this didn't air in public or cable TV, hence why it was much more detailed and censorless, but still kind of shocking.

One thing that annoys me a bit from TV dramas is that whenever there's a smoking scene, there's always someone who takes the cigarette out of the hands of the person that was supposed to smoke it and turns it off, or they just show the back of the person smoking it. However, we saw high schoolers with cigarettes turned on and actually smoking it, teenagers talking sexually about body parts, being fully aware of sexual stuff, being criminals... The unconventional nature of the show really surprised me and left a great feeling on me.

I love the way they developed the story. I hadn't been as annoyed and frustrated about every character in a show in so long, and 'Extracurricular' made it possible for me to hate each and every single character on the show, except from Mr. Lee and the teacher. Every other character was absolutely stupid and frustrating, and oddly that's one of my favorite things about this story; that the characters are completely unlikable and annoying and there's little to no personal development on their personalities at all and I see this from the POV of someone who values personal development the most in a show. The fact that this story didn't take them anywhere good gives you a bittersweet feeling and you start wondering, "was it really necessary?" about almost everything that happens. You question the logic of these characters and wonder why can't they simply use their brains wisely. And to me, this created a really remarkable story.

Oh Ji Soo is the most stupid male character I can think of from a K-Drama, but since his personality is somewhere in the middle of a genius and a dumbass, I can only say he's actually a genius. Bae Gyu Ri is a nosy girl that ends up uncovering a pimp business that offers security to prostitutes and ends up ruining the whole thing for O-ji. I can't say I didn't hate her 90% of the drama and wanted to get in the screen and slap her face so bad. She's pretentious and selfish, but I liked the way she cared for O-ji. They both made a dangerous, yet great couple.

Overall I don't want to get into details as I don't want to mark this with spoiler, but I'll just say I loved the unconventional and unique ending that they gave us. My review is only positive, but there still were some things I would've improved about the casting and role of certain characters so I'll give it 9/10.

PS. I loved the nightmare scenes, especially the one about Seo Minhee. All the nightmares are among my favorite representation of a dream in a show.

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not dark enough, but not exactly light

gonna be absolutely honest here, i would've never watched this if not for guanghan. i did not pay attention to most of the story because it was boring for me, even tho i like dark shows. but i think it was actually because this show wasn't dark enough for my taste, despite the concept? like there was not enough blood, not enough [proper] action scenes, not enough fighting. the 3(?) action scenes were very lacking and too coordinated that they didn't look like fight scenes. the female characters are accessories, which pisses me off always, and the male leads were dull and not really the type of characters i would care about. idk, in general i just couldn't bring myself to care enough about non-guanghan scenes.

his role in the earlier eps was minimal so it was hard for me to pay attention, but as his character became more important i also became a bit interested in the story. I know this is a completely biased opinion, but I really think his role was the only interesting one. he portrayed it PERFECTLY, and did an absolutely amazing job as lin ji/zed/xiao qiu. his performance in the last ep honestly deserves an oscar and i'm being 100% serious.

other than that, the production is outstanding and i absolutely loved it, despite not being into the story at all. the cinematography, color editing, pacing and length of the scenes showed that the people behind the scenes really know how to do television, but the problem was that the story wasn't very catchy, which is also reflected on the fact that the storytelling and development of the story was really good, with this indie style characteristic of eastern asian autonomous productions (i know this is a netflix show, but you get me). tho the music wasn't very fitting to the concept of the show at all.

on another note, i think the main cast was really good and their acting is also worth mentioning, despite the characters being mostly a bit dull.

lastly, i really wouldn't have watched this if not for my newly-found love for guanghan, but even if the story was very weak i do not regret starting it because ep 8 alone is the only thing that actually mattered. i know many people think it was unnecessarily dark, but i personally don't even find it particularly dark, so i may have liked this one more out of the others because it had the closest dark theme to what i imagined. would not rewatch the show at all tho.

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A realistic portray of life

I've into kdramas for a decade but I never gave any other country's dramas a chance. 'A Love So Beautiful' is the first cdrama I watch and I've gotta say I was pleasantly surprised with the drama as a whole. I think the production was carefully done and the story was properly written and developed, though I have major complaints about stuff here and there. Still, I think the characters were all very relatable and acted according to their age in all the different stages of their lives. I think the story was very realistic and that's probably my favorite thing about this drama.

Be aware, this review will contain very specific plot points and spoilers that would definitely change your perception of the show if you haven't watched it and don't like spoilers. I don't recommend to read it if you haven't watched the drama.

Chen Xiao Xin is a girl heavily crushed on a guy who wouldn't turn his head back to check on her for years. She was brave for making moves on him even though he was blatantly not interested, she was persistent and had a clear goal in her life: become Jiang Chen's something. However, she also had a very poor image of herself and terrible self-esteem and dignity for obvious reasons, which I tolerated in the first episodes because it wasn't that extreme. But after a while it became tiresome and I found myself disliking her multiple times. Still, I liked a lot that she was the one to break up later and she gave herself some place in his life and even made him wait (although only a little bit) until she made up her mind. The writers redeemed the character with that, or so they tried, but I accept it and think she was a pretty good character overall.

Jiang Chen is a cold guy who doesn't care about anything or anyone; he's the smartest guy in school and focuses only on his studies. Until he meets a girl that chases him around and eventually makes him get used to her, as he finds himself caring for her and waiting for her. At first I thought he was just the jerkish type of cold male lead but who would soon change because of the FL and treat her right. Even if I was proven right later on, I think they carried the 'cold guy who never expresses his feelings' narrative for way longer that I would've liked.

I liked their relationship when they dated between 2009-2012, but so many things stressed me out: the fact that they never properly kissed, did not sleep with each other, JC never told CXX she liked her even (during those 3 years), and those things that are definitely unrealistical for a relationship lasting that long. Their relationship was realistic in other matters, like being too busy and not having time for each other, longing for the other, trivial misunderstandings to major ones that changed their lives.

