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MicheleCali

Italy

MicheleCali

Italy
Completed
The Red Sleeve
4 people found this review helpful
Jul 17, 2024
17 of 17 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 10
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 9.0

So painfully beautiful...

I'm gonna begin this review with what I told to my partner while watching the show: This story is a cruel mix of bitter and sweet, sadness and joy. Which actually was something that Deok Im affirms during one of her soliloquies. And I would add of laughs and tears, and of hilarity and heartbreaking pain. That's the story as it is: it is fictionalized for sure, but it is also well outlined by what actually happened more than 220 years ago in the real life of the Joseon Kingdom. The leads of the story actually existed, actually did share an intense love story, which is still witnessed by the words written down by King Jeongjo to honor her beloved, and the more than 26,000 trees planted to surround her grave and the one of the unlucky little crown prince Yi Sun, which today are the Hyochang Park in Seoul. All this premise to say that who criticized the plot, maybe should first learn facts and then deliberately speak...
After having removed this pebble from my shoe, let me say what I think about this show. Definitely a very well done show, beginning from the story which is coherent and maintaining its genuineness even with the parts which were added as fictionalization. This is a story, as said above, which is tremendously cruel, but definitely beautiful. The relationship between the two leads, the way they shared feelings and they tried hardly to find a way for them within the obnoxious court of Joseon world, made of conventionalities, conformism, bigotry, is amazingly nice but hard to see and to accept. Some of the hugest critics I read about this story were about her (Deok Im) not expressing clearly her feelings. Welcome to Joseon! She simply was a court lady, thus a servant, considered as a sort of inferior being in the court life, who could not freely express anything of her feelings. Imagine then if the subject of her feelings was the king himself (a sort of omnipotent semi-god). I liked a lot their path toward their union made of a lot of reconsiderations and second thoughts, doubts and hard and cruel decisions. I cried a lot while empathizing with this very strong female figure of Deok Im when she painfully had to decide what to do of her life, choosing between the freedom and the chance to live a life without huge restrictions because she was born as a free soul, on a side, and the love for his beloved man, well knowing that the rest of her life would have been inside a golden jail, having to give up to any kind of freedom, on the other side. I found this part the most heartbreaking, together with the loss of the little crown prince. Till the very last second I felt completely immersed in the tragic beauty of the story, and the emotions were sometimes strong to deal with. Even more thinking about the fact that it really happened.
The leads are performed by the two outstanding Lee Jun Ho and Lee Se Young: their acting is superb. Kang Hoon on his side exceptionally renders the enigmatic and tormented character of Deok Ro. And I wish mentioning also Lee Deok Hwa: his performance as king Yeongjo is perfect. All of them are supported by a well selected and well performing cast.
The OST music is very nice and well paired with the story. Special mention to I'll leave you by Lee Sun Hee, which still moves me to tears thinking about the scenes it was associated with.
The direction was very nice too, together with the photography and the costumes.
This show can be defined a masterpiece to be honest: I could not believe that a story like this could actually having been happened in real life. Simply epic.
It undoubtfully deserves being watched, but be prepared to very emotionally painful scenes.

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Completed
My Mister
2 people found this review helpful
Jun 15, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 9.5

