First of all I have to say, I am an absolute fan of those "Escape Room"-esque Shows, be that pure Escaping or, like in this case, paired with a Detective Story. After saying that I have to say, as much as it hurts me, I am disappointed with how Busted 2 turned out. Everything within this review is MY opinion, so please keep that in mind - I am not looking for a fight.

After giving the first season a high rating (9.0), I was hoping that I could give Busted 2 a similar rating but no. And here's why:
(I'll try to keep this as unspoiler-y as possible)

* The Stories/Cases: The Cases were nice for the most part but a bit repetitive like how they used the same premise twice for different cases. There also was SO MUCH DRIVING. I don't mind if you send them different places but all that effort and then they only solve 1-2 puzzles at each place? What a waste. Also, they had a whole season culminating in a honestly thrilling finale only to basically never mention it again after Episode 1. Yes, some people get "recycled" or have some kind of impact on the story but still.

* The Cast: (Here's where they lost the most points)
I already knew that Kwang Soo wouldn't be part of it, so I am not subtracting points for that. My Main Problems are two in particular - while I know that everyone has a role to fill, static roles get boring REALLY fast. Sadly I have seen very little change in their respective roles. Jong Min is the Stupid One, Sehun is the Competitive One and Jae Wook is the One that should but doesn't (if you know what I mean) - and that's exactly what leads to problem number 2. Min Young is intelligent, she's clever, everything fine and dandy. But her being seemingly the only clever one does a serious disservice to the rest of the team. At nearly every puzzle she is either the one to solve it or the one that gets called when someone gets stuck. It gets boring and annoying really REALLY fast and doesn't put her in the best light. Another thing that kind of irked me was the fact that, although doing very little himself, Jae Suk was nagging the others whenever he got the chance - about Jong Min saying something dumb, about Sehun being competitive, about his own perceived intelligence, he always found something to nag the others about. Also, Busted 2 is an especially LOUD show this time around - every time something unexpected happens, the ladies (and some of the gentlemen) screech or shout into your ears, giving you tinnitus.

* The Ending: Oh My God! Please, let's not talk about the ending. Apart from it being pretty obvious how it all is gonna end, it was just unsatisfying. I was hoping for some twists and turns and while there were twists, they couldn't soften the bad decisions that were made regarding that ending. The Ending could have been stellar, sadly it was more like a soft fart in a tornado just to keep the door open for a potential season 3.

All in All it is a fine show but I simply expected more after season 1...

Leia Mais

A very disappointing third season - very sad

Everything within this review is MY opinion, so please keep that in mind - I am not looking for a fight.

So now we ended up here, the third Season of "Busted". After really good marks for Season 1 (9 / 10) and mediocre ratings for season 2 (5.5 / 10), we are now confronted with this mess. It has the lowest rating to date with a mere 4 out of 10 and the season I am, understandably, most disappointed in.

As already criticised in Season 2, the cast once again was strongly pressed in very rigid stereotypical roles. I had the feeling that this time they were split in "completely hopeless" (I don't want to say useless), "pretty helpful" and "detective-material" which made it pretty boring to watch after a few episodes since you already knew what to expect from each of them.

The cases felt lukewarm at best, like they saw them being pulled off successfully somewhere else and just added them to their own show to fluff out the season. Nothing felt innovative or even remotely new, even though it did have it's interesting moments - not gonna lie about that. But those moments were few and far inbetween. There were things that kept happening over and over and over - like self-locking doors trapping someone somewhere, which became predictable and boring REALLY fast. Especially when it was used multiple times in the last episode.

And now let's come to the biggest fail of the season - the ending. Once again the ending is what ruined everything for me. After a really interesting ending (season 1) and a meh ending (season 2) the ending of this season is just a joke. Unoriginal and pretty predictable. They sadly seem to like rehashing old concepts since every ending so far has gone for shock-value more than actual decent story-telling and finishing a story. Yes, the ending episode referenced the previous seasons but like I already said in the review of Season 2, it was more a "thought and gone" moment. It seems the show forgot how to write good, interesting endings after season 1. Once again the ending was highly unsatisfactory.

Season 3 felt like melting down Season 1 & 2 and picking out random pieces before watching the result. The end of the last episode gives us reason to assume that there might be a season 4, so I guess we will see if they can get a better rating next time or if they are damned to end up in 1-star territory

Leia Mais

To be completely honest, I haven't got the slightest idea why everyone gives that movie a rating of 8 or higher. Pretty much 2/3 of the things that happened were filler and almost all the "important stuff" happened within the last 10 minutes. Yes, it was interesting to see how the main character got to where he was at the end of the movie but the amount of filler was just too much. And let's not even talk about the ending. Was that even an ending? Not only did we not get a conclusion to EITHER of the interesting storylines, we not even got rid of the most annoying of characters with the least of (known) background story.

