Toxic mess that tries too hard to be artsy-noir-meets-50-Shades-lite

Deep Love Love Again tries way too hard to be aesthetically dark, moody, and atmospheric, with a hint of 50 Shades -- at the expense of storytelling and flow. It tries to be provocative and titillating, but ends up coming across uncomfortable and even abusive, despite the mention of safe words. Everyone speaks -- or rather, is dubbed -- in breathy whispers (this also makes the dialogue difficult to understand at times). The drama’s efforts would feel cheesy and amusing if not for the unsettling red flag moments between the main leads, which thankfully peters out in the later episodes (the flag is handed off to the villain instead).

Even the sets feel overdone, yet simultaneously cheap (which normally is not a big deal, especially for a mini drama) -- but I could not look away from the amateur Halloween decor “cobwebs” in the theatre/church. As for the acting, Garvey Jin/Zhang Jiawei could do with better cast mates. Tiffany Gao and the others, were…not great.

I thought I might not have minded this for what it was -- a trashy, soapy, short-length drama -- but in the end, I could not get past the extremely uncomfortable and very unsexy misogyny. I've seen enough toxic Republican Era love/hate/revenge mini dramas to acknowledge that even problematic stories and characters can still have great chemistry and romantic tension between the leads. I was not feeling any of that here.

Leia Mais

A tropey, tear-filled soap opera with solid acting that tugs at the heart strings

If you've seen Perfect Marriage Revenge or Marry My Husband, then you have an idea of what's in store here (without the rebirth/time travel element): This is a soap opera, no question, with its requisite checklist of a wealthy family, succession conflicts and rivalry, scheming interlopers, over-the-top (yet predictable) plot developments, and of course, unexpected childhood connections. In that sense, there isn't too much that's "new" here. All three dramas are somewhat over-rated, but what sets Queen of Tears apart from the other two are the acting, production quality, heartfelt relationships, and a lovely soundtrack.

Like many Asian dramas, Queen of Tears almost feels like a story in two different acts. The first is light, filled with dark humour and family dynamics that are amusingly bananas as we meet the characters and familiarize ourselves with the setting. The pacing and execution are pretty solid and I found myself cackling out loud multiple times. The cast of characters are not especially likable, frankly, but that's okay, because we're here for the great storytelling.

The second act takes a much darker tone, as wild plots, evil schemes, angst, and endless tears take centre stage. Much of the humour is gone. Characters hit rock bottom and grow. They are tested by adversity and overcome them. The show is keenly aware of its melodramatic turn, however, as even the characters themselves discuss and compare events to K-drama plots.

Overall, the first half felt more fresh and entertaining, but I personally enjoyed the back half more for the angst and significantly warmer and more empathetic characters, even as the story dipped into Makjang territory and some plot elements (like Hyun Woo's siblings, the miscarriage, etc.) were not as flushed out as I would have liked.

Given the amount of tears shed in this drama, I was curiously not bawling alongside the characters, especially for our heroine, Hong Hae In, played by Kim Ji Won. The earlier unlikability factor comes at a cost. Hae In is so scarred by life experiences that she hides behind a cold and indifferent mask. But even when the mask finally cracks in the second half, I struggled to warm up to her. Still, as someone who is forgetful yet overly sentimental, I did find Hae In's fears and personal story powerfully poignant. With a warmer character, I would have wept an ocean of tears. Ultimately it was Kim Soo Hyun's portrayal of Baek Hyun Woo that finally made my eyes water and my heart ache near the end. While Kim Soo Hyun lacks a certain "swoon factor" for me, his immense likability and solid acting comes through in Hyun Woo.

Another particular acting highlight was Kwak Dong Yeon, who plays Hong Soo Cheol. The actor already stood out for me in a number of his previous roles, and I initially found him almost unrecognizable here as the annoying jerk brother. When we first meet Soo Cheol, he is the stereotypical baffoon - the incompetent, spoiled family embarrassment and mama's boy with no self-awareness out to beat his sister. But surprisingly, he ends up being the warmest and most passionate member of the Queens family. In the hands of another actor, Soo Cheol could simply be a supremely annoying wealthy idiot sibling. Instead I found myself feeling sorry and rooting for him.

Elsewhere, Park Sung Hoon was very effective in his incredibly unsettling portrayal of Yoon Eun Seong, especially in early episodes. Some of that chilling effect felt diluted later on, however, overshadowed by melodramatic plot developments. Even so, Eun Seong's gaslighting and truth-filled lies remained extremely disturbing and uncomfortable to watch, particularly in the way it reminded me of the misinformation and disinformation we face in the real world today.

