‘’Pigs are born to be torn into pieces’’

The King of Pigs is a 2022 korean series based on the animated film with the same name that got released in 2011. I think the best way to write this review is by dividing it into three parts, taking into consideration the three different stories that get interconnected throughout the series.

The past: A part of the series takes place during the school years of our protagonists, showing the difficulties they had to endure. From a technical aspect, the directing, colour grading and cinematography are phenomenal. Acting-wise, it was a very good call to not choose older actors to portray the characters and personally I ended up being fascinated with the performances of all the young actors, without a single exception. I would dare say that their performances were haunting, in a way that it was sometimes a bit disturbing to watch. However, if I had to pick the best performance, then it would be that of Choi Hyun Jin who portrayed Kim Chul, the mysterious third friend of our main protagonists. Plot wise, this is the most interesting part of the series, since it is veiled with mystery and it is focusing on the darkness of human nature in a very raw manner. It reminded me of the saying that "the school is a miniature society".

The Present: The present story changes between the serial killings that are being orchestrated by Hwang Kyung Min and the investigation from the police done by Jung Jong Suk, an old friend of the killer.

The killings: From a technical point of view this part is also quite well done, with some very good editing and a darker colour palette. The acting is excellent, especially Kim Dong Wook’s performance as the bullied child that decides to take revenge from his bullies. The other actors also did a very good job, with two of them standing out the most; Oh Min-Suk portraying the adult Kang Min and Bae Yoo-Ram portraying the adult version of Park Chan-Young. Plot wise, this part of The King of Pigs is quite well-written, keeping the viewer on the edge of their sit with all the brutality and the darkness of the human nature that is being showcased. It also raises some dilemmas regarding justice and what it really is.

The investigation: Unfortunately, all good things come to an end with the investigation being the weakest part of the drama. From a technical aspect, the directing and cinematography are pretty lacklustre. There are some scenes that are way too bright or don’t fit with the atmosphere they have created. There are also scenes were the colours are way too bold, like the parts with the coroner where the blue colour looks unnatural. Many times it felt like they were trying too hard to create an atmosphere to fit the dark aura of the series, but since they didn’t manage to do it, it ended up feeling artificial. Acting wise it is not anything extraordinary with the performance of Kim Sung-Kyu (Jung Jong-Suk) being the only noteworthy one.

Chae Jung-An starring as Kang Jin Ah ruins this series the most for me. Her performance is pretty bad, since she is having only two expressions in the entire show no matter what is happening. Every time she was on screen I got reminded that this is a series and she is an actress trying to portray her character and failing. Plot wise, the investigation is also the weakest part. There are things happening way too conveniently to make the story move forward and once again the character of the female police officer that is being portrayed by Kang Jin Ah has no reason of existence. She is being used time and time again from the writer to make the plot move forward and as a result her actions are nonsensical.

One last thing I want to mention is the lack of censorship. The King of Pigs deals with many triggering topics involving murder, bullying, sexual harassment, suicide, animal cruelty and yet it is not your typical kdrama where everything is blurred. With the exception of one scene, where censorship was necessary, everything else is being shown in its most violent form. The fact that the series doesn’t shy away from brutal and bloody scenes is a huge plus, taking into consideration the topics in discussion.

All in all, the king of pigs could have been a phenomenal series with fantastic performances, if they focused on the past and the serial killings and not on the police investigation, a weakly executed part in almost all aspects.

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Snow during spring

"A masterpiece may be in someone's possession for a while, but once its purpose is done, it goes to the next person."

Sometimes when you are looking at a work of art, many different emotions overcome you and iribito is exactly like a work of art. It can't be really explained with words. It is like a painting with vivid and dark colors that makes you feel the complexity of human nature and the beauty of human creations. Its atmosphere is unsettling and suffocating, but at the same time liberating and cruelly beautiful. Takamura Naho is mesmerizing, assertive and infatuated with art, while Shirane Tatsuru is ethereal, passionate and unbelievably creative. They complement each other in a way that resembles human creations. Those creations are made by human beings and can only be appreciated by other human beings.

