Blue-Eyes White Witch

Right from the first 8 minutes introduction they failed to.... no, just failed. The entire story's setup involving the kids was absurd even for a silly makjang. It quickly became apparent that the drama was attempting to do something different from other daily makjang but the execution was nothing but comical, even while adding hints of unintentional parody. I couldn't stand how the drama was structured with its storytelling, it was really tiring how every single key information had 3 layers of truths that kept throwing the blame onto 3 parties. It was really exhausting repeating the same pattern 30-40 times. There's a lot to be said while breaking down everything but I would be repeating myself so here are some random bits. I found it particularly cringe when characters called themselves and each others witches with nicknames, for example 'The White-Haired Witch'. Despite being the face of the drama, Yoo Kyung's lifelong revenge wasn't finalized due to some events which is disappointing. It felt like the male lead suddenly confessed his love with no proper build up or showing prior interest beyond some sympathy, it happened too early in the story even though he was a womanizer a couple of episodes ago. Moreover, the male lead was mostly useless and didn't play as big of a part as most of the other characters. Midway through he was just there wasting time while occasionally being an unfunny clown. I guess he was just there to give the female lead a hug every now and then. On the flip side, the other male lead, Ji Ho, was in every other scene more than any character in the drama. One last thing, the overall vibe and tone later on was very detached and different from the few first episodes (after the kids story setup). If I had to mention something positive other than the cinematography being up to the modern standard with the majority of projects, that would be how secrets don't linger for too long which is because of the aforementioned repeated pattern.

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Mad World

Captivating storytelling and multifaceted characters, making it a standout in the world of Japanese dramas. The drama had a good mystery plot but there were a few things that held it back. The pacing was alright but the lack of a sensible urgency messed up the flow a bit. The drama overdone it with the amount of repetition sprinkled throughout beyond what could been considered functional for a mystery piece, it didn't contribute to the story/characters/themes/atmosphere, just plain repetition, relaying the same information countless times. The cinematography and music further enriched the experience, capturing the drama's haunting and enigmatic mood, however, it could've benefited more from a more unified color palette with its own signature. While it was a great mystery drama but I wish the characters had a better dynamic between them and maybe some deeper involvement of other characters.

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Goong C-

It was a really hard sell when a core part of the plot was the male lead treating the female lead like a piece of shit, combined with the "oh no he doesn't know how to express his feelings", these tropes are better left in fanfiction. The case was even worse due to the absolute lack of any chemistry between any of the four leads, this was the definition of negative rizz. It got even worse, all of the three leading cast Ju Ji Hoon & Song Ji Hyo & Kim Jeong Hoon brought an utterly abysmal joke of a performance, admittedly, this was their first main role and was totally incomparable with their current performance, all of them went to do much better and bigger things, it's better to forget they worked on this drama. On the other hand, Yoon Eun Hye was pulling the entire thing together, solo carrying whatever left to be salvaged. Her dynamic with her friends and family was quite good, but not with any of the leads. The puppets at the end of each episode were a nice touch, it would have been nicer if they incorporated that in the drama itself. The earlier parts of the drama were generally better, the events in the palace were a bit boring. To build up for the climax, the last 4 episodes created the last point of tension however it was seriously atrocious writing, one of the worst conflicts I've seen a writer come up with. It was just pure bad writing from that point until the last frame of the drama. If they slapped in some random terminal illness nuances it would've been a better serviceable finale. If anything, I'm only remembering this drama for its awful last few episodes. At least it was much better than Boys Over Flowers (2009).

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Goong F

How could they ever think this remake was a good idea? It didn't take more than half an episode to know everything you need going forward. Setting the expectations really low from the beginning. They immediately jumped into the premise with little to no build up. Yer a prince, Harry! Deal with it. The setup was bad, the writing was shameful and the characters were garbage. The main cast members were barely functional and their chemistry was a constant struggle that never washed away. The original Goong had a plethora of problems but, in contrast, this remake made me appreciate season 1 for whatever it had .

