Reviews

I have a bone to pick

This series defies everything one could expect from china, and so because of that I'm rating it pretty high, taking the music and visuals into consideration, as well as the chemistry between the actors. They managed to portray longing and love through their body language as well as with their gaze, and I hope to see them all again in other productions as well.
BUT! As a hearing-impaired watcher who has spent all her life in the deaf community, I do have a bone to pick with the writer of Tan Yin... the actors portrayal of a deaf/HOH character was good, but the script for Tan Yin is very much full of dreams and wishes. I was OVER THE MOON when I saw them speak sign, as it is a big part of my life, and I was happy that my community is being represented. But there are a few points where the script is wishful thinking, and honestly infuriating to some degree, as it totally disregards the challenges we face. Such as:
- Being able to understand spoken language IMMEDIATELY after getting a hearing-aid when in reality it takes months or even YEARS of practice to filter and comprehend all these new sounds
- Not using sign after being able to speak (my heart was crushed by this tbh. His first language, just tossed aside...)
- Being able to speak fluently so soon after receiving a hearing-aid
Besides this, the story was very well written, though I wish we could've gotten a more in-depth ending and a better explanation of how they managed to resolve all their previous issues now that they're back together again.
But, for a Chinese BL, they set the standard HIGH, and I can only assume that they were rushing to finish the show before they would be forced to stop production. So with that in mind, and considering the other parts of the series, this could've been the best of the best had they not been under so much pressure to finish.
But the actors did an amazing job, and I was especially fond of Qin Xiao, as the actor managed to portray emotions in such as way I haven't seen in a long time. The way his eyes look at Qi Lu with such love and care, as well as his body language when he cries. I can see a bright future in acting for him.
I hope more people begin to defy Chinese censorship and begin to produce more BLs of this caliber<3

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Working title: Office vampires

The trailer was seriously deceiving. I was expecting an 18+ office romance but what we ended up getting was.. I don't know how to summarize it in a few words.

Things I liked:
- Pat's demeanor at work, always professional, no jealous outbursts.
- If you think about it, Elyse was actually a romantic. It's just a shame we didn't get a better explanation for why he kept a list of his FWBs and why there were so many.
- Kim, I really liked how he handled the breakup with Elyse and finally advised him to confess his feelings.

Things that were bad:
- the actor who played Elyse, I don't know what the problem was but the guy and his big, chubby faces were so off-putting and distracting.
- the constant sucking/kissing of necks, seriously, I was waiting for it to be revealed that they were all vampires.
- the character of Pat, for the love of god, one day he's hurt, insulted and sulking but the next day he spreads his legs as soon as he sees his closet. The guy never said no to him.
- too many repetitive NC scenes.

I watched it to the end just to know how it would end. But I definitely won't watch it again and I was glad it ended.

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Wow, thanks tiktok... I got click-baited into thinking that this was gonna be a full-on Rom-Com, but it actually wasn't all that in actuality.

The story, i don't even know what to say... it starts off with business stuff, introduces the leads, both got a little wacky and it feels like romance for like the first few episodes, not until it hits you with a turn. It suddenly turned into a revenge plot of who tried to kill FL with soul switching gimmick and i was thinking "Okay... maybe this is the plot device that they're going for in order for both to develop feelings for each other" that's copium because both confessed that they don't even have an inkling of feelings for each nor they are attracted slightly. So okay, that's my romance expectation out of the window. I still kept watching because i'm interested in where this drama is even going, I mean there's a mystery crime that needs to be solved. And then around the 2nd half, it's also revealed that ML is also out to get revenge on FL because of what she did five years ago to him, at that point, i don't even know what to expect, maybe I'll sit back and enjoy this mess. I don't think i enjoyed the drama at all, it tried to mash a lot of things to not so great extent, though it somewhat managed to land on its own 2 feet in the end. The mystery was alright, aside from ML's revenge plot which came out of nowhere, FL's revenge plot pretty predictable, it's very obvious who are the enemies within the workplace and who's the puppet masters. And yes, they did have romance at the end, so i am still satisfied that the leads ended up together.


The characters, the writer is smart for making FL this strong girl with a very bad attitude, and ML who's a very wacky dummy dumb, because when the leads swap souls, it doesn't even give much of a challenge to the actors to act like the opposite gender and that's where the writer also fails in my opinion, when they swapped souls the way the characters act it just like your normal man and woman, so what's the point of even swapping them? I hope they would at least somewhat act like the opposite to showcase the versatility of the actors, but nope. One thing i really like though, is when they swapped, whatever the characters were going through mentally will be carried over to the other body and also, the other will feel the muscle memory fear of the body that they're occupying, that minor detail i really appreciated. I don't think they've ever explained why FL has this paranoia when she's in the dark, It's just there to give her a flaw because she's such a strong woman. Whereas for ML they've explored as much as you can be curious about. Some of the side characters are very quirky, they have their own unique flare from the way written to talk and act, especially the team underdog, didn't like them almost, but when they started delving into each one of them, they started to get okay.