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Missing Person: Nanno

SPOILER FREE

I don't want this to be too long so I will get to the point. Even though it was quite an easy watch with some interesting elements here and there, there were three main problems in this season. One was that the writers and the team tried to have a more ''sophisticated directing'' that was decent, but at the same time tiring and didn't evoke the unsettling felling that season one gave off. The second problem was that I felt like they were out of ideas. Most of the episodes had very similar elements to episodes from season one and felt repetitive and sometimes even draggy or unnecessary. The biggest problem in this season though, was Nanno herself. She was barely there in some of the episodes and the drastic change of her character, even though there were clues that it was going to happen, felt hasty and abrupt.

I saw many people wanting to find out Nanno's backstory, who or what she is, but I personally don't. One of the best parts of this series is the fact that we don't know anything about her. She is ''The girl from nowhere'' and I want her to stay that way or at least if we were to find out what she is I would prefer it to be in the last episodes of the series. The unknown is much more horrifying than the known.

Episodes ranking:
8 -> 6 ->7 -> 5 -> 4 -> 1 -> 3 -> 2

SPOILERS
My personal ranking of the episodes from best to worst:

Episode 8: This episode was a breath of fresh air comparing to the rest and it was imo by far the best. It was bloody, had a plot twist that was rapidly revealed and an unsettling atmosphere. It was also the episode that made me realize that in the modern world, most people would prefer revenge and not karma.

Episode 6: Easily the most visually pleasing episode of the whole season. Nanno gave a speech about rules in the beginning of it, but it was much more than that. It was about cutting off whatever is different. It was about strict regulations and societal rules that make people unable to breath and how difficult it is to get them out of your life, without becoming a monster. It was about a dark and white world that doesn't want any colors and doesn't need anyone to be unique. I also liked the Junji Ito vibes that this had regarding Nanno.

Episode 7: Sarcasm about social media, how they work and that sometimes we are able to do awful things for some views from people that we may not even know. Also about appreciating our life no matter how it is.

Episode 5: Easily the most fucked up episode of the season. It was certainly intriguing, but also unsettling. I liked the fact that it was basically a social commentary about the principle of "respecting people older than you", that doesn't only apply in school, but also in every part of people's life and it is fundamental in many Asian countries. One of the main reasons this is in the top four is because of Aim, that played Kaye. He was phenomenal and he portrayed every single emotion with just a look.

Episode 4: Interesting episode and the main introduction of Yuri. Frankly, they could have handled it way better, so that her appearance would be more mysterious, but they didn't.

Episode 1: First half of the episode was great. James is an amazing actor and he was really good in this role. Unfortunately second half felt draggy and repetitive and it reminded me of the first episode of the first season. It became a little ridiculous after a bit, like a badly written wattpad fan-fiction.

Episode 3: One of the most interesting concepts in this season. Unfortunately I didn't really like the execution nor the acting, but the idea was really good and it reminded me of season 1. This could be way higher in my ranking, but when a good concept is not handled correctly, it is even worse than a bad concept being handled in a bad way.

Episode 2: I liked the message of the episode, that love is love no matter what, but that's the only thing I enjoyed. This was the equivalent of the TK episode in season 1. It felt draggy and the main reason was not just the story, but the fact that it felt out of place. In the TK episode Nanno played a fundamental role and she did try to destroy TK, but since he was a good person she couldn't. In this one, it felt like she didn't have any bad intentions from the beginning and that could be explained by the change of her character, but if that is the case then it shouldn't have been the second episode of the series. However, since Yuri was introduced there wasn't a choice for this episode to be the 4th or the 5th of the season. If this episode didn't exist at all I would prefer it, since in only 8 episodes, I expected to see Nanno acting like herself.

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It's been a while

SPOILER FREE
Everyone can appreciate some aspects of this drama, like the acting or the OST, but plot-wise this is not a drama for everyone. Beyond Evil is a character-driven drama, that some may find slow paced. Anyone who likes multilayered and morally gray characters will appreciate it. The acting (especially from the two main leads) is probably one of the best I have seen.

SPOILERS
It's been a while since I saw such an intriguing series. Was it perfect without even a single flaw? No. However the flaws were minor, so I didn't really care about them.

Beyond Evil is a gripping drama from the beginning. There are not enough words to express how much I loved watching this series. The plot is very well written and the characters are so interesting and complex. The acting is outstanding. Shin Ha Kyun delivered one of the best performances I have ever seen. He is an amazing actor, and Yeo Jin Goo was such a great choice to play Han Joo Won. I don't know who thought of putting Shin Ha Kyun and Yeo Jin Goo together in a series, but whoever did, thank you very much! This series would definitely not be the same without this great cast and the phenomenal chemistry of the two main leads.

