this is a winner

One of the best dramas i ever watched... The ML and FL are established actors that totally deserve their fame, being not just handsome, but also very gifted! The rest of the cast is also spectacular.
The action is quite slow, but if you are in mood, you can enjoy every moment of it. If not, just fast forward.
This drama sets very high standards in terms of acting and settings - it looks effortlessly luxurious. It definitely wins - hands down - the 1st prize for settings/interiors/landscapes and also cinematography... everything looks so enchanting! I'd mention for instance the rose garden... is there someone out there who wouldnt like to work in a rose garden? Definitely not me - this particular rose garden drove me crazy!
Though i skipped some parts for being kinda slow, i still admit i enjoyed most of this lakorn. Despite dwelling on some old tropes, it's a treat!

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excellent & funny & old skool

It starts really funny and entertaining acting, but in the second half action and melodrama take over quite in a boring way. Actors are excellent: the main couple, the second male lead, and WOW to the supporting cast - the bunch of policemen, the aunts in the slum, the undercover agents...And the villain with his team are genius! Despite the episodes being so long, only now and then i felt like fast forwarding. A lot of handsome faces too!
Cinematography was also excellent! Nice angles, nice details...
Despite being a recent drama, it somehow seems classical.
I'd rewatch the first few episodes...

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top 5 all time... bestest!

not many dramas i've watched more than once, but i lost count how many times i came back to re-watch this (at least some episodes). Ji Sung is genius for sure, and FL also exceptional in her character. is it realistic? sure not on the whole, but some scenes are sooo believable. it does rely on clichés, and we expect them to be there, but they are on a new level, burning with fire.
a lot of tension, a lot of chemistry, but not in a superficial way. support cast does the job to perfection! a lot of handsome faces, but again - there's more than just good looks to each and every one.................................................................................................
dont let the word melodrama put you off ! it's not just melodrama to this, it's really an all-rounder. cathartic!..................................
i watch this and i dont want to even blink for fear i might miss something. ☜♡☞

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sado-maso phantasy

this lakorn is abt jealousy mainly - though it somehow looks more like revenge. as many watchers pointed before, ML is cruel towards FL beyond normal, he abuses her verbally and physically, humiliates and insults her, locks her up and shuts her friends off, repeatedly tries to rape her until finally succeeds, then tries again with or without success (even felt sorry for this guy having so much desire and not being able to quench it!). ML is a perfect sadist, kind at night and totally carried away by love, and cruelest at daytime. FL matches him perfectly - innocent, tearful, totally at his mercy.............................................................
gorgeous cast though... should watch just for this!! chemistry is top too... acting a bit overdramatic, but matches the plot.
dont't make the mistake to compare to real life though LOL.

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no better no worse revenge/school drama

I can see a lot of wasted potential here... It's got a lot of ingredients to keep this entertaining, but also it's got a lot of tropes, and not all of them done right!
I read a lot abt episode 6 & the turnover it brings. Indeed, there is something to it, but its aftermath not good enough if you ask me. Like someone said, two narratives are stuck together in an artificial way, as if the director received too many complaints from viewers for the story being boring and decided to add some action to it!
So, its a (student - teacher) romance + revenge (?) drama after all, and - hopefully - love wins and revenge is forgotten by the end.
Abt cast: i really think the weak spot is the FL, not the ML as many viewers said. The FL is really boring for wearing the same outfit and same facial expression all the time. While the ML is quite in the character, and though he might look more mature - which i didnt notice - it's not unusual for teens to look so. I've seen teens looking old and adults looking like teens, so this is not a concern for me while watching this.
My objection is to the plot itself, logic seems sometimes gone to the drain while cheap tropes keep recurring... Like, good ppl are in fact the creepy ones and vice-versa? Smh

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pushing myself to watch this nonsense

I came to watch this following the excellent reviews i read, BUT honestly i wonder if i was watching the same drama?? The pace is sooo totally boring and nonsensical, and i'm also not a fan of the supernatural element - like having glimpses of the future - and not even done right! The quality of the video sucks, i've seen better movies from the 90's... the image is washed out for memories and also for present times duhh. The plot also gives an outdated vibe.
If you can survive past the fourth episode, it might get better... not perfect, but better. Still you have to put up with a lot of nonsense just to be able to realize the power of love - its always abt love, isnt it?
Support cast does a great job, even better than the main flow sometimes.

