Lazy storytelling at its best
This show thrusts you into the life of Jiang Si and follows her as she struggles to change the fate she experienced in her previous life and save the ones she loves in order to live out her second chance at life in peace. As she encounters old foes and new plots she uses her knowledge of her past and newfound inner strength to counter those that would do her harm. Si Jin is a beautifully styled drama with elegant costuming and picturesque sets as the backdrop to what ultimately ends up becoming a drama about constant female maliciousness and blatant unchecked corruption leading the plot in circles around one villainous character after the other.Simply saying this story is fast paced is a bit insulting to the art of story telling. It does move quickly but the change in scenes is frequently jarring and the lines connecting the plot are flimsy due to little background and characterization often rushing from one dramatic scheme to the next without providing any motivation or logic. The show gives flashbacks to Jiang Si's previous life but because the viewers are not provided with an understanding of the overall picture the flashbacks often feel superficial. The many villains provided are also portrayed in cartoonish ways with their behaviors driven purely by arrogance and privilege. They are not multifaceted characters and instead only have one trait that defines their personality which many times is just cruel for the sake of being cruel. The narrative also relies heavily on using the female lead's beauty as the reasoning for others to go against her making jealousy the lead trope. Episode 16 is a perfect example of the writers reliance on convenient story telling, ridiculous single minded villains, and cheap over the top drama. There are many instances but that episode specifically contains everything that is wrong with the way this show has been written, acted, and produced. The constant shifts from one scheme or crisis to the next without any character development or real life progression in the middle feels like lazy story telling.
I am familiar with the main leads and a handful of the older actors but there are a significant amount of new faces here and that is felt in the overall acting with scenes often feeling immature or incomplete due to overacting specifically with the villains and the people around them. The script also relies very heavily on convenient story telling where things just happen to make the story work but not because the actions are logical. Unfortunately the female lead also is unable to carry the emotional scenes. Her crying and sadness is unconvincing but so is her anger or indignation. The male lead is far more versatile and it is actually fun to watch him in this less mature role for once.
While I am invested in the two main leads story I still find this frustrating to watch and would not recommend it to others looking for an intelligent and cohesive plot. Having completed this series I can now confidently say that I would not recommend this and would instead provide a very long list of better dramas.
Small Spoilers-------------
Things I mean by convenient story telling: a character that is established to not be able to swim but manages to save himself from drowning; villains leaving large clues in writing behind when fleeing or people just saying confidential or important information not checking or caring where they are or who is around; a character being kidnapped and held in a secure location with many guards but is easily saved by another character that can then stay hidden, etc.
Jiang SI's character is also dramatically inconsistent. I like that she is strong and outspoken with the courage to go against others but then the flashbacks make her seem so incredibly meek that the two versions of her make it difficult for me to accept that it's really her in both lives. I also hate that they never give any real explanation for the flashbacks in the frontier and why Jiang Si is there and how they meet.
I'd also like to complain about the lack of reasoning for a majority of the choices made in this show. Can the villians not be given motive? Okay I can play off that the first guy was just after money to pay off his debts and wouldn't end the engagement, the second guy was just a psycho because his father was strict, but the princess does all this evil stuff just because she can and no one in the palace notices? There is a smuggling ring kidnapping not just poor women but also noble women that are traveling or are married and no one says or does anything after the county magistrate does shit about it? I'm supposed to believe that a devoted husband was suddenly seduced by a note to kill his wife without ever meeting the person he was doing it for?
And finally the lack of time perception in this show is astounding. The show makes it seem like little time passes between events but then things like opening a store, training to be a competent martial artist, healing from a deep wound, etc happen as if those things don't take weeks or months?
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Fun and silly ride with a few potholes that make it bumpy
The first half of this drama I really enjoyed. It was light and silly and the strong willed Yeon Woo was fun to watch. Sa Wol was one of the best characters in the show. She was so funny and lightened every scene she was in but also carried her loyalty and wisdom well.Overall and nice watch to pass the time. But there are some things about this show that I found reduced the rating for me. First was the future Tae Ha's unbelievable jerk behavior when they first meet. I know that is a trope of the overbearing boss kind but it bothered me here. When he finally lightens up and starts to accept the situation he does become more likeable. Next is how quickly the women adjusted to the changes. It did not feel realistic with how fast they changed the way they dress and act in a time that was so dramatically different than what they lived in. And finally, is the love story. While it was fun to watch them bicker and find their way to each other then the love story gets a little boring. It almost felt like filler to watch them after that and while I love romance I thought that time could have been cut out for me and just moved on with the plot.
