First of all, I know this is written by same writer as Cruel City, but lower your expectations...like a lot. The plot did get really good at one point and the action was pretty excellent. However, the drama tanked toward the end. I think most people felt confused or lost as to what was going on throughout this drama. It seemed to me like this drama was having an identity crisis. Is it a drama about swindling, espionage, or political conspiracy? It just seemed all over the place. I never got fully invested in the characters, except maybe the female lead, and ultimately felt unsatisfied by the end. It didn't feel like a proper conclusion...something was missing and I think it's because they didn't tie it back to the beginning.

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To sum this drama up, it's a sweet, simple romance filled with lots of unrequited love.  While it neither intense nor original, it was still very delightful to watch. Surprisingly, the unrequited love was not unbearable to watch (unless you were seriously rooting for the second lead).  More importantly, the pacing was really good.  The drama hardly dragged, which has been a common occurrence for dramas coming out of Taiwan as of late.  It's hard to find one with a plot that hasn't been stretched thin.  The cast was pretty great.  Some of the supporting characters were a little flat, but the second couple was pretty well developed and entertaining to watch (not to mention stole the show).  I loved the soundtrack. Overall, a solid well balanced drama that I haven't seen coming out from Taiwan in awhile.

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This drama was really random and unpredictable, but that's what I loved about it. I know people had mixed feelings about Missing 9. This drama, at its core, is a comedy. Never forget that as you watch. The island itself is a dark place that tests human nature. You will see common themes like Nature vs. Nurture and Survival of the Fittest. In fact, they even mention back home (Seoul) as the happy place, so it would make sense that the scenes shot in Korea are more comedic and lighthearted.

Yes, it's kind of flawed and has its plot holes, but considering the original writer dropped out and another writer had to come in and pick up the pieces, it's pretty darn good. At times it did feel like different writers were writing different parts. It would go from Comedy to Horror to Action, for example. However, in the end, I think the last scene represented the drama real well as a whole. Basically, bright and colorful, but one hot mess. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess.

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This drama starts out decent, but goes downhill by the time you get the to the end. What I did like was the main couple. The main girl (Yihwa) is strong and fierce and does not fall into the trap of the main guy (Cho). Cho has the aura of a playboy and it was fun watching Yihwa do all these silly things to investigate if he is gay or not. While the gay couple in this drama was super cute in the beginning, their relationship starts to get annoying and its hard to watch their scenes. The antagonists were also pretty lame with their dumb tricks and attempts to bring harm to the main couple and their reputation. I was not impressed, but it was fun to watch for the very limited cute scenes.

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This started off okay. It was your typical Taiwanese office romcom. However, you start to realize that there is very little plot. The office related drama was incredibly boring to watch and the second half dragged so badly that it was a struggle not to drop this series. Not to mention, the ending was highly disappointing. This was a waste of Marcus Chang's talent. I couldn't stand the female lead. Let's just say the only reason I continued to watch is because I shipped the second male lead with the first! Yes, it did have some 'cute' and funny moments, but it was only good enough to keep me interested in the beginning. Overall, this was a waste of time by the time you get to the end.

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The first thing you need to know before going into the series is that it is actually more of a melodrama than it is a romantic comedy. The second thing you need to know is that if you are watching for Push, he is not present for the entirety of the drama despite being the male lead. He sort of comes and goes throughout the drama and instead the romance focuses more on female lead and her relationship with the second and third male leads. The male lead's voice is also dubbed terribly.

That being said, this drama does a pretty good job of representing the entertainment industry including the good and the bad. You have the female lead who just happens to get lucky over and over again making her way to the top while her friend has to claw her way up to the top doing a lot of shady things. Some actresses have to fight their way through and continue to fight to maintain their position, while others just genuinely get lucky and their talent is recognized. I also loved how they depicted the complicated relationship of frenemies and business rivals. Another cool thing is that it has some pretty epic celebrity cameos of actors appearing as themselves, including Orlando Bloom. At times, especially in the beginning, it felt like this drama was being used as an outlet for Tencent to advertise/promote its other projects / movies...especially with its star studded celebrity cameos. However, it was still fun to watch because you never knew who would show up.

Another thing I liked is that the male lead is "allergic" to females due to some traumatic past. While I have seen this plot multiple times in other dramas, I liked how the female lead is no exception to the rule. He is allergic to her as well and that is one of the complications of their romance that he has to overcome. The chemistry between the two leads is pretty good and it's fun seeing them go from enemies to lovers. Scenes between these two characters are more romantic comedy, whereas the rest of the drama is more of a melodrama with the female lead pursuing her dreams of becoming a recognized actress.