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too much melodrama

I started watching this with high expectations... partly met by the gorgeous team of actors, especially the 2 ML's, who are so good-looking and versatile. Still after 15 episodes or so - the series being way too long anyway - i started to get bored with the repetitive actions. Our BL protagonists have little screen time together, though their scenes are the highlight of the drama. In the second half of the series, we hardly see them together.
The tragic factor is too obvious, you clearly see this is to become a tearjerker, though it had some funny characters/scenes in the beginning - but important characters started to die left and right, ruining the balance. So i stopped watching it right before the end, since i had the feeling it offered me everything i wanted to see in terms of passion, chivalry, bromance, love, action, revenge etc. Might pick it up another time for a sense of completeness...
Many handsome faces, and special mention to the evil character, who comes off as the most rounded and totally takes the screen. The shady policeman too, keeps a fine balance to all the tragedy!
Great quality drama, too bad the scriptwriter lacked the sparkle.

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realistic & catching

Not your typical lakorn in any way, i'd say the american influence is strong... Very fresh view on love, as unconventional as BL can be.
The actors are also quite common-looking - but not by far boring! They are NATURAL and FRESH to the point you might believe you watch a reality show! Kudos to the director who spotted their potential... They are unbelievably gifted and sooo engaging! The cast is the strongest point of this drama, which also has the quality of keeping things simple - nothing over the top. Everybody can relate to this slow-paced teen story, and i mean - everybody, since the young actors succeed in conveying a lot of emotions with just their eyes and expressions...
I give this drama a 10 for the pure love of the fragile-but-strong Mark and the unbelievably-not-shallow Vee, and also for the rest of the cast, that succeeds in depicting a not perfect but serene college life. Excellent!

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my new favourite!

Im really happy i came across this drama... It literally has got everything! A lot of handsome guys - in a totally innocent way i'd say - but also with huge talent. The plot is entertaining, side action is too. Nothing too dark nothing too shallow. The chemistry of both couples is unbelievable! I dont know who to praise more... the mature teen falling for the gangster, the gangster whos a math prodigy, the short guy acting like a rag doll when drunk, the introvert young gangster... So heartwarming and serene. Im totally in awe!
Also, it's so beautifully filmed, but in a discreet, nothing-too-obvious manner, and dialogues are not too much, not too little!
Masterpiece if you ask me!
Taiwanese cinematography doesnt cease to amaze me.
Rewatch? You bet!

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it makes you ask yourself a lot of questions

I'm still watching it - but i feel like it's already meaningful... I read spoilers and reviews though, so im not an "innocent" watcher! It is surely worth watching, it says a lot abt loneliness, sadness, and mother love and survival... Even for people who dont usually fall for these topics, it still conveys a lot! The actors look too good if you ask me - i shrink from commercial things, and unnecessary beauty is one of them. But i'm still easy to fool, so these beautiful faces grew up on me.
I read abt this film being "realistic" - it certainly is, but drama-realistic, not docu - realistic. The art factor added to it is obviously important.
It's such an expressive movie that it makes me dig up ideas and feelings that havent crossed my mind in a long time. If this is not a proof of its value - than what is it??
Highly recommended.

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this is a dirty manga

When two HANDSOME guys get employed at a new company, they randomly obsess over the ugly girl to use and abuse. She gets to sleep with both of them without much bother - being somehow retarded, because to be a wh*re would take more of a personality - and maybe some good-looks, which she totally lacks. Professionally she is still excellent (seriously??). But the pretty girl in the company gets angry for being left aside and tries to interfere. The ex-gf also comes into picture. This is what i get from this popcorn miniseries...
The ML has a fetish for public sex, he is always ready and lustful. The SML is not far from this either. They must have been trapped on a desert island before running into the FL! Oh, and they all visit the SAME bar - and the bar is ALWAYS empty, not even one customer beside our characters!!
... It totally reminds me of Dori and his smut characters. Kisses are hot too!
As they say, it's so bad that it's good.

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umm sorry whats it all about?

The political plot, the names and all the scheming are quite hard to follow honestly... I was expecting more action, i.e. fight scenes, but the prosecutor in this movie cannot fight!
The bad guy who takes all the credit for this movie doesnt play anything spectacular, he just changes his looks according to the social status and thats it. The gore scenes dont add to the value of the movie... Honestly, something doesnt add up here. I got the general idea, good guys and bad guys striving to get their hands on some important compromising papers, easy women entertaining the rich - and what else? Some bromance developing in the process, right? And we should just wow at the thought that the prosecutor and the hoodlum become friends... Wow NOT! Just another trope...
Watch and imagine how good it couldve been if saved by grace! Which is not the case...

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tragic fairy-tale

It totally IS a fairy-tale, since the pieces of puzzle put together are utterly unrealistic... BUT if supposedly it ever once HAPPENED so - or it might ever happen, the outcome is marvelous. There is this retarded father who falls victim to a cruel society, the compassionate guardian who hasnt always been like this, the cellmates who are more humane than the people outside, and - of course - the brilliant daughter played by an impressive CHILD ACTOR... Just these and it's enough to have a unique movie, brilliantly played by everyone, from main actors to supporting cast.
What we can see here is not just a moving story, but also a top product of the drama-school of Korea. You know, when it's too good to be true...

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