Tiring and Frustating

I watched Happiness coz I believe both main characters, Park Hyun Shik and Han Hyo Joo..., I was wrong.

The drama premise is about a zombie-like virus, firstly spread by pills then infected people distributed by bite and scratch, but it has its own uniqueness. People who got infected are still able to get back to their human form, as long as they don't smell blood. Kinda like Sweet Home, but the virus is curable in the end. Apocalypse's setting is not my favorite but I still can watch it.

What frustrated me the most is the characters. In Sweet Home, all residents work together to face the situation. The older brother and his ballerina sister,  the priest, the firefighter, the gangster, etc... all characters are strong and have special contributions to the drama.  Antagonist residents exist but it still makes sense. And they're still willing to join other residents when cooperation is needed.
While this one has nothing but a compilation of useless evil and trashy characters. The one that useful are only both main characters whom the other characters trying to get rid of throughout the drama...., as if all of those characters have no common sense to UNDERSTAND, how much they need these cops in this critical situation

To make it clear, these disturbing behaviors happen throughout the drama, literally from the start till the end. The word "useless" I use refers to their contribution to the story. And these weird characters keep doing their disturbing behaviors, as is they forget that they are in a very critical situation.
Start from a very trashy useless YouTuber wannabe boy who is very rebellious and disregards his mother. He has no job but to play games and live streaming. He humiliates his mother, even mean enough to steal all of their food stock and leave their parents after his mother got infected.
The apartment-representative wanna-be woman, who wanted to get rid of the main characters for no clear reason and I can't even mention which one of her acts is the most disturbing.
A doctor who killed his wife, for the whole drama trying so hard to kill Hyunsik, .... the reason is by killing him, none will come to catch him....??? As if Hyunshik is the only cop who will chase him for his crime. I can't find the logic in which killing the police in charge is the best way to get away with your crime.
The doctor's mistress who only cares to chase for the doctor's money.
The cleaner couple who is very money-oriented.
The cleaner employee, Andrew, who mysteriously wears goggles and masks but then happens to be a serial killer.
A money-oriented lawyer with his useless protagonist wife.
A writer, the other useless protagonist with her useless brother who keeps pestering his sister to give away her apartment because he lost him and he needs a place for him and his family to stay.
Hyunsik's partner who can easily betray him for no reason, and gets easily forgiven.
A girl who has to stay at home coz of her sickness... but never shows her symptoms. She has no contribution but stays at home and be Han Hyo Joo's playing mate.
Seriously, if you delete one of those characters, it will have no impact at all.

To make it, even more, weirder, for the whole drama all characters keep believing and follow the doctor and the representative's words, even though the cop couple has already proven that they are not only can handle the situation, they also can communicate with authorities outside, which make them know what they should do. Such as how long the quarantine will last, how the food will be delivered, etc...
But, these residents, instead of believing the cops, they sided with the antagonist duo and conspired to kill the cops, even using Andrew's service to get rid of all the cops... as if living with Andrew, a murderer is way better than the cops. I can't accept the logic.
This antagonist duo is even able to convince the whole residents to kill resident 1501 for his food stock...  People can turn their survival animalistic if they are in extreme condition, but they're not even that starved yet!!

Until the last episode, those whole antagonists really did not pay enough for torturing me for 12 eps. The trashy YouTuber can come back to his parents with no consequences; the doctor and the representative are jailed, but unclear for how many years; the brother becomes a test subject for the vaccine; the cleaner, the lawyer, the mistress etc status also unclear

I kinda regret investing my time to watch this drama. All characters, besides the main character, are very frustrating and just contribute to my stress and anger level.

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I totally hate this one

The storyline really is messy. Starting from Lee Young Ae become a homie gamer addicted for 5 years due to her guilt for accusing her husband of murdering his student which caused him to take his own life.
I thought the main case supposedly finding out who the real killer is while solving other cases, but it's not, more likely chasing a psychopathic serial killer as well as psychopathic politician Mama.

Idk which one is the messiest, it's even wasted more than 1 eps to get Koo to handle the cases. It was still acceptable for me until ep 4, but it just keep going downhill.

At first, the drama directed the viewers as if the serial killer is also the student's murderer, so I thought it's still on track. But then, after ep 3 or 4, the focus is changed, the student murder case was never brought to attention again until the very last eps... the serial killer thought her that Santa was with the student, so there's no way Koo's husband killed her.... but still, if Santa is a witness.... who is the killer, is it a murder, an accident or suicide? No one knows.

I'm annoyed how Mrs. Sook and Yi Kyung's psychopathic characters really use the same "JOKER" wannabe vibe. Not to mention, how ridiculous in the last ep, when Mrs. Sook can cooly move and face all reporters after getting heavily injured by a BOM.... casually moving with burn injuries in half of her face and hand... seriously!!!

I'm also annoyed with the inconsistency.

There's no explanation on why Yi Kyung gets very obsessed with Koo. Some scenes show Yi Kyung desperately wanting to have some friends, but when Wook gets shoots in the last scene, she just leaves him there bleeding out..... He is her only friend.

