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Absurd view on relationships !
Though I really loved the cells , as they gave me an insight into how a person can interpret certain actions and reactions , the main story was very absurd to me ! It may be a copy of webtoon , but that doesn't makes it almighty !The acting is top notch but the characters are absurd ! There is either no growth in the characters , or suddenly they get promoted/become CEO/top writer . The cells are doing all the talking , but there is hardly any interactions between the lead . They are just assuming/ presuming things . They aren't clarifying misunderstandings !
Yumi , is played exceptionally well by Kim Goeun , we can see her projecting all the emotions very well . But , the character itself is very poorly written and not likeable at all . I understand that the writer may have tried to give her a humane touch with her own flaws , but that would have been okay , if she were shown to accept her flaws and move forward with it ! it seems like she thinks of herself as righteous and keeps judging others for their slightest of mistakes ! Her character is very childish , immature , insecure and selfish ! Another conflicting thing is that they have shown her , to keep her bf at first priority whenever she is in love , but that's not what can be interpreted from her behaviour ! She only keeps them at first position till they follow her around . Her bfs can't talk to other girls , can't live in their own place , have to eat what she chooses and can't send her short text messages (she doesn't reacts , but judges them on these stupid criterion)... I mean what the hell is going around , in which century are we living ? Yet they have depicted , her to be very innocent and deserving of all the happiness , even the guys who have dumped her keep returning to her ! Though I am glad that they started showing her faults in flashbacks in the later half of the season .
I won't recommend this to anybody ,who is looking for romance drama , as the romance here is very shallow , only sticks to few steamy scenes , while the characters are actually not even trusting each other fully ! The character graph here dint make any sense to me ! If you are here to enjoy the anime and the conversation the cells are having , go for it !
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Boring AF
This is absolutely boring and not worthy of your time kinda series , and this is coming from someone who is Park Min young's fan ! This is the worst show in her whole career ! I Just want to know , what made her choose this script . There is nothing to act here at all.... They are just either looking each other without any expressions or staring the screens and doing a weather monitoring !I liked how this show picked up and the various instances where it compares romance with weather ! but then that's all.. there is nothing more to this show ! The characters are badly written ! Both the Fl and SFL are annoying and dot know how to handle their relationships and yet both are being shown as victim ! FL is dominating and expressionless , while SFL is a liar and cheater , still they both have been shown upper hand in their relationships ! Parents (FL+ML)are all annoying !
In short their is no character that will make you fall in love with it , nor it has any other element to watch it !
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Watch it only for good acting and beautiful screenplay
This may be a non-conventional review , but I dint like this series at all , even though I am a hard core Junho fan !I am not going to comment on the acting , as its the only thing that kept me going ! Not only the leads the supporting cast was beautiful and competent too ! Also the background score and screenplay is beautiful ! -- Thats the only good !
People are talking about the story being good and real ! Yes it is , but that story is worth only 4-5 episodes ! The rest of the series is draggy and full of longing ! Agree that the real story was sad , and the writers stick to it , but that doesn't means that their entire life was filled with sadness ! There are very less romance or happy moments for that matter ! The FL is highly annoying and confused and filled with self pity , which makes her own as well as the kings life miserable ! Now this isn't mentioned anywhere is history , is it ? Her characterisation is very poor , she is spoken to be humble and free-spirited , but shown to be selfish and impudent and manipulative ! She is comparing herself with the king at all times ! I know patriarchy exists but so does roles and responsibilities ! U cant compare people having diff roles ! Dialogues are intense but too draggy and repetitive ! The leads are only fighting and hurting each other ! one cant really feel their love accept in the beginning when they are saving each other ! Also they havent shown his first queen at all , more than that his accomplishments as a benevolent king are only talked about ! Not shown at all !
If the writers ought to make the love story this sad , they could have made the palace drama more interesting !
I love emotional dramas , but this was a tough watch for me , took me forever to complete !