Overall, it's alright. Watch it if you like messy Mystery with Rom-Com in it. I'm kinda disappointed because I'm a fan of both lead actors.

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"È un 10 ma fa cose insensate"

Era da tempo che un k-drama non mi "prendeva" così bene: intrigante la storia, cliffhanger praticamente a ogni puntata, tutto sommato coerente con gli indizi disseminati nelle varie puntate, bella OST, ML e FL in parte e altrettanto i comprimari.

Peccato quei 20 minuti insensati nella foresta: non capisco il motivo di far diventare il ML un rambo che soccorre (da solo!) persone rapite dai ribelli né tanto meno la scelta della FL di andarlo a cercare con vestitino e foulard in testa.

Per le 11 puntate precedenti si merita comunque 8 1/2 tteokbokki su 10.

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From gentlemen' agreement to being married for real

I have very mixed opinion about this drama. first of all it's good for time pass but if you're expecting it to deliver something extraordinary then you might feel a little disappointed.

For a short drama the story was fine .. it had ups and downs with proper execution of a well set plot ..but it lacked a great time in character development and associated feeling. The way leads fell for each other seems rushed.

The FL ..I have seen this actress in "save it for honeymoon" and lemme tell yaa she was pathetic...but this time she improved a lot ... I think she looks better in period - costume drama than modern ones .
entire cast is composed of actors who were pretty average in both looks and talent,including ML.

Overall there wasn't much to take away from this story. ML's intelligence and his loyalty towards FL was the highlight.

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Resenha

Duty After School Parte 1 foi um drama que me surpreendeu de forma muito positiva. No início, confesso que fiquei meio desanimado, achando a trama arrastada e sem grandes atrativos. Porém, decidi dar aquela famosa segunda chance, e, felizmente, não me arrependi. O enredo começou a se desenrolar de maneira mais envolvente, e as relações entre os personagens se tornaram o verdadeiro coração da história.

O conceito de um grupo de estudantes sendo convocado para lutar em uma guerra contra alienígenas é bem inusitado, mas foi muito bem explorado. O drama soube trabalhar a tensão e o desespero dos personagens, mostrando como eles tentam lidar com a situação absurda em que foram colocados. Gostei muito de como cada personagem teve seu momento para brilhar, e foi impossível não me apegar a alguns deles.

O final da primeira parte foi simplesmente emocionante. Mesmo sabendo que ainda havia mais história para contar, senti que foi um desfecho marcante e que entregou uma boa dose de intensidade e drama. Confesso que fiquei satisfeito com essa conclusão e, mesmo com a curiosidade sobre o que vem a seguir, decidi que não vou assistir à Parte 2. Para mim, a primeira parte foi o suficiente para fechar essa experiência de forma positiva.

No geral, Duty After School Parte 1 é um drama que vale a pena para quem gosta de histórias que misturam ação, emoção e um pouco de crítica social. Apesar de um começo lento, o desenvolvimento e o final compensaram completamente. Fico feliz por ter dado outra chance, porque foi uma experiência que realmente valeu a pena.

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Good, but some weak points

I was quite conflicted about the score on this…does it deserve an overall of 8? I mostly liked it, but the story had some weak points as it progressed.

Brief synopsis from my pov:
Career oriented, indrawn aloof CEO of food company gets bad publicity for using body double in cooking show. Several staff resigns.
Kind hearted, caring PR staff member gets sudden promotion to handle this mess. She manages to convince him to cook on the show himself, and signs a contract for cooking lessons aside from work.
She doesn’t like to work late, as she prioritises to cook for and look after her mum with kidney problems and diabetes.
Of course the two start to develop feelings for each other, but they are both carrying emotional baggage. Add some side characters and you’ve got not a love triangle, but a love-mess.

Cast:
I like the ML; Gao Han Yu is a good cast for the role as Yu Hao. He fits and portrays the role as a rather emotion-less, cold acting CEO well, and he manages to appear softer as the character develops. I haven’t seen him in many things, but are a bit curious if he can pull off other kind of roles.
FL is also well-casted; Jade Cheng is convincing as the sweet and caring Su Ke Lan; the kind of girl that is easy to love.
Supporting cast was also mostly good.

Story:
It kind of revolves around the role food and good meals can have in our lives, even if this has a minor focus. Several of the sub-plots were kind of obvious. I like how they try to show the importance of balancing work and life, and also that it is not too prudish (without showing much).

Episode 13 is where the story weakens, in my opinion, it just seems a bit too unrealistic the whole part of being unreachable for so long (I won’t write any more to not give spoilers).

All in all, I did mostly enjoy it, and I probably should not have read reviews with spoilers as that made me nearly drop it dreading the appearance of the ex.