Generally, I don't pay too much attention to the directing, since most of the times it is good or at least decent. Nonetheless, it was impossible not to notice the great directing of this series. I loved how it was like seeing the POV of another character and it led the viewers to certain assumptions to distract them from the truth. The color tones were all so dark yet not too dark, which made the series even more appealing and disturbing (especially in the first episodes). The OST fits the series in an unimaginably good way.

Did this get draggy, tiring or just not as good comparing to the first half? Kind of, but it was inevitable. This isn't a series that reveals everything on the last episode, so of course every single clue added a piece to the puzzle and when things started getting clearer it was natural for the series to not be as mysterious as it was in the first episodes.

What I really loved, is the fact that everything was revealed slowly but surely and we didn't wait till the last episode to find out who the killer is.

I loved how Beyond Evil tackled many issues like the stigma that follows a falsely accused person or the pain that people who are left behind are going through.

Am I being objective giving this series a prefect 10? Probably not, but reviews are not objective anyways and this is a series that I will remember for quite a long time, so why not?

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High expectations are the key to disappointment

This is going to be a rant/review with the length of an essay, so friendly reminder that this is my personal opinion. I intended to make this spoiler-free, but I just had to mention a few scenes that made me roll my eyes in the plot/characters and directing part of my review.

Remember 15 was one of my most anticipated series of the year and it did disappoint me in almost all aspects possible. Before ranting, I want to mention the two things that I liked about it.

Promotion: I want to applaud the team that was responsible for the promotion of this series. The posters, especially the first one, were some of the best I have ever seen. The official teaser prepared the viewer for a suspenseful, gory series that would also focus on the characters and their stories and it was very well edited.

Acting: The portrayal of the characters from their respective actors was probably the best thing this series had to offer. They all did a decent job, taking into consideration the fact that the characters were not that well-written.

Now to the rant:

Directing: I usually don't pay that much attention to the directing, since in most series it is neither praise-worthy nor rant-worthy. However, in this case things are different. If someone told me, they changed the director after the first two-three episodes I would probably believe them. Even though it felt like it got improved in some way (not that it was good, but not as bad) the way they shot the first few episodes was amateurish at best. There were some shaky camera movements, even in scenes that there was no reason for the camera to be shaky (basically scenes where they were just standing and not running). Some unneeded (and shaky) close-ups, that not only did not create the atmosphere they aimed for, but also made the scene look even more ridiculous. Some outrageous shots that were filmed badly - worse than when I was filming a commercial for school-. There is this one scene where two characters are face to face and it is supposed to be intense, but the camera angle allows the viewer to see half of the face of one of the characters and not even that well, because her hair was getting in the way. And let’s not forget the scene when Fone lost her eye from the branch of a tree. That branch went so deep that it should have destroyed her eye completely, yet someone thought ‘’let’s make the screen red, to show that Fone is seeing red from the blood that she lost'', when she is not supposed to see anything, because her eye is gone!

Make-up: After watching the teaser of the series, I expected a decent amount of gory scenes and there were some, but the way they did the make-up was pretty bad in many of the cases. As a result it felt fake and it ruined the gore aspect that was supposed to be one of the main themes of Remember 15. Frankly, there are many times that I, and probably many other viewers, have seen some pretty bad CGI or some pretty bad make-up scenes (with a very recent example being Under the Skin). However, unlike those dramas, Remember 15 should have some realistic gory scenes to make the plot and the atmosphere work.