Despite this, I think they made up well for what they put CXX for 20 something eps by making JC the absolute sweetest and clingest boyfriend with the softest gaze and deepest voice. As I watched the last 4 eps I live tweeted my reaction and found myself just yelling at JC's tiny bits of attention. When he realized she was laying down on his office and he went there, slept next to her and then woke up because she'd leave, and back-hugged her in the purest way and asked her to come back soon. God! Or when they were walking holding hands and she said her hand was sweaty and he switched places so he could still hold her hand while walking together. God! OR when they were at the bench before making up and he holds her hand and puts his head on his hands holding hers and says he's sorry. God!

Even if I think his character was dull and nothing compared to the SL, I rooted for him too and think JC was really into her. It annoys me, though, that he only told her he loves her directly once (the confession was absolutely cute and heartwarming) and twice while talking to Bo Song, but he didn't even know he was on a call. But I guess drama directors just really love the cold, no feelings guy.

Now, moving to the best character of the show, Wu Bo Song. A boy with only one induced thing on his mind: swimming. Until he meets a girl that makes him think of her all day long. What they did to WBS is horrible and I feel so sorry for him. The fact that he wrote once that he loves CXX (confession 1), then openly confessed before graduation that he was in love with her and that she'd do anything for her (confession 2), and finally, they even made him propose (confession 3) and say the sweetest things in both 2nd and 3rd confessions. It hurt me so much to see him tell CXX that he was joking when he first confessed, later on admitted to not be joking and that he actually loved her but he had decided to give up on her. Then years later he confesses to love her once again, proposes to her and even tells her he knows what her answer would be but he still had to try. Hello? Did you have to hurt me so much like this, writer-nims? When he said he didn't plan to do it so soon and that he wanted to give her more time but "you know I get anxious when I see a certain someone." Was that necessary? Please, answer! Was that necessary? Holy God, it hurt me so much. Whenever he said that he would do anything "his boss" wanted, he bought her all the stuff she ever mentioned she needed. When JC asked if the ground where they were standing was hers and WBS appeared and said that if she wanted he would buy for her. Please! Why do they need to do that! They just made my poor boy suffer so much for nothing.

On top of that, when he was knowingly rejected and called Lu Yang and started drinking with him, simply showed him the ring and LY immediately knew what was going on. Then JC came and writers even made WBS literally beg him to "let him" have CXX? WBS said "give me CXX back" and JC replied "she's always been mine." I never wanted to punch a character so much. But I was so much more hurt because of WBS begging him and later finding out he was actually on a call with CXX... because even if he was hurting and even if he loved her to death, he still knew she wouldn't be completely happy with him even if she ever accepted him and wanted the best for her and got out all those words from JC... I'm just baffled at the amazing character he was and how he was paid dust. Literal dust. I can't wait to see Gao Zhi Ting on a ML role in a romance drama to finally see him get the girl and be the happy boy he deserves to be.

Lin Jing Xiao was the baddest and kindest girl ever and I loved every aspect of her personality during school and college days. Since the very beginning I knew she and Lu Yang would end up together since it was the obvious thing to happen, although I didn't think they would have such a lovely story. I used to think LY was just the loser-y friend of the group but he was so much more than that. I loved the beginning of their relationship and how honest they were with each other, the fact that their love was so pure and they lasted so long having their cute dynamics. I teared up a bit when they were saying their vows and how purely in love they were with each other, complementing the other nicely. It was the best couple of the drama obviously and one of the best second couples ever. It made me want to see more of both actors.

Overall, I agree on the common idea that this drama was good in like 75% because of the friendship, 10% on the plot and 10% Wu Bo Song alone and 5% on the main couple. They were dull for like 20 eps until JC finally decided he needed to TALK to get things like, you know, an adult would do. At least he did open up and he became sweeter and kind and most importantly, not behind the scenes but actually showing it to her. It bothered me so much that he never told her he loved her once in 22 eps. Yes, love can be also demonstrated in acts and he definitely showed her his love and I will give him that because, as a viewer, I know he loved her dearly from school days. But it wouldn't have hurt him to say it every once in a whilecwo that she wouldn't be so hurt. The first time he said it to her (out of 2 total times that are in the same scene), he said "then why do you always forget that I love you with all my heart." Please, you never said so before? She's not a witch to know what you're thinking. Also, I just remembered when she told him she was tired of trying to figure him out and his thoughts, that she was not curious to know about what he was thinking anymore. And then he started TALKING. That's how you resolve adult problems.

Anyway, despite my criticism and the fact that I'm terribly dissatisfied with what they did to Wu Bo Song, I still loved this drama very much and think they portrayed all the stages of life in an amazingly realistic way (despite certain fiction instances, of course). Their struggles and concerns were always according to their ages, their feelings and how they reacted to them was lovely, as they wanted to be their best selves no matter how young or old they were. Their friendship was very pure and I loved all their trips together, they really cared for each other as friends and it made my heart warm. I must say I had never watched a drama that went from school life, through college and until post-college adult life and do it so well. It's really such an espectacular drama, I would recommend it always.

I'm excited to see how the Korean version is going to develop the introduction to adult life and if they will correct some wrongs on the Chinese ver. And especially, I'm expecting the SL not to suffer as much as Bo Song wrongfully did.

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A-bit-of-something-going-on type of light drama

I didn't think I would enjoy this drama as much as I did. In fact, when I started it I asked around if it was worth it because ep 1 didn't really catch my attention. However, I'm very glad I sticked to the end.

Even though it is true that this school is unrealistically mean and ridiculous things happen all the time (by the adults), I (generally) liked the way the characters handled every issue because they acted like teenagers, not too young but also not too old or mature. I liked the friendships formed through the drama, the makeups, the clarified misunderstandings and how they showed that friendships can hurt and friends can resent each other, but the important thing is to know when and how to forgive and trust each other.

I loved Tae Woon and Eun Ho's characters individually and together. Tae Woon is an explosive, yet very introspective guy who's hurt by society (as every other kid in this school) and who just wants to protect his girl no matter what. I loved how he held himself back several times just because she asked him to and wanted to help him become his better version. The character improvement he showed may not have been the most drastic one since he wasn't that bad from the beginning, but there is still some very important personal improvements, particularly with Dae Hwi and how he learned to open up to other people and love his father. Throughout the entire drama I just really wanted to hug him and protect him at all costs.