Queen of Tears started off as a respectable 8.5 for me, but the strong emotional notes struck in the last three episodes and especially the ending, pushed it into a high 8.

Leia Mais

Micro drama delivers a surprisingly decent serial murder mystery

At barely an hour's length excluding credits, On the Scent is a surprisingly well-produced micro drama (relatively speaking) starring Leo Yang and Li Jia Jia. It tells a decent serial murder mystery through incredibly short arcs. Over the past year, many short-length productions have expanded from 2-3 minutes to about 10-15 minutes in length, making these extra short ones seem particularly unsatisfying and poorly made. These crumb-sized dramas can be riddled with extra choppy editing, a script full of plot holes and uneven storytelling. But as the story unfolded here, it was hard not to be a bit surprised by the relative quality, given the constraints.

This drama came out just before the "toxic Republican era anti-hero" trope dominated the mini-drama landscape in 2023, so you won't be seeing any aggressive MLs intimidating the FLs in a love-hate tale of revenge here. There is almost no romance at all - in fact, the most physical our two leads get is a comforting hand on the shoulder. Leo Yang and Li Jia Jia are nonetheless nicely paired, unravelling the mystery behind a series of murders together.

Like a number of the short-length dramas I watched back in 2022, On the Scent unnecessarily ends on last-second cliffhanger, and like those other dramas, I am not expecting a second season. In this case, however, I was not particularly bothered by the open ending, which did not detract from the overall drama. Not a bad watch for that five minute coffee/tea/water break!

Leia Mais

Fan Zhixin delivers emotional performance in otherwise cringy, forgettable mini drama

These short-length productions are like snacks -- the better ones can be deliciously fun and entertaining, but it is rare to feel emotionally satisfied, let alone invested. Yet, Fan Zhixin's acting was unexpectedly moving (even if some might argue it was perhaps a tad too much). Watching him play such an earnest and emotional character was almost startling after seeing him as the suave, cold and ruthless Yan Xing Cheng in My Lethal Man and the disturbing, unsettling, and psychologically abusive Qin Li in Dear Liar. Fan Zhixin conveys a sense of maturity beyond his years and it's easy to forget that he was just 21 to 23 at most in all of these roles.

I'm not a huge fan of cross-world travelling mini dramas, mostly because they feel so unsatisfying at the end, but this one ranks among the better ones I've seen in this genre. I was rather indifferent to the FL, however, and the first third to half of the drama was so painful that I would have dropped it if it weren't for Fan Zhixin, who gave a stronger and more heartfelt performance than many other young actors leading a full-length series.

Childe Xie's Wine is also among the few mini-dramas I've watched that uses live audio! While the uneven sound quality showed a little once in a while, it was refreshing overall to hear everyone's natural voice. On occasion, an actor's performance is improved by the dubbing, but in this case, Fan Zhixin's acting benefited from the live audio, with viewers able to hear the way his voice breaks and catches during his emotional deliveries in the later episodes.

This would have probably been around a 5.5 to 6 for me, but I bumped it up to 7 for Fan Zhixin and hope he has more opportunities to nurture and showcase his acting skills.

Leia Mais

Terrible, disjointed script and direction makes for a cringy watch

I am always amazed at what gets greenlit into a film or TV show and "Love in the Kitchen" makes for an excellent (or rather, terrible) example of why.

A behind-the-scenes reel in the closing credits shows the sizable production team that made this Republican-era romance possible. The visuals are actually quite nice overall, and is only marred by an awkward, fake montage of changing seasons that ends with our main couple lying jarringly on astro-turf (you can even see where one turf section ends and another begins) surrounded by unnaturally arranged fake flowers, as fake snow drifts over them.

I can forgive low-budget (how many of us love The Untamed, despite that opening scene?), because a strong script can help make up for all sorts of deficiencies. Sadly, the script is a poorly-written, disjointed mess -- the romance development is weak and unconvincing, with no character development or arc. We constantly see the ML manhandle and bully the FL, like a grade-school boy trying to get the attention of his crush by being mean and rude. We rarely see him showing kindness in real-time -- this is only shown through a series of flashback vignettes -- making the FL's feelings toward him rather confounding. Xie Binbin's natural likability is what saves his churlish character from being complete unappealing.