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Not a cliche. Loved how it started ,but then got boring
I have watched only 20 episodes , but i am already impressed. This is not a typical ordinary romance cdrama . All the characters have their own ups and downs and it essenrially doesnt focuses on only the lead couples srories . Not a cliche bossy president and damsel in distress story . I just adore crystal zhang and xu kaicheng for their top notch acting. The emotions come out so real . Even the village setup is too good . Other characters also fit in their respective roles . The story revolves around a bunch of friends all having different jobs and roles in the city oh shanghai . They help each other , fight , love . Overall its a must watch , waiting for the rest of the episodes anxiously.And the rest of the episodes spoilt it for me ! The female lead was too fragile , everyone was attacking her ... it was too annoying !
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Heart Warming and Satisfying
Brilliant Concept and lovely execution . I won't say that its the best of the series , but its very satisfying and the loop holes get covered by the brilliant performances by the cast . The ending was just amazing ! I gave it a 10 on 10 coz I really enjoyed it a lot.All the 4 main characters were phenomenal !
Song Dong ll - What a lovely portrayal of his character . He is an amazing character and the favourite ahjusshi of K-dramas !
Ji Chang Wook - Haven't seen a K-drama actor better than him ! He is just absolutely amazing , he can act only with his eyes . Every damn expression is so readable.
Choi Soo young - This is my first time watching her and she was a treat . This is called a strong female lead , not the annoying ones K-dramas usually have. She was a very loveable characters.
Won Ji An - She has a great reach as a performer , just like JCW . She acted crazy , emotional , broken and happy and was amazing with all her scenes.
So far the series I have seen , I can say that this series in one of the best in this genre !! Highly recommended .
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Beyond expectations
Honestly , I wasn't expecting it to be this good !!There were a lot of characters , so not being Korean , I was really struggling hard to understand the names and who is who for the first 4-5 episodes , but there was something about this series , which kept me drawn into this !!
Although its a legit rom-com , but romance is not the baseline , they did stick to their theme of focusing on people who clean stars' messes ! Despite being a dark theme , the series came out quite fun , without even mocking or rebuking any particular job or set of people ! It is very well written and intrigues the viewers into knowing how the background stuff really happens .
So many characters/couples having their own romances , and they were just all very cute . They probably covered all types of romances , friends turned enemies turned lovers , workplace romance , romance kindling after a kiss , unrequited love and a quick fall into love . There were so many good and happy things going around mostly . The times of crisis were really handled well by the efficient PR team working in the background :) . No un-necessary misunderstandings between the leads and sub leads , like other dramas. This drama got me some extra endorphins :)
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Decent 1 time watch
Though I liked watching this series , but it has no elements whatsoever to increase its rewatch value !It was happy-happy series for me , with no negative or annoying characters at all ! There were few that will annoy you for some time like ji-yul , hae-rin and FL as well , but its quite temporary. They are all quite decent and everyday characters , whom you can connect with very well !
That being said , I was not very happy with the work ethics shown here .. The only people who looked and behaved like at work was the ML , Hae-rin and director Go ! I loved how dir Go's character was written , she was strict but not a bitch ! but then I had no sympathies with the FL at all . I mean she lied on her resume , she was bound to face consequences . The work culture is much more stricter than that , you cannot do emotional talks at work ! We have seen people go through much more than she did ! We have seen people working their heart out along with being mothers and taking care of their house hold ! I m not saying that its not tough , but I could not connect with her , since I have seen worst ! Also the obsession over her , at workplace , felt out of the place , I mean she was just a task support contractual employee ! and people were seen missing her , when the fridge was out of juices .. like seriously !! There should have been more real time scenarios , so that the audience could connect and miss her !
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One of the best Koream Action/Romance
I loved JCW in lovestruck in the city and came here to see if he is actually capable.... and damn he surprises me yet again ! I have no words to describe his performance . He can easily slip into any character , here he quickly transforms from a frivolous fighter to a cute reporter in training !I will not talk about plot holes , since they are there in every drama ,... the main thing is how much you enjoyed it !!
The character sketches of all the cast is written in a very special way ! You can watch them grow together. The main thing is the characters grow on you and you don't find any of them annoying ! The FL is definitely fragile physically , but she is very strong mentally ! Not all men and women are made of steel. People should learn to accept weak characters as well , and here its only physical weakness !
Other characters are also very well written , the flashbacks are placed perfectly . There is no reason to not binge this series .
One of the best K drama series I have seen so far , and believe me i have watched more than 50 now !! ;)
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Enchanting ride to the world of magic and music !