Koo was known as a great investigator, but she has no willingness to know who is Santa... like... why??? Seriously? What make it even more "funny", when Yi Kyung asked "why don't you do a background check on him? Don't you want to know why Santa is helping you? You're not even paying him." And her replied of "He just does it because he is Santa, a man doing good for no reason" sending me to the deepest part of the earth. Is it me being overthinking for believing that is no ordinary human being doing something that far, without hidden agenda... we're talking about risking his life for free, for God shake. He is human! Not a real Santa Clause!
As a police academy graduate, she's not even capable enough to have a "proper" fight with Yi Kyung.

Santa gets close to her and helps her due to his guilt for not testifying for Mrs. Koo's husband's innocence.... but why does he have to wait for 5 years just to do it? And a wall full of Mrs. Koo's pictures out of guilt... sing like a psycho while observing/adding those pictures... this is a sick obsession
There's also no explanation on why Santa refuses to talk to Koo and the team. Only refuse to talk to them...., remember, he even sings when he is alone. As if he is scared that if they hear his voice, a big secret will be revealed.

Last but not least... I hate how she keeps coming back to alcohol every time she failed.

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Not bad to spend time

This is a very mini-drama with a duration of 5 minutes and 3 minutes credit title, lol.
It's kinda hard to agree with the "urban legend" premise because all the stories are just only about a ghost killing people.

I think it's better to inform the viewer about the legend. For example, if I wants to tell the story about "Bloody Mary", I will create a situation where the casts cast the "Bloody Mary 3x" spell in front of the mirror to summon the ghost. There's an Indonesian movie named "Dongeng Mistis" which contained 6 mini-stories of Indonesia's urban ghost stories..., and in my opinion, Dongeng Mistis is way better than Goedam.

The acting was OK, the actress at episode 1 kinda sucks because she is more likely to looks anxious rather than scared. The make-up effect was OK to poor, the CGI.... just no-no. From episode 1 - 4, no further information on why the ghost appears or even the no name of the ghost was informed (if the show meant to introduce Korean types of ghosts).
From Episode 5, the story writing surprisingly better, as if it changed the writer. Though from episode 4 each were titled, it still does not connect with the story, but quite well-explained.
At the bottom line, this is just a mini-story of a ghost killing people and end. All the situations left hanging unexplained.

Overall, this one still OK to watch if you have 10 minutes spare times and doesn't know what to do with it

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The Best CDrama I've Ever Watched

As a fan drama and movie with a fast pace, this one definitely the first CDrama that I watched with normal speed and without skipping any parts/scenes. I used to watch it with double speeds and skip after skip since some previous CDramas I watched were full of bickering trashy talks to drags and length the duration. This one definitely uses a smart way to catch my attention.

It has a sweet way to introduce all characters. There's no "not useful character", even Chen Sheng Gong a character with the least dialog, can't be erased since he is the reason why Niao2 has to stay with her Grandma. My fav character is A Fei, he can make me smile in each of his scenes. And I'm happy that the writer doesn't kill A Fei and A Qi just for the shake to make the story more "dramatic".
Its way to introduce each family of each character is very nice too. As an Asian, Niao2 life is very relatable to me (but, I don't have Ling Bu Yi, the Emperor, and the Empress to help my ass, lol). The feeling to have our parents compare us to everyone, makes me feel everyone is better than me, and that I am nothing but the black sheep of the family, bad-mouthing in front of everyone.... Even the Empress is not as different than Niao2's mother, who can be a great mother for Niao2 but not for both of her own children. For the first time, I can enjoy an Asian family relationship without feeling heartache and depression.

All characters' personalities are also well written and make sense. Niao2 who has trust issues and refuses to depend on others makes sense coz she's been abandoned and bullied since birth. Zi Sheng who is quiet and crazy to gain his experience in war makes sense because he is trying to surpass his uncle. A Yao who is timid coz he got used to having his brother do almost everything for him, and Yuan Sheng who clueless about how to get a Niao2's heart is make sense coz his teacher just as clueless as he is. Niao2's mother is hard coz she's a soldier and the father indeed mostly has the opposite way from their wife on how to treat his children etc

It has (of course) Ling Yi as the main villain, but to drag the story, instead of using bickering useless talk, or too focused to Ling Yi's bad deeds by adding unstoppable evil plans, it used a lot of unrelated villains instead. These villains are not only useful to drag the story, but they also help Niao2 to be more mature and wise. I love it also even gives a great ending for each villain, some of them even get a better life and even have their personality changed.

It also does not use the enemy-to-lover (lame) formula that is used in most CDramas. Even though in the novel, Niao2 is described as an extremely beautiful woman, (you can see some scenes where some characters appraise Niao2's beauty) Zi Sheng falls for her courage to expose her own family members who violated the law, A Yao falls for she fought back when his fiancé insulted her at the festival, while Yuan Shen falls for her smartness.
I feel sorry for Yuan Sheng, for using the wrong method to approach Niao2, and when he does it right, it's just too late.

I like how the writer even 5 years is not enough for Niao2 to forgive Zi Sheng. (I HATE lame plots like when the character pretends to get sick in order to get forgiveness from their love interest, or the "go to a faraway place and then be prevented"). Another reason this drama deserves to get my perfect score is regardless Asian perspective on "the must" for getting married, this drama shows some characters who are brave enough to stay single, and that living a live as single is a choice, not a pathetic thing.