Eun Ho is one of my favorite teenage drama characters. She was strong, sometimes cold-headed when needed, but also reactive if the time came. She may not have been studious, but she was smart and knew her place and value in life; she loved her family, had a clear dream, a boyfriend she loved and friends she cared about and would protect all that even if she put herself in danger, which may be typical but she actually did it all. I didn't like that she was kind of nosy sometimes and that's what actually got her in trouble, though, but that was the essence of her character.

Their relationship was one of the purest I've seen in a while and I think it was perfectly paced and projected for high school kids. They never rushed anything, they were nervous around each other when they started, yet they trusted each other, were sincere, straightforward and never let misunderstandings grow too big in their way. I definitely loved how they'd care so much for each other and not just the other as a person, but the dreams and future. They were very mature considering everything they went through together, and they handled their hardships the best way they could. The way their relationship was developed is probably my favorite thing of this drama, since they did act like high school kids in a balanced way, not too cringey, but not like immature kids that didn't know what they wanted in life. It was just really pure and endearing.

My perspective of Song Dae Hwi changed throughout the drama a lot because I started off being okay with him, then hated him, but ended up just absolutely loving him and hoping the best for him. I loved that he was The Smart guy, and even though he made some mistakes, he learned from them and apologized and became his better self. At the end of the day, he was just another one of the many victims of the stupidly high standards that this school and society had. I loved how her realized everything with Nam Joo and started to protect her after he had hurt her that much. The scenes with Tae Woon were absolutely exciting and their makeup was probably one of the highlights of the drama. Although I wanted them to break the sexual tension and just kiss already. /jk

Supporting characters were really cool, both the good ones and the bad ones, they contributed to the plot as much as they needed and never felt like simple extras but part of the actual plot.

Eun Ho's family is my favorite of all time. They were the most supportive I've ever seen in a drama (or at least in a while), and seeing how they scolded Eun Ho for behaving like the teenager she was, yet they protected her and showed her how much they loved her was just so endearing and beautiful to see. I'm watching True Beauty right now too and the difference is just... abysmal.

On another note, I didn't like how ep 16 unfolded because I feel like they unnecessarily rushed things to wrap everything up in a good note, especially how quick and dumb was the breaking point for Tae Woon's dad to realize how much he had been hurting his kid and apologize and just randomly decide to live a quieter life in the countryside and be a better guy. I mean, not complaining that my baby Tae Woon got a loving father now, but he had been acting like the worst adult ever just in eps 14-15 and suddenly after the policewoman told him what Tae Woon said and how he felt, now they father wants to be a good one? Okay, I guess...

Anyway, I wouldn't say this drama is perfect but it definitely has a lot of highlights and things that make it a worth-watching drama and a memorable one. It did have sloppy writing at some point, leaving many characters that were directly or somehow related to the main characters to be forgotten for episodes (Sa Rang, the mean girls, Byung Goo, Seo Jihoon's character, Issue, Nam Joo, etc) or just forgotten forever (Dae Hwi's mom, the other cleaning ladies), but I would totally recommend it to anyone who wants to watch a light drama that may make you stressed at some point, but which will definitely leave you with a good feeling of fullfument on you if you're into school dramas and romcoms with a bit of something going on.

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I believe I loved each movie of this saga equally, although I had some complaints with Kyoto Inferno as I didn't feel like Aoshi's arc should've been added since it felt rushed for me and like it didn't really provide much to the story. However, watching The Legend Ends and how his character was *sort of* needed, I understand the rush in the prequel.

I'm sure the fighting scenes in this one were much better than in the others, the BGM was perfect all through the saga, the cast was *almost* perfect and I have little discomfort with these movies. Nonetheless, I still didn't exactly like Shishio's fight, but it's more of a personal villain-MC preference.

While the setting of Kyoto Inferno was amazing and how Shishio built up fear on Kyoto was terrific, especially the part where Shishio's men enter Kyoto with the drums and big fire and star setting fire everywhere on Kyoto definitely showed the type of fearless villain he was, the fight in The Legend Ends felt like Kenshin had no way to beat him at all. Like I said, it's more of a persona preference, but I like villains who are defying and the absolute strongest, which Shishio was, and in which the MC has no chance against them, BUT eventually the MC finds the strength to fight to protect the people he loves and cares about. Obviously, that was Kenshin's driving force and what led him to fight to kill Shishio, I feel like Kenshin didn't stand a chance against him.

Kenshin was portrayed as the strongest samurai throughout the other 2 movies and even though that was exactly Shishio's whole arc (the only one stronger than Kenshin), they under-powered Kenshin to an unnecessary level, imo. If Shishio's body didn't burn, Kenshin would've been dead.

I generally don't like the whole "let's fight as friends" (like with Sanosuke, Satoshi and Aoshi) since it showed that neither of them stood a chance against Shishio and I get that's the whole point of "friends fighting together", but it just bothers me a little.

I still loved the saga and think it was amazingly done, the cast was all perfect except Sanosuke (I have major complaints about the actor and the whole personality they gave him, but I would rather not get there), the production was very thoughtful and it looked like they wanted to be as loyal to the original story as possible, which I believe they achieved. So I am rather satisfied at these movies, even though I was a fan of Rurouni Kenshin only as a kid.

Big shout out to Sato Takeru for his great performance.

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Strange premise, nice development

I hesitated to watch this drama because I thought it would be just another dumb high school drama ft a weird concept of a weird app, but once I got into it, I actually liked it and found myself unable to stop watching it.

Kim Jo Jo is your typical hardworking female lead, shy and smart that attracts the popular guy because she does not act like everyone else does around him. She works hard to pay the debt that her parents left to her aunt, but she lives in constant harassment from that aunt and her cousin. She has so many problems but sticks to her moral, so Hwang Sun Oh is immediately attracted to her and the way she looks at him.