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The Answer is Money

The drama epitomized frustration with its portrayal of a braindead female lead whose actions and decisions often questioned the existence of a cerebrum in that skull. The leads consistently made choices that were not only repetitive but also pathetic. Almost every character was repeating the same mistakes and facing the same consequences. A group of monkeys would perform and produce a better result under a shock therapy. The side plots were generally bad, maybe only the ML's brother one was acceptable but the rest were kinda cringe. The drama advertised itself around the bigger sister and her younger siblings (as title suggests too) but the siblings played such a small side role in the story while the love triangle was the main focus. The drama practically ended 6-7 episodes early and the remainder was pure fluff of nothingness. It didn't help its case when the resolution was lame anyway.

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Flamin Hot Cheetos

Being a drama that came out around the late 90s I can see how it might be drawing flak for its take on relationships and societal norms. Deep down, it was all about love, loss, and redemption, painting a vivid picture of intertwined lives against a turbulent backdrop, however, it failed to create a healthy structure to contain the story. The most important first step was to create a convincing scenario and story to sell their flaming torturous love, but what we got was only brief montages during the first episode. Every time they met they were filled the screen with displays of passion but there was no bases for it to carry a good impact, let alone, a lasting one. A core part of the story was the dynamic between the four leads, however, the second couple became much less relevant in the second half which made the new trajectory boring. Initially, the drama was heading somewhere while making a statement with how it dealt with gender roles and societal expectations but suddenly it gave up completely on the idea and resulted to the same old same old, reinforcing stereotypes from the 90s instead of shaking them up. I wonder if the broadcast received criticism from the public? On an unrelated note, most female leads from the 90s speak excessively timid and subdued most of the time for some reason, even when their colleagues of female supporting cast are speaking normally. Anyway, the drama was somewhat alright for its time.

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Brainless Behaviour

This drama was a constant coin toss for me, swinging between great and bad throughout, this included the story, characters, jokes, and, in particular, cases. Every case related to one or multiple subjects around neuroscience for the doctor to talk about, however, some subjects were poorly executed and questionable. These ones were totally forced and stretched thin just for the sake of including them. Other cases were actually interesting. The humor as well was a big hit or miss, especially with the male leads. The drama placed too much focus on the male leads while neglecting the remainder of the cast dynamic. On the other hand, the detective wife didn't fit quite well and it took until the last few episodes for her character to finally blend. The drama had its good moments with its witty humor but it lacked in many areas to be a solid drama.

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Bloodless Behaviour

It's a decent short drama but far from perfect and too many problems held it back. Although it was meant to be on a lighter tone and considering its short format, the drama was passing through a lot of social and workplace problems too quickly despite the drama establishing depth to some of the characters. It created some disconnect and cohesion problems along the way. A possible easy fix to the problem is having it turned into a full 12-16 episodes regular drama. The characters and their archetypes were well established and fit well in their respective roles. There was a lot of potentials to be had in the first place. Another victim to its shorter runtime was the last stretch of the story, in particular the last 2 episodes. It presented the final points of tension and jumped to the resolution very quickly and abruptly. Although it's a decent watch but at the end it was a wasted potentials.

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Weatherless Behaviour

Just at a first glance, the synopsis isn't encouraging to launch the first episode. The only thing left is to check out what were they gonna do with the forecasting setup. They failed to establish why their job is very super important early on and waited a while to do so, nullifying the little bit of early tension it could have had for a good hook. As expected, forecasting turned into a small side plot. They barely done anything with it after a few episodes. The story was straight up not good. Whatever plotlines the drama had, it didn't put enough effort to bring them to the finish line, everything just magically worked out. The writer had no clue how to write and establish human and love relationships. What made matter worse was the non-existent chemistry between the leads. Even further much worse, the atrocious dynamic between the four leads, what even was that?!