I would have giving the drama a clear 2/10 rating but I had to add the 1.5 Star bias-bonus for Sean Xiao, so 3.5/10 it is.

It's nice that I watched it, just because now I can say I watched it, but I probably won't recommend it now or probably ever.

Leia Mais

Holy Crap, this movie was infuriating. It had it's beautiful and nice moments too, but those were sparse and well hidden.

One thing I have to say is that this is the first movie where I felt most sorry for the main character but for his pet. Actually, the main character was pretty much my least favorite part. While I understand that he was in a difficult situation I felt him to be kind of unlikable. What especially infuriated me was the preferential treatment he gave to one of the cats while the other cat was kind of just there until almost all the way to the end. Also, his inability to understand "Cats ≠ Humans" made him look just plain stupid. The cats were cute though xD

The conclusion of the movie was nice, although they certainly could have done more with it, but it's definitely not a movie I will re-watch or recommend any time soon.

Leia Mais

I am writing this directly after watching both "Seven Days: Monday - Thursday" and "Seven Days: Friday - Sunday" and honestly, I have no idea what to do with myself right now. This drama tugs on your heartstrings in all the right ways.

We all know this feeling when you're head over heels for someone but you're not quite sure how or if to tell that someone. This nervousness you feel every time you are around them and the warmth you feel when they smile at you. The heartbeat you feel when they call your name, setting in motion a whole army of butterflies ready to turn your stomach upside down. All this and more I felt while watching this drama, on the edge of my seat to not miss even a nano-second of this masterwork.

I really adore the story and the portrayal was spot on. 10/10 - would recommend in a heartbeat

Leia Mais

When I first read the summary, I was intrigued and I was looking forward to seeing a bit more about how the Nie Sect works "behind the scenes". I also really liked the ending scene (those that have seen the movie know what I am talking about). It was great seeing Nie Huaisang and Nie Mingjue interact with each other as brothers and the flashbacks to them being younger are sweet, but sadly the power-dynamic was way off. Except for about 3 1/2 scenes the Red Blade Master was always shown as an absolute Badass while Nie Huaisang was always painted as the damsel in distress that needs his brother to save his ass and a bit useless. Yes, the Red Blade Master is a great leader but his little brother isn't too shabby either, making use of the fact that he is so often underestimated.

I will recommend it, since it is a nice piece of further information but it would be at the bottom of the list about which order to watch all the parts in.

Leia Mais

Dropped after 3 Episodes

I wanted to enjoy this series, I really did. But I just couldn't go on after watching the first 3 episodes. The storyline is all over the place, the characters are barely believable and the one established couple that existed had so little chemistry that I didn't give a hoot when they broke up. It's also pretty obvious who they are trying to pair up with who and I am seriously unsure why a story like this even needs couples?!? I mean, the story itself is about the school, those students and hidden secrets - adding unnecessary love stories would just muddle the water.

Glad when others enjoy the series, it's just not for me.

Leia Mais

4 Episodes and I am dropping this sorry excuse for a police drama. The main reason - the female lead and the male second lead / side character. The second reason - the mother in law character. Third reason - they made the male lead, who is supposed to be a gifted police officer, seem like a rookie that'd be more capable filling out forms than making arrests and solving cases.

Reason #1: While I am certain that Choi Kang Hee and Lee Won Keun are more than capable actors, their characters were just rubbish. I am not entirely sure why Officer Hong (Lee Won Keun) helps the female lead (Choi Kang Hee), I was highly annoyed by his portrayal. He broke pretty much every single rule a police officer has and he doesn't even care (or notice). The female lead was SUPER ANNOYING with her sticking her nose into things that are really not her problem. She might have read some thrillers or whatever but that doesn't make her Ms. Marple. She also has no concept of personal space. In Episode 4, when she took the male leads phone against his will, he should have just arrested her - plain and simple.

Reason #2: I know that mother-in-law-s are often portrayed as nosy and overbearing but this character took the cake. She constantly was behind the female lead, checking on what she was doing and if she couldn't get to her, she was calling and asking if she had to come over. If that were my mother in law, I would file for divorce.

Reason #3: I think I already said it. This whole dynamic reminded me a bit of the US-TV Show "Castle" where a Non-Cop works with Cops to solve crime. Big difference, even if Castle is an integral piece in the dynamic, it is always quite clear that he doesn't do it alone. Here, in this drama, they make it seem like "Castle" (the female lead) does all the work while "Beckett" (the male lead) is just sitting around, twiddling his thumbs and blowing spit bubbles, waiting for "Castle" to solve the case and explain to him what has happened. Really not my kind of drama, sorry.

All in All I give the drama a solid 5/10 since there were still some enjoyable bits even though I sadly had to drop the drama to save my sanity.

Leia Mais