A Journey Worth to Ride

It is an amazing story. The build up is slow, but that is life! It is not even a build up, it is a journey of pain, struggle, sorrow, failure, joy, smile, success, everything you have got through that makes you who you are today. It tells us to share our journey with the people around us who loves us, people who we can lean on, people who are willing to hit the rock bottom together with us, and rise back to the peak. It also shows that love is not always about happiness. Sometimes you have to squeeze you blood, sweat and tears to love!

The conflicts in the beginning are really complex and a lot. However, the writer's put everything in mostly correct place. The struggle of each characters: Seok-Ryu's, Seung-Hyo's and even each of the family members are highlighted well. And it really depicts the struggles of a normal person, normal family in real life. They cried for help, they helped each other to solve their problems, and once again, that's life!

For all the comments saying that the romance is dull, I think it's not. It just a different form of romance that they were on. For someone who had known and lived next to each other more than 30 years, I think you can't expect them to have a passionate affection as in other romance dramas. Still, I love how Seok-Ryu could compare everything she has in mind with foods!

On the contrary, I don't really like the character build up of Kang Dan-Ho. He does not seem to have a consistent characteristics. One day he would be very kind and affectionate, the next day he became reluctant and mean and on the other day he became passionate again towards Mo-Eum without any valid and strong reason. I mean people can change, but for someone who had a personal experience, it was too easy for him just to change his mind like that.

The storyline near the end of the series are a bit thin and slow, compared to the complexity at the beginning. I think the storyline was intended for 15 episodes. However they were forced to make it into 16. Also I feel like the writer failed to explore some chance to be developed. I was looking forward to see the result of the school gym renovation. As that place meant a lot to the journey of Seung-Hyo and Seok-Ryu, I was hoping they will create a new moment together there, but nothing happened. Same thing happened to Seung-Hyo's time capsule letter. He picked it up from the trash only to be forgotten! As for the soundtrack, they didn't highlight it well. They should put it more in the important scenes so that it can be more memorable.

For someone with younger age, I think this drama may be boring. But for the older group, a lot of the scene in this drama may relate to your real life. Overall I would REALLY recommend this drama, but for you may have to consider if you want to rewatch, unless you want to feel the pain again, lol.

Leia Mais

They Tried Too Hard

This drama is, as what Min-Ju keeps saying to Yong-Ju, "trying to hard". The romance comes in very late and instead, this drama mostly tells you about a business story, or maybe a life at work. I must had high patience because I keep watching it until finish, while I think some people will start dropping it since the build up phase are long and boring. Final two episodes are really the star of this series.

They develop a lot of conflicts during the first half, and still building another more up until episode 10! Thankfully they don't create a new conflict in the last episode. However as expected, some of the conflicts have rushed resolution, while some other disappear like dust. For example, the way Min-Ju reveals the blackmail news by making him turned from a hypersensitivity person into a mind reader which seems unrealistic. Also the idea of this drama focuses on each characters own struggles in their past. However they decide to develop more on the office problems. It pushes aside the story that we want to see clearly such as what happened after the death of Min-Ju's mother, why did he try to suicide, and why Yong-Ju gave him a camera. They should develop around those premises, so they can embrace these memories altogether with the one they love in the later stage.

Even this drama is directed by the sama person who direct Business Proposal, it is definitely incomparable. The romance comes in late, while the comedy is mostly came from the villagers, thanks to them. As much as I love Se-Jeong, I don't think they cast the leads correctly. For me, she has a cheerful persona that doesn't suit the character with such struggles as Chae Yong-Ju. Second Leads are a really sweet couple, yet they didn't even get a proper character build up. Their love stories are all outshined by all of the "office issues", which are not even related to the main idea of "emotional struggle".

To me, the story fails to focus on the main idea that should be. Rather than focusing on the idea of healing an emotional struggle itself, they develop too much story around the ML and FL (the office, the work, the village).