Masterpiece

I just finished watching this show and I feel still overwhelmed by feelings... Exhausted by the intense emotions felt and by the tears I cried. I can say, one of the (few) actual masterpieces I had the luck to watch so far in my life.
"It's ok, ıt's no big deal." "it's okay to fail. It's nothing really. Even if you fail you can still be happy."
Even though the atmosphere of this show may appear full-filled with sadness, melancholy, depression, and pain, actually the story is an hymn to the Life, the real life, the life whoever lives day after day, which may appear miserable sometimes, but which must be lived, because "Even if you fail you can still be happy".
I watched the show, well knowing how Lee Sun-kyun ended his life's journey, the root-causes which led to his irrevocable, heart-breaking decision and this made even more emotional the vision of this show.
The story: terrific. What you can see in this show is a delicate portrait of the Life. The life as it is lived at the workplace, at home, in a family, in the deepest solitude, in the darkest desperation, in the loyal and noisy community of the neighbourhood, by the rich, by the poor, by the honest, by the dishonest... The characters in this story are all defined by their passions, their vices, their miseries, their weaknesses, their distresses, in a so moving and compelling way, that each of them will leave an indelible trace in your heart. None of the stories is predictable. And this made them even more realistic and compelling.
The cast: I think this is one of the most well sorted and assembled ones I watched. Each of the roles was played in an impeccably way. The two leads, the support roles, are an amazing ensemble, which keeps the spectator compelled to and captivated by the story. You live with them, you cry and you laugh with them, you suffer and you enjoy with them, till the last emotion. Lee Sun-kyun and IU led the entire story, rendering their not so simple characters in an awesome way. Despite the difference in age (and experience) between the two, their acting was well blended, credible and flawless. Around them there is a colorful and amazing world of characters, each one well developed, well casted and very well played. I don't want to list all of them, because they are really a lot, but you can be sure that none will disappoint you.
The music: moving, touching your feelings, well suited for the story told by this show.
The direction and the photography: awesome. I cannot explain: you have to watch to understand that even the way the scenes were shot is able to compel even more to the story, making you feeling part of it.
You need to watch without any kind of doubts or hesitation.

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Completed
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo
1 people found this review helpful
Jun 9, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 7.5

An hymn to sweetness

I approached this show by chance, as usual. I use to listen to music from k-drama OSTs and this is a way for me to put in my watchlist new shows. Even this time the method worked fine and I had the chance to watch this sweet story.
It's true: the story is a light one, and the drama within is not a tragic one. But that's a story about good feelings and sweetness and love. A fairy tale? Yes: it is. A modern one where the leads are not a prince and a princess but the two clumsy toads, the two boisterous ugly ducklings, the story of two youths and their transformation in young adults, of their feelings and their growth to a sweet love story. And sweetness and love are the key elements of this show, not only between the two leads, but also with the rest of their relatives, their friends, their acquainted too
The plot, nothing unconventional TBH, based upon the well run-out structure of several youths' love stories we can find in k-dramas. But anyway brilliant, apart some irritating support roles.
The leads, simply awesome. Lee Sung-kyung is constantly well identified with her character Kim Bok-joo, and she shows herself well talented and credible even during the weightlifting scenes, not having she exactly the phisique du role (I read an interview where she admitted having gained more than 10kg to play Bok-joo's role). Sweet, beautiful, charismatic, funny, loving. A special mention to her eyes, which in this show often stands out in all their stunning beatutifulness. Nam Joo Hyuk is in his typical role, seen again in Twenty-Five Twenty-One and Start-Up, just saying. His character is a perfect sweetheart, mature, fascinating. I liked a lot both of them and the way they shared together the scene all time long, being both fun, showing chemistry and never ending loving sweetness as a couple.
The support roles, some nice, other too much rough or even annoying. I appreciated the path to redemption Si-ho walked changing her being from an obnoxious frustrated negative gymnast (sharing the traits with her discipline mates) to a woman, who accepted to get rid of the past and the huge suffering it brought in her life and to face herself, turning finally to a more comfortable self well-being.
The music, nice OST, I have to say thank you to it for having let me finding the show.
Nice the phography and the direction.
Enjoyed till the end, tears included for the sweetness: recommended the vision.

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Completed
Goblin
1 people found this review helpful
Jun 7, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 9.0

Absolutely worth watching.