Slight spoiler here so be warned but I also could not stand the ending for the Old Joseon Tae Ha. I was annoyed the whole time I was watching it as the character did not deserve it.
Overall the music is quite nice, the production was done well from sets to costumes, and the parts were acted well. A good way to pass the time but I could also recommend several other shows I would find better than this as well.
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How a bad lead character can ruin a show
This story is about a 70 year old woman that finds herself not being needed and feeling unwanted by her own daughter after spending her life raising her while running a restaurant. One day after an argument she leaves home and ends up at a shop where her appearance is changed, taking her back 50 years to her 20 year old self. Now in a much younger body she must decide what she will do and if maybe this is her chance to follow the dreams she abandoned long ago.First this show has great side characters. The two male leads are great and fun to watch, the granddaughter is multifaceted, and the overall concept makes the story interesting. The music is also great which adds to the appeal. But, while I enjoy aspects of this show the things I do not enjoy outweigh the things I do. The cinematography is mostly done very well but the repetitive use of the close ups on the faces at a downward angle are really unflattering. It is such an odd camera angle and used so frequently that it is hard to overlook at times. The styling of the show also feels unbalanced making the show that is set in 2024 feel more like its decades behind.
The show's biggest blunder, however, is that it suffers from two major flaws. First is in the execution of the the main character's transmigration. Time travel and transmigration can be a bit tricky to get just right but there are so many examples of stories where leads went back in time or were able to start their lives over that were complete successes and that is due to the way the performances were delivered. As a viewer I have no problem with a 70 year old becoming a 20 year old again and having a second chance at achieving their dreams but for it to work the character has to feel like they are young again. This show gives us Mal Soon/ Do Ri who is taken back 50 years to appear as her younger self but she never once acts young. She continues to behave, dress, and speak exactly like her 70 year old self. This approach feels like a miss to me because I find that I can not connect with the character when she behaves in this way as it never feels like she is trying to achieve her dreams or change her life. She is just trapped in this younger body and instead of actively pursuing her dream of becoming a singer she is being dragged into it. This is also where the romance feels wrong to me. I can accept her falling in love with a man the same age as her appearance if she behaved that way but since she never sheds her 70 year old persona then the romance with a much younger man gives me a bit of the ick.
That leads me to the second major flaw and that is in the way the main character behaves. Mal Soon/ Do Ri is not a likeable character. She is arrogant and stubborn but without just cause to be that way and the way she treats the people around her is selfish. Her not being likeable at first would have been fine and would have shown character development and allowed the viewer to grow to like her. But 10 episodes in and this character is still not likeable. Not liking the titular character of a drama for the entirety does not make it an enjoyable watch. Especially for a show like this that is supposed to be a romance and a second chance at life.
The flaws are made more glaring when you see Park Jun become his younger self and actively accept the change and dress and behave as a 20 year old would. He still gives advice or makes comments with the wisdom of years as he would as an older man but he is believable as a young man and easy to root for. Mal Soon's daughter is another horrible character that you never find yourself feeling pity for because she is just as awful as Mal Soon. Even with the reveals that give some reasoning behind their actions I find that they are given too late in the show so there is no impact. The change in the characters occurs far too late in the series and is rather sudden instead of the gradual build up throughout that would have given the viewer more attachment to the story.
Could have been a good story but ultimately fails to capture any of the magic and 'what if' energy I usually get from watching transmigration stories. The last two episodes are touching but also confusing and ultimately underwhelming ending the series with many unanswered questions.