One of things that hurt the drama is that it is pretty lengthy and the last 10 episodes or so dragged. At the end of the day, I did enjoy this drama and felt like it was worth watching once (especially for Push). I don't plan to rewatch it though.

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The drama itself I found to be decent and enjoyable at times. Plotwise, it is pretty standard. It's got your classic college to working life story arc. The only difference is that the ML disappears for a couple of years due to some incident and then the story starts back up again after he returns. However, what happens to the ML is a pretty common trope in melodrama plots, so this is not anything new. Speaking of the ML, he is a cocky asshole just because he's a genius programmer. There was no reason for him to be so stubborn and rude. He's unlikable except for that pretty face of his. The writers try to justify his attitude by giving him a "tragic" backstory. I still don't think his past justifies his behavior. Part of his story arc is learning how to make friends. I think they did a good job with this. He still, however, has that cocky attitude until the end of the drama.

The way the writers set up the story in the second half makes it seem like it's going to be a revenge story after the male lead returns. They also set it up to be a business drama about a start up company. The start up related stuff is fun to watch. The revenge story fell flat for me. There was all this buildup making it seem like they were going to get the perfect revenge. What actually happened to the bad guys was not worthy of all that buildup. I really wanted to see one of the antagonists go down in flames. Yet all I got was 5 seconds of him going down for his own unrelated wrongdoing.

Now for the romance, this couple was cute at times (there were a lot of tickle attacks). However, someone mentioned their relationship was toxic and I have to say I kind of agree. In the beginning, a lot of it involved ML leaning in, invading her personal space, trying to make her blush, and ordering her to do things. He would get away with being bossy and rude because of his pretty face and the fact that he is a "genius" programmer. FL's obsession with ML was a bit alarming. They manage to slip in a shirtless scene toward the end for the thirsty folks...so I guess that's a plus. Like I said, they were cute together, but there were a lot of red flags that should not be ignored either.

One thing I liked was FL's growth story. She becomes a better programmer and gains more confidence in herself. I wish she gained the ability to stand up to her parents. I think she actually did toward the end, but I don't think it actually resolved anything.

Overall, I think it's a decent watch. It's not amazing or mind-blowing as some people are making it out to be. The romance is okay (though it has some red flags). The songs are pretty awesome. I think if you lower your expectations, there's a good chance you will enjoy it.

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I binge watched this series so I wasn't really affected as much from the drama behind the drama. Regardless, you will be affected. This drama had a rocky road. but first let me mention what I liked about it. Our lead actress plays a badass female warrior. I'm surprised this role really suited her and she played it well. Not only did Kim So Hyun play the female lead, she had a dual role in which she played the former queen as well. This part, I felt she was a bit weaker in her acting, but she still did a decent job. It can get confusing differentiating the two characters when they go back and forth in the timeline. There were also some really great guest/supporting roles in this drama. The action choreography was pretty good. I also loved some of the scenic shots in this drama. Production wise, it was great.

Now for the elephant in the room...the lead actor changed after 6 episodes. Some people were upset about it and could not adjust to the change. For this reason, I highly suggest taking a break after episode 6 instead of watching episodes 6 and 7 back to back. The editing gets a bit sloppy around this point because they had to go back and refilm scenes with the new actor. The story's focus moves away from the male lead and onto the princess. Just think of it as the drama's slump period. So now the audience is forced to experience two different actors with two different character interpretations. It's very hard not to compare the two. I personally liked Na In Woo's interpretation better as the character is supposed to be a country bumpkin and soft. The princess's nickname for On Dal is "deer" and it seemed to me like Na In Woo had more doe like eyes. This innocence is of key importance in later episodes. Anyways, I have to give Na In Woo props cuz he came in and took on a role he had very little time to prepare for and got so much hate for it because he replaced the predecessor.

As for the story, there was a lot going on and maybe the drama tried to tackle too much at once? Not only do you have the internal palace drama and corruption, you have neighboring country threats, as well a bunch of people with their own side stories trying to get revenge. I wouldn't say the story dragged since there was a lot going on, but 20 episodes felt like a lot and it could've been shortened down to 16. At times the script felt a bit weak when it came to dialogue and flat supporting characters. Overall, not an absolute mess like I thought it would be. If you give the drama a chance, it does get better in the second half. It's a decent drama. I can't say for sure it was worth my time though.

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First thing to know is that although this takes place at a school, it is not really a school drama, it is more of a workplace drama/slice of life (a slow paced one at that too). Yes, it's beautiful and inspiring and all, but it is also a combination of elements that I usually avoid. Black Dog tells the story of woman who starts her first career job as a contract employee and follows her journey of becoming a permanent hire. Seo Hyun Jin does an excellent job of portraying Go Ha Neul, a newly hired teacher with little experience. I could totally relate to her nervousness and lack of confidence when you first start a completely new job.