While there are other masterpieces that may be a cut above, this show is a masterpiece in itself. The story is beautiful, moving and intense, with a superlative screenplay that continuously and well blends moments of hilarity with sad moments, as is customary in K-dramas. My partner and I were glued to the screen from the first to the last second, crying and laughing and living with the leads. Leads who are over the top: theirs is certainly among the most beautiful love stories told in k-dramas. And both Gong Yoo and Kim Go Eun are more than up to the task and incredibly adorable and comfortable, despite the obvious age difference between them. Well described and defined supporting roles: The Grim Reaper and Sunny are for me one of the most beautiful and touching supporting couples seen so far (154 k-dramas completed). The rest of the cast is well assorted and the soundtrack is definitely up to par. It's a show that has seen a huge investment commercially, but well spent, truly well spent. Absolutely worth watching.

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Completed
Behind Your Touch
0 people found this review helpful
Jul 30, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 6.5
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 3.5

Just a sparkling beginning, then a wasted chance

I kept this show within my list of need to watch, since the trailer is amusing and very funny. However, very soon the story starts tending toward a generically boring and, sometimes, irritating plot. Starting from the two leads, who never caught eventually my liking: the male lead too much focused on being an irrational bully, the female lead too much focused on being an irritating goat, constantly taking the worst idiotic decisions, showing a complete lack of cleverness, and subjected to the vexations of the improbable super-cop: improbable because his supposed being a super-cop does not find actual evidences during the show, showing instead a lack of smartness associated to a shitty temper. The two did not catch my liking as said, instead my constant irritation. That's a shame, because the idea behind this show was really original and it could have been a nicely amusing thriller, or even a serious one, but just not the undefined one I saw. I admit that sometimes I watched the show at 1.5x speed, just for the sake to go on, trying to find an improvement somewhere. Instead I found just a flat story, which never made me felt involved. Even the support roles, of which some may appear brilliant and amusing, look inserted within the story just by chance, not well blending with it and surely not helping to give it an identity.
The only thing I appreciated was the OST which includes some nice tracks.
Bah...

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Completed
From Now On, Showtime!
0 people found this review helpful
Jul 30, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 6.5
Rewatch Value 6.5

Good as a show to kill time

This show, as per title, is funny, but actually nothing very special. The story itself, even if I found the idea behind original and remarkable, looks a bit inconsistent some times, starting from the interaction between the ghosts and the humans, which sometimes looks incoherent, or the background story from the Silla-like time, which sometimes looks a bit much stretched. However, the above said originality of the story, let me go above the inconsistencies, eventually loving the two leads and the supporting characters. The key-points that I liked a lot are the evolution of the two leads' story as well as that sense of enlarged family of which all of them are part, transcending their natures of humans and ghosts. The relationships which come out as a consequence, are very nice, even if i would have preferred that a bit of time more would have spent to better define the stories of the ghosts' and the general's characters.
Anyway, the characters are generally all amusing and entertaining. To include the mean one who is an actual mean. The cast is well sorted, and well chosen, and the performers did a very good job, in entertaining the spectators.
Nice CGI, nice photography, good direction, OST not at all remarkable.

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Completed
The 8 Show
0 people found this review helpful
Jul 24, 2024
8 of 8 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 8.0

Seriously: why so many haters?