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From the beginning you are told rather than shown that King is a player which made it hard to grasp since for the entirety of the show he only ever was interested in Uea. I expected to see an enemies to lover trope but King never seemed to dislike Uea at all. He was charming and portrayed his emotions well through his eyes and facial expressions even though the character was written fairly one dimensional as purely the love interest with not much else to him. Their relationship begins with a drunken one night stand, which I can agree with other viewers that King definitely should not have continued that night knowing how truly drunk Uea was but King had also been drinking so you could say they made that mistake together.
Uea was not a very likeable character at all. The actor did not carry the emotional scenes well at all and I found him primarily annoying and hard to understand. His back story with trauma and toxic relationships also was not done well and was used as purely a shock factor. While victims do often get victimized again, it felt unrealistic especially in the time frame it was portrayed to have happened that he was targeted so frequently. Then you have Uea's treatment of King specifically after King's confession that truly bothered me. He was controlling and arrogant but in a way that King's previous behavior toward him did not warrant. For Uea to go from being a sex buddy to then not allow any touch what so ever felt weird. The two also showed more chemistry and interest as just bed friends than they did as a couple. The bed scenes were also odd and choppy but then nonexistent once they became a couple.
The last episode was also pretty boring to watch as it added nothing to the plot, it was just there to create an ending. Overall while this show is pretty to look at it lacks in substance.
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second leads that are incapable of accepting rejection
Rainkissed Fate starts off quickly by thrusting you into the messy relationship of Yuchen and Bu Yan as the pair sign a marriage contract for three months. From the start this drama is chaotic and passionate. Bu Yan approaches Yuchen and practically forces him into the marriage contract and it is revealed very early that Bu Yan's insistence is because Yuchen is the unknowing father of her 5 year old twins and she needs to conceive another child in order to save her son who has cancer. Yuchen agrees to the marriage for money and because his sick mother wants him to settle down.From the premise I already had a bad taste in my mouth with the idea that she was conceiving another child only to save her first. While I liked that Bu Yan is strong, independent, and fiercely protective of her children I also did not understand the point in keeping the parentage a secret for 5 years and still so after going back to Yuchen. Yuchen was another strong character with a chip on his shoulder but soft innards and a sense of loyalty. He comes off as mean and avoidant but not for very long.
To be honest any enjoyment you can get out of this series is from the chemistry of the main pair. This is their third porject together and do very well. But the characters that are crafted in this drama make it incredibly painful to try and get through. Both main characters may be strong and sure of themselves but are so easily manipulated repeatedly that by the end of the series you are just as annoyed with their stupidity as the plot that kept using the same devices. The second female and male lead are insufferable from the first episode all the way to the last. There is nothing redeeming about either one and at no point did I enjoy seeing them on screen. The SFL is the typical obsessed woman in a small town that laid a claim on a man that has had absolutely no interest in her and yet she continues to try and force him to want her over and over again. The SML is the returned ex that realized he made a mistake and wants her back but she no longer wants him so he tries to force her to need him/
The drama is messy and driven only through the main pair being constantly manipulated by every insufferable person around them. I think I only managed to get all the way through this drama because it was a mini and each episode was 10 minutes but the further I got the more I skipped just to see how much worse the plot could get. Do yourself a favor and skip this one. The chemistry and visuals will not save this one. There are so many other mini dramas that your time would be better spent on.
I am giving this a 5 purely because the show is styled very well, the acting is good even though the characters are poorly written, and the music is nice. So kudos to the crew. However the plot is a total miss for me.
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The story is pretty lackluster and not something overly new or exciting. Im Sol wakes up to find her entire life changed as an accident had caused her to lose the use of her legs. In her most desperate moment Ryu Sun Jae gave her the spark she needed to keep living. This spark carried her through her days and years as she fan girled for the one that saved her. But when Sun Jae unexpectedly dies her despair and a magic watch take her back in time where she can rewrite his history and save him. In the process of trying to save him she realizes things she did not know before and it takes her several attempts to try and change the fate they seem to be entangled in.
What this drama did best was the chemistry of the cast. I will never not fall in love with Ryu Sun Jae and Kim Tea Sung. Im Sol's interactions with both male leads are so much fun to watch and this cuteness is what attracted me each week wanting to watch them again and again. While the plot had its holes; such as no explanation for the stalkers obsession and no established rules for the time travel; this drama was a solid 9.5 rating for me until the last 4 episodes. In the final stretch this drama does lose its charm but still provides the happy ending fans were wanting.