Hwang Sun Oh is not your typical chaebol, though. He's definitely the rich, handsome boy who recently transferred from the US (any similarity between Cha Eun Sang and Kim Tan from Heirs is pure coincidence). Except that he's not rude or jerk or arrogant. Sun Oh is surprisingly humble, thoughtful and warm. I expected the typical jerk chaebol but I'm glad he was not. He was a genuine boy who happened to fall for his caring best friend's crush. (Wrong!)

Lee Hye Young. The shy friend of the rich guy who lives under his house because his mother is the housemaid. A selfless, shy guy who values his best friend more than anything in the world and falls in love for the girl who seems different and keeps many secrets.

I personally loved Kim Jo Jo and Hwang Sun Oh's chemistry. They were genuinely in love with each other, they cared for the other and were always there whenever one felt lonely or hopeless. They were all over each other, overcoming different challenges at school and learning more and more from the other. At this point, having finished the drama, I still don't understand why they broke up. I guess Jo Jo suddenly felt overwhelmed by having a boyfriend who actually cared about her and would do anything for her, and thought that she didn't want to be left behind eventually with these big feelings, so she cut him off her life and ghosted him. Wrong way, girl.

I don't know how people can say that Hye Young and Jo Jo should go together. I understand that's how the webtoon goes so far, but their relationship would be so awkward. Hye Young's confession in the school yard was NOT okay. He said he would be okay no matter how much she rejected him because that would mean romance to him? That's... So not okay. And comes from a terrible low level of self-love. He deserves to be with someone who gives back as much as he gives her.

Jo Jo and Sun Oh are in love after being apart for 4 years, they still remember the other with good feelings, despite the way Sun Oh is pissed off at her (for good reason). So I really hope they twist the ending and make them end together.

Also, I read that Hye Young deserves her more because he doesn't give much importance to Love Alarm and that he would love Jo Jo "in the old way" but that's such a lie. Hye Young also wanted to hit her alarm and wanted to know how it would feel if his alarm went off. It's not like he didn't give it relevance.

Anyway, this drama has a weird premise but an entertaining development, I watched it in one go, actually, so it's also quite addictive as the main leads are all over the other. I'd recommend to watch it and wait together for season 2.

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Drama that provokes mixed opinions

I'm honestly not sure if I liked this show or not. As probably everyone else, I came here for Kuanghan and stuck till the end for him, so in a way, it wasn't a waste of my time. He was as great as always, and seeing his charming Wu Minghan again was very fun to watch too. Though I don't know if this is my bias talking, but I feel like he didn't have that much screen time considering he is listed as the ML.

But anyway, the story was okay. It was interesting enough to keep me watching till the end, but there's still something I'm not sure what it is that didn't let me enjoy it fully. There aren't many comments and no other reviews to help me put into words what I felt watching it, so I will have to try to figure it out later.

The FL's rushed background did its job to show the viewer why she acts the way she does, so I guess it was also not unwelcome. Her bickering with Minghan was also fun to watch, especially because of the tiny hint that they could like each other. But I still didn't fully like her.

The other leads and extended cast were also okay, but I think the reason why I didn't exactly like this show and the characters was its grotesque nature. And no, I don't mean the gore scenes of the murders and corpses. I'm actually fine watching those. Funnily enough, the junkie cop clipping his nails at the precinct made me more uncomfortable than all the killings and corpse shots. I guess that's the purpose of this kind of shows, but maybe that's why this one didn't work for me.

Plot-wise it was also just okay. Someone said that you enjoy it more if you speak Chinese (I suppose to understand the idioms and mistakes better). But since my Chinese is very limited, I can't really form an opinion about this. But I liked the fact that the story was cohesive and it was well resolved. I mean, there wasn't much more to resolve, but it at least made sense till the end.

Anyway, I think overall it's not the worse show you'll ever watch, but it's also nothing remarkable. It's just an okay show. If you're coming for Kuanghan, you'll definitely have some of your time's worth back. But if you're looking for something random to watch, I'd say just skip it because there are many other better things to spend your time watching.

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I wouldn't like to be super biased when giving my review about this drama because I really like Joo Ji Hoon as an actor and Bae Doo Na's works always, but I don't have a single complaint about this drama. I wouldn't even like to call it a 'drama', but more like a series. The quality of Kingdom's production is not something that we find in many dramas. The acting was superb, every single character was perfectly well-created, the story developed with such intelligence, it really is unmatched.

Joo Ji Hoon as Lee Chang is such a wonderful character that even his common lack of emotion in his other works (not saying that I think like that but I know many do) is completely fitting in this role. He's passionate, cold-headed, smart, loyal, capable. The perfect king, yet his loyalty is doubted and he's suspected of treason. The way Lee Chang gathers the people on his side to protect Sangju is simply amazing. I really loved this character.

Similarly, Bae Doo Na as Sae-bi was perfect. I know she's always an amazing actress and each and every one of her works is a masterpiece, her characters are always inspiring women, but I must say that I really loved Sae-bi particularly. She's so smart and independent, survived so many things and was summoned to serve the general because of her skills and character, despite her being a simply physician of the commoners. Most empowering character ever!

I'm not going into further detail because I finished Season 2 before writing this review, so I wouldn't like to accidentally spoil anything, so I just want to encourage everyone to watch Kingdom and assure you that you will not regret it!

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Another victim of fan-requested second seasons

Don't get me wrong about the title - I am one of the fans that wanted this season to happen. I loved S1 and I wanted to see more of this amazing crew kicking bad guys' asses and avenging victims of several different crimes. However, based on the theme of these first 4 eps, I fear this is not what we're going to get.

I feel like at this point, the only thing that keeps me watching Taxi Driver 2 is Lee Je-hoon because he is an incredibly flexible actor with many faces that are always exciting to see. I have seen multiple of his works and he has never once disappointed me. He is a great actor and watching this show for him alone is totally worth it. Good thing that he's not only the main character, but actually the center of the show, so we get to see him a lot in all his different facets.

