For those not aware this is a remake of the American drama “Younger” and novel of the same name. I never saw the original but hope it’s better than this. In general is not bad but has many flaws.

The basic premise is nice and has a good message about people (especially women) who have had to return to work after a long absence. I myself have had to do it twice. But the writing is often self indulgent and suffers from kdrama logic.

I wasn’t very found of the major subplot or payoff taking away from the main. Nor did the end make sense. It was a complete reversal contrived to make the ending more acceptable. Several of the secondary romances had people falling in love without any development. It just happens.

One subplot I found really disappointing was the divorce of two support characters. I can certainly understand the reasons and even why it would never work out, but the things the ex-wife had to say were just shitty and unnecessary. As the child of parents that got divorced, and of whom they still cared for each other, it’s not at all believable. Even on my mom’s best day my father would not have rubbed his sexual relationships with others. This drama is just weird about it.

Lastly some of the “lessons” are touted with sledgehammer effect. The end of each episode it full of them. Much of them are ludicrous to anyone who’s lead even a short life. One that comes to mind is how the one thing in an unfair life is that we all have one life. And life is basically how we make it. But even the drama points this out to be naïve and simplistic. The main protagonists has all sorts of obstacles to overcome. The only reason she does is becomes the writers write it that way. Life can be very different. There may be insurmountable obstacles. The only effect we have is how we handle them.

Read More

Haven’t finished this drama yet but honestly just another preposterous Chinese drama. Makes drama makjang look logical. There is a reason kdramas are more popular. As lazy as some Korean scripts are written, nothing compares to Chinese nonsense. Sad part is up until episode 10 it was okay. I’ve only have liked one two Chinese dramas out of maybe 12. Why Netflix supported this and how people give this more than a 7 is a mystery.

You can see the plot twist in episode 11 coming a mile away, but it still is comical. The fact that the male main fools the female into believing she has leukemia is sadistic, cruel, sociopathic, and begs belief. Because, yeah, a hospital in China along with it personnel are willing to go to PRISON for their actions. Yet to finish this but willing to bet dollars for dounuts she really does get leukemia in the end, and would not be surprised if they don’t Kill her off.

What sloppy, immature, self indulgent, and lazy writing.

Read More

Not sure why this movie has such a low rating other than there are puritans that can’t deal with the erotic nature of the movie. Frankly it’s better than most of the non erotic Korean movies out there.

Its about a virginal 37 year old university lecturer who is bored with work and life in general. She “lives” for porn. That is to watch it. When that’s not enough she goes to an old friend to be in one so she can “fuck” many guys. But the movie is not lurid as she quickly realizes that is not where her heart is. I really liked this movie. My expectation was that it was going to be just so much soft core dribble but it was much more. The movie is made even more poignant when you realize the main character died of H1N1 flu months after promoting it in Italy. Really sad as she probably would have had a good future in Korean dramas and movies.

Read More

This is not a positive review. I don’t mind if a drama is not happy but there should be reasons for difficulties in the relationships. The second mains surely had them so you could see their problems a mile away. The mains here the problem were contrived in the usual drama fashion and it was just cliché. It get really tiresome to watch Chinese and Taiwanese dramas wherein the woman must chose between romantic and professional happiness. My mom had to make these decisions back in the 1960s and managed to do both. But we consistently get these goofy dramas from the aforementioned countries. You don’t see this from dramas in general. It’s just nonsense. Japan is hardly distant from China. Also when I took a job that separated me from my family I took a flight to see them every month. It’s not difficult to have long distant relationships now.

Other things I was not wild about was the English speaking actor. He wasn’t a disaster but hardly A list for China. The music was not good. Also anyone with even a year worth of violin lessons would be able to tell NONE of the violin playing is approaching real. I don’t expect it to be but wtf they can’t give them a couple weeks to learn to bow in sync? Also the Vienna Symphony Orchestra does not order a bunch of violins. That’s just comical.

Last, although I know I could come up with other criticisms, despite what others claim this was typical tsundere. The guy bordered on abusive at the beginning. And of course he’s an expert in, let’s count them, violin making, violin musicianship, archery, ice skating, etc. And people wonder why kdramas are more popular.

Read More

Not sure why this drama was involved in a bidding war and why people rate it highly. It’s just and overblown typical kdrama tsundere romcom. Some of the reviews on Viki point out what a jerk the lead male is. I can’t disagree. The problem is the writers can’t distinguish between tsundere and abuse. The lead female, of whom I am a fan, is continuously crying. Both male leads treat her as an object. The support cast almost without exception are a klan of unsympathetic jerks. Also there is often no motivation why they are jerks. Having a hard time completing and can’t believe there are 24 episodes to this

Read More

This is only the second drama I’ve dropped. I just couldn’t put up with how the female lead is portrayed. This is also the second Taiwanese drama on Netflix (and 3rd Chinese language) wherein racial incentive comments are made against black people. And you can’t make argument that Chinese just aren’t exposed to other cultures when they all have smart phones and profess to be tech savvy.

The female lead is so spineless she lets her grandma push her around despite approaching 30 years old. The male lead has no redeeming qualities. The writers attempt to portray him as tsundere but he is fricken dangerous. He puts the female lead’s life and happiness in danger along with kids at the kindergarten. The final straw was a big scene (melo) where we’re supposed to feel happy the guy is doing something a stand up guy should be doing in the first place. Even there the leads are lying to contrive a scene.

My last point is something that bugs me with lots of Asian dramas and why I know the writers probably will suck. It’s when they write the lead’s abilities as godlike. He’s supposed to have a PhD from Oxford, have won the Booker award (I think they mean Mann Booker), be an author of relationship books, and have a radio show. All this while having the maturity of a 14 year old.

Read More

Not to be confused with the good Taiwanese movie of the same name this movie is just dreadful. Supposed to be, I imagine, a movie about women forming a sisterhood. But really it doesn’t do or say much. As a “comedy” it fails miserably. Four women of different walks of life become massagers at, the best I can figure, a resort chain. The plot doesn’t make this entirely clear. I saw this on AsianCrush and whoever they hired added to the failure of the movie. The subs are filled with incorrect English grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Add to that the misuse of words and idioms. The plot includes the female lead at times trying to build a relationship. The point of which is lost on me as it’s not needed and hardly romance . It’s included I don’t know but because that will make them whole? The editing is also really weird and disjointed. That old chestnut that money can’t buy happiness is lost on so many Chinese movies as this one as well as many others says it can. I wouldn’t bother watching if you haven’t.

Read More

I am not a fan of this movie at all. How this was sold to so many international markets is a mystery. People act abysmally to each other with absolutely no consequences. I’m not talking about some moral standard I want to hold the filmmakers to, but rather people’s actions don’t elicit rational responses. One male acts like at dick to his fiancée for 15 years and she takes him back. A female can’t bring herself to say she loves her fiancé but he juuuuust keeps trying to win her heart one day before their cancelled wedding. Another female calls off the wedding and the fiancé wants a hug. This is a modern day fairytale in the extreme.

Read More

As a drama funded by Netflix I had high hopes. On Episode 10 and thus far the pacing is extra slow. It’s beautifully shot and well acted but for the most part pretty lackluster in excitement. I mean I wasn’t expecting car chases or gunfights but it’s really boring. The sub plots lack any sort of interesting payoff. Each of them, thus far, is pretty pedestrian. Sad to say as the idea for the drama is fairly good.

On the up side if you like scenic long shots of the countryside and pan overs of food you won’t be disappointed. Just hasn’t been enough for me.

Read More