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More style over substance
One of the first fantasy cdramas I have managed to actually complete in a while that is a decent watch with nice costuming, good acting, and enjoyable comedic moments mixed with mostly likeable characters. This drama has elements that I truly enjoyed like the complex demon Zhu Yan that gets more interesting the more you learn about him as well as Zhuo Yichen and his stoic but righteous heart. These two characters definitely carried the show for me as well as the curiosity to uncover exactly why the antagonists made the choices they did. But there are some things that kept this from being a great drama.First let me ask why in the world these characters cry so much? Every single episode had multiple characters with tears in their eyes. There are so many ways to express empathy, sympathy, and sadness without needing to cry but because they were directed to have tears at every occasion it cheapened and lessened the emotional impact the truly big moments could have had on the viewer. It was so frequent that I began to wonder how many bottles of artificial tears this production went through by its completion because none of the scenes felt genuine. Seriously, how could you make these strong and incredible fighters that fight and kill demons regularly and have experienced intense and heartbreaking backstories cry at the drop of a hat?!
This production had a habit of dragging out these boring and insignificant moments but then glossing completely over seemingly important developments. For example we got several instances of these drawn out slow motion, multiple camera angles backing away at the end of winded monologues where they try to extent emotional responses to sad revelations but then major fight scenes would skip over any action and just show the end with bodies strewn about and the winner standing tall. They even condensed what seemed to be important moments that would have added gravitas but instead ended up making things feel too easy. Like when Wen Xiao spent 300 years alone growing a branch of a divine tree that they needed but she was in and out within two minutes of screen time. More expansion on this would have truly added weight to the idea that these ingredients they needed to save everyone were nearly impossible to get and were hard fought and won by our protagonists. Instead you are left feeling like it was so trivial. And many more instances like that happened where things were talked up to be so difficult but played out and appeared so easy lessening any impact those moments could have truly had.
Now lets talk about the action, when there is any, where the characters primarily stand and pose while the camera moves and pans in slow motion to get close ups of everyones faces. We get the occasional great movement shots where they are twisting and turning their bodies especially Pei when she fights but they primarily relied on CGI for fight scenes and they often did not last long with main characters very easily knocked down pretty quickly so we just get to watch their faces as they lay or crawl and watch the rest of the fight unfold. In truth this style of editing can be useful and pretty but it also was very repetitive and ultimately made me feel nothing. It did not help that the plot movement began to feel less and less logical as the story progressed. The first half of the drama was interesting and even pretty funny in places but then by episode 20 you see a decline in the story telling where the reasoning and choices began to not logically make sense and instead things were just happening to make the plot convenient and move the story forward. There were many instances where I often felt like I just skipped a scene because something was missing or instead of showing things in real time they chose to only give information in flashbacks or to try and confuse the viewer they would try to make some scenes misleading but that just ended up confusing the narrative.
This may sound like I did not enjoy the drama when in truth I did like it much more than most other CDrama's I have seen as of late but it still falls far below some other dramas that are very similar but have better pacing and more coherent plot movement.
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Lacks the chemistry, intensity, and heart that made people invested in the story
Having seen the other two adaptations and read the novels I can say that this drama loses all the excitement that made the material worth being adapted. It is actually fairly disappointing in the sense that this is a Thai drama without all the restrictions that were placed on the two Chinese adaptations and yet they managed to make this version the most boring.The novel has some toxic and abusive behaviors in it so leaving that out actually improves it for me but what this drama lacks is the life that the novel portrayed. The basis for the relationship is centered around the obsession that, in this drama Hero, has for Pop. The obsession comes out of left field for him in a time when his life is at its most unstable. His father just remarried, wants him to join the military, his new step mom has a son that he is constantly being compared to, and she wants that son to move in to his house. In an effort to find some semblance of control for his life he runs away to a new school to avoid it. By chance he meets a boy that at first reminds him of the stepbrother he was being compared to but his background of also not having a mother makes Hero feel sympathy and kinship for him that then grows into an obsession. Even after finding out that they are stepbrothers the pair is so incredibly drawn to each other that they cannot help themselves. Even in the source material Pop is more resistant to this pull and to a romantic relationship initially but he is still unwilling to push Hero away or sever the friendship. What the chinese versions did better is the incredible chemistry between the pairs that this one lacks. This adaptation falls in the realm of it being cute and the actors are doing a good job acting but it lacks the draw toward each other that is needed to really make the show.