Leia Mais

No Drama, Just Thriller (But with Messed Up Ending)

The overall storyline is good. The pace of the story is quite fast, you can enjoy it since the very first episode. The pace picked up a bit after the phone stops ringing, but you may not notice it since it does not have much difference. You will enjoy more thriller in this show. At first I thought we will get a lot of heartbreaks since Sa-Eon statement about "Call me when there is corpse". I was wrong then. The romance is pretty straightforward, no need any painful flavor of faded or unexpressed love (at least until last episode). The thriller itself does a great job, since I saw a lot of theories appeared prior the airing of each episodes. The return of In-A successfully misleads a lot of audience, since she becomes the first person to side with the main leads. Both lead actors have a quite exceptional performance in this show. Soo-Bin does an excellent job potraying a fragile and vulnerable Hui-Ju, while Yeon-Seok potrays a stiff and strict bureaucrat who doesn't know anything about love and how to love.

Good storyline does not mean it is flawless. Na Yu-Ri does not get a good purpose for second lead, only to complete a second lead love puzzle. On the other hand, it is a bit weird that Sa-Eon keeps allowing Hui-Ju to use the burner phone, even after knowing that it is her behind the blackmails. Sa-Eon is a government negotiatior after all, he must have experience dealing with some threats against the country. However, he somehow fails to notice that the phone maybe hacked or tracked (which is logically, highly possible). On the other hand, I also feel that the killer does not have a really good motive to carry out all of his actions. When Sa-Eon confronts him regarding what he wants, he does not have a clear answer but "I want you to feel the same pain". This makes the killer sounds like a maniac psychopath. However if he is really a psychopath, why it takes so long for him to do this? I get it that he has tried to threaten Sa-Eon earlier, but why suddenly his threats become more successful (even off Do-Jae's plan)? Also the severity of threats those are addressed directly to Hui-Ju is somewhat more dangerous than his threats against his "other enemies", which makes him looks like just crazy about Hui-Ju. There are a lot of bloopers too (shoes, clothes altered, etc). But the biggest one is during the crash scene, Il-Gyeong arrives with her wife and In-A in a car. How is this possible because her wife doesn't follow him to the Memorial Park? AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW SA-EON SURVIVES THE SHOT! IT IS A DAMN SHOTGUN FIRED FROM A VERY CLOSE RANGE!!! The last two episodes look like a spectacular show from the main leads with extreme pace and a bit confusing timeline, and more likely just a fanservice. To me, the last two episodes are total chaos.

I learned from Tiktok that this show reproduces a lot of scenes from Queen of Tears. I was on Episode 6 when I know it, and I did not notice it initially. As I was progressing throughout the new episodes, I began to see it, and I feel they take too much similar scenes (Sa-Eon searching for Hee-Ju in the woods, car chase scene with Sang-U, Sa-Eon first lines when he wakes up at the hospital, and some other scenes that I may have forgotten). Unfortunately, they don't mimic the strategy of soundtrack placement from QoT.

I still recommend this show. It has an enjoyable thriller, with additional sufficient romance. Yes the story quality has dropped a bit after Episode 10, maybe they actually deserve more episodes to explain everything. But hey, at least there isn't any super-uneccessary conflicts towards the end of the show. I would like to give a solid 9 previously, but the messed up final two episodes and excessive number of bloopers make me rethink about it.

Leia Mais

The More I Watched It, The More I Got Pissed Off

First and foremost, how the hell do you able to mess up such a beautiful idea like this? The idea for this drama is really good, but yet the writer decided to screw it up. This drama should be ended in episode 12, even 8! The third time travel is uneccessary. Also the serial killer idea is really awful. Out of 9 million citizens of Seoul, why did the serial killer have to keep choosing Sol IN ALL OF THE TIMEFRAME? The serial killer in the third time travel already feels unecessary because Sol has dodged it in the second time travel, but maybe they need it because he kills Sun-Jae in the present. Yet the serial killer should not even show up in the present after the fourth time travel, because the timeframe have been changed! Those two premises are there just only to support the ending that the writer's intended, nothing more. This drama might be too long that they have to add ridiculous things such as the second watch, that one is horrendous! I understand that most K-Dramas has strong start and hollow ending, but I really don't expect this one became silly only after half of the season.

On the contrary, thanks to Hye Yoon, Woo Seok and Geon Hee who plays their characters excellently, they literally carry this drama. Overall, this drama is still enjoyable since it brings a lot of morale of the story, but you may get frustrated with the storyline after watching several episodes.