And after Ling Yi's death is put at ep 48, gives all characters enough episodes to end their stories. Like the dead for the Empress; Niao2's mother and Grandma understand their mistake and even though she try to atone it; Zi Sheng for his guilt and Niao2 for her anger.

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Not Good but Not Bad

I can’t say the story is bad but it is not good. The story idea is simple about an antagonist character who wants to take revenge on the man she loves by took one from his twin sons, separated them at birth in order to make them against each other when they grew up.

Let me talk about the negative first.
I wonder why almost 85% of the characters in this drama are villains. All the people the boys mostly meet are scammers. When I watch the drama and I heard someone screaming for help, I just talk to myself… “Ok, another scammer”. Scammers or protagonist turned antagonist. I never watch such a bunch of villain party in other Wuxia drama I’ve watched so far. The plots are indeed very repetitive.
Next, my hate goes to Tie Xin Lan character. This character really pains in the ass for me. What a troublesome person. I can't remember how many times I want to strangle this girl.
Some plots are nonsense, such as Yulang’s prosthetic hand…. How absurd is that hand…. lol... C'mon, in that era to create a real-hand like prosthetic hand....
Yulang’s death is too easy for me. After so many deaths failed, I think this character deserves a more remarkable death.

Now the positive things,
The writer actually already creates quite strong characters, Xiao Yu Er is smart and cunning extroverted while Hua Wu Que the other is a quiet and naïve introverted. The character very constant until the end.
I’m a type of viewer who waits until the drama ends before I watch it, in order to be able to skip any scenes that I hate. I can’t stand if the antagonist wins too much and even just dropped in the middle if the storyline is too crappy and frustrated me. This drama indeed frustrated me, but I weirdly stayed until the very last… even I did skip a lot of parts.
The ending part and how the boys will resolve the main problem is guessable, but still entertaining. Though I think if the writer makes the second auntie uncover her sister's wrongdoing and makes Yao Yue realized her mistakes and spend the rest of her life doing good deeds in order to pay for her sins... is more graceful ending for me. I hate if the antagonist dies. Die is too easy! Make them pay for their sins is better... just like Jiang Bie He's ending. But... who am I... lol

Overall, I don’t love it, I don’t hate it either.

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First Impression

Another recommended drama for you who are tired of romantic drama with immature and playing cute female characters, arrogantly crazy rich CEO (or the son), bullying, toxic relationships, or a character who talks unstoppably. If you are looking for drama with a mature relationship with a non-Cinderella Story, no toxic parents, no toxic friends, this is the answer to your prayer, lol.
The story is not draggy at all. The writer knows very well and uses 4 stories to length the duration.

The main story (Jiang Yue and Jia Xin) calls out a sad realization on men's prejudice that women were supposedly lower than them. Not supposed to have a good career, high income, and handy.
Jiang Yue, the female lead is a very independent woman who has just reached 30. She's a workaholic who works at a dating agency, has a high position in her office, and can do everything, even plumping, etc, herself until most of her coworkers thought she's a feminist.
Jia Xin, the ML is 8 years younger than her and the son of the agency's owner, but he looks very "human" to me. He loves "legal" racing (many drama characters love illegal racing), and was once a racer and in rehabilitation for his trauma. Even though he was forced to work as the FL's assistant and often asked her to fire him, he never intentionally try to give her a hard time and do his best for the time he works there. He even ended loves his job and nicely offered to help her to get the man she likes.
He is having the normal immaturity of a 22 y.o (a lot of drama has characters with ridiculous immaturity), which I find very cute. He knows he is handsome and uses it to chase for Jiang Yue in a cute way too.

The second story is about a person's concern about other people's views of her. Jing Jing, the second female lead is a gorgeous and famous social media celebrity. As the face of the company, she has to face the fact that her husband cheated on her wants to divorce, she has to keep on lying to keep her endorsement and her public persona as "The Queen of Love".
Acceptable... Even though I hope the writer will try a different approach, such as showing how brave she is and admitting to her company and followers that her relationship is ended. And showing more of her effort in making all her followers understand, and sharing on how to overcome it.

The third one is between Ya Ran and Ning Yuan. Both of them are in love with the main characters and they help each other in love, but not in a toxic way. I think their story kinda cute, and I shipped them to end up together.
You will not find any villain with beyond evil kind of heart which give you depression when they appear on the screen. Li Yan Ran is the most annoying character and ridiculously immature characteristic, but she just does that to Jia Xin; she looks very normal when she has interaction Ning Yuan. I kinda like Ya Ran actually, she never does any harm to any characters, even to Jiang Yue, as her love rival.

The Fourth one is... the most uninteresting one, a love story between Duo Xi and Qi Heng, childhood friends who meet again after..... 10 years if I'm not mistaken.

I think I'll continue to invest my time in watching this one. And I hope, my good opinion on this one will change.

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Great Remake Drama

I binge-watched this when it reached 18 episodes. From the first episode, I directly know this is a remake from a Korean Drama Sungkyunkwan Scandal.