While all the actors here are also very attractive and the cinematography is also stunning their are other flaws that are jarring as a viewer. Editing often is abrupt and awkward and the fake kisses are too obvious. I never had a problem with the age gap between the actors because this is a job for them and its not like for them in real life the romantic scenes are actually romantic because there is a whole crew of people around them. But Stay with Me had no kisses at all and was pushed as more of a bromance and yet their relationship felt much more convincing so kisses are not needed to get a point across; fake kisses however definitely pull the viewer completely out of the moment. The other big problem is the parts of the story they decided to focus on. With only ten episodes and so much information to convey they needed to be intentional about which parts of the story to show and they did not choose well. They chose irrelevant parts to maybe make this much fluffier and focus on the romance portion of it but it ended up just feeling more like it slowed everything down making it boring. So much screen time was spent on trivial scenes that added nothing to the story.
It is also unrealistic to make a third adaptation of a novel and expect to not get compared to the others. If you are going out of your way to make another copy of something it needs to be better than what came before and this did not do that. It also will likely leave on the same cliffhanger that both its predecessors did which means that this drama really brought nothing to the table.
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Super women vs. useless men
I was really hoping to love this show and get the same emotions that I got when watching Strong Woman Do Bong Soon since this is a spin off of that show. Unfortunately I do not get any of the same emotions and it does not arouse much of my interest. Comparing the two is inevitable since this is marketed as a spin off and even has a brief appearance of the original couple. What drew people in was the amazing chemistry that the parent show had. The three main characters in it had unbelievable chemistry that left you often laughing or swooning effortless. The episodes never felt long and the story was well managed and paced.This show, however, does not meet any of that same criteria. It also does not focus on Nam Soon either. The focus of this show is centered around the 3 generations of women in this family that are strong. But some of the principles you learned about the gift in the parent show is ignored in this show. Even overlooking that aspect Nam Soon is essentially a super hero while all of the men around them are reduced to ridiculous and useless characters that carry no significance at all. It is practically an extreme feminist reversal of gender roles. Then you have the love triangle with the main antagonist, who carries most of the interest in this entire show, and the 'good guy' cop who both fall in love with Nam Soon. Personally I don't see the chemistry in either pair. You are just told by the writer that these men like her but as a viewer you have no idea why since she behaves like a middle school girl and shows no interest toward either man either. There is nothing about their interactions that convince you that any of these characters really like each other which could primarily be because the story follows so many different characters that there is not enough screen time for them to get you invested as a viewer. The mother has more screen time than Nam Soon whom the show is named for.
The story line and pacing for this show is also poorly done and not well flushed out leaving you often bored. You will find yourself wanting to skip significant portions fairly often. Personally I think that all the scenes with her grandmother could be completely removed and instead could have been used to better acquaint you with the main triangle. I have continued to watch up until episode 12 and have found myself utterly bored with this. I will most likely finish this by skimming the last few episodes just to get the gist of how it ends.
I do not recommend this if you have seen Strong Woman Do Bong Soon but if you are going into this never having seen the prior then you may find it more interesting. Just go in with low expectations.