Plot/Characters: I wouldn’t mind that much if the plot was perfect and all the other aspects were lacking, but even the script was not well-written. The series has basically two timelines, one happening in the past and one taking place in the island. As a viewer, I anticipated some suspenseful scenes in the events happening in the island, but unexpectedly, the past of the characters was much more interesting to watch. Generally, the majority of the plot and the actions of the characters made no sense. I know I should throw my brain out of the window, when I have to, so I can enjoy a series, but this one was so outrageously stupid at some points that it was hilarious and a bit insulting to watch. The characters' reactions made no sense. Everything worked as a plot tool to make the story develop -if I can call that development-.
Everyone is so emotionless and their reactions (or to be more precise the lack of them) make no sense. People are dying and everyone is so calm! In one of the scenes Bozo (or another male character, I don’t remember) finds Bew with blood on his hands and with a dead body near him (that probably has no head left, because Bew smashed it with a rock) and he looks calmer than when I am having a walk in the park. People get severely injured, but they survive and can function properly, when the script says so, but others with less serious injuries can’t even walk straight. The characters' reactions are very fake and the way they act changes so drastically, in a way that it feels like they change their whole personalities. Therefore no matter what they do, you don't really feel anything about them. Some of them are okay, but the majority is just bland, the kind of 'I don't care even if they die' kind of bland.

The pace: Unfortunately the pacing of the series was another huge problem. I could call the first half of the series a guilty pleasure, but after some point it became very draggy. The thing is, that when you are making a slow paced series, you must know how to handle everything to make the viewer interested in what is taking place on the small screen. In this one, they apparently didn’t know how to do that. There are many scenes that last minutes, even though they don’t add anything to the atmosphere or to the plot and the sole purpose of their existence is to make the episode last longer.
Remember 15 could easily be a movie or a short five-episode series. I felt like they wanted to make this deep, emotional and at the same time engaging and suspenseful, but it ended up being extremely boring. As a result I watched the second part of the series in double speed and I felt like I was watching it in its regular pace.

This is trying to be a character-driven horror series with some social commentaries here and there, but it is failing miserably in all aspects. After having watched the WeTV Thai original series After Dark, I expected a similar atmosphere as that one. If you have watched that series, you will know what a disturbing atmosphere really means. It managed to balance good acting, chilling atmosphere and also make some social commentary, while this one just wanted to do so and never achieved it. Is this horror? No and I don’t know If they really aimed for it.

All in all, Remember 15 had an interesting concept, but the execution lacked in almost all aspects and for me, it does not deserve your time, especially if you are looking for a horror series. Try After Dark or some other Thai series with a similar theme, like The stranded.

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Thai horror strikes again!

I think reading reviews and critics of anthologies is one of the funniest things ever, cause every single person can have a completely different opinion on an episode and a story. You can read someone saying “this is easily the best episode in the anthology” and right after someone else mentioning “this was the worst episode in the series” and they both can be right at the same time.

This is not the first horror anthology I have watched, and certainly not the first Thai horror anthology, but it is easily one of the best.

As a whole, I can only say that the series was extremely entertaining and very easy to watch. In other words, a binge-worthy drama. That aside, the directing/cinematography was great in the majority -if not all- of the stories and the atmosphere was as dark as it should be for a horror series.

I can’t really judge the other aspects without mentioning each episode individually, but generally there were some great performances in some of the episodes and also some pretty bad ones. Some stories were great, others not so much, but I think everyone will find at least one they will like.

This is a horror anthology though and there is only one main question; Is it scary?
Honestly, I don’t think I am the right person to answer this, since I rarely get scared -due to years long experience when it comes to horror lol-. However, I will mention that there is some shocking imagery and there are quite a few well done violent/gore scenes, so yes, I would say that for people that are not really that much into horror, the series may be scary or at least disturbing and "I'll cover my eyes" worthy.

There are definitely a lot of horror tropes used (haunted houses, murders, spirits etc.) and some predictable moments, but the series also has some pretty well done endings and it is undoubtedly fun to watch. So, for horror fans, you will certainly have a good time, be it because you had fun or you were hate watching.


My favorite episodes:
- Our Little Sister (episode 1)
- The Vow (episode 4)
- Viral Curse (episode 8)

My least favorite episodes:
- Spectral Class (episode 5)
- Dear Granny (episode 7)

Best episode directing/cinematography wise:
- Our Little Sister (episode 1)

Best episode acting wise:
- The Vow (episode 4)

Funniest + most extra episode:
- Spectral Class (episode 5): I swear, the scriptwriter was high when he was writing this.

The most unique -in terms of horror- episode:
- The Vow (episode 4)

The most psychological horror episode:
- Viral Curse (episode 8)

The most graphic episodes in terms of violence:
- Ode to my Family (episode 3) + This also gets the “best title award”
- Wedding Dress (episode 2) + This one had also Tim Burton vibes
(+ I could also add Spectral Class, but it was way too ridiculous for me to do so...)