The Storyline 
Negative:
- Too draggy.
The original packed up in 20 episodes, while this version in a total of 35 episodes. Like the archery plot, while the original only takes 1.5 episodes, this one spends almost 5 episodes.
- Too many unnecessary additional episodes
This version even adds 3 episodes just to show how brilliant Wen Bin is as a novelist. I find this kinda unimportant because they can pack it to 1 ep only, or just delete it
- Slow romance development
While in the original Seon Jun already has a glimpse that he is in love with Yoon Sik at eps 3, even crazy enough to confess his feeling at eps 6. I'm disappointed that the romance start at episode 26.
- Change some cute romance point
They deleted all the sweet things between the FL and Second ML.
Also, the point that Seon Jun is in love with Yoon Sik while he does still not know about Yoon Sik's real identity. But in this drama Cheng Jun in love with Wen Bin after he figured out that he actually a woman... not special at all :(
- Change some cute remarkable details
The most famous thing from the original is the bromance between Yong Hwa and Jae Shin. This version both Le Xuan and Lei Ao is just a childhood friend, no bromance at all :(
Not to mention Jae Shin's woman allergy, Yong Hwa's womanizer..., too many good details got deleted
- No second lead syndrome
Seriously, I wonder why they deleted this part. In the original Jae Shin and Yoon Sik has some cute scenes together and I really feel Jae Shin is better than Seo Jun. But this version gives zero opportunity to Lei Ao. I really feel sorry for Lei Ao

Positive :
- Draggy but still interesting
Some plots make this version better than the original. Like the plot when Wen Xi and Lei Ao were almost expelled due to bar fight. The writer has a lot of time to pictured their effort to be able to stay in the academy.
- Complete some missing parts
In the ending part of the original, Cho Sun just turned out to be an assassin from the Ha's family... where this is all come from?? This version already told that Mu Xiao Man is looking for justice for her father's murder and secretly meet someone in order to do so.
- All characters ending are well explained
In the original, I really wonder what happened to Yoon Sik's family, how's the punishment for Ha's family, how's the rest of the Ha's will do since their father committed some serious crimes, etc.... this version gives good ending for everyone. Even Wen Bin could get his health back
- Love Story between Ha In Soo/Han Zhi Sheng and Cho Sun/Mu Xiao Man
The romance between these two in the original is a bit weird and I feel something missing. But this version portrays it better and the reason why Mu Xiao Man always rejects Zhi Sheng becomes clear and makes sense.

I want to compare the big 4 lead characters
In terms of acting quality, in my opinion, all cast did quite an amazing job. They all create their own version of the character instead of copying the Korean.

Lee Seon Jun and Feng Chen Jun
I can't say much since both characters totally the same. I love both actor's interpretation. In terms of physical looks... I prefer Song Wei Long XD

Kim Yoon Sik/Kim Yun Hee and Xue Wen Bin/Xue Wen Xi
I have no concern about both actresses acting. Both of them did well in playing the character. But, regarding the character, I choose Yoon Sik as the winner. I admitted that I hate Wen Bin sulky personality until the middle part of the drama. At first, I was OK, but then I can't help but feel annoyed. Her sulkiness often put all her friend in trouble. 
While Kim Yoon Sik tries her best to hide her identity as a girl, Wen Bin weirdly kinda tries to show her interest to Chen Jun. She even asked some silly questions like "Do think of me as a girl?" What kind of man asked that to a man. Just reveal your identity, silly! 
She can accidentally just stop talking and avoid Chen Jun, leaving Chen Jun in complete confusion. If I were Chen Jun, I will just leave this annoyingly sulky friend who seemingly loves to stop talking and avoiding me for no reason. I can't see why Chen Jun treasured Wen Bin because he gains no benefit in being his friend. I even had a thought that Chen Jun insists to be Wen Bin's friend due to his weird desire to befriend with the commoner      

Moon Jae Shin and Lei Ao
Jae Shin is my fav character, In the original, he is the youngest child from a strong Noron (noble) family with amazing fighting skills and smartness. He is soo strong but extremely cute, protective and dependable. This character even brought Yoo Ah In to be an A-class actor in Korea. Sadly, I feel nothing special in Lei Ao. He just an ordinary character.

Gu Yong Hwa and Yu Le Xuan
Gu Yong Hwa is also a protagonist character from Noron side. He is a narcissistic womanizer with the famous line "I am Gu Yong Hwa", which means there's nothing he can't do because he is Gu Yong Hwa. Yong Hwa is cunning (in a good way), cute rascal, and strategist. This character also the one reason that made Song Joon Ki as famous as he is now.
Sadly, again in this version, I feel nothing special on Le Xuan. I don't care if the writer made him is a fake noble... I just don't understand why the writer destroys this remarkable character. Despite that, Le Xuan is a great friend and senior, also a great negotiator, he's still lost if got compared to Chen Jun... so, it does lose its special side.

Overall, this is an interesting remake and I would like to rewatch this again

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Another Love Story with Nonsense Plots

I watch this through a recommendation I found on YouTube... quite disappointing even though I LOVE Yaya so much. What a waste of her.
Both lead characters' disappoints me too much. I'm talking about their character in this drama, not both actors acting quality or else. And I'm not trying to hate any particular actors.