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Beautiful visuals with horrendous story writing
Oh man has this become a bore. I have hung on for 10 episodes expecting it to pick up once the plot got its momentum but it has not and I do not have it in me to keep trying anymore. This show is about an obsessed ghost that attached himself to one woman and followed all of her reincarnations until one was finally able to remember him and he can kill her as revenge for her having killed him in her past life. This gets a bit messy when he finds himself drawn to this woman that is so much like the version of her he fell in love with. We have seen this same premise done over and over again lately so this show brings nothing new to your screen.First, the cinematography and production teams did a great job as this is a beautiful drama to watch and the main couple is stunning. But that does not make up for the unremarkable story. The reincarnated lovers is something that has been seen a lot lately, as well as enemies to lovers. I have no problem with either of those tropes if the story is told well and keeps me engaged but this just does not do that. The characters are boring, both in modern time and in the Joseon period, there is no chemistry between the two to make you believe they are lovers and no engrossing story to keep you interested in how they end up. The show keeps regurgitating the same past story over and over again as if you have the memory of a peanut and can't recall what was seen the previous episode. And the snippet they repeatedly show jumps around in time and isnt even interesting or complete so seeing it over and over again is fatiguing as the viewer. They flash back frequently to their past life but not in order of events so even three quarters into the show they have not actually given you any information beyond what you found out in the first episode.
Then you have modern times which started a bit more interesting but has no focus either. The female lead is an amazing firefighter but only for the first two episodes, then she becomes some weak damsel in distress. The male lead takes over the body of a famous actor who has landed an important part in a drama but then that plot is dropped as well. A rival actor tries to run down the female lead and then is killed in a car accident which is ruled as suicide because of a note with no investigation. The problematic second female lead is just there to be obnoxious and comes and goes as the writers seem to need her to push the plot. So many storylines that are picked up and then abandoned. It's just all a jumbled up mess with no clear or logical direction which most viewers could put up with if the main couple had amazing chemistry but they do not, even the kiss seemed like he was kissing a dead fish!
Even the acting is not great. I loved the male lead in Shooting Stars but here he is lifeless and dull. His actor alter ego was annoying but far more interesting and that unfortunately only lasted for about 15 minutes of screen time. The biggest issue however is the female lead. I don't know if it is the character or the actress that sinks this for me but either way she really tanks the show. Her reactions either feel far too much or far too little and she shows no affection toward the male lead at all. The main antagonist, whom really does not present himself until about episode 10 is easy to hate but there is not enough reasoning for me to believe that this person would hang around for 1500 years for revenge.
Do yourself a favor and skip this one.
edit: after having skimmed the last 4 episodes I am completely confident in my earlier review and highly recommend you skip this one
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Addicting first half that manages to flounder in the middle just to drown right at the finish line
When the Phone Rings hooked us with its trailer and the expectation of a suspenseful thriller that appeared to boast of intense chemistry and exciting action. And those first 6 episodes? The did deliver a good portion of that. The chemistry between the main cast, the riveting characters and their secrets, the well paced and engaging movement of the plot. It was all there and kept me as a viewer addicted to the screen waiting for the next episodes to appear. But then the show pivots from the thriller we were enjoying into a romance that morphed the characters, slowed the plot, and threw logic out the window. Ultimately leaving a bad taste in your mouth by the end of the finale.We begin with Baek Sa Eon, a high profile political figure from a prestigious family, marrying the youngest daughter of another prestigious family. For the selectively mute youngest daughter, Hong Hui Ju, the marriage is but a cage where she is the replacement for her sister and used to connect the families for political reasons. She is told never to reveal that she is married to him and he treats her with a cold indifference while living in the same home for 3 years. But someone becomes aware of her existence and attempts to use her to threaten Baek Sa Eon by kidnapping her. This is where the plot really begins. While Hui Ju manages to get away from the kidnapper she also takes with her the phone that he used to call Sa Eon and ends up using it to try to escape her marriage thus unknowingly beginning to unravel Sa Eon's true nature and intentions. Now caught between learning more about her husband and being used by the kidnapper threatening him Hui Ju and Sa Eon race to find answers and undo misunderstandings.
Beautifully shot, well styled, well acted, and with a great OST this drama had the beginnings to become a really great drama. Then the second half began and this is where you see both characters fall in love and we lose the interesting, intelligent, and cold Baek Sa Eon to the fool for love version of himself and the strong, independent, snarky, and determined Hui Ju to the stereotypical damsel in distress. The reveals are predictable at this point and the plot dissolves into a bit of nonsense. The antagonists aren't given enough development to make their movements and motivations completely believable and the last two episodes fail to bring any excitement and instead deliver more annoyance than anything. The final episode was the last straw as the first 40minutes offer only ridiculous choices made through motivations that make no sense and could have been completely removed to only see the last 20minutes.