I honestly don't catch the reason for some people rating so lowly this show (I even found a 1/10 - lol!).
Is it for the violence? Well, not your genre of show to watch, but not a reason to be so negative
Is it for the scenes of tortures? Well, not your genre of show to watch, but not a reason to be so negative
Is it for the sadism? Well, not your genre of show to watch, but not a reason to be so negative
Is it for the madness of some? Again, not your genre of show to watch, but not a reason to be so negative
Some should look at the quality of the product, without approaching it expecting a fairy tell or a romance...
That said, this show is good, even if not a masterpiece. The characters are well sorted for being part of this sort of psychological experiment, showing different kind of personalities and their evolutions alongside the development of their prisoning. According to literature based upon similar experiments really happened, the story is coherent, to include also the devolution toward violent and sadist behavior till the use of torture (with scenes inspired to The Orange Clockwise). What you watch is disturbing, disgusting, cruel, insane, perverted, sick. Which are exactly the feelings that any normal (?) being should feel. This is not a show exploring the good feelings, instead the obscure insanity which can unexpectedly show up even from people apparently sane when in specific contexts. Which is not specifically tied to a confined, I might say prisoning space as in the show, but generically to extreme conditions, the same that a hard crisis (because of a war or similar e.g.) can bring or the same where the social order is based on a strong inequality, where those managing power can easily turn to psychos, showing sick behaviors. Situations within which the humanity of each can be overwhelmed by the insanity. And actually this is what happens in the show. On a side an audience made of an elite of superrich psychopaths looking for extreme sensations. On the other side a team of assorted human beings and personalities, all together ending up to insanity in the end. Only the death is able to break this sort of collective enchantment, bringing all of them to a more normal condition (but actually: what can be considered "Normal"?).
To be honest, an ending that I found weak, since it still relates too much on the humanity of the people in general, and that in our reality is looking like a too much benevolent approach: just watch a news...
This is not the only thing I did not like a lot. Another one relates to the exploration on the past life of each of the eights. Only for "3" the reasons which pushed him to take part to the show were better explained, while the others were just roughly outlined.
All in all, it's a good show, with a well casted assortment of nice actors, a good direction, an original and effective setting.

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Completed
I'm Not a Robot
0 people found this review helpful
Jul 12, 2024
32 of 32 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 6.0

A fluffy cyber fairy tale

Looking for a modern fairy tale which involves a robot? Served.
The key elements of a fairy tale are all there, but the author decided to mix a bit the roles, making the story even more funny and amazing. The princess is the prince and the prince is the princess, where the villains are the only ones who keep being actual villains (with some final surprises). Also, the romance is not the sole fil-rouge along the story, but actually there's a content made of amusing entertainment, which lighten the story even when more dramatic parts show up.
I found the plot original in its nonsenses, just because I considered it as a modern fairy tale. So I could even justify some parts, which out of context would sound unbelievable, but which give to the story continuity and genuineness instead.
The actors are brilliant, not only the leads, but also the support ones. Chae Soo Bin and Yoo Seung Ho are constantly immersed in their roles, and successfully render their characters credible and funny.
The only thing I found obnoxious is the split of the traditional 60-75 minutes lasting episodes in two parts of 30-35-ish minutes each: since the show was originally clearly intended made of 16 episodes of the usual duration, very often the transition from odd to even episodes lead to just rudely interrupt a scene.
Amazing, and worth watching.

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Completed
Tale of the Nine-Tailed
0 people found this review helpful
Jul 7, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 6.5
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 2.0

Essay title: How to massacre an awesome concept... Development: Tale of the Nine-Tailed (2020)

This show has a nice cast, which acted very well, nice photography, nice locations, nice music, nice CGI, awesome story-concept. Seriously: in this show all is nice, but the screenplay. Not sure, who's the story-killer (sure not a story-teller) who gave birth to such an embarrassing garbage.
I feel stunned because of the way the pretending-to-be-a-screenwriter could massacre a so fantastic subject like the one on which this show is based. This show had all the good premises to become something epic. Instead the outcome is tragically mediocre. To paraphrase Ji Ah "this story might really become a tragedy": and actually it did. A storm of plot-holes, plot-nonsenses, plot-oddities, eventually led me to rate this show 6.5/10, of which 4.5 points are given because of what mentioned at the very beginning of this review.
Delusional, disappointing, unbelievably frustrating.
If you need to be inspired to randomly f*ck off the world, this is the show which will give you a valid reason to do it.