EDIT: After watching several more shows, I noticed that this show has a good example of how a last episode should be.

Leia Mais

Roller Coaster, but It is A Hell of A Ride

Idea is totally fresh and execution is great. They put everything in place excellently, and this is the outcome. The storyline is almost perfect. The conflicts are over the places in the beginning, but it's needed and they resolve it quite well. Still I wonder how is Bit-Na's debt going lol. Character development for romance is a bit slow, but who cares? This is not mainly a romance and, who the hell will easily trust a Demon?!?

The thing that I want to highlight the most in this drama is the characters itself. Usually when it comes to have a demon as the main character, K-Dramas tend to mix it up with some dumb and irrational brain. However they made all of the demons (except Man-Do) to be as how demons should be. As a demon, Kang Bit-Na is really smart, ruthless, powerful and unstoppable. This depicts correctly about how she have truly lived for more than 500 years in the hell. Park Shin-Hye is definitely the star of this show, she brings the energy into it. The character of Man-Do is hilarious and sparks joy around the shows.

Unlike most K-Dramas, this series ends quite strong. Although it is quite a plothole (you get 3 years, but you choose to spend 2 years in an "exile" rather with someone you love???), but it is still a quite well, and not disappointing ending. In fact, they actually keep the story quality pretty consistent throughout the season. They have also prepared for next season, but I feel that they have to be careful as there isn't much more to explore.

Leia Mais

Underrated Thriller, Must Watch!

This show should be a hit! I don't understand why it doesn't have so much exposure. The thriller is thrilling with so many plot twists. The story is really good. It doesn't even have a filler episode. The show pictures an agency office with such "problematic" environment. It seems to have messy conflicts, but there is the starting point where we will begin the enjoyable journey. It is boring up until Episode 4. But if you're being patient, you will get paid off!

Soul-swapping is not an easy thing, but both main leads deliver it excellently! Kim Ji-Eun and Lomon have to dealt playing as both characters, and it goes really well. During the soul-swap, I feel like they are actually switching—they become totally different person. I even think Lomon really can imitate Ji-Eun's gesture when he plays as Na-Eon.

The only thing that disturb me is the writer decided to give the main leads frustrating personalities. Na-Eon is a b*tch and ruthless person at the beginning of the show and she hardly have a character development, even after going through some big moments. Also being a thoughtful and ambitious person as Na-Eon, isn't it more reasonable for her to try protecting her body from the killer during the soul-swap, rather than throwing Eun-Ho in her body to some dangerous scenes? Eun-Ho personality at the beginning is the worst. He looks like an eight year boy trapped in a man's body, who reacts excessively at everything. Ji-Eun plays this well as Eun-Ho, but to think that she is "actually a man in a woman's body", it doesn't seem correct.

The intention to use this show as a media for Seongsu-dong tourism promotion goes in the right direction. I love the scenery of the Seongsu-dong view, and it really promotes Seongsu-dong as "Pop-Up Store District". I will really recommend this show!

Leia Mais

Great Story, Awful Ending

I like this show. It is a great one, although it's not special. The romance and comedy are mixed up and exectued well. The casts are all good, especially Sang-Yi and Ji-Hyun. Their chemistry is outstanding. They also include a "serial killer" which blends pretty smoothly into the story without making it looks like a way to "simplify everything".

The fact that I enjoy the second lead more somehow indicates that there is a problem with the storyline. The idea of the story is good though. The beginning phase is really slow, I would even say it is boring in the first two episode. They build a lot and complex problems in the beginning. However, the writer decided to develop stories around Hae-Young better than hers, causing the main story about Hae-Young and Ji-Uk to be outshined by other premises. The pace somehow turns fast after Episode 8, and this causes some conflicts to have a plain resolution, or even left behind. Sad that we don't have a chance to see Ja-Yeon story with Bok's family, Ji-Uk's family backstory, or make Hae-Young have a better closure with her mom. I am totally pissed after Episode 11 though. They decided to add more conflicts near the end, in Episode 11 and 12 (seriously why did they make a major conflict in the last episode??), only to have a rushed resolution.