Performances that stood out to me the most:
- Care as Milk (Wedding Dress)
- Gee as Nat (The Vow)
- Smile as Dao (The Vow)
- Bee as Montha (Dear Granny)
- Nina as Ple (Viral Curse)
- Maralyn as Kaew (Viral Curse)
- Nat as Bird (Girl Next Door)
- Piglet as Jane (Girl Next Door)

All in all, this -along with the After Dark Thai anthology (free promotion, cause that series is way too underrated)- is a must for horror fans and it manages to be entertaining from beginning to end, making it a binge-worthy drama (that I hope gets a second season).

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What makes us human?

Nowadays, good psychological thrillers are like the money you have left at the end of the month; not enough.
And here we have Lesson in Murder that not only managed to be compelling from beginning to end, but also had the ideal dark atmosphere that a film in this genre must have.

As a fun of ''darker films'' (and as a way to defy my parents when I was young) I have watched my fair share of disturbing/bloody scenes and I no longer get shocked easily.
However, in some peculiar way this film managed to disturb me, even though it didn't have neither the most bloody nor the most disturbing scenes I have watched (especially make-up wise).

Is the blood and human despair enough to make a good psychological thriller though? Certainly not. There is also acting, directing and an actual -non bloody- plot. But let's start from the beginning.

Abe Sadawo that portrayed the serial killer Haimura was simply phenomenal. His facial expressions in combination with his emotionless eyes was just a disturbing image in itself. It literally felt like I was watching an emotionless shell trying to be compassionate. Mizukami Koshi also did a pretty good job in his role as well as (most of) the rest of the cast.

Plot wise the movie was complex and intriguing enough without being hard to understand. It managed to explore the darkest corners of the human mind, without trying too hard and it had a great balance between plot and characters. I would definitely recommend to anyone that may be reading this to not watch the trailer or read the whole synopsis before watching it.

And there is something else I personally loved and I know that most of the times it can end up being a disaster. I am talking about the so called ''filler scenes''. The movie had some scenes that seem unecessary at first, but as the film progressed everything ended up being equally important.

Last, but certainly not least, the directing and cinematography were great. They gave the film that last spice that was needed to make it better than your average psychological thriller. It was dark, but not too dark, disturbing without trying too hard, symbolic without being too on the nose.

Even though it is not flawless, mostly when it comes to the make up/hairstyling department and some deliberate misdirections, the film ticked all the right boxes -dark atmosphere, engaging plot, good acting- that definitely differentiates it from many movies in the same genre and personally speaking it has just been way too long since I watched something this satisfying.

P.S. To my fellow Through the Darkness and Beyond Evil lovers, you will enjoy this a lot!

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Blood and Flesh

I have been trying to come up with a catchy first sentence to begin this review for the past hour, but I can't think of anything satisfying enough, so here we go.

Execution-wise the movie is splendid in all aspects from cinematography and directing to acting and music.
Unexpectedly it doesn't even feel draggy, even though it runs for two and a half hours.
However for some reason I don't feel like mentioning any of this is important, because it doesn't really matter comparing to the plot and what it felt like watching it.

Hunger deals with the theme of greed and the chasm between the poor and the rich. It doesn't romanticise anything and at some points it feels raw to a point that as a viewer I felt depressed, frustrated and angry but not in a way that it made it difficult to watch. It doesn't have any type of ''fairy-tale'' plot or the cliché of ''food made with love beats everything''.
It focuses on the importance of the choices that people make for themselves and how easy it is to turn into a person you hate.

Even though it doesn't feel preachy, I feel like they could tone it down a bit more to have a better balance.
I would definitely like a different ending, but it didn't degrade the rest of the film.

"The poor eat simply to satisfy their hunger, but when you have more than enough to eat your hunger doesn't end".

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LIVƎ

"Hell is empty and all the devils are here"

Dear lovers of the dark side,

This is a tale that not everyone can stomach.

Boody, disturbing and daring, this doesn’t follow the typical routes.

Don't spoil yourself (and don't rush to judge it), because you will miss the fun.

It may not be perfect, but you will enjoy the dark elements and the twists and turns.

Just be careful not to gaze too long into the abyss.