Other than Lee Je-hoon, I'm also curious about Shin Jae-ha's character, as he is so far the only thing that fits the "mystery/thriller" tag in the show (and whatever the sniper guy is on). These two plot points are (for me!) the only interesting thing going on, and honestly, it's disappointing.

While I do enjoy the whole crew and their dynamics and jokes, this season is so comedic and light that it feels like it was written for middle schoolers and it has completely lost its essence. Taxi Driver S1 is one of the darkest kdramas out there (or in recent years), and it serves well all the tags. We had a lot of action scenes with actual skilled fighting (I feel like the actions scenes in this season skip a lot of the action part and just show the results of the ass-kicking, which is underwhelming), and said action scenes were actually graphic and violent (tags of the show!), so we were in for the actual promised content. Action, thriller, mystery, and crime were present in every episode and they never felt forced or extra (even with Doki's unrealistic superstrength).

Not to mention that S1 had an incredibly thick plot and it developed accordingly since the very first Ep. It was dark and at times uncomfortable to watch, which is what made it so special and innovative. The cases were all connected to the major plot, and even the main characters' own storylines served a purpose to the plot. Now, I obviously understand why the characters don't have a deep storyline anymore because pretty much everything about them was resolved in S1, but I feel like this season has such a shallow approach that it even made me wonder if the mystery/thriller tags were there in this season at all (had to double check). They should add a comedy tag, and if they continue hinting at this romance between Doki and Goeun, might as well make it a romcom. I personally oppose this romance subplot because I know it won't be subtle (as it should be for this type of dramas, in my opinion) and because I know that at some point, there will be a damsel in distress situation in which Doki will suddenly realize his feelings or whatever reused plot accessory. Really hope I'm proven wrong there.

I guess you can say the crime tag serves its purpose, as the whole show has so far been about avenging victims of different crimes, but other than that there's really nothing about actually solving crimes, on top of the fact that the way they avenge the victims is not even satisfactory at all like it was in S1 - at least to me -, which is why this show was so appealing with its first season. I would say that the reason why the vengeance isn't even satisfactory is likely because the way they solve everything is based on nonsensical hacking (with very lame "hacking mode" floating screens that, in my opinion, are way too outdated and overused now), nonsensical luck (relying on external and unpredictable conditions that oh so happen to occur at the perfect timing), and nonsensical stages in which they manage to outsmart and/or overpower all the bad guys in the simplest and most mediocre ways.

Also, another thing that I feel is way too overused is the hero background music. I feel like they play it way too much even when no hero situation has happened yet, so when they actually do something hero-like, the music doesn't hit how it should because it's been overplayed too much at that point that you don't feel the 'momentum' anymore.

But anyway, I will still stick to the end of this season because, again, I love Lee Je-hoon and there are things that keep me watching other than him (even if that's the reason I listed at the beginning), and there are still 12 Eps left, so I'm hoping that the show will pick up and live up to S1, at least a bit. But it makes me genuinely upset that this season is so bland because Taxi Driver S1 is really one of the best shows out there, and evidently one of my favorites too, but I have to admit that this season is yet another victim of second seasons that weren't needed and only exist because of fans and viewers' requests.

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'Find Me in Your Memory' is one of the hidden gems that 2020 has to offer. I met a lot of people who had the same thing in mind when starting it, including me: most of us only started it because we were bored and in quarantine, so why not watch every airing show. That's how I found myself looking forward to every episode every week because of how beautiful this drama was, how engaging the story became by each episode. The chemistry between both characters was amazingly good, the thrilling suspect hunting at the first half was very interesting and made so many of us come up with theories to wonder who could be the stalker and it brought a lot of fun to the whole plot. I really liked how unique and refreshing this story was for most of the drama, so I enjoyed every bit of it... Until about episode 14.

Yeo Ha Jin's character was one of my most favorite FL for the most parts of this show. She was cheerful, strong, mature, feminine and not embarrassing at all. This is not a combination that we see in K-Dramas very often, because the FL "must" be tough and not pay attention to her looks if she wants to be strong, or she "must" be feminine and weak. So, I really liked this formula for YHJ and I believe that's one of the things that stood out the most about her character. I liked the fact that she was the one who liked the ML first and she did push herself on him in order to make him like her back, but we never once see her being ridiculously into him, making him directly uncomfortable, chasing him around after he pushed her away and stuff like that. She always gave him the space he needed but staying close enough so that he wouldn't go away. With one-sided love lines like how this one started, it's very common to feel second-hand embarrassment with the FL's actions, but I never felt anything like this with YHJ because she always knew her place and knew when to stop.

However, with all that in mind, I do believe the writers ruined her character by the last 3-4 episodes of the show. She was always very giving, never thought only about herself but also didn't put others' feelings before her own. She was balanced, but they ruined this towards the ending by making her quite selfish and even incoherent with what they built throughout the rest of the drama. The fact that she kept going back and forth on her words and pushed him away just to go back to him was nonsense to me. The last goodbye wasn't even for her own sake or his, which is the main reason why I was angry at the writers for throwing in the most common cliches of sudden breakup, going abroad, timeslip, getting back 1 episode later. If any of this had been for either of their sake, I would've understood YHJ but she was in pain and so was he, so her actions didn't make any sense to me anymore. I blame the writers for a lazy ending.

Now, moving to our beloved Anchor-nim, Lee Jeong Hoon. I must confess in advance that I really had no expectations from this character (or from YHJ) because I had never seen Kim Dong Wook in a drama before (I saw him in Coffee Prince but that was so long ago and I didn't really pay attention, also he has just a supporting role anyways), so he was actually one of the reasons why I wasn't sure to start this drama or not, but I'm glad that I did. Lee Jeong Hoon started off as a stiff man with too many memories from his first love that were triggered by little details and affected his daily life. For this he didn't let anyone in his life, he didn't want to be involved in anyone's life anymore and was afraid of being too hurt again and not forgetting his pain. But then, this very cheerful and happy girl comes to his life and a series of events that looked like fate start happening as they find themselves involved more and more in each other's lives, and LJH ends up becoming YHJ's protector.