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Completed
Because This Is My First Life
0 people found this review helpful
Jun 28, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 6.5

The delicacy of love

This show for sure is not one of the masterpieces you can find around, but still has its solid what&why which make it more than worthy of being watched.
The story is obviously focused on the two leads, but also the other main roles are well encompassed and developed, which make the show a chorused one, since the stories of the three couples are all well tied the ones to the others, due to the strong and amazing friendship shared by the three women leads.
The story is a love story, or better (as said) a chorus of love stories, each one with its peculiarities and its identity. The psycho one, between the two leads Ji-ho and Se-hee, the normal one (so much normal that fell into a huge crisis) between Ho-rang and Won-seok, and the special one between Soo-ji and Sang-goo which I found simply captivating and perfect. Around them there are the support roles which are actually well convincing and functional for the story itself.
The main characters were well casted, even physically: I found all of them perfect, each one in the respective role. My preferred one: Soo-ji for sure. The kind of strong, unconventional, and independent woman, well performed by Esom, who breaks the rules of a society often still too much traditionalist, conservative, patriarchal and sexist, who finally finds her way to self-make her life and success, and who at the same time still believes in feelings as soon as she found the partner who's able to complete and support her (and Sang-goo did it excellently). I found them shiny together. As well as the performers were really nice (and surprisingly I found Park Byung-eun unrecognizable after having saw him in Eve). But that does not mean that the other two couples were bad. Instead, I have to say that their stories were captivating too. Ji-ho and Se-hee because they are actually more affine to me (and to my partner: ok tonight I will die) in their being a bit psycho (in the good way) and actually not banal. I liked a lot the way they faced the issues coming from the conventionalities well identifying the traditionalist Korean way of life. And I appreciated their path toward their liberation, as individuals and as a couple from those constraints, and from the miseries of their past lives. They actually growth together, in a sort of transfiguration well depicted eventually by the transition from the formal to the unformal speaking. Jung So-min and Lee Min-ki well performed two roles which actually were not banal. Last but not least the classic love story, the apparently banal one, the normal one, the one so normal and adherent to the traditional way to live a love story that very realistically exploded, because of its forced normality, predictability, conventionality, The story between Ho-rang and Won-seok is all of that. And as very often happens in the real life, the couple exploded because sedimenting upon the wrong premises. Both of them looks naive and banal, but actually also them eventually experienced a transfiguration which finally led them to reconciliate upon new premises. Both Kim Ga-eun and Kim Min-seok were able to perform their characters successfully, to include their irritating traits.
It looks like the underlay message in the end is: no matter which are the adversities, no matter the hindrances, Love will always find its own way to make it...
As said already, the rest of the support roles were well sorted and casted: Bo-mi, Jung-min, and (a bit less essential) Bok-nam well played their key roles in pushing our heroes to make their choices.
You will not cry, but you can find some things on which thinking. Nice photography and direction and convincing plot: just tell the director that cats are not so continuously meowing :)

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Completed
Fight for My Way
0 people found this review helpful
Jun 24, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 5.0

Brilliant, but...

After dozens of k-dramas watched, I know that a lot of them could be better than what they actually are. This is one of those brilliant shows, but pity for the show itself. Nothing to say about the cast: well sorted and brilliant, with a shiny Kim Ji-won. However the story is mediocre, and despite the effort of actresses and actors, it never took off completely, laying on a flat bed made of unexpressed things. But still, if this premise would have been maintained all along the show, in the end it could lead also to a 8/10, since the hilarious moments were several and really funny. What I could not stand for sure is the sexism which permeates the show. As a man I felt uncomfortable watching all these damsel-in-distress moments, as some lines which were surprisingly told by the leads, who expectadly should be just open minded and far away from that Joseon-like way to see a woman. In addition to this, the lack of concreteness led to not feel well compelled into the story, and even the (actually few, but potentially valid) dramatic moments left me not moved.
This was disappointing. Pity, because as said the comic moments were really among the most hilarious ever seen.