Don't miss it (if you can take it)

Sleep safe,
Dark Side Cult Member

P.S. You better be watching or I will be watching (you)

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"On the backside of the moon, there was not even a single ray of light."

"I have someone that I want to make happy, but if that person really finds happiness then I won’t be needed by anyone in this world."

Human darkness was always something that fascinated people and Byakuyako portrays two of the most interesting and complicated characters I have ever watched, that have fallen into the abyss. It focuses on two pathetic human beings, Yukiho and Ryoji that are trapped in their past and guilt. Their relationship can’t be defined with a simple word. It is not love, nor friendship. It is a complicated connection between two scarred humans that found someone to rely on. Like the sun and the moon, Yukiho and Ryoji are meant to exist in the same universe and offer comfort and rest to one another, but without being able to truly exist at the same time.

"After that, I told lies upon lies. This way, I lost every bit of the truth."

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Two years ago, this would be ground-breaking

Like many people, I have been waiting for this series to air for way too long. I have been through all the airing dates, the delays, the rumoured cancellations, the teasers, the trailers, everything. Even though, it’s been a few days since KinnPorsche finished airing, I wanted to write this review, because I waited way too long to watch this series. I will try to make it as less tiring as possible.

I haven’t read the book, so my thoughts are solely based on what I watched, how I experienced it and my expectations. So excluding the first two episodes that were worse that my physics teacher in high school, below are my thoughts for the rest of the series.

Directing & Cinematography
With a few exceptions, I would say that there were quite a few visually pleasing scenes and for the most part the directing was very well done. I liked the lighting they used and the framing.

Fight scenes
The fight scenes were a huge problem for me. Some were good enough to entertain me and others were ridiculous. Besides the sounds that sounded fake most of the times, but well they were much better that some other Thai series I have watched, there were other problems.
One of those problems was the camera movements. I get why some directors like shaking the camera to create tension, even though I don’t agree, but you need to know how to do that. Showing me a wall when there is a fight scene is not the right way to do it! Making me dizzy and confused about what is happening is also a huge miss. Plus, when the fighting scenes are not well choreographed, don’t use full shots! How am I supposed to get into the fight scenes, when I see people standing there pretending to fight the air, because the protagonist must win, even though they could have easily killed him like nine times?

OST
For me, "Why Don’t You Stay" by Jeff Satur was definitely the highlight of the original soundtrack. No lies, I am basically obsessed with this song. The instrumental and the opening song were also quite nice to hear.

Product Placement
It’s a Thai series, I don’t know why I expected something better…


Plot
So, here lies the biggest problem. I haven’t read the book, so after watching the trailer, I had certain expectations. I was waiting for a plot driven series with a sprinkle of same-sex relationships. What I got was romance with a sprinkle of nonsensical wattpad-like plot.
Ok, let’s be honest, the plot makes no sense. Like at all. Porsche is acting like a three-year-old, being irresponsible af and the mafia is being way too cool about it. There are way too many things that don’t make sense, but I will not mention them, because of spoilers.

Humour
Oh God, I hated it. To be honest, it is a hit or miss, I personally didn’t like it at all, with that fish scene being quite disturbing (still hoping that those fish were fake). Imagine my shock, when I was expecting to watch a serious mafia-based plot and the first four episodes -at least- had so many comedic scenes that felt like they were there just to make the episodes longer.

Acting
Before talking about the actual acting, where the hell did they even find so many good looking people? WHERE? All of them were like they walked out from a fashion show or something; Vegas and Tay (Kinn’s friend) obviously forgot to change their model-like clothes.

And now to the acting. I would dare say that it was much better than I expected, especially taking into consideration that many of the actors don’t have that much experience. I enjoyed the majority of their performances and most importantly I didn’t feel like they forced themselves to act. People that have been watching BLs for a while, know what I mean.
With the exception of some scenes that felt a bit cringe (mostly the ‘’I am speaking another language’’ ones), I was very satisfied with the acting. The chemistry between the actors was also very good and to be honest, I feel like all the cancellations and delays helped them get more acquainted with each other and this is the result.

Romance & Intimate scenes
Like I previously mentioned, I liked the chemistry between the characters and I think they did a pretty good job, making their relationships seem real. At some point though, the main couple became a bit boring to watch and I would like to see more of the other couples, especially the relationship between Vegas and Pete that felt like it started way later that it should have. Even the relationship between Kinn’s friends was much more interesting and I am mad we didn’t get more of them.
KinnPorsche offered some very steamy scenes that you have probably not seen before in a popular BL series. And once again, everything felt quite natural to watch which is a huge plus!