I usually don't like the damsel in distress type of plots, but I kind of gave it a pass in this case because YHJ was always a very strong character that didn't need protection (not because of her personality at least, but because of her celebrity status). So LJH protecting her and saving her multiple times didn't really feel bad for me, as they never made her look like a weak woman who needed a man's protection, yet there he was for her.

I loved how he always showed his true emotions after he realized that he couldn't live without her; he never kept anything to himself when it came about his feelings and was always vocal about how much he loved her. One of my favorite things about this couple is actually their communication. Aside from the story about YHJ's dead friend, they always talked each other's problems out, they never held themselves back while creating unnecessary misunderstandings or anything similar. That's why they were always true to each other and loved each other dearly. Their chemistry as actors also helped immensely to like this couple with such a huge age gap, so every time they were on screen together we could see their eyes sparkling love, their smiles expressing how much they loved each other.

And then: the skinship. Being Moon Ga Young so much younger than Kim Dong Wook, I honestly didn't expect so much skinship (not beyond a few hugs) or the amount of kisses that we got. Since the very first kiss was the usual lips pressing each other with no movement, I thought we would get like 3-4 kisses like this and the usual FL being surprised at the sudden kiss from the ML. But! We never got any kiss like this and I totally love it. Instead, we got really nice kisses that felt absolutely soft and in the right place, and the ML never roughly kissed her (which is the type of kiss that I hate the most in K-Dramas). I lost count on how many soft scenes of hands-grabbed and walking next to each other, or sitting on different locations and head-on-shoulder resting we got, but I totally love this drama for the amount of love that the main leads showed and how they carried this drama on their own with no issue for about 13-14 episodes. The last kiss melted me too much, to be honest.

So, leaving our main leads aside, this drama was full of likable characters that made the plot much better. Ha Kyung was such a great and supportive sister and I was so glad to know that they gave her a love line as well with Il Kwon, mostly because Kim Seul Gi's characters are usually an accessory of the plot and I am tired of this type of mistreatment. She's such a great actress and deserves a plot with a story on her own, not one that keeps making her an added element of either main lead. I really hope she gets better characters and especially characters that don't focus on how (not) "ugly" she is, or make her tacky or boring. I'm quite tired of seeing her in the same type of role. I don't know if she likes to be called ugly, I bet she doesn't, but seeing her in 'Queen of The Ring' was such a pain, and then seeing how her she's also considered ugly or "the strong girl" (therefore, ugly, not woman enough) is really tiring. But either way, I'm glad they gave her a short love line on her own with a cute character like Il Kwon. At the beginning they were very cute, but by the end I found myself skipping some of their scenes or fast-forwarding through them.

We have other supporting characters like Director Choi and her husband who were totally lovable, or YHJ's Director, Chul, the stalker Director... All of them were very cool characters that added different things to the plot and made it much more interesting. Tae Eun is one of the characters that I could never figure out and felt like he was just thrown there for no reason, yet he had an important role on the story. Still, it's not like I hated him but he was a bit confusing. The doctor was horrible and I knew since the very beginning that I would hate him greatly because it was awful. The stalker was one of my favorite characters, actually, since he managed to really look like a madman and psycho and made me fear for the characters around him. Also, Jung Seo Yeon was such a lovely girl and I'm still sad that such thing happened to her, Ha Jin and her would've been so cute together.

To conclude this review, I just want to say that even though this drama was a huge victim of great start but lazy writing, I still loved it a lot and is one of the dramas that I would always recommend because the plot started off good, and like most K-Dramas it went downhill by the end, but it's not like the quality dropped from 10 to 5, I would just say it went from 9.5 to 9.0-8.0, depending on your POV. Still, this drama isn't a hit that you MUST watch, but it's something not to miss out since you will most of the show.

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'Queen of the Ring' tries to be a drama about morals regarding beauty standards and how 'the inner beauty is what matter the most', but it fails terribly and ends up being a pretentious drama giving more relevance to looks beyond personalities. Of course, the world we live in regards beauty over intelligence or other qualities, but this drama tries to teach us a lesson yet it only focuses on the fact that a) only the socially-accepted pretty people can give you this value (see: Se Gun, a handsome man, gave value to Nan Hee and only when he told her she was pretty is that she started to believe it herself); b) the lesson they keep teaching is that it doesn't matter if you're ugly! There are other good things about you, no? Beauty isn't everything, of course! So why does this drama insist on saying things like "show them that an ugly apple is not be thrown away"? They focus on the same idea: Nan Hee is objectively ugly, but she can still thrive in the world because she's 'pretty on the inside'. I call bullshit.

This drama tries to teach this lesson about self-love but Nan Hee doesn't love herself even till the end, she only likes the fact that her dreamed boy now loves her. She doesn't even agree with him liking her physically, because she does not like herself either. Even her own mother tells her daughter that she's ugly but again, it doesn't matter because soybean paste is not beautiful either, yet it has other things to offer or whatever that metaphor was about.

Now I'm going to mention 3 of 4 reasons why I didn't drop this drama, each reason is one star.

1. Kim Seul Gi: I love this actress so much and I've always wanted to see her in a leading role. I didn't plan to watch this drama any time soon, but I did because of a Watch Challenge that I'm doing this year and I chose this one for the leads. I didn't read the plot or anything at all, so I didn't really know what I was signing up for, but besides all my complaints about this dumb mini drama, I can say that her acting (as always) is one of the main reasons that kept me watching. I would like to give her acting 2 stars, but the fact that her character didn't have any character development whatsoever ruins those stars. The fact that Mon Nan Hee accepted her ugliness and "decided to live with 'that' face" makes me mad in so many ways, but I will explain this later.

2. Ahn Hyo Seop: I must make it clear that I didn't drop it not because I liked his character, but because I like *him*. I had planned to watch this drama a few weeks ago when I was looking for his other works, so I took this chance to watch it and I'm not sure if I regret doing so. He was looking absolutely stunning all the time, which was obviously the intention of his character (his entire persona anyway), so one of the main reasons why I couldn't drop it is because he's just absolutely handsome, lol. No matter how shallow this sounds, I just really like this actor, despite how much I disliked Park Se Gun in 90% of the drama. One star for his looks.

