The Most Toxic Show I've Ever Watched

I went into this show thinking it would be something like The Jungle with people being mildly naughty and everything resolved with happy endings and instead I got a gut punch of insane toxicity. All of the leads are terrible people who commit major crimes and betray each other repeatedly for 18 episodes. But it's a cracky ride. Even though I hated almost every person in the story I couldn't stop watching. Do be aware that this show has scenes of S.A. & abuse and could be triggering.

Let's sum up what happens to everyone (spoilers ahead!)

Prae:
* Crimes: Ordered her friends to throw Pal off a balcony and then covered up the murder as a suicide. Allowed her friend's brother to be S.A. and didn't call the police to avoid getting caught with drugs. (I don't consider her sexual preferences crimes, nothing wrong with being a freak but don't be stupid enough to get recorded doing it)
* Punishment: sex video leaked at wedding, kills self
* Deserved?: Hell yes. She was abused growing up but that doesn't excuse a damned thing.

Wanwan:
* Crimes: Helped murder Pal and covered up the crime. Arranged the leak of Prae's sex video to drive her to suicide. Slept with Meen's boyfriend.
* Punishment: Goes insane, murders mother and brother, goes on the run
* Deserved?: Yes but it's not very satisfying since we don't know where she is at the end of the story

May:
* Crimes: Helped murder Pal and covered up the crime. Helped Sarat cover up the death of her lover's wife. Stole information from Wanwan's computer to give to Wee.
* Punishment: Murdered by Wanwan's mother after Wee S.A. her and terrorized her
* Deserved?: No, no one deserves to be S.A. or stalked. I wish the show had handled her ending better, this left a very bad taste in my mouth after everything the show did to emphasize she didn't deserve the S.A.

Meen:
* Crimes: Covered up Pal's murder. Took money from Pitch's mother to break up with him. Sent the video of Wanwan's brother having sex with Pal to Wanwan's mother.
* Punishment: Married to Pitch who turned out to be an evil bastard who masterminded his sister's death. Also stuck with an evil mother in law for life
* Deserved?: Yes, I was afraid she'd get a happy ending because she was such a self righteous hypocrite but she got what she deserved in the end.

Sarat:
* Crimes: Covered up Pal's murder. Pushed her lover's wife down a flight of stairs, causing her death, and then covered up the crime. Began a relationship with Term while lying to him about her identity.
* Punishment: Prison after she confessed to the crime to get a clear conscience
* Deserved: Hell yes but she also got the closest thing to a happy ending because Term is visiting her in prison and still cares for her. She also gave away her fortune to a foundation. She has the best shot at redemption in the end.

Pal:
* Crimes: Drug dealing, allowed her friend's brother to be S.A. and didn't call the police to avoid getting caught with drugs. Attacked Meen with a pair of scissors. (I don't consider her sexual preferences crimes, nothing wrong with being a freak)
* Punishment: Thrown off a balcony by her friends
* Deserved: No, she was awful but her friends were worse

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A Classic for a Reason

I recently started watching Jdramas and this drama kept getting recommended to me as a must watch classic. Everyone was right -- this is one of the best dramas I've ever watched in any language. The story itself is pretty basic: an aging model gets ditched on her wedding day and ends up moving into her ex's old apartment with his former roommate, a classical pianist whose career is floundering. It's a slow burn opposites attract romance. But the execution is truly special.

A lot of people have already shouted out KimuTaku and the rest of the cast for their stellar performances and also the OST which is wonderful but I want to spend some time talking about the directing because it's incredibly good and makes it feel more like a film instead of a drama.

The drama mostly takes place in the apartment building where Minami and Sena live. It's a real apartment building not a set and the production took full advantage of the location. After a while ago you'll notice that certain emotional beats take place in certain parts of the building and street. For example almost all of their fights take place in the cramped apartment. But they draw closer when they are on the rooftop or on the basketball court adjacent to the building. Whenever Sena is feeling lost, lonely or contemplative he tends to stand alone on the path overlooking the river.

There are some iconic scenes that illustrate how the director used the site. One is when Sena throws Minami's glitter ball three stories down to the street and then catches it when it bounces back to him, symbolizing the ability to bounce back after setbacks. Another is when Minami tells Sena that she's planning on marrying her boyfriend, after she exits the building she can hear Sena playing her favorite song followed by the wedding march (heart wrenching!). Another one is a spectacular shot that starts with Sena standing alone in the apartment after Minami has moved out and then pans out across the river until he's out of sight to illustrate how lonely and isolated he feels now that she's no longer living with him.