I cannot really explain in words how enchanted I was , throughout the series !There are so many real world messages portrayed beautifully through this fantasy drama. Messages like :
Flowers do not bloom on smooth asphalt paths , they do in mud and dirt.
Help those , who reach out for your help !
Do what you want to do , along with the things you don't want to do .
World treats differently to different people .
Poverty is not the only pain !
Happiness cannot be measured by success .
and many more ....
This was my first musical drama , and i really felt connected to all the emotions that were paved through music . i dint want to skip a second even after the language barrier . The songs are so well written and most of them are sung by the original cast , which makes it even more connecting !
For once I could connect with each character and none felt annoying . The 3 main characters were astounding , and stood well in their places . Performance wise I feel they all did well !
Ji changWook was an epitome of elegance and mystery as a magician who wasnt understood by the world , probably because he was someone who wasnt successful in the eyes of the people ! He wanted to be happy and help others , when they cry out for help ! He went under the skin of the character . He was this sweet innocent kid at one instance , an elegant magician at another and a crazy man at yet another !! He has undefined charms which no other actor can compare .
Hwang in yeop was a perfect high schooler , with good grades and amazing looks ! But he felt short of happiness , along the path he was following ! He portrayed someone who was in search of love and happiness , someone whom the world considers perfect and lucky , but who is hurting deep inside to be imprisoned and not to be able to find is own way .
Choi Sung Eun was a poverty striken girl working hard to keep the ends meet ! At first she felt pathetic of her situation , but gradually she accepted it , and learned to walk a happy path along it ! A read few reviews saying she was not speaking up , but i think that was totally understandable , she was a poor girl with nobody to take care off , she wss just scared ! I think she played it really very well !
All the side characters did exceptionally well too !
I feel sad when people try to find logic in fantasy ! Guys this is tagged as fantasy for a reason . This drama almost answers all the open question , while few are left for the viewers imagination , which is what a fantasy does , as everyone's fantasy and imaginations and the way to perceive things are different ! Specially questions like was he a real magician ? According to me he wasnt , as Ah-yi also said that he could not take her out of her situation but he tried to do his best to cheer her up !
It dint let me down for a moment , so here I am giving it a 10/10 . Enjoy :)
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Doesnt suits the title at all , watch it only for good acting
Talking about the goods - The acting is amazing ! and the dialogues are intriguing , makes you to suspect everyone around !Talking about the bads - Well the story itself ! It looked like an end at episode 7 . The title is beyond evil , but in the end the death is just an accident !!!!!! I know of course its a crime and more so trying to cover it up ! But how is it beyond evil ???
I wished they pulled off a better psychopath story or ended the story at the 8th episode , by making the psychopath the only killer ! They continued the political drama , ahead of the psychopath story and killed the pace of the story !
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No story to back the sizzling chemistry.
Despite being a huge fan of Junho and Yoona couple (I really loved them when the performed señorita together ) , I am writing this review , as the story is just pathetic.There was no element except romance till episode 9 . Nothing that will hook you to the screen . There was nothing to act as well , for such power packed performers , except smile , fake smile and real smile (duhhh). I liked the girl friend bond , but I think they kept the story revelation to the last part of the show (I hope , if at all) , but they should understand , who is going to watch it without any element. At least they could have shown any 1 of the friends' story anything for that matter . Junho totally forgets why he joined the hotel . And female lead character is the worst , this is common to all chaebol K-dramas though , they would act nonchalant in front of the boss , while are submissive with others. Here also the female lead is impudent even when she had done wrong to him . (Calling him a pervert , then using his washroom etc) , although she is easily told off by rest of the employees. If she wasn't favoured by Junho's sister , she would have still been wiping the sweat off .
Anyways had to drop off the show , Cant waste my time over something as rubbish as this one.
I wish such talented actors choose good scripts ahead.
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Fresh concept , good execution
TBH , This was a good amalgamation of rom-com , sci-fi and drama .I know many critics might not agree here (Judging by the previous reviews ) . I too hesitated to watch it , precisely for 2 reasons .... 1. the reviews were bad 2. The poster made me question the chemistry of the leads , But this drama was like a breath of fresh air for me . I was off late very miffed with rich man poor girl rom coms , having annoying female lead . It was so refreshing to see a different and a new concept , where also the female lead was strong and not a damsel in distress . The ML also liked her for her strength and capabilities . There were little to no misunderstandings , even when they both were doing their own things (There was 1 which they handled very maturely without much fuss) .