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Heat Death of The Universe

Well, the drama certainly failed to cheer me up. The entire show was manufactured to be a spectacular disaster. There was no one major issue that held it back but rather a complete systematic failure. Starting from the top of the pyramid, about 80% of the cast members were barely surviving to remain functional. In equal terms, about 80% of the characters were generic youth NPCs from a modern lens. Speaking of characters, how did the writer think that writing the female lead this way was appealing in the slightest? It's baffling! That's also applicable to her cheap copy-cat, Joo Sun Ja, sharing the same revolting DNA. Moving on to relationships, pairs, ex-lovers, triangles, and squares, all of which can be tagged as insufferable spectacles. The reason why the drama added the mystery side plot is because it was unbelievably dry and was in desperate need for something supplementary to help creating the illusion that something is actually happening. It wouldn't have been bad if it served a functional purpose with the overarching narrative. Now, this is a drama about cheering and dancing but this had the worst moves I've ever seen in this context. It was nothing more than choreographed performances by PE teacher for elementary kids. It's seriously bad and embarrassing! Especially when it's coming from Kpop-land. Obviously, there were a lot more to be said but these were some of the highlights. The writer worked on both V.I.P (2019) and this drama, a solid bad track record so far, should be very cautious with future projects.

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A Mental Coach

The drama kicked off with a solid start, drawing its audience with a compelling premise and a cast of captivating characters. In the first half, emotions ran high as we were watching the dynamics between coaches and athletes. The character development was superb, and the storyline was peppered with unexpected well written materials that sat the expectations high for what's to come. However, as the drama progressed into its second half, it seemed to lose some of its momentum. The pacing felt uneven, with certain plotlines dragging on longer than necessary while others seemed rushed and unresolved. The writing got a bit lazier and less profound. It couldn't deliver the same impact as the first half, even with its climax. Despite these shortcomings, the drama still had its moments of brilliance, particularly in its character development and for its strong promising start.

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This Is So Sad Alexa Play Lonely By Akon

Unfortunately, the drama took the least favorable route for a makjang drama. What makes a good makjang is having a reasonable push and pull balance for its conflicts, however, this drama tipped the scale all the way to the other side. The result is having an utterly doormat female lead which led to a miserable experience for the viewers. Throughout its runtime, everyone was pushing her around with all kinds of abuse, but there was never a real push back. Waiting in desperation to see her bite back but the drama didn't allow it. The attempt to show her standing up for herself resulted in a successful failure, as expected. There were other problems relating to balance all over the drama. The ending as well followed the same pattern, denying the viewers a reasonable amount of satisfaction after all the preceding events. God bless the ML's aunt, Jung Eun suk, for keeping the drama tolerable and watchable. One more thing, the drama definitely feels like it was cut short, hence, why the last 3-4 episodes were scrambled together really quick. There were even some obvious signs like attempting to introduce a new character/side plot at episode 41.

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Jinxed By Design

Sucked at first sight, actually. It certainly failed to leave a good first impression. The first episode was horrendous in all regards, especially when you get some context later on. Subsequently, this led to all kinds of problems with the narrative. At first, the story presented a big predicament to overcome, as described in the synopsis, what would ML do once he meet her again, but the drama decided to nullify the tension in a record time and turn the drama into a mindless slice of life with bubbly visuals. The unusual romance was never justified, the drama also attempted to play the same scenario for their romance at the end but it only made things worse by creating an unnecessary new diversion that came with it more problems, it just doesn't work unless one of them was mentally challenged. One of the drama's genres is mystery, but there was barely any and what was present was surface level cheap addition.

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WHERE'S THE MONEY LEBOWSKI?

Reading the plot alone seemed like it's going to be a lot of fun and it didn't take more than the first scene to convey the same thing. That first scene also had the drama's signature soundtrack running along with it, which totally sold me upon hearing it. It played dozens of times throughout the drama and it was always a banger for its scenes. The story was chaotic in the right way and the added light comedy and suspense created an enjoyable mix. A good selection of cast was present with a varied dynamic between them. Each had a small part with a side story running in parallel, although some of them I wish they had more time especially when considering its relaxed runtime. Otherwise, it could've benefited from a shorter runtime. Despite some shortcomings, it was quite an enjoyable watch.

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