All in all, KinnPorsche was an entertaining-enough series, thus the rating, that should not be taken seriously. I enjoyed it much more, when I accepted that this is not the serious mafia-based series that I was expecting (since they had advertised it as such) and the mafia-plot was basically the background that just didn’t have to make much sense.

The thing is, that five years ago, when the BL series that got produced every year could be counted in one hand, people didn’t have high expectations. This would be phenomenal back then. Why? Good budget, good actors, fun to watch.
Nowadays, there are so many BL series and people have the option to choose what to watch, picking what they think as best from a variety of dramas. At this point, the majority has started looking for well-written stories and not just for a portrayal of a same-sex relationship on screen. This series is definitely something relatively new, but certainly not ground-breaking.

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The comparison is inevitable

In 2018 the Gifted was released. Even though I am not a huge fan of the whole ''super power'' theme, I decided to give it a chance, because of the rating here, on mydramalist. Not only I wasn't disappointed, but on the contrary I loved it. The cinematography and the directing were both phenomenal. The music was great and so were the actors. And who wouldn't mention the great way of handling the potentials?

The Gifted wasn't just a series that portrayed kids with 'super powers'. It was also a series that judged the educational system and undoubtedly, the best part was the plot. Even though the supernatural aspect was a big part of the series, it felt realistic because they paid attention to almost every character. To these high school kids, that were trying to control their potential without making it destructive for themselves and for others.

Unfortunately, the second season wasn't as satisfying. First of all, one of the aspects that I missed the most was the suspense. In comparison to the first season I wasn't as compelled to watch the next episode immediately. Also, even though the music was equally great, the actors weren't as good as I expected. Their acting was a little bit robotic and not as convincing, and because I have seen many of them in other projects, I choose to believe that the plot was at fault. Which leads me to the most disappointing part of The Gifted: Graduation.

I felt like the plot was over the top. It seemed like they tried too much to make it interesting, while attempting to make it emit the dark vibes of the first season. And they also included new characters that were unlikable to say the least (at least in the first half).

Nonetheless, it is not a bad series. It was decent, but unfortunately the comparison with the first one is inescapable. The Gifted was a fantastic series and every episode was perfect, at least this is how I experienced it. In this one though, they tried too much to add shocking factors to make it more interesting and as a result they neglected other aspects.

However, I will leave this here:
''We do not study hard to get ahead of other people. We study to earn the freedom to choose our paths and to choose the world we want to live in''.

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Reality game shows shouldn't be fun just for the players

The Devil's Plan is a 12 episode reality game show, where 12 players must compete to gain the grand prize that can go up to 500.000.000 won (approximately 370.000 dollars). Being one of my most anticipated reality shows of 2023, I had certain expectations about it and after completing it, I'd generally say it was a decent watch that could be much better, if they handled some things properly.

Contestants: The 12 players taking part in the games seem to have different strengths and weaknesses.
The good:
+ All players are interesting to watch at first. Why? We don't know them, so like kids that get excited with their new toys, as viewers we are interested to learn more about their abilities, strategies and -of course- characters.

The bad:
- I am not sure what the production team thought when choosing some of the players. After the first 2-3 eps, some of them were literally invisible. They didn't know how to use any strategies and they offered nothing to the actual game. They just got to stay, because they were protected by the nature of the games.


The games: Here we go. The games are interesting and well-thought-out for the contestants that are taking part in them, but not as fun for the audience. There are two games in a day. I don't have any complains for the second one, since it was mostly suspensful, fast and fun to watch.

The first one is another case and here is why...
- Rules: Too many and complicated. In some games it is hard to understand, before they start playing. Why? The actual rules lasted up to 7 minutes. Am I supposed to stay focused, when someone with an awful mask is talking with an altered voice for 7 minutes straight?

- Time: The first games took too long. They could take an entire episode to finish and they got very boring.

- Revelations: Almost everything is secret about the identities or the advantages of the players in each round. As a result -the last 15 minutes aside where things got fun- it is not that easy for the viewer to immerse in the games.