(AND THEY MADE HA-JUN REALLY FINE AFTER HIS FORMER LOVER BECAME HIS EX-BOSS GIRLFRIEND. THAT'S TOTALLY IRRATIONAL!)
I was hoping they will do something with the abused child in the Episode 5, since Hae-Young has "some experience" with it. They also brought up the premise of "CEO should take lunch at the cafetaria", and did nothing about it.

Overall I will still recommend it. It may take time before you can enjoy the story. But I don't think it really match up the hype.

Leia Mais

Romance is A Bonus, Second Half Mess is A Destiny

Marry My Husband. The title seems intimidating. At first, I was thinking that I may get a story full of intriguing and complex marriage. It isn't wrong though. However, the writer packs the story so well that makes it lightweight and easy to watch, yet not missing out the point. The lead Kang Ji-Won gets a second chance to fix his miserable marriage and life. Park Min-Young does a savage job in this role. She takes us into the journey of her second life. We already know the ending, and now she comes prepared. But everytime she does something, she always makes us guess: Will she cause a better outcome? Will the ending change? She brings us into this circle and makes us keep wanting to see the outcomes more and more. We keep wondering, will the villain suddenly regret? And the answer is always a no. Yi-Kyung and Ha-Yoon potray these villains excellently. They all seem innocent from the surface, but once an evil will always be and evil. It may need to take a life for people to change, but going through everything only make them more and more vicious. It is all a really enjoyable story... until the writer stupidly adds Yu-Ra in.

The addition of Yu-Ra is no difference than hopelessly adding a serial killer to a romance story. The stories around her seem hyperbolic and unreasonable even in this kind of fantasy genre. The way she messes up with Su-Min's family does not make sense. Same thing with the threat to Eun-Ho. How does he come into her mind? Eun-Ho barely knows Ji-Hyuk! It is just like a hopeless premises that need to be added for the sake of episodes number. Like there is a straight road, but they decided to take a turn to an unpleasant gravelly path. This show might be better if they focus on the main goal and packed into 12 or 14 episodes.

The overall story is pretty good. Although I think Ji-Won should push Ji-Hyuk more to find out his goal. Because she knows that the reason she get the second chance is to get a revenge, so there must be a reason for Ji-Hyuk too. However, Ji-Hyuk always reluctants to discuss about it. And everytime that happens, Ji-Won annoyingly just gets over it easily. The story then hit by a hurricane, again, after Yu-Ra appears. Every character suddenly has a sixth sense, as they all know other people's secrets and what other people are planning.

On top of that, this is a really good show since it is kinda easy-to-watch. It tells us not to be blinded by other people try to sugarcoat everything in front of you. You need to be more cautious, take a step back, see clearly and look wider. When you feel betrayed, fight it. For me, this show is categorized under incorrect genre: it is more like a thriller. Romance? It is a bonus!

Leia Mais

Excellent Spin-Off!

The spin-off from No Gain No Love! This spin-off really shows how good is the second lead story in NGNL. The whole story is excellent and hilarious. HJH and LSY do a fabulous job playing both character. It's great that they made it just into 2 episodes, rather than a series of boring and pointless story. And apparently, this spin-off also explains the reason how Ja-Yeon fell in love with Gyu-Hyun in the parent series.

Though I think they should add 1 episode. It should contain the ending of the novel, since Ja-Yeon wrote the ending after being together with Gyu-Hyun.

I really recommend it! The story is very light and enjoyable. However, I recommend to watch NGNL prior watching this spin-off, so you can understand why Ja-Yeon really hated Gyu-Hyun so much.

Leia Mais

This is How Rom-Coms Should Be

I don't generally write reviews, but I will start with this one really.

This one will increase the standard of rom-coms! The plot is really basic, rich ML boss and employee FL couple. The difference in this show executes it excellently. They don't need silly premises such as "ML and FL are childhood friends" or "FL is being chased by a serial killer". Instead, they use a very basic and straighforward plot, yet unique and entertaining. Since the beginning, I think they have chosen to have more comedy rather than romance, and they maintain the comedy really well thoughout the episodes. I like that all the romance scenes are not cringe and totally enjoyable. Silly act? They were all silly since the beginning so that's not a problem! The OST is really great. The way they put it as Melomance concert is a great idea (and I really like the Se-Jeong version).