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Completed
Just Between Lovers
0 people found this review helpful
Jun 23, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 9.0

unbelievable

Calling this drama just a melodrama or a romance would be unfair and nonsense.
This is an unbelievably beautiful story, compelling and captivating based on a tragedy, which explores the way to redemption of the survivors, of the guilty ones, and of the people who are part of their lives, and who share with them the pain, the sadness, as well as the will to go further and overcome a loss, a trauma, or both of them.
Through the two leads (who were simply awesome), the story deals with the theme of the collective tragedy experienced by the survivors after a disaster that broke almost 50 lives. As a sort of background throughout the show is the path towards the processing of mourning and loss , which is symbolized by the construction of the memorial that forces the survivors to tell their heartbreaking stories and face the tragedy once again.
The two main leads are the personification of that collective tragedy and while they take care of the construction of the memorial, actually they become the symbols through whom that way to redemption take form, through their story so tragic and at the same time so sweetly romantic.
The plot is written well, constantly credible, and consistent, not giving room to holes and flaws. Some scenes are brutally and cruelly heartbreaking, but it could not be different. Watching them you could feel moved, compelled, involved till even cry your eyes out.
The cast, was top. I liked a lot the women of the story: female characters who show up strong and at the same time sensible. Won Jin Ah / Moon Soo was perfect: I didn't know her so far, and I was well impressed not only by her beauty (stunning: the combo of her eyes and of her smile can kill), but also by her talent, and the ability to render her character without flaws. Kang Han Na / Yoo Jin perfect too: she made her role credible and strong, without falling into the stereotypes, which sometimes impact negatively on a character and on the story itself. Maybe the strongest and at the same time the most fragile woman in this story, for sure a very beautiful character. Na Moon Hee / halmeoni, who impersonated the grandmother of all the derelicts, was simply awesome, literally filling the scenes where she appeared with her presence. Na Moon Hee / Ma Ri deserves being mentioned too, while rendering a not easy character, showing the humanity where not expected, and able to try till the end to redeem on of the shabby villain. And so on... All the actresses did well in performing roles which sometimes were not easy at all. The actors and the men of the story were unmatched too. Lee Jun Ho / Kang Doo among all was sublime, and able to render his character so unlucky and so painful in a perfect way. And I wish to mention Kim Kang Hyun / Sang Man, because he was unmatchable in playing a character like this, making him credible and intense.
Direction and photography were very nice.
The OST is one of the best I found so far: complete and well sorted.
A masterpiece who shall be watched, absolutely.

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Completed
Nevertheless,
0 people found this review helpful
Jun 7, 2024
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 7.0

why all these haters?

The story is nice and truly realistic. For sure way more realistic than the stories on which are based the 90% of the k-dramas available for the vision, which I find sometimes too much conventional and over-filtered in terms of contents and topics.
That said, I can understand who does not feeel comfortable in watching the show because feeling irritated by some of the characters, but that's it reality. You can make a choice: watching a k-drama because looking for a fairy tale or watching something more real life related, where (surprise!) people is just normal people: can be fragile, boring, messed up, idiot, brilliant. But just normal people. And, in our case, just youths witht their cumbersome luggage for the life filled with fear, enthusiasm, uncertainty, youthness.
Han So-hee perfectly suited for her role. I like her way to act. I'm less positive for Song Kang, instead. Sometimes he looks too much stunned. I liked also the supporting roles and the fact that (very likely because based on a webtoon) sex and thorny topics like homosexuality were included in the show. (Yeah: they're part of the real life too). Very nice the OST

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Completed
Cheese in the Trap
0 people found this review helpful
Jun 6, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 8.0