3. Lee Tae Sun: His character was the ONLY good character in the entire drama. Nobody deserved to have him in his life, he was the purest, most cheerful, best of best friend that these two girls could've gotten. Both Nan Hee and Mi Joo were absolutely shallow in their own ways that I don't know how girls like them can stick around a guy like Tae Hyun for 15 years. His only flaw was not realizing his own feelings on time, because he could've totally made Nan Hee love herself the way she is (not just ACCEPT herself, but LOVE herself and consider herself pretty, something that she failed to do even to the end). Tae Hyun was the only good character and he deserved more. One star for him.

Before explaining the reason no. 4 about why I didn't drop his drama, let me continue by saying that the side characters are all horrible (besides Byun Tae Hyun, my pure baby). Of course we must take into account that they're all art students, most importantly fashion students so they're conceived as shallow and people who only focus on looks and beauty. Ok, let's grasp that concept. Still, the way everyone made sure that they all agreed on the fact that Nan Hee was ugly, that she could never date someone like Se Gun, that there MUST be something wrong with him... It's all so incredibly stupid. Kang Mi Joo is the worst friend I have ever seen in a k-drama, I can't believe Tae Hyun and Nan Hee didn't throw her as she deserves for being the most asshole friend in the world. The fact that she said she would kiss and sleep with the guy that her 'best friend' had a crush on is absolutely horrible, and then she confessed to Nan Hee she didn't sleep with him and Nan Hee thanks her for that and calls her ANGEL? Girl, show some self-respect once in your life, please!

The credits scene also annoyed me way too much! What makes me the angriest about this drama is that it pretends to leave a moral, to speak for 'the ugly', the less appreciated people in society, but it's simply the equivalent of 'white savior' in beauty standards: what a beautiful world this ring created, everyone started to look pretty in their own ways now! Then scenes of couples roll out in which one of them is necessarily fat or 'objectively' ugly (even children because we've got to teach our children that fat people are 'pretty in their own way'!). What is the moral they're giving? That 'ugly' and fat have their own charm, that we can't discriminate because they're beautiful in their own ways. It seems like I'm among the few who sees the problem with this mindset, considering how high the rating is.

Now, the fourth reason is a bit dumb as well and it's just because I liked how they wrapped up some things in this drama. The fact that neither Nan Hee nor Se Gun won the competition was refreshing, I wouldn't have liked seeing one of them winning over the other, so it was a nice little point to give the prize to Nan Hee's friend. Also, though a bit twisted, I liked Se Gun's confession and encouragement to Nan Hee to join the runway, the fact that he made the dress thinking about her was cute (the outfit was really nice too). When he came back to look for Nan Hee in her house, the confession he made there was also very cute, so it's nice to see that at the end of the day, he did have some improvement (and grew a brain, I guess), as well as the ending scene when she put the ring and his ideal type became Nan Hee just the way she is, physically and personally, and they had a nice ending kiss. For these few dumb reasons, I'll give another star to this dumb drama and make it 4.0. It really doesn't deserve anything higher than a 5 at most, but I see that many people bought this cheap moral they tried to sell.

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Is this the only topic that can be written about women?

'Why Her?' is a drama I had been looking forward to ever since it was announced, mostly because Seo Hyun Jin is one of my favorite actresses, but also because it was going to be Hwang In Yeop's first major leading role, and it had Bae In Hyuk included in the cast, both of which are new actors that I'm keeping my eye on. I hadn't read much about the plot when it was announced, nothing more than it being a story in the legal world and about a professor and student relationship. I don't really have a problem with teacher-student plots, as long as it's not set in a high school with a weird romanticization whenever they cross paths, or just look into each other's eyes, especially while solving math problems with a borderline psychopathic enthusiasm *side-eyeing Melancholia*.

Oh Soo Jae is a confident woman, who has escalated high up in the ladder by her own means, surviving in a tough male-dominated field, despite not having the expected educational background for people in her position. I'm still not sure about how to feel about this because the drama has not explained yet how she managed to land such important positions in a top 10 law firm as only a high school graduate, and I don't think a person with her qualifications can actually land a teaching job at a law school, but then again this is 1) fiction and 2) she was given the position, so it's not like connections can't solve everything in this case.

Then we have our male lead, Gong Chan, whose age we are still unclear about and I would personally love to have it addressed because I can totally ship him with a successful professor in her early(?) 30s if he's above 24 years old, maybe? But if he's any younger it would make me a bit uncomfortable. He spent one year in prison and it looks like he was already out of school when the murder of his step-sister happened, so he must be at least 22 years old, I would say? It would be nice if they throw in that he already served in the army, so that he would meet my desired age of 24, and then I would have peace of mind while watching the show.

But anyway, my problem is not really about either main character, or the story so far at all, but with a recurrent topic not only in 'Why Her?', but also thrown into many Kdramas nowadays.

Ep 1 starts with Oh Soo Jae's character introduction, showing the viewer she is a tough woman with no support from her coworkers or other colleagues even outside her law firm, except for her assistant and some guy that looks like he would kill on his boss' command, whoever that is. We see many graying middle-aged men (boooo) despising our female lead over the littlest things, and basically, just for being a capable woman in the industry, some of those trying to use her to their own convenience. We also see Oh Soo Jae on two occasions (if I recall correctly) sitting alone in the middle of her fancy apartment, once again showing the viewer that she may be tough on the outside, but she feels the loneliness of her lifestyle once she is all on her own.

The plot continues with a case of a woman suing her client over sexual harassment and this is where my problem starts. In order to understand why I find this so incredibly unnecessary and problematic, we would need to contextualize this drama in the place from where it comes: the South Korean society, where women's rights are violated multiple times, and —as mentioned in the Ep about three times, and inappropriately (in my opinion)— where the law is never on the woman's side in sexual harassment claims, as well as a place where sex crimes against women are one of the highest in the world, from 'developed countries', and where women have it overall really bad in this sense.