The direction, packed with all the cheesiest drama cliches you can think of (the slow-mo sequences, stumbling into each other's arms, tripping into bed, repeated shots from different angles culminating into the "big kiss" (it was not)) made for such an uncomfortable watch, I almost dropped it after 5 minutes. I kept it on "in the background" and things did improve marginally from there, but again, the mind boggles at how this was ever produced and released.

In the end, most of my vicarious embarrassment was for the actors who starred in this film, especially Xie Binbin, whom I quite like. I hope they all had fun at least!

Leia Mais

A delightful and refreshing surprise

I was really not planning on watching this since I'm usually not into rom coms or shows with Sex and the City-type vibes, but I checked it out on a friend's strong recommendation and it was such a delightful and refreshing surprise! I found myself laughing out loud a lot, the FL is so ridiculously kick-ass, the friendships between the FL and ML and their respective best friends are really wonderful, and the romance is surprisingly sweet given how it all began. I also love how the ML's respect for the FL stems from who she is as a person, with no judgment about her past, and how he stands by her despite the misguided moral high horse of public opinion. I also just came off watching the 2ML again in Flower of Evil (purely coincidental) so it's also quite fun to see Kim Jihoon in such a completely different role.

This is a really easy and fun binge. I only wished it was longer just so I could spend more time with these great characters.

Leia Mais

Hilarious makjang parody that leans hard into all the tropes

As others have already noted, this is basically a long-form, multi-episode commercial for Lotte Duty Free (and also everyone's fanfiction, lol). I picked this up out of curiosity during a lunch break, because it had Lee Jong Suk, Ji Chang Wook, Lee Jong Gi, Ok Taec Yeon, Park Hae Jin, Lee Min Ho, and Kai. With a cast like this, how can one not be curious?! (Especially since it also required little time commitment.)

When Lee Jong Gi first appeared, all those dramatic close-ups and cheesy eye contact made me cringe in painful, second-hand embarassment. But it didn't take long before I started snort-laughing out loud. Whoever came up with this must have had too much fun condensing K-drama themes and plotlines into the most ridiculous short vignettes. Each episode leaned so hard into familiar tropes that I found myself cackling. Ok Taec Yeon's episode in particular really captured the hilarity of ridiculous makjang soap opera plot lines (they really blew that trope wide open in the bonus ending scene with the convoluted family tree reveal 😂). And Ji Chang Wook especially, did not mail it in, managing to somehow still deliver a swoony and convincing performance as a secret agent reminiscent of his role in K2.

It's hard to grade this one, to be honest, so don't be too deterred by the low ratings. As long as you don't take this too seriously, it's a silly romp and entertaining enough for quick "fix". (Make sure to watch the bonus endings for each "first kiss" as well. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqfqR4Lc3PK_5uULCgxLJrPLNRwx3fPR2)

Leia Mais

Cringy script barely saved by a likeable cast

I really enjoyed Love is Sweet and LBFAD, Perfect and Casual, etc. but I really wasn't sure about this one, given some friends were enjoying it, other friends couldn't get past the first couple of episodes, and reviews overall were quite mixed.

But curiosity got the better of me -- plus I'm a reporter that covered fintech and has written about batteries -- so I decided to check it out. And eeek. Whatever people think of Douban in general, I get the score for this one. It feels a bit like a modern mini-drama script. If it wasn't for the cast and the fact that I set aside all my expectations, this would be a slog.

When it comes to the romance, the dialogue is cringy. Massive journalistic conflict of interest and ethical issues aside, the FL is an intrepid and good reporter, but she spouts the corniest flattery and pick-up lines and her expressions of interest feel off; I can't tell if she's being serious or just trying to be cute, flirty, or teasing. Meanwhile, 90 pct of the ML's dialogue when it's not about business is "Mm." "No." "Yes." Make the characters make sense! And let's not get into the endless push and pull from the side couples either.

It all screams "frustrating watch", especially the romance, and yet! I'm surprisingly not as frustrated as I should be. I really don't know if it's because the cast helps -- or worse, because I do not feel invested in these characters at all. As much as I've enjoyed their other dramas and likability factor on variety shows, the acting and pairing don't really work for me here -- I'm not feeling the chemistry.

This is the first time I've written a review before finishing, but I wanted to sort out my thoughts a little. Everyone seems happy with the last half dozen episodes though, so hopefully this perseverance will be rewarded.

Leia Mais