Coming on acting , JCW has never failed to impress me , every expression he has is so controlled and specific , that he is able to convey all his emotions just by his eyes . I cried with him ! I loved the FL too , I wasn't expecting her to b this good . Having said that there were 2 other characters that amazed me , go nam tae and Dong chan's niece . They were both so good . They had some amazing dialogues that would immediately send a jitter across your spine .
There is just 1 thing I dint like about this series was the proper closure on villains . There was no trace of them, It was mentioned that they were imprisoned . It would have been better if the showed them paying for their sins. Going on the technicality part , I know few things must have sound unrealistic , but guys nothing is realistic in drama world (Goblins , mermaids , grim reapers all are unrealistic to begin with , but we still like the drama , right !) , the thing that's important is how much u enjoyed watching it . And this was 1 drama where I wasn't annoyed for 1 bit , even by the SFL SML , coz everything was so controlled and nothing was overboard imo.
Its not a conventional story , give it a chance !!
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Good plot but dissapointing portrayal !
TBH I liked the plot , initially , thats why i got intrigued into watching this after checking out the trailor ! And also i have liked other works of park bo young , so just thought of giving it a shot , but to my dismayal , there is nothing more in this series !There are no good elements to support the plot , instead the story line also gets super boring and messy later. This could have easily finished in 8 episodes easily . all they were doing was running recklessly here and there !! The FL was selfish and weak , she was only good with her brain ! but she was only shouting and running , even after the knowing that the serial killer is after her and the ML was always chasing behind her to rescue her ! and all that was happening on a repeat ! For once i felt that the role dint suit PBY , she could not do justice to it ! Also it was clear that she dint like the ML , coz of his face , they tried to make it like feel like genuine feelings later , but it wasnt convincing enough ! And what was that with the ending ??? The ball disappeared when she took the pregnancy test ??? like reallly ???? Shouldnt it disappear either when she conceived or when she delivered ?
All the characters were super annoying and not well written or developed . ML sometimes becomes smart and sometimes super dumb , as per the convenience . Same for FL and SFL , both are annoying and selfish as hell. I don't blame the actors as they did the good job , but in a show at least few characters needs to be loveable , right ?
In short there was nothing to like about this series in my opinion except for few romantic scenes ! :)
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Intense start , but fails to entertain in any aspect later
I would say that this was a wasted potential . The actors were all so good , but the story was all over the place . Even their deal seemed senseless to me !Things I liked :
1. They took time is showing their emotional connect , though much time hadn't passed in real , it was only 3months they knew each other, but on screen chemistry was too good.
2. The actors were very good in exhibiting their emotions.
3. Even after he died , they gave some time to show her feelings and how she waited for him , trying to restart her life.
4. Messages were nice and apt.
5. No rushed endings
Things i disliked :
1. To begin with the deal between them was ridiculous AF.
2. God was doing just unnecessary things , pulling him away from her life them sowing the seeds of their love. :|
3. The story was all over uninteresting after they fall in love.
4, Overuse of words like 'die' , 'disappear' , 'not exist'.
5. Why was she preparing to die when it was obvious that he is the one who will die.
6. Emotions were good but romance should have been better to go with those emotions !
7. the main story was sad , the second leads could have been interesting to keep the temp . but They were plain sad too !!
All in all , as much a i like the actors and their chemistry , the story was boring for me after mid-way !
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Easy watch
Well nothing brilliant about this series , but then not so bad either !The main concept is very cliched , though it is executed very well .
For once did I like the character of the female lead ! She was actually a kind hearted woman.. not like in most Kdramas , though I dint like it from the acting perspective ! You know what I mean ... the character is nice but the actress could have done better job , she was really annoying in the first few episodes , in the way which she behaves ! Also I felt PSJ wasn't utilised well ... he dint had much to do , in fact the SML had a better role ! Its not a SML syndrome for me though , it was love- hate relationship with this character for me !
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