I'll start with the male lead (ML). He is such a... pathetic person. After he remembers that she was his childhood friend that he mocked for being ugly, short, and fat, instead of asking for her forgiveness, he keeps on bugging her and insists to she meet him even though she won't.
I gave up on him when in ep 4 when they are on vacation to the beach, he let her aunt and cousin treat her like a servant. He even let her carry on their luggage without giving her any assistance. The doctor's character is more make sense to me. The doctor helps FL with the luggage and cooking while the ML does mostly nothing but play dirty tricks in order to be able to keep meeting her. He almost gives me a heart attack when he says "I've saved your life. So, your life is mine"... what kind of logic is this?!! 😭😭😭
Not to mention, he got over jealousy of FL's relationship with her Boss, but he keeps the F antagonist next to him... His audacity to make this double standard, and his audacity to test her love (car accident) for him while he never even says something nice to her really makes me want to rip off his face.

The FL's character itself is just toooooo childish. Her level of childishness is totally childlike. Tell me what kind of "mature" woman who sits very far away sticks to the car door in order to sit as far as she can from him, and turned her face away, just because she didn't want to face him? (ep. 3, in the car to the restaurant scene and scene while they're at the restaurant).
Or when she can't even measure her own strength until she drowned herself and when she lets herself sit on his lap just because she won't admit defeat...seriously??
After the drowning scene, ML's dialog is "Still acting smart? Because of your "smartness" you almost lost your life at the sea". Yep, even ML knows she's an idiot, that!

In ep. 8, she's still stated how much she hates ML and will reject the engagement, also in ep. 8, she smiles as if she's in love with him just because he wants to buy her an engagement ring.... Did I miss anything? To anyone who reads this, can you tell me why the couple is in love with each other?
What makes FL fall the ML? He is mean and deceitful, he never does nothing and is mean to her. Drags her everywhere and pushes her to make her do what he wants. He always
What makes ML fall for FL? She's a playgirl in his eyes? He never believes in anyone who talks good about her. Even after he engages with her, he still believes in the villains more than her. How can he loves her when he can't even trust her
What can I say, when the writer wants them to fall in love, they will. Coz, in reality, I believe no matter how handsome and rich he is, any "normal" woman will give up any man who will not stand for her and let anyone treat them like a servant or bully them. I find no reason why they fall for each other but their physical appearance.

3 other weird things... tell me why the villain characters are always, like ALWAYS present anywhere at any time, popping like a ghost to eavesdropping. And I wonder why the writer has to make them have no manners, they don't even have "class".
I also wonder why FL's both sister and brother don't catch on to how uncomfortable she is beside ML? How can a brother say nothing when a man says "I will marry you because I want to conqueror you." to his sister? As a woman, I will destroy any man who dares to say that to my sister. Even when she wants to cancel the engagement, they put the blame on her. Ep. 11 car accident scene, her brother even says "he is here because of you..." I was clapping my hand. What a brother, sided with his sister's nemesis.
Last but not least, FL and her sister are the only characters who have a job in this drama, lol. What is ML's job? He stays at home and uses most of his time to bug FL.

Besides both lead nonsense characters, I'm impressed that they dare enough to make a short drama in that setting era. I can see how much they try to press the budget by only focusing on the character's outfits and hairstyles, but, they did quite a great job.
I do wonder why some lakorn I saw so far, for a man-woman relationship, is always so rude and toxic. While their BL's love story is more beautiful and acceptable for me. I don't think I can get used to Lakorn's toxic relationship and will always rant about it.

The final episode successfully increases my depression. Overall... please give me back my time

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Watch This if You Love Smart Lead Characters

I love this one even though it still can escape from some ridiculous scenes. Like on ep 1 where the ML kills the spionage woman by slitting her throat, the wound is more likely a non deadly scratch with inappropriate amount of blood to make someone lose their life; plus his decision to hide the body under a bed with a wide gap... some ridiculous keep appearing, but... still forgivable for me

First of all, I love how smart both ML, FL and SML. I'm addicted to how strategic ML. Like when he gives the secretary position to the SFL, makes her pay for the position, but then loads her with responsibilities beyond her ability, just makes me clap. This is the first 2021 drama which not keeping me busy skipping some parts and just sitting to enjoy.

The FL is also a very interesting character. She's just as calm, mature, smart and strategic as the ML. She's my most loveable FL in CDrama. Though I find it weird coz when she's in a situation where she's supposed to express her feelings, she still remains calm. Like when she's under hostage, she's not even crying or in a state of shock, or looking scared.... she's just... tooo calm. Sometimes I think she's kinda a psychopath, lol.

I also love how calm all the characters. Since the SFL is the only "screamer" character, it is still acceptable to my ears. I will give this 10 if it creates a smart SFL, so that I can enjoy balanced competition.

Overall, this is my best Chinese Drama in 2021. I'm highly recommended this for you who tired of ML with claimed to be smart genius or wealthy CEO with all of "comic typical handsome boy" (calm, arrogant, stiff, rarely smile); and  FL who acted cute, immature, innocent (but more likely stupid), playful, tacky with childlike kind of acting. 