Another thing I noticed was the hair styling and costuming. When the drama starts Sena wears a tweed jacket that seems to symbolize how trapped he feels in his life. Even his hair is styled in such a way to look stiff and unmoving. Minami wears trendy clothes in loud colors and a lot of makeup. But things change as they start to fall in love with each other and to emotionally mature. Sena stops wearing the blazer and is usually in tees when he's spending time with Minami and his hair becomes softer and looser. Minami starts wearing jeans and cotton shirts and very little makeup. She also starts to wear white shirts which are associated with Sena since he's often in a white shirt when teaching and performing.

These are just a few examples but honestly you could easily do a shot by shot analysis of this drama. Just how they use the visual space in the apartment in different scenes tells you so much about what's going on with and between the characters at different parts of the story.

This might sound dry and technical but it shows the care and attention that the production team put into all the details of the drama. And as a result you end up falling in love with the characters.

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Unhealthy but compelling relationship

Hira is a fascinating character : he wants to worship and be dominated by Kiyoi but he's also very demanding and unwilling to bend when it comes to pursuing his desires. Kiyoi in turn finds Hira's attention gratifying but also dehumanizing. He doesn't want Hira to see him solely as an object of worship but as a vulnerable and flawed human being. They both emotionally hurt each other a lot with the hurt becoming physical a few times. Is this a healthy dynamic? Absolutely not but these two are obsessed with each other and the heart wants what it wants.

The actors are strong and have excellent chemistry. Hira's actor is handsome but the production downplays it and leans into making him look awkward and slightly creepy. Kiyoi's actor is indeed beautiful which gives some weight to Hira's obsession. The production design is very good for what is a short and inexpensive drama. I particularly like the animations associated with each of the leads.

I know this is a polarizing drama but if you go in knowing it's a messed up romance between two messed up people you can relax and enjoy it for what it is. Not every drama has to portray healthy relationships.

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Deeply humane but beware it can be triggering

The Korean title for this drama is Morning Also Comes in a Psychiatric Ward and it's much more accurate than the English title. The drama aims to educate people about mental health and encourages viewers to feel empathy for the people who are suffering and struggling to heal (not always successfully). Because of this, the story is a little clunky at times with early episodes dedicated to different mental health conditions such as panic disorder and bipolar disorder.

But the narrative really takes off in episode 6 when a beloved character takes his own life and the fallout for the entire cast reverberates through to the end of the drama.

Some of the scenes are devastating and had me sobbing. Anyone with a history of mental illness or who has loved ones who suffered should tread cautiously since this drama could be triggering.

Something I thought was very well done were the visual illustrations of people's illnesses. For example there's a person with panic disorder who finds himself drowning in a bathroom filling with water and a depressed character who sinks into the floor as if it's quicksand.

The romance is secondary to the main plot but it's very sweet and affecting, especially in the final episodes.

I definitely recommend this drama with the caveat that you're going to be in for a lot of emotional pain and that it's not an easy watch.

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This drama is so bad it gave me cancer

I'm a huge fan of Jang Hyuk, I think he's an incredibly talented and unique actor who is fun to watch even in mediocre dramas. But this show did him in. He tried, he really did, but this honestly is in the running for the worst writing ever in a drama. Nothing makes sense at all. It's the worst run hospital in the world, there's no way it wouldn't be shut down not just because of all the murders but because of the unprofessional staff who stand around in the hallways gossiping even when a patient is bleeding out in front of them. The head of the hospital is basically a serial killer and openly admits it to one of his direct reports who doesn't report him to the police even though one of his patients is a cop and the female lead. And speaking of the FL, she's a traffic cop but somehow has the ability to barge into an unlocked interrogation room and interrupt a murder investigation. The writer should've made the character a detective to begin with, there's literally no reason for her to start out as a traffic cop. The only bright spot, at least at first, was Jang Hyuk doing his best to give his sociopathic character some depth and nuance. But he gave up after episode 5 and went for scenery chewing and who can blame him.

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Everyone falls in love with Mamoru and so will you

Like a lot of people I came to this drama after watching the two MLs in Cherry Magic. But I ended up falling in love with Mamoru, one of the most unique and interesting drama leads I've ever seen (played to perfection by Eguchi Noriko).