What I could not relate to and found absolutely ridiculous was some of the workplace drama and how messed up the school administration was. Our female lead finds herself thrown into the job on her first day and is forced to adapt into what seems like a very fast paced/chaotic environment. There is absolutely no way that a school would take a new hire and throw them into a job and expect them to figure things out without proper orientation and shadowing. I have taught abroad in an entirely foreign country and the process of adapting to the school system there was a lot more smoother than this ridiculous school. There is no way they throw you in deep waters like that, contract employee or not.

I'm not sure what the message of this drama was. There seemed to be vague touch and go commentary on a lot of things, but they would not follow through with the message. I'm not sure what point they were trying to hit home. There were three main things that they seemed to touch upon: difference between contract employee vs. non contract employee, nepotism, and how the South Korean education system is more geared toward college entrance exams than it is on educating students about other life values/subjects (i.e. it's not useful unless it's on the exam). The third one sort of popped up toward the end and was somewhat addressed, but the other commentary sort of faded away. Overall, solid good drama, but the lack of professionalism can be off-putting.

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It's a light, heartwarming drama that you'd watch when you have nothing better to watch. You've probably seen the story line before, where the famous superstar falls in love with a nobody. Although it's not really original, it still manages to keep you entertained. I love how the main characters interact with one another. It's amusing to see them quip back and forth with each other. One of the main things this drama had going for it was So Yi Hyun. You just can't hate her or her character. She's just so lovable.

The drama is only 12 episodes long, so the show didn't drag on more than it should have. It was short, sweet, and simple. The ending, while it wasn't bad, it wasn't all that great either. It just felt a bit unfinished. However, I think it's the writers' way of saying that life goes on.

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Propaganda gone wrong

This drama was awful and I really had to torture myself to finish. It was drowning in propaganda. The irony of it is that the messages they tried to send across did the exact opposite for me. It tried to promote Chinese scientific research as becoming more advanced and reputable. It tried to encourage people to join the field. However, there was so much unprofessionalism, it actually disgusted me. It failed to persuade me why working in this field in China would be better than in any other country (that they were trying to discredit for being racist/plagiarizing). Furthermore, while the world is currently trying to convince people to get the covid vaccine, it made me really reluctant to try out any new drug or vaccine entering into the market because of all the crap that went down.

It tried to make women seem very badass and capable (girl power), but at the end of the day it made women look bad for being irrationally emotional. I'm a woman myself and I started disliking women because majority of the female characters just gossip, spread misinformation and chaos for no reason other than petty jealousy or boredom.

It was incredibly draggy, though the last few episodes had a bit more drama and some unexpected twists, so things got a bit more interesting. Majority of people were disappointed in the ending. I think I was just relieved that it was finally over. Overall, I would not recommend to anybody unless you work in this field. You will either enjoy it cuz you might find the office politics relatable OR you might hate it because of the inaccuracy (ex. wearing uncovered heels in lab *eyeroll*).

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Despite the average plot, V-focus managed to keep me interested until the end. It ended up being a lot funnier than I thought it would be, especially with cute elements like K.K. (the little AI robot). While the drama did drag in certain areas, considering this drama was extended, I think the pacing was pretty decent(particularly for the first half of the drama). V-focus also included some very interesting couple pairings. I loved the noonamance in this one. Also, there was a super refreshing love triangle, which I consider a breakthrough for Taiwanese dramaworld. I also loved the soundtrack, but by the time I got to the end of the drama I was so sick of the intro song (since they play it so much for break scenes). Overall, a light and fun watch to kill time, but don't expect an amazing plot.

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Love it or Hate it

I feel like this is one of those dramas you either love or hate. On one hand, I found it entertaining. On the other hand, the plot was full of holes. It's a fish out of water story that involves a Joseon girl time traveling to modern day Korea. Unlike most leads in a fish out of water plot, FL is a quick study and adapts to modern life very quickly to the point that it's kind of unrealistic (but so is time travel so who am I to say anything). I found this drama to be mediocre, especially with the business succession part of the drama. However, I loved the cast, especially the lead actress (Lee Se Young). The main couple was also very cute together, but how they meet and fall in love is a bit cliché. The outfits were one of my favorite things about this drama. FL's outfits were simply gorgeous. I also loved the dorky secondary couple who acted as comedic relief. The last few episodes were a bit draggy which lowered my rating a bit. It's not a bad watch and even entertaining if you shut your brain off and enjoy the show. They even throw in a few good twists. Don't ask me how or if they make sense. I personally was satisfied with the ending, although I know a lot of people were disappointed. They certainly leave a lot of loose ends.

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