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Just NO NO

Hmmm… what should I say…. The story is unclear
Is it a vampire thriller fantasy story? No, because Night is a human who only able to lives by drinks human blood… for no reason explained, not even a fantasy rare disease was created by the writer to explain the situation.
Is it a psychopathy thriller crime story? I doubt it because even though Wine shows no remorse while torturing Tee and killing Boy, he shows sadness when Tee rejected the food. Is it because of bad inconsistent acting, or because the actor himself didn’t understand his character clearly... because it is unclear?

I think the main issue is because the writer confused about what he wanted to write. If it is a vampire fantasy, it has to make Night as a vampire instead.
If he wanted to make a crime thriller, he has to give more focus on the torture and killing process, Night can be an imaginative/unreal character created by Wine’s mind.
Why does Wine chasing Tee even though he already has Boy? What makes Wine so obsess to Tee? Who is Night? Where does he come from? What kind of disease he’s suffering? Where did he get that disease and since when? What makes Wine loves Night so much until he is willing to kill the man that he loves and his boyfriend? Is Night gonna be dead? The ending makes me feels like Night is an unreal character? What the meaning of bloody guitar left alone in jail?
Everything is just misty.

I am not having too much hope that this movie will have at least close level with Criminal Minds. I just hope it makes sense.

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I never been SOOOOOOO FRUSTATED!!!

This is a 2016 Japanese movie about Dora and associates running a badger game scheme to extort victims out of money. One day though, their target looks like an ordinary guy, but he turns out to be a yakuza.
The Yakuza hired Zebra, a company that works to give revenge for those who got unfortunate.

What I love is, this movie should be turned into drama instead. It can talk about the clients per episode, The premise is kinda similar to Jigoku Shoujo but way darker. If Jigoku Shoujo makes the sinner suffer to pay for their crime alone by taking them to hell, but the victim also has to pay for their grudge...., this one committed to never kills their target, but make sure they'll suffer tremendous pain for the rest of their life.
I love the scenes where Aka burned a penis of a rapist and another scene where Dora tattooed an idol's whole face and upper body coz he makes one of his juniors lose his ability to sing.

I'll talk about what I hate..., how messy this movie is.
The company that works in the darkness, like Zebra (if it really exists), for them, trust will be everything. I'm confused enough on why the Yakuza pays for Zebra service while he is supposed to have all of the resources to do this kind of dirty work.
My confusion falls even deeper coz Zebra betray the Yakuza (YKZ) coz they consider Dora can be a great collector. Zebra not only betray YKZ, but also prepared him tied up in a room for Dora to beat him up to death.... This also means that Zebra already planned to betray YKZ, right? BUT FOR WHAT PURPOSE!!!
Zebra is the most unprofessional low-quality company, lol. It sells its client information, even each member selling each other's personal information... the boss indeed has no skills in managing his HR.

Dora really has a very messy character. He is a man who is cruel enough to break a man's finger one by one and killed him with bare hands... He's not even asking about his friend's well-being, including Aya, after they got tortured, but doesn't have the heart to kill Aya, a woman who betrayed him.
Then the story moves into a scene where the company told Dora that the one who hired them to "destroy" Dora is not YKZ, but Aya.... for AGAIN an unclear reason... and AGAIN, Zebra betrayed its client by leaking their information to their target... how... "professional" this company is....

I lost my respect for Dora, and this movie when it creates a situation where Zebra has Aya's face destroyed, by who's order? Again unclear, let's say they do it for Dora..., though Dora never asks for it... Dora then "sells" a woman named Amikawa, to a stalker, just to make the stalker help him to kill Aya and stop her pain. Amikawa has a family with a comatose son and Dora drugs her and makes the stalker rape her in front of her husband, Koji, which leads her to kill herself...
I'm in confusion... If he only has his heart for Aya? Is he a psychopath? Dora even ignorantly said he never expect the woman will kill herself. HOW IN A WORLD?!!!! You drugged and raped a woman in front of her husband and excuse that you never expect she'll kill herself? This Dora doesn't even have common sense. Is he even have something called a brain?

So, what's in the movie about? Is it about Dora who gets betrayed by his own coworker? Then the movie is better to focus on his effort to chase for Aya.
Is it want to show Dora's journey to become a heartless person? Why? He is heartless already. He's even a bully.
After his wife's funeral, Koji seeks Dora then beats him up. At the end of the movie, the Zebra's boss said "Don't be defeated, learn the meaning of hopelessness" which then Dora made it happen by killing Amikawa's son and said "I have successfully collected"... Do I have to remind the writer who messed this up first? Koji is supposed to be the one who got his revenge. Dora is a low total low-functioning sociopath!
And what happened to the company's mission to "never do any murder?". I also wonder why Zebra never gives any penalty to Dora for making them lose their Doctor, also to Aka for selling Dora's information to Koji..., but hey, as I said above, the boss is way too unprofessional that all his people are just as unprofessional as he is.