The drama opens with her on top of the world as an orphaned heiress who has built a growing e-publishing business. Mamoru is smart, funny, brave and passionately devoted to her business partner and employees who she treats as her surrogate family. But when her partner betrays her and embezzles all of the company's assets Mamoru is dead broke for the first time in her life and forced to restart her business from scratch with only a small, ragtag group of loyal employees and inexperienced interns.

Mamoru is so charismatic that not only does she find herself in a love triangle with two younger men (played by Cherry Magic leads Akaso Eiji and Machida Keita), there's also a female employee in love with her. Even the employees who aren't in love with her practically worship her and it's not surprising. What I love about Mamoru is she always leads with her heart. She's piercingly intelligent and willing to take risks but she's also endearingly quirky and awkward and unexpectedly shy. It's a joy to see a drama female lead who's allowed to be a badass leader but also imperfect. She makes a lot of mistakes, mostly trusting the wrong people, but her unerring moral compass and devotion to her team makes up for it. Eguchi does a fantastic job with the portrayal and her unconventional beauty really fits with the character.

The side characters are also delightful and well acted. Special shoutout to Miyamura Sora (played by Machida Keita), a younger man whose life was literally saved by Mamoru and has sworn lifelong loyalty to her, and editorial director Ikari Kenji (played by Furuta Arata) the company's oldest employee who enjoys a strong drink, mentoring young comic artists and snooping into his boss's business.

Even though I loved this drama, there are two big flaws that I think are why this drama has very low ratings on MDL. Number 1 is the plot, which is all over the place. Big events take place that are never really dealt with and have no influence on the rest of the story. For example, a major character is stabbed and hospitalized but the entire incident is wrapped up in one episode and never referred to again. The plot also gets repetitive as certain incidents get recycled with different characters and similar outcomes. There's also a lot of time skips and after a while I gave up trying to guess how much time had passed in the story. The ending isn't terrible but it isn't terribly exciting either.

The second big problem is the tepid romance between Mamoru and the ten-years younger Yu (played by an admittedly very handsome Akaso Eiji). I'm normally all for a May-December relationship but these two don't have any sexual chemistry. I did enjoy their domestic scenes cooking and talking together but it felt more like a comfortable friendship than two lovers.

I think the best way to approach this drama is not to expect a tightly written and coherent plot or a burning hot romance and instead view it as an office based slice of life with an incredibly interesting and compelling female lead.

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No plot, no conflict, just adorable characters and pure fluff

It's hard for me to rate this drama because it's pure fluff without plot. Literally nothing happens. There's no conflict and no problem that can't be solved in 20 minutes. The opening credits give away the entire story. This is the kind of show where the female lead lives in a crowded dorm room and yet somehow has a different brand new coat to wear every day. But the drama hooked me anyway because it's absolutely adorable and it gave me 12 hours of escape from the cold cruel world which I really needed.

The main couple is the living embodiment of the sunshine/sunshine protector meme. Su Zaizai falls in love at first sight with Zhang Lu Rang and showers him with warm positivity through the whole show (she also looks like a living doll). Rang Rang starts out expressionless and monosyllabic because of the pressure he gets from his mother to be a school topper, but as he spends more and more time with Zaizai he gradually thaws out and one of the best parts of the show is watching him blossom into a warmer and happier person. He also has two dimples which makes it even better when he flashes one of his rare smiles.

The rest of the characters in the friendship group are very cute but underdeveloped. I would have liked to have spent more time on the second lead romance.

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A weird ass drama that turned out to be my fave of the year

So maybe you’ve seen people talking about Behind Your Touch but you’re not quite sure whether you wanna watch a kdrama where the central premise involves reading people’s minds by grabbing their asses. Well I freakin' loved this show and here’s why I want everyone who’s been holding back on starting this one to check it out.

Behind Your Touch tells the story of Bong Ye Bon, a small town veterinarian who one night during a meteor shower acquires the ability to see people’s memories -- but only if she touches their butts. She teams up with Detective Moon Jang-yeol, a Seoul detective banished to the town because of a screw up, to solve crimes and soon they’re desperately scrambling to solve the mystery of her mother's death and to stop a serial killer. To give you a flavor for the tone of the show, their meet cute is when he arrests her for trying to test out her powers by touching a pickpocket’s behind on the bus.