- Advantages: The first few games are created in a way that even if you win and take an advantage, it's like you never got it. In other words, your previous win is worthless in the next game since you are in the same spot as all other players that could literally just have lost or done nothing.

- Pacing/Interaction with the audience: This is no Physical 100 where people fight and you have fun watching them trying to figure out who will win in one to one fights. This is a show about wits. If the audience can't somehow take part in the games, which is natural, they should at least be fast paced and fun to follow.
Even though I had fun watching the show and the time did pass relatively quick, it also felt like I was watching many people plotting and talking to each other about rules (that are hard to understand at first), while having secret roles they have revealed to one another (that I, as a viewer, don't know).

- Eliminations: They rarely happened in the first few eps. As a result, the games felt draggy and you didn't feel any suspense.


They could easily make this much more entertaining for the audience if they just changed some things.
1. This show needed more players. In that way, it would have more eliminations -so would be more entertaining to watch-, more capable contestants and most importantly it would be much more suspensful for the audience.
2. It needed one to one games. It had almost none and that made it hard to follow and it wasn't as investing as it could be.
3. Some players shouldn't have been chosen. They offered nothing but frustration and they are the main reason why this show wasn't as interesting as it could be.
4. Team games should have been less complicated. I am sorry, but I can't fully focus when someone is reciting rules for 10 minutes in a game that as a viewer, it is almost impossible to follow -at least in the first half- and I can't take any part in it.
5. Games should have been more entertaining for the audience. The games in the final are the perfect example of it. If they had decided to plan more games that the audience could follow from beggining to end and they didn't need huge teams to work, it would be an amazing game show.

All in all, the concept is interesting, the production quality is really good and many of the contestant choices were wise. I will also admit that the games are very well-thought-out and generally it is a very easy show to watch. However, it is a game show that it is much more interesting and fun for the contenstants than for the actual viewer that is watching it. It is a pity, because it could be a much better watching experience, if they had a different approach or at least a different editing team.

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Thank you for being born

I don't think there is anything more valuable for a person than to hear that someone else is thankful for their existence.
Life can be pretty rough at times, feelings of insecurity may fill our hearts more often than not. I would dare say that every human being on this planet has gone through a rough time, full of disappointments, failures, losses and has also believed that life can just be too hard. That no one can 100% understand them.

The problem is that people don't really tend to listen to themselves, a simple "you did good" doesn't have the same impact when someone tells it to oneself. So I don't think there is a more valuable thing someone can hear from another human than a a simple thank you; ''thank you for being born, for being here''.

I think this movie is just about that. The complexity of humans and that no matter how different we may be, there is an internal need of a person listening that someone is there for them, that someone truly cares, that there is a reason that they are here and that they are loved.
Even if they feel helpless, trivial or even if they are fully satisfied with their lives, listening to such emotionally impactful words can really bring tears to everyone's eyes or at least an emotional reaction.

Koreeda, once again, deals with the theme of a found family, while also commenting on important and quite devastating social issues like human trafficking, abuse of underage children, adoptions, birth and of course with the Baby Box itself, an actual box that people abandon their children in for a variety of reasons.

This film is not perfect and I would dare say that it feels more like it has been inspired by Koreeda rather than being filmed by him, but nonetheless it is worth the watch. It is slow paced, character driven, symbolism heavy and as you have understood not for everyone, but I think it is worth a chance just for that one scene that was devastatingly beautiful.

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''Freedom within limits''

''Home should be a shelter that can protect us''

Let me start off by stating that this movie has almost nothing in common with Parasite (since I saw many people wondering), besides the fact that it is not for everyone. It is the definition of a visually stunning film that heavily relies on the atmosphere to convey different types of -mostly- negative emotions. The movie gives out a disturbing feeling and it makes the viewers sense that something is very wrong with the family. That feeling is enhanced by the dark color pallet that is used, to make the audience feel even more trapped and suffocated. The acting is great not only from the veterans, but also from the young actors and actresses, that manage to give off a touch of desperation and melancholy to the film. The instrumental is beautiful and the plot is mostly well written, with some twists and turns, especially near the ending. The only reason that this is not rated higher, is because of the way that all the revelations were handled. It felt like they tried to make the viewer understand what happened in a very rushed manner, revealing everything in the end in a way that could be seen as confusing by many. All in all though, it definitely deserves the watch.

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