Don't get me wrong, I love the psychopathy and sociopathy genres. The Silence of the Lambs, Old Boy (extremely genius), Basic Instinct, Saw... I love SMART WRITING about them. I love to see how twisted their minds are like in Criminal Minds, also the cool though it's unreal like Dexter.
This kind of idiotic, totally hate it

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Overall I love this drama. Small imperfection but still acceptable

Let me talk about the minuses since others have already written down the pluses. I give it 7, which means it's a good drama and still worth my time.

Chimera is known to kill someone using an especially chemical formulation, which means the perpetrator must be extremely smart and a faculty of chemistry graduation..... ;
Chimera 1 line of victims are people from Seoryun group. I wonder why both police and Seo Hyun Tae think that the killer is just an ordinary mere employee and never check on their scientist. No YouTube or internet at that time. Where does he get that knowledge?

Second, I wonder why none of both from the past and present checking The Legend of Chimera itself. If they do, at least they'll get a clue of the perpetrator's gender.

Third, is the most frustrating.... how come they'll just believe that Hoo Kyung is Chimera 2 just because Jae Hwan finds some of her past YouTube videos, knowing that she's a chemical graduate, and comparing her face using a mask which happens to be similar to the perpetrator's in mask face on a very blurry CCTV???
And how come his team suddenly 180 degrees change and just easily trust him... after the whole 15 eps, they never sided with Jae Hwan? Jae Hwan can't even provide solid proof on Hoo Kyung. Coz, while Hee Jun who always caught on cam at the scenes, Hoo Kyung is very clean. Never caught on cam, leaves her fingerprints or DNA. How on earth do they believe in Jae Hwan.

By ending it like this, both the past and the present police are just the same, catching the bad guy, not by some solid evidence base, but assumption base.

I have 2 unanswered questions, while why Hee Jun has to wait for 35 years to come back to Korea is explained, but Hoo Kyung has to wait for 35 years for her revenge?
Why does Yon Bok, the ex-police who got severely burned by a book, get the worst punishment? Why does he have to die after suffering extreme pain from his burned injuries for days, while the other 4 can die instantly by BOM.

Other than that, I love this drama. I love that they choose the perpetrator is between the main character. I believe this one will be perfect if it gives the police team at least 2 episodes to investigate Hoo Kyung.

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Might Be Better if Longer

When I watched this I never know that this will only be packed up in 3 episodes.
What makes me annoyed in mostly Chinese dramas, some dramas will end up better or even very good if they make them shorter, but they just keep dragging the stories by adding unimportant scenes and unimportant casts (that if you delete those cast and scenes, it will give no effect to the main story)... but not this one
I think the story will be better if they packed it in 12 - 16 episodes. I love the idea of shorting the Queen's efforts to come back to her world. She tries her best, like every way but failed. But it just TOO RUSHED while the writer desperately wanted to deliver all the idea in their head. So... basically, I kinda feel like looking at a summary cut of a drama on Youtube. The timeline is messed up, how long the Prince effort to makes the Queen falls for him, how long the Prince starts to fall for the Queen, how long the Queen needs to forgive the Prince for his attempt to kill her. Making all the characters remember that they've already had the same situation before, also a kind of weird idea to rushed this up.
If they only have money to make 3 eps of drama, I think they have to change the story itself. Some web dramas on Youtube are extremely good. This is not the kind of story which in my opinion can prettily sum up in 3 eps... or maybe the writer is not very good at making a short story.

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Wasting Time

I’ll get this short, overall, the story is not bad but not good either.
The mystery is crappy, this is more suitable to be a movie or mini-drama, instead of 16 episodes of drama with 1 hour 40 minutes duration each. It gives me zero of curiosity since from the first episode I can read the writer’s mind and all the bad guys are informed from episode 1.
Mintra herself (the female lead character), do nothing to uncover her beloved sister like friend unfair death, her "what so-called" investigation, leads her nowhere but more troubles and the ghost did her own revenge without none's help since she saw all people who responsible for her death. Since she's already known all the bad guys, I wonder why she's wasting her time.
I think if the writer hides them and uncovers all the bad guys one by one, as Mintra (the female lead) does her research, along with Ket ghost do her revenge, the mystery felling might stronger and might able to build up the viewer’s curiosity on the mystery. Or make simpler mystery like K-Drama Oh My Ghost, which has the same Romance-Horror genre, might be a good reference for the writer.

I can tolerate crappy writing, but what drives me crazy is the bad, bad, bad character creation! I will talk about the character, not the actor and actress.
First let me talk about Mintra, idk why the writer created a female lead that has an attitude and anger issue. I also don’t know why some writers try to picture a strong woman by creating the character always angry, screamer, and unimaginably rude. This Mintra character really triggered my psychopathy side, she is the first female protagonist lead character that shouldn’t deserve the title and turned me into a hater. Every time I watch her conversation scene with Kawin, I just want to strangle this annoying woman and chopped her into pieces!