There's a lot of bizarre comedy like when the FL’s best friend develops a crushes on the ML and keeps serenading him with an accordian. She has a girl squad who she calls on to provide muscle as needed, like the scene where they deliberately start a fight at a political rally so the FL can run through the crowd and touch as many asses as possible. The squad includes a token man who is subbing for his pregnant sister and refers to the 2FL as EONNI! There’s also a screamingly funny 2521 parody that goes on for half the drama (people were referring to it as 5551) and even a throwaway gag referencing a famous artwork by Yoko Ono. The small town residents speak in an impenetrable dialect that has to be translated for Detective Moon who can't understand what anyone is saying.

But even in the early episodes (which are the funniest), there’s elements of a disturbing thriller. For example, the very first scene of the drama shows poor Ye Bon watching her mother’s body getting pulled out of a car in the ocean. And the first episode also features a scene with a woman being dragged through the dirt by her hair

Also know that while there are some very sweet and deeply heartfelt moments and some heart fluttering moments, this is not a romance. While I was dying for something serious to go down between the leads, it's only ever alluded to. I still loved them together. And there are secondary romances which are delightfully bonkers.

As the drama goes on it become less and less about zany wacky shenanigans and more and more about omg where did he stick that knife. The body count is truly impressive and major characters who we deeply care about die which is a bold choice for the creators and raises the stakes for catching the killer.

Unfortunately the thriller part of the story eventually goes off the rails. This writing team has never produced a thriller before and it shows. There's a lot of huge plot holes and implausibilities in the unsatisfactory final episode. It's really too damned bad because up to ep 15 I was absolutely riveted by this show and loving every minute of it.

In addition to the mostly excellent writing (except for the final episode) I want to shout out the performances. Han Ji Min and Lee Min Ki are absolutely perfect as our chaotic crime fighting duo. They handle the comedy and tragedy equally well. The entire cast is stellar, especially the actor who portrays the killer. I also love the Mujin police officers and the local shop owners and fishermen.

My biggest problem with the drama was episode 16 which failed to close some gigantic plotholes and wasted time with cameos from people we didn't care about instead of giving us a proper ending for the main couple.

Despite all that I freakin' loved this show and rate it my favorite watch of the year. I need LMK and HJM in a proper romance together asap.

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Pretty but lifeless and sentimental

I know Koreeda is a critically acclaimed filmmaker but after watching his film The Broker and this drama I have to conclude he's not for me. Both The Broker and Maiko-san Chi no Makanai-san are beautiful to look at and address a potentially compelling topic (baby trafficking and modern day geishas). But the writing is shallow and unrealistically sentimental.

I'm with Samire's father: I would not want my minor daughter to drop out of school and pursue a profession that puts her in close contact with drunken businessmen every night. There's no way a beautiful young woman wouldn't be sexually harassed or worse in such a situation. But this drama glosses over any potentially ugly aspects of the profession in favor of endless scenes of the girls chatting and eating. No one disagrees about anything important (the biggest conflict is over who ate someone's pudding from the refrigerator) and there's no plot. The drama briefly alludes to the limited prospects available to women who leave the profession (it seems like the best retirement strategy is to marry a man who can financially support you or spend the rest of your life as a house mother to new geisha trainees), but it never builds to anything interesting.

I spent two days in Kyoto this year near the Gion district where this drama was filmed and it was nice to see the familiar streets, temples and parks (though I find it funny you don't see anyone sweating when Kyoto is a sweltering furnace in the summer with 90% humidity). The cooking scenes are aesthetically pleasing and the dishes are the kind of home foods you can find at a good Japanese family restaurant so if you live in a big city you can likely try most of the dishes. Additional beauty is provided by the hair, makeup and kimonos worn by the geishas.

I think probably the best way to view this drama is as beautiful wallpaper and nothing more.

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Ded from the cute

Thailand dropped the official trailer for their version of Cherry Magic and it was very cute so I decided to watch the original and OMG I was not expecting to love this as much as I did.

This show is SO EFFING CUTE. It's like a basket of puppies wrapped in rainbows, unicorns and sparkle hearts. It's so soft and innocent and yet somehow keeps you on the edge of your seat every single episode. I was literally watching this in bed kicking my feet and squealing.

One of the most impressive things to me is that Adachi and Kurosawa are both fundamentally kind and decent people and that there are no villains or rivals in the story. It's hard to make a story like this dramatically interesting but this production pulled it off.