Shining because unconventional

A little lightful gem. Definitely unconventional, thus this is the main reason why I liked the idea behind this show and the show itself. A show which probably will be disliked by the majority who looks for the typical love story that a k-drama usually offers. And that I liked because of this being so atypical. But that was not the only reason.
Talking about the plot. Since this is not the classical love story we usually watch in a k-drama, things were definitely not going how is expectable in a standard love story. I found the writing true and intense, and I found the main leads appropriately suited for the characters they played. Even if the story can be liked or not, the characters can be liked or not. But as said, the key point of this story is the fact that it's not the typical love story, but something more adherent to actual feelings and personalities, even when disturbing. And this explains what can be found apparently bizarre or weird, mainly in what Seol does when dealing with Jung and In-ho.
Despite the story is well written, I actually felt disappointed by the ending. I found everyone getting their happy/bad ending or their redemptions, to include Seol. All but Jung: unknown. And that last second's (literally) happy ending disappointed me twice. Like if the story was eventually forced to show a potential happy ending (even if who's not Korean would find hard understanding who actually was the addressee of the messages: no sub no translation provided).
About the leads: I actually disliked Jung's character because I found him disturbing, creepy, and extremely toxic for his way to deal with wrong things and people doing wrong, manipulating the last ones till their humilation and destruction. I liked more In-ho, who is also a hothead (also a d1ckhead tbh): he uses his fists to solve problems, the violence is part of his way to express himself... But still: he looks more clear and genuine, and paradoxically less dangerous. To be honest: what can hurt more? A fist or a deep humiliation? Easy answer... So, again, both Jung and In-ho are truly in love for Seol, they try to did their best with her, but they both show toxic personalities, and despite the good intentions the outcome is (to be fine) questionable. Still, I found more and more dangerous and hurting Jung's personality, who's actually a sociopath. Simply, I prefer who is able to overreact showing his actual feelings, respect to whom overreacts wearing a mask, and manipulating and scheming. Both the actors were great, talented, and brilliant, personfying roles not easy to manage.
That said about male leads, talking about the shiny female leads, I adored Seol: Kim Go Eun was simply adorable in playing her controverse character. She has not a linear personality, she has a strong sense of duty and rationality as well as her approach to matters is unusual and sometimes harmful for herself: still I did not decide at the end if truly toxic as well, I mean toxic toward herself. Her tendence to justify and interiorize the actions of Jung is disturbing. Because his being toxic and manipulative trying to protect Seol, ends being harmful firstly to her. And what happened to her during the finale is a strong confirmation. Her ending is the only one not happy or redeeming: her life is sad, empty, she's clearly depressed, she keeps trying to keep in contact with Jung, despite he himself was the first admitting how harmful could be to her. And his having read the message at the end, honestly, I don't see it as an actual happy ending. As said above, Jung is the only one character for who's unclear if eventually able to redeem or not: will he hurt her again because he keeps being manipulative and toxic? Lee Sung Kyung, fantastic: she greatly played an In-ha who's a manipulative and a nihilist toxic (again) personality. Apart the beautifulness, she is really talented in characterizing, even when her character has an actual tragic nature masked by an apparent strenghtful temper.
I remained disappointed by the ending. I found everyone getting their happy/bad ending or their redemptions, to include Seol. All but Jung: unknown. And that last second's (literally) happy ending disappointed me twice. Like if the story was eventually forced to show a potential happy ending (even if who's not Korean would find hard understanding who actually was the addressee of the messages: no sub no translation provided).
In any case a show which deserves to be watched. Definitely.

P.S. The OST is beautiful

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Completed
Queen of Tears
0 people found this review helpful
May 23, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 7.5

overall nice but sometimes long-winded

The lenght of each episode is something which can kill spectators: really. That's the main reason for my not very high rating.
The second is that the screenplay looks like encompassing the whole (100% complete o.O) list of cliches you can typically find in a k-drama. I won't spoil anything here: but really, widely more than enough... Despite the flaws mentioned above, the show is worth of the vision at all. The story is overall nice and captivating, while the photography, the locations, and the unbelievable amount of fashion pieces stunningly weared by the lead Hae-in completed the whole.
I liked the cast. Kim Ji-won was stunning and superb, Kim Soo-hyun up to par partner (even if he may appear showing an only one expression). Also the other characters were well sorted, and the support stories were not left incomplete and the growth and the transformation of some were nice to see, first Da Hye's one who was well nicely portrayed by Lee Joo-bin.
The finale will leave you in tears... I already watched several emotional endings, but this one is really really inense.

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