However, I feel that the Yoo-Ra's internet hate comments premise is uneccessary. It makes the last 3 episodes feels bland and lose the grip somehow. I personally think that there should be several stories to be explored rather than having an ending like that. I really want Ha-Ri to have a proper closure with Grandpa. I personally think it is better if they add 2 more episodes. After all, most K-Drama have the same problem about not-so-good quality ending.

Oh, I wonder what is the ending of Be Strong, Shin Geum Hui.

On top of all, I will definitely still recommend this. Very light story and easy to enjoy. So far still my best rom-com series (I don't watch a lot of rom-coms though).

Leia Mais

Heartwarming Romance of 2024? This is The One!

Let me be honest, this series is not my cup of tea. I don't really like the story especially at the last third of the season. However, It is quite reasonable that a lot of people recommend this series, thanks to the main leads duo. Kim Ji-Won and Kim Soo-Hyun have an outstanding performance, and that is the reason why a lot of people ship them in real life. Hong Hae-In character is a good example to never give up on your life, and to never let you waste your life even though you only have a little left on it. The one she does in the press conference, I think it is because she knows that she will die either by the disease or in Eun-Seong's hand. She does it to protect her family. It resemble the phrase from Grace that "the one that has nothing to lose is the most terrifying". We also see how hard Soo-Cheol is trying to grow up, trying hard to fix everything and improve the quality of his family life. But on top of those, it is Hyun-Woo's love that against all odds, holds Hae-In and the throne of Queens.

Additionally, we get a really good soundtracks. They placed precisely it in the scenes.

The storyline is, although not flawless, has a great point. The pace was extremely slow in the first half of the series, and additionally each episodes are very long. Many audience may not be able to endure it. But trust me, if you follow, it will slowly suck you into the "hell" of the pitiful Queen's family— pitiful since the only members that have clear mind are a deserted aunt and an ex-spouse of the heir. The pace will catch up on the second half. More heartwarming scenes are coming after then, but there will be a few pointless filler episodes. However, I hate that Beom-Jun and Seok-Hwa don't do anything regarding the return of Da-Hye. During hard situation like that, logically any family will draw a line and make her choose clearly whom she will take side.

As I have stated on the beginning, I don't like the last third of this show. The story goes downfall after their return to the house. It is somewhat weird that Hong's family somehow stops looking for the secret money after then. Honestly, I totally despise the idea of Hae-In surgery's memory loss effect because it is boring and overused. Combined with Eun-Seong coming to Germany to become the first person Hae-In sees after the surgery, it becomes the worst plot because we all know what will come next. I will be honest that I would rather have Hae-In died of the cancer rather than this plot. The quality of this conflict is somewhat lower that other previous conflicts, and it puts aside the "main conflict" of the Queens Group. The pace also slows down after this premise, making the whole pace looks inconsistent and seems like the writer is forcing this conflict only to fulfill the requirement of 16 episodes. Fortunately thanks to this plot, we get the saddest part of the story— when she reads her diary. Final crash and the stand-off moments are also the things that I don't like. I get it that they are trying to make Hyun-Woo the hero of this story, but they should come up with something better and original. The pace speed up again in the last episode causing the ending to be a bit rushed. They should show the heartwarming moments of Hae-In trying to recover memory, probably a whole episode of it. I would also like to see how the tenseful family of Hong's turned into something more warm. They have brought out the story about the tenses during office meetings, when in family room, on the dining table, during the ceremonies and many more, but they never tell us how it turns after all of this moments.

I don't really like most of the Yongduri's residents. They are often cringe and overreacting at everything. Also visual effects of this series is not the best. You can see it clearly during the boar accident. And when are they going to remove the pop up stores??? I want to see the new concept so bad!!!!

Overall, I recommend this series for you all. If this type of genre is not your favorite, you may get bored at the beginning though. That is because you need to take your time to enjoy this series, as it has once again, long episodes. But when it comes to heartwarming romance, I still think this is the best for whole 2024, and it may take quite a while for me to get over from this.

Leia Mais