The casting of the leads is perfect. Akaso Eiji is gifted at physical comedy and I laughed out loud every time Adachi jumped or flailed or just looked panicked when he read Kurosawa's romantic thoughts. But he was also able to pull my heartstrings in the scenes that were sadder and more poignant. Machida Keita was seriously impressive at showing us a man with a perfect facade but who is a pure romantic inside. His performance in the scene where he confesses to Adachi and then covers up his emotions with a pasted on smile was incredible.

The leads had incredible chemistry. I have no idea how two men simply holding hands or sharing a meal made me shriek like a teenager at a concert but they had a chokehold on me.

The writing is excellent and I loved the themes of learning to love yourself, behave authentically and connect with other human beings. The hook of a virgin with mind reading powers could have gone creepy and gross but instead Adachi's pure nature and sincere desire to help other people made it touching and heartwarming.

Fujisaki deserves a special shoutout for being such a lovely and complex character who is secure in herself, doesn't need a relationship and sincerely desires to support her friends. The show briefly teased us with a possible love triangle and then turned it around to something that added a lot of warmth to the story.

I also really enjoyed Rokkaku for being hilariously clueless and I loved his eager puppy energy.

The only thing I disliked was the second couple, who were poorly cast. Tsuge's actor looked older than 30 while Minato's actor looked about 17 years old even though he's in his 20s. They had no chemistry and Tsuge's actor went way way way over the top. It's very interesting to compare his performance with Akaso Eiji who also brought a manga vibe to some of his scenes but for some reason knew exactly how far to go to make you laugh without being off putting.

I was also seriously disappointed we didn't get a kiss between the leads since the second leads got one. I saw a behind the scenes with the actors and they seemed really comfortable with each other so who knows why they opted not to do it. I have to say though that they were able to sell me on the depth of their love for each other even without a kiss and that's impressive.

I'm sure Thailand will do a good job with this story and they will definitely give us a kiss but I doubt it will make me feel as happy and warm as the Japanese version. This is going into my rotation of comfort dramas.

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Weird mix of romcom elements with dark childhood trauma but it works

I never write reviews of airing dramas but this drama has gotten a lot of bad word of mouth and I want to counter that for anyone who's undecided about watching it. Just know going in that the marketing for this show has been very misleading. Someone on Reddit described it as Business Proposal meets Flower of Evil meets Pretty Woman and that is very accurate. Yes it's often very funny (a dinner scene in episode 4 made me scream laugh) but it's also very heavy and sad in a lot of ways.

It has what may be the weirdest first episode of a drama I've ever seen. You are dropped directly into the story after the leads have been contract married for five years. Their entire relationship to that point has consisted of her meeting him three days a week for dinners he's cooked for her and that they eat in total silence because the ML suffers from crippling social anxiety and struggles to make connections with other people. Despite that, the FL is starting to catch feelings for the ML because he feeds her and gives her a quiet safe space and makes no demands on her, unlike her other clients who constantly have to be managed.

The FL was raised by a shady woman contracted by a corporation to groom the perfect chaebol wife so she could be married off to the eldest son of another chaebol family. The FL refused to go through with the marriage and uses the skills she learned to run a business as a wife for hire. She's been divorced 13 times and has had many more fake relationships that were never made legal. She sends all of her money to the shady woman who treats her coldly but is the closest thing she has to a mother.

The 2ML is the youngest brother of the man rejected by the FL. He's never forgotten her and even though he's become a famous actor he's named his beloved cat after her (it's a one sided love since the cat hates him). There's a big development in episode 4 that I won't spoil but this is definitely not your typical 2ML.

The FL's roommate and best friend is a gay man she fake married (later divorced) to get his homophobic sisters off his back. We first see him with the hot young man he's spent the night with but he dreams of moving to Canada so he can be openly out and attend the gay pride parade in Vancouver. It's great to see an LGBT character in a Kdrama who isn't stereotypical and has his own story arc.

The actors are all excellent but I want to give a special shoutout to Go Kyung-pyo as the ML. I've always liked him but he's a revelation in this drama. The character requires him to veer from dark and scary to endearingly awkward to sexy and smitten to panicked and jealous. He's good at all of it and I also have to mention he's in the best shape of his life and looks amazing in suits. He and Park Min Young have fantastic chemistry but she does that with all of her costars.

Whether or not you'll enjoy this depends a lot on your tolerance for drastic changes in tone and odd plotting (episode 1 felt like episode 10 of a normal drama). It's not like any other drama I've seen. I'm loving it and looking forward to seeing how this story unfolds. I hope it doesn't fall apart in the end but I think it's very much worth checking out.

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