So we see our (flawed) female lead shaming the alleged sexual assault victim, giving her 'reality checks', making her feel even more miserable, despite the victim's attitude not being the particularly stereotyped attitude of a victim, and here is where I have another problem. Sexual assault victims are expected to be ashamed of themselves, to be depressed, to be in mental hospitals trying to recover from it, and overall visibly suffering, but if a woman is confident and recovered speedily from this horrible situation, then questions arise over whether she was actually assaulted or not. And we see this quite clearly in the show. Park So Young had a nonchalant attitude, quite relaxed, giving off a vibe that she's actually a gold digger and not a real assault victim. Now, I have two problems with it. One, as mentioned, sexual assault victims react differently to their assaults, some and most, actually, take it really badly and will need a lot of time to recover from it, if ever, but some are actually able to continue with their lives and it doesn't mean that they did not suffer from the assault, or that they do not deserve justice. Just because a woman is not suffering doesn't mean the predator doesn't deserve to be thrown in jail. It is unclear whether the sexual assault actually took place or not, but this is just overall dangerous to the already very stigmatized view of sexual assault victims.

Now, if Park So Young was actually lying and was a gold digger, I really don't think this is something that should be shown on dramas either. Not only in South Korea, but everywhere in the world victims of sexual assault are always questioned, doubted, shamed, and re-victimized when they come forward to raise their voices and confess that they are victims, so to raise the question in a drama where an alleged sexual assault victim is suing a powerful man perpetuates this idea and reinforces it, showing that "women can also lie about sexual assault". Now I'm not saying that this can't happen, but the percentage is very low, compared to actual assault victims that are still dismissed and never believed. It's disappointing that this drama is both written and directed by women, yet they use this problem as a plot accessory.

Actually, I have another problem with this. I don't think South Korean women, or women who watch this drama in general, need to hear from another woman the horrendous things that Oh Soo Jae told Park So Young when facing a sexual assault lawsuit. Yes, I'm sure this is just to show that our female lead is flawed and to set a standard about where she needs to start changing (which we see in Ep 2), but I personally can't really see a reason to use this specific 'flaw' on a female lead to show the viewers that she will change in the future.

Not satisfied with the female lead shaming her, the victim ends up killing herself by suicide (as we know so far), and becoming 'the flaw' of our female lead's career. Making a woman in a high position become the target of public shaming because another woman allegedly committed suicide after being raped and shamed about it really doesn't sit right with me. The drama entirely forgot the main point, that a woman being raped, and completely focused it on the female lead shaming her and leading her to suicide. I know this is how people would view it in real life, that they would shift the blame from the predator to the other woman because it's easier to blame women than predators. I know it's all true, but again, I just don't see why *this* needs to be the starting point, or the breaking point, for our female lead.

Now we have an awful start for our drama (in terms of content, not really that the drama started off badly), and we continue the drama with not only one or two, but three more cases of sexual assault. All in one ep. All to different women. Our female lead is groped and sexually harassed by a disgusting professor, then a female student is again groped and sexually harassed by said disgusting professor, and on top of everything, our male lead was previously and falsely convicted of raping and murdering his step-sister. The drama started with a sexual harassment plot, and continued with three more because obviously, that is the only thing that can be written about women, right?

This is exactly my problem: I really don't understand what's the recurrent fixation of Kdrama writers with including so many sexual assault instances in the plot. It feels like all or most recent dramas have a sexual assault minor or major plot point, all on different levels, but all there. I just don't think women need to be reminded of this when we see it all the time in the news, and it's not like it exactly helps with the 'raise awareness' attempt, because sexual predators are not the ones watching these shows so it will not prevent anything, and men who could help either already know this happens, or don't care at all, so showing this constantly on dramas will not really produce any impact in their lives. So at the end of the day, the only people being affected by this are women watching these shows, despite having to see this in our daily lives, reading news about femicides all the time, and overall facing sexual assaults on different levels every day.

Also, I might be wrong, but more than having 4 cases of sexual assault in 2 eps of a drama, I think not hiring an ex-convict of sex crimes would make a more powerful statement against sexual predators and would help to build safe places for women in the industry, so that the risks of being sexually harassed while working would reduce at least one bit, but that's just me, I guess.

Anyway, this review of only two eps is already very long, but I needed to get it out of my chest because it's something that has been bugging me a lot from dramas lately (lately being like, 2 years), but this drama was really just over the top with it.

Overall, the show looks promising if they focus it well on the romance part without neglecting the law part, but I really hope we don't have to see a certain graying middle-aged man too much (preferably not ever again), or just too many powerful, middle-aged men trying to screw our female lead over. Also, on another, totally unrelated side, I think it's funny that our female lead has not only one younger romantic interest, but two, which is uncommon because we usually see only one younger love interest in noona romances, while the love triangle develops with another, older and successful, daddy-like second male lead. But here we have two, both of which have a past connection with our female lead, and who look like they will form a nice brotherhood, so I'm actually looking forward to future eps of this drama, and I hope my complaints disappear quickly and my expectations are met so that I can enjoy this drama fully.

TL;DR: Our female lead is the perfect successful femme fatale with two completely eye-candy younger romantic interests, but our Kdrama writers have a passion for sexual assault victims and cannot go one day without including sexual assault in their works.

Leggi di Più

I'm already loving this drama. I was highly anticipating Yoo Seung Ho's comeback drama and as expected, he doesn't disappoint. Dong Beck is a reckless guy who makes you love him with no second thought. Looks like he's also vulnerable despite his recklessness, so I'd love to see him showing that weaker side to someone (possibly to the FL). It's so intense that you simply don't want to stop watching. I'm so thrilled to see how all the cases develop and which new cases arise. Such a promising drama.

My romance lover ass would love to see some romance too, even if it's not the main point of the drama. But maybe it would ruin it, who knows. I don't see romance tags on the drama so it's possible that it won't happen, though.

Anyways, totally looking forward to the next episodes and I wholly recommend it!

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