Let me list down her disturbing behavior issues
This abnormal girl has some narcissistic issues. She is arrogance (rejecting any help though her sister health is on the line), lack of empathy (nonstop shaming and insulting Kawin of murder, to make it worse, she does it in public), NO remorse (after she's found-out that Kawin is innocent, she never ask him for forgiveness), acts without thinking, has no shame (car purchasing plot ( she turned down Kawin’s help… insult him, but dressed up for him… insult him, come again for the car… turned it down again… insult him again, OH MY DEAR DEAR LORD); and episode 4, robbery plot... why does she demand protection from "a murder suspect"?), distrusting, resentful, insecure, defensive, unforgiving, having internalized anger, and deceptive (she denied to might other possibility and insisted that Kawin is the murderer though there's NO EVIDENCE, but a simple meet-up appointment message). These are just a few of the character's behaviors, there are many more of her disturbing attitude that could make me write a full article for this character only. If she's real, I'll use her for my thesis material.
If I have to put reference for the writer, Han Seo Kyung from K-Drama "Train" will be a great example of a kick-ass character with resentment. The writer REALLY needs to LEARN how to write A LOT. I just hope the writer makes this character less hateful by making her know when to listen, when to SHUT UP, and more cool-headed.

And… after she’s nonstop shaming and insulting Kawin for the whole first 5 episodes, I can’t stand when she just stops at episode 6 after Ket gave her vision of Kawin’s innocence and found out that Kawin has been supporting her sister’s treatment. I want to slap her face when she’s smiling coquettishly to Kawin after she knows the truth… SHE DIDN’T EVEN ASK HIS FORGIVENESS!!! (My Dear God, have mercy on me for feeling this hate)
There will be no ends if I talk about this devilish wicked protagonist, the more I see her, the more I hate her. I better stop before my anger eating me alive.

Kawin himself is a weird character, the reason is… too nice (I mean too stupid) to be true. Opposite from Mintra, this character is unreasonably nice. What kind of a normal person that would support the family of an ex-girlfriend who admitted never loves him and even stole his money. Not to mention the family member accused him of murder without any evidence. Murder is a serious criminal act, no normal human being will calmly let an unknown person accused him of murder. I also find NO REASON for him to be in love with her... but he does. He just loves her... for an unknown mysterious reason... just because the writer creates him to.

I stop at episode 6 after the romance plot begins. I can’t stand watching Mintra’s shameless, no empathy, rude and ungrateful behavior towards Kawin..., as well as I can't stand seeing Kawin looked at the Bitch with a dazzled gaze as if she were a perfect angel

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This drama has the same vibes as KDrama, Again My Life (AML). I'm not trying to say it copied AML, it will not have time to do it since both were released in the same year. Just how the whole story delivers, etc. I don't think this drama is bad. It is not good, but not bad either. I still continue watching it, even though not sure if I'm able to finish it.
None of these dramas are better than one another, in my opinion. But, since the main antagonist in this drama is way cooler than AML, while sadly the main protagonist is way poorer..... AML is more "watchable" for me.

At first, I thought, this drama is making sense, by making Lu An Ran overwhelmed by Mu Ze (MZ). LAR is only a merchant, while MZ is a King (politician), and she has to compete with MZ in the political area that is not her expertise.... But wait, she's the leader of her clan, she is supposed to be, at least, not doing what she's been doing in the drama so far. She can't even deal with her own brother

Just like AML, the drama only informs the viewer of some important events. Like the death of LAR's mother, her little sister's affection for MZ's personal assistant, her brother becoming a general, her brother's death, her son's death, the death of her brother, the death of all her family members, her little sister's betrayal and last, MZ kill the 9th prince. I think the writer thinks (or maybe he wants? But why?) that he has to stick to the timeline in the "original time pace". The writer kinda forgets that if something happened that changes the past, the future will change too. That means, if MZ needs more time to get married, or to at least take her as his ally, his time in the future to become a king will be delayed too. With all those details, the writer can play to extend or shorten the timeline of those events.

I can't stand on her way to deal MZ, just too reckless and damaging. Her "political" ways in her family, like during the internal leadership struggle and her mother's poisoning case, are quite smart. Her way to get away with the wedding is genius!!!
But, other than that, each of her steps is just too reckless. Like when she chooses to exchange the test page of a scholar and make him fail the test. She even can't do anything when the scholar rejected her offer (while he wants to go back to his hometown due to his disappointment)... shouldn't a merchant be great at making deals?
All that scholar needs is to improve his family status, I wondered why doesn't she discuss the condition with the scholar? He might willingly give up if she can successfully deal with him. She can offer him a position to help her with her business while he is waiting to rejoin the test next year.

I can't find why LAR thinks that the way to redeem her guilt is by revealing the real test result... he is DEAD!! Am I the only one who can kill myself if my actions caused someone to take their own life? Not to mention in a very gruesome way.
While Kim Hee Woo collected as much as allies as he can, LAR choose to do it herself even though she can't, I wonder why LAR always rejected the 9th Prince's offer to help her.

In the end, the only thing LAR can change so far is that she doesn't have to marry MZ, and her mother is alive. But, MZ wants to marry LAR to take advantage of her ability to build a warship, what's the point of the second change of life if in the end she still does what he needed her to? With all those credits, MZ will still become a king.
I think it might be better if LAR is able to make MZ lose his credits one by one. And without all those credits, he fails to become a King. Like what happened in AML, where Hee Woo imprison Jo Tae Sub's allies one by one, which made JTS lose his grip and power.

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