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The show was solid, the ending was wacky. ⚠️ SPOILERS AHEAD ⚠️

This drama was great. The chemistry was spicy. The thriller aspect kept you going because it kept giving you new information and I really loved that because just when I thought I'd figured everything out something new would come up. The side characters were good, they were necessary but I never really felt a great attachment to them because the romance was the centerpiece of the show and it was what they focused on most of the time. I do feel like some of the drama was just done for drama's sake, like the bad guy shot his dad, but then like his dad lived and I was like; "Really, we couldn't have just killed his dad." Or we see our ML get shot but then it turned out to be a dream or she ran off a cliff, but she didn't run off a cliff.
Then he was going to be in negotiator but nothing actually happened to him and he ended up Morroco in a dangerous position But that really didn't amount to anything. I don't make some fake outs but they did that alot in this drama. They kept trying to scare the viewers into thinking we wouldn't get a happy ending, and I wasn't crazy about that. Also when the villian whispers something to our ML we already know what it is cause they revealed it earlier so there's no shock factor. I really think they could've held onto to that final secret till the end so we'd be surprised as well as Hee Joo. All that being said I loved the chemistry between these two actors. The scene at the end was so lovely. It wasn't vulgar or inappropriate and it was just very well done. I wish we could have seen their future. I would have LOVED to have seen them with children. I would have loved to have seen their wedding day. If the big Morocco scene that didn't amount to anything and the scene where he was talking to the man who raised him would've been cut we could've had a scene in the future where she even calls him on the 406 phone and have a cute back and forth to end it wouldve been better. One thing I really didn't like was the mother. She went from TERRIBLE mistreatment of her daughter to just changing in an instant because she thought she was dead. I don't know. I thought that was a bit much. This woman caused her daughter so much pain and suffering and then she just like NEVER owns up to it. Even at the end she's just like; "I did it all for you." When she's crying and she didn't, she did it for herself. This whole idea that she did it for her daughter is crap! I didn't like how they made it seem like this whole time this woman was truly just wanting what was best for her daughter, cause I don't believe that at all. The sister easily could have been removed. She didn't really have any crucial role in the show. I mean, the whole idea of the arranged marriage was big enough and then they could have found other ways to reveal that he wasn't actually the son of the 2 people without the sister. The sister just didn't really add anything to the show. There are things that she revealed that could have been revealed by anyone else. Plus you just don't really care about the sister. I understand the reasons that they had her in it. But they were reasons that could have been easily changed. Her entire character could have been taken out in my opinion. She just didn't have that big of impact. So yeah, there were just some things that could have been done better. But it was a really great drama. You could definitely tell that they were depending on these 2 actors to carry the show and they did. Their chemistry was intense, and sexy and vunerable and it just worked. If I find out that they're dating or they get married I will not be shocked because their chemistry was very deep. I'll give it that. The thriller aspect was also very good.I liked how they drug out the villain and they didn't kill him too easily so it didn't feel lackluster.At the end, I think the way they ended his story was perfect.So yeah all in all a solid drama and one I recommend and enjoyed greatly! 😊

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He was given the opportunity for love twice and did not hold onto it

Okay, first off, this is not BL. As you can see from one of the tags, it's a gay romance. Do I wish that it was a happy gay romance? Of course I do! But, just like real life, we get a few frogs along the way until we can actually get to our happily ever after—and this is what this series is doing.

There were times I wanted to slap the character Ko Yeong. From watching this series, I believe that he was in two out of the four relationships where his significant others actually loved him. He unfortunately was too immature for the first one, and I guess he wanted Sim Gyu Ho to live his life for himself and achieve all that he could because he was contemplating giving up an opportunity to remain with Ko Yeong. But I honestly believe that he felt something deep for him, as it seems he's the only one he ever told about Kylie, as he never told his best girlfriend and his three male friends.

With his second relationship with No Yeong Su, how did he actually think it was going to end after seeing his thesis on homosexuality? That guy, if he DID have feelings for him, was WAY deep in the closet and was not going to come out for him. With his life already being crappy at that time, it's understandable that he did what he did after their breakup, as he must have felt that he keeps being dealt a crappy hand in life. I honestly did not understand him and his fourth relationship, as I was more focused on the fact that he started this relationship a year after his breakup with Sim Gyu Ho and Habibi even took him to Thailand, where he and Sim Gyu Ho went on their first and only trip together. So, it kind of seemed doomed from the start to me, as he seemed to be thinking about his experience with his recent ex-boyfriend. And the ending is an open ending, knowing that Sim Gyu Ho is back in South Korea for a short time, which is painful for us viewers as Ko Yoeng has still not found his HEA.

I must say that his interactions with Choi Mi Ae and his three friends were one of the highlights of this series, as I liked to see their interactions with Ko Yeong.

So, all in all, it was a good telling of a story of growing up and (hoping) to find love along the way. It's just his fault that he was too blind to see that the opportunity for love was given to him not once, but twice, and he let both chances slip away from him.

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