While I did really enjoy the first half of this show the second half managed to remove all the original good things about the show and ultimately delivered a disappointing, nonsensical mess.
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Jack&Joker: U Steal My Heart! Special Episode
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Finally! The much awaited special episode to finally see these two get to actually be happy together. But wait. In true Jack and Joker fashion, their happy ending must be hard fought for as they encounter an old villain that is set on taking them down. Now the group of friends that have yet to change their circumstances are thrust into another dangerous situation.If I were to break down the universe in this series I would say that these characters live in a place that is primarily run by gangs and fear. In a poor small village the commoners struggle to just make it from day to day without being harassed or exploited by those who have more power. This special picks up where the series left off with Jack and Joker teaching at the school they opened for the children of the village, Save was made the new boss of the debt collectors in the area with Hope as his help, Tattoo and Aran make money where they can with inventions, and Hoy is still a driver. Not much has changed for these characters except that Boss Alice and his goons are no longer violently suppressing them. His absence however does not erase the fact that many of these people still owe money. While Save is trying to collect without violence and make a change for the better within the debt collecting scene he is only able to really impact the few around him as many other gangs aren't too far away and greed and corruption is wide swept and hard to eradicate. Even Rose mentions how her father and the head horsemen still play the games that mess with peoples lives. So what we see is this very small part in our characters lives that makes a minute difference in the world around them.
That being said, I found this special to be better acted by many of the side characters than I did in the series. And thankfully the over the top comedy is absent in this episode and instead has more natural interactions making most of it more palatable. We did see a lack of emotions where I thought there should be like in the proposal which felt a little flat as well as in the last section where everyone was so accepting of a death without tears or questioning it especially without a body. But other scenes were spot on. I actually liked the affectionate and silly interactions between Jack and Joke and their emotional scenes in the later half did a good job of breaking your heart. Hoy also was much more tolerable in this episode and his grief and anger were spot on. Tattoo and Aran were also fun to watch with their easy back and forth and comfort around each other.
But lets talk about what could have been done better. The rescue plan here is just as poorly thought out as all the heists done in the series. The characters going in with a half baked plan and expecting the viewers to suspend belief. First how did they get their 'weapons' in when they were waved with a metal detector? Carbon's escape from prison was so poorly explained but also I have such a hard time even understanding the character that is one dimensional evil. In the series he threw a child to kill her and here he attracted the group to try and get revenge for going to prison. What was the goal? To kill them all? Just one? To make Jack miserable? His goal is confusing to me. Even then I can ignore all this and just accept that they all walked into a trap and since their planning was poor it is easy to believe that they ended up in the worst possible position and they are all hurt so badly in the end. But after this scene the drama just ignores the injuries. Aran who was stabbed is now fine. There are no bruises on any of the characters, Jack's leg was so badly hurt that he couldn't get up to help Joke but is walking around fine two days later. Could we not have at least bandaged them?
Now lets talk about the wedding. This is the biggest part of the plot that most people have a problem with. I can agree with all the views in other reviews. But I will say that grief is different in everyone. Jack was barely holding himself together and if he needed this make believe wedding to not lose it entirely then I can see how the people that love him would go along with it. I think it would have been more easily accepted if they had made it a dream sequence. For example if Jack passes out from the grief and stress and dreams of the wedding he never got to have. But by adding the doll they ended up making it creepy. You can see how sad all the guests are but like pointed out by others, were they just watching Jack kiss a doll? There is being supportive and allowing a friend to grieve and be crazy so as not to also lose him to the sadness and then there is allowing delusion to go too far.
Also the very last scene where Joke gets up. Now we are not told how much later this scene takes place but there is no way he survived without medical help. He was shot twice and the blood on his shirt shows that at least one of those shots went in his stomach. And if he woke up much later and is more healed he would be very weak and have a hard time getting up normally. But he somehow survived and yet Carbon who only fell into the water was said to have had his body found. So how did he die? Could he not swim? What would make the seemingly more able bodied one die but the seriously injured one survive?
Putting logic aside I still find that I mostly enjoyed this. It had me in tears and willingly being blind to the obvious flaws much the same as the series did. Such is the magnetism of Yin and War. I look forward to a second season.
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When a show is made purely to capitalize on actors popularity and the plot doesn't matter
It actually pains me to see these actors in this poorly produced drama. This show premise has a lot going for it. Two brothers, Fadel and Bison, are hitmen due to their traumatic past leading them down a path of revenge and carnage but find themselves entangled with two persistent and magnetic men that begin to melt their cold exterior and make them wish for a different road. Kant, who meets Bison by chance during a one night stand, is forced into trying to expose the brothers in order to erase his own shady past to protect his younger brother. In his pursuit of Bison and evidence to damn him he enlists the help of his best friend Style to seduce Fadel and pave an easier open for Kant to sneak his way in. While not originally aware of who Fadel really is, Style pursues and wins over Fadel with his tenacious heart. But trouble brews when the brothers realize they have been played leading to a crossroads of how to handle their lovers as their anger and their heart are at war.With a strong idea and competent actors this series should have been a home run. Unfortunately this show fails to realize any of its potential. From the beginning it is hard to believe that Fadel and Bison are in fact professional hitmen. The pair are likeable and entertaining but the poorly planned and executed 'jobs' and the lack of backstory do not give them credibility as professional killers. Instead the show focuses only on the chemistry and relationship between the pairs without creating any true coherent plot line. It becomes solely about the 4 main leads love story using flimsy story arcs to move the story forward and each arc is more ridiculous than the last. You have to completely abandon any logic to get any enjoyment out of this show. From professional hitmen that don't know how to cover their tracks, to kidnapping in pure daylight with no attempt at secrecy, to prison time that looks like college. Nothing about this drama made sense or was realistic.
Shot with a very small cast this show appears as low budget often with the characters being the only four to appear on screen. Budget wasn't even afforded for enough extras in the hospital or public areas to make any of the story feel real. Even the acting began to feel over the top. Not even the NC scenes were able to save this as they became cringey to watch the further into the story you get. Sadly I do not recommend this show and suggest you use your valuable time on something else and wait for better projects from these actors.
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Will sweep you away
I binged this until far too late into the night because of how addicting this story was. A mini series that does not feel like one. Interesting plot with stellar production from the costumes, sets, and choreography for the fight scenes. I was gripped by the twists and turns and unable to stop watching until I finished it; and at around 10 minutes per episode in only took a few hours to complete.The story follows Yun Qi who accidentally comes into possession of a book called Book of Fate. She finds it silly and upsetting at first but as events begin to unfold exactly as was written she finds herself desperately trying to change her ill fate of being the wicked side character doomed to die horribly. There is a romance element to this story but it is a side plot to the main focus of her trying to beat her fate. The actress that portrays Yun Qi is phenomenal as she expresses the character's fight, despair, and cruelty.
Such an underrated and hidden gem of a story. Once you start the show you will find yourself completely swept into it. Highly recommend.
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Spicy in all the right ways
I started this show not really knowing what to expect and that first scene was a huge surprise! Especially for a show from S. Korea. And as I watched the more I enjoyed this. It was tastefully done, oh man did the cinematography crew blow it out of the water, and had a well written and executed story. This is one of those shows you start on a whim and quickly realize it was something you did not know you needed.Definitely marketed more toward the female viewer this show follows two female lead best friends in their early thirties as they navigate sex, love, and relationships. One friend is anti-relationships and only wants sex partners while the other has been in a five year relationship but is wondering if it is giving her everything she needs. These woman feel real and their predicament will hit home for many other woman. The podcast that the show centers around where the woman work also brings in many very real feelings and stigmas surrounding sexual pleasure for women.
The show did a fantastic job of keeping you engrossed while also not making you feel like you are watching a XXX movie. If I had to complain about anything it is that the cast is too perfect, the men are all dreamy and everyone has the perfect body. But really is the eye candy that big of a complaint? It also in a way superficially explores relationship building here since the primary focus is finding pleasure for the women. This is not a long show so it was an easy watch.
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