This was annoying.

I mostly blame the writers, especially the ending scenes.
Yang Mi's character is a lawyer. I disliked her voice intensely it wavered between bossy school mistress to baby lisp. I could not imagine her being in court and we are not show any scenes, despite the premise she is a top lawyer. In the script I can accept that she has no desire to marry and play second fiddle to a husbands needs. I suspect she is possibly asexual because the lack of intimacy and passion shown and her overall stiffness. Always needing to be an alpha - top dog - her actions towards her fake husband (even after deciding she loves him) is often dismissive and she is competitive to her co workers.
Yang Hua's character is a genius stock trader, who, at only 22 gets set up as the fall guy and this crushes him. He is a bit of a loner and always wants to do things to the best of his (considerable) abilities so this set back drives him home and into a 4 year reclusive lifestyle.

His mother is quite controlling and his father thoughtful and compliant so his choosing a similar situation in the contract marriage is not surprising.

The 2nd ML plays his role well. He does not grasp the concept of misogyny even when the reason for the fake marriage is spelled out. He assumes the FL will come to him and is quite obnoxious when drunk. He also refuses to assist a female worker being sexually harassed by a client and tells his coworker to film the evidence and then does not report the incidence even knowing it is vital for a conviction.

The 2FL is young and doted on by her parents and feels very privileged. She perceives her fiance's renewed interest in the FL and her youth and jealousy cause her to create scenes.

The woman in charge of the Law office and the other lead female lawyer have strong roles. Neither is written too sympathetically and some of their dialogue is borderline offensive yet is not challenged.

It has an interesting plot framework that jarred with me on many levels.

Read More

Be patient

I loved the two main characters and I felt invested in their outcome. The reason I lowered the score has to be the directing.

A lot of the shots are muted, almost as though gauze has been added to the screen and like the opening scenes of shadows the story is not too clear.
Yes there is an easily understood revenge from a girl who was heart broken when her father left the family for another woman. Her pain is exacerbated when she tries a confrontation at his funeral and then, as details are revealed, she becomes obsessed with payback revenge.
Unfortunately her target is the woman's son and the story gives a good build up to how he is being targeted by her and a very viciously jealous ex boss.

The complex cultural need to lump a families wrong doing onto other members of the family is hard for me to fathom. The gap of a year before her sister lets drop the information that the man our FL has fallen in love with has actually been accepted by her mother beggars belief. On that note why does the ML also not share this gem of information but instead wanders off for a year?
I was exhausted by the last episode as the director dragged out the slo-mo movements and ML leaving then coming back with flowers. It felt too contrived and less logical.

Read More

Pay attention

In the 1 st series we have a female warrior/master who pretends to be a maidservant. Her pupil is besotted and through great effort gains sufficient skills to be praised by her and along the way falls in love.
In this 2nd season our two lovers (due to plot contrivance) do not recognise each other for the majority of the 10 sessions. ML is now a bad ass with unlimited power and FL is a weakened female locked away by her self-serving mother.

Characters from 1st series abound and there is a thread of humour peppered throughout that was not part of the 1st series. Special mention of the black turtle and Park Jin's cooking. Lots of CGI special effects and a great many characters all acting in their own best interests to the extent that from a Wuxia drama it became a melodrama.

What also stood out for me was how the modern element crept in. From short hair to some language idioms, and the Fl was was definitely channeling a modern woman at times.

I found this entertaining and if I ever rewatch the 1st series I will probably rewatch this as well.
Actors all did a great job and production was very elaborate but I feel the Hong sisters needed to keep the themes and flavour of their brilliant 1st series.

Read More

loving one meal at a time

A heartwarming tale of two lonely people who have a slow burn romance.
Tanaka Koki in his role as Sakuraba Isumi imparts a gentle earnestness to his role as a student with a passion and talent for cooking. He has a strong supportive friend, however, after meeting the local policeman, Tawada Hideya playing Amasawa Kyosuke, he starts to find ways to be with him. Cooking and feeding Amasawa becomes a pleasure he looks forward to and visits his home often. He begins to realise the depth of his attachment and budding romantic feelings and this causes him some inner doubts.
It is sweet to note his friend Yohei already new about his sexual orientation before he did.
Both ML roles have gentle masculinity and the story avoids the usual trope of differentiation into top or bottom characterisation. They also are naive in relationship experience and it takes a confession from Isumi for Kyosuke to finally view him as a potential romantic partner,

This is a sweet tale, light on romance with the food highlighting the giving of love aspect.

Read More

Green flags abound

No fillers, jealousies or manufactured misunderstandings together with well paced action and beautiful main couple whats not to like?

The general, Ling Chang Feng. is a walking green flag. I loved this character he displays courage and loyalty and is willing to go against the rules and his father to protect his wife. His attitude, when she is pregnant, is exemplary and the empathy he portrays is heartwarming.

His wife, Tang Qian Yue, also displays wonderful traits. She is willing to undergo a dreadful 'cure' to remain by his side and chooses to risk her life to enable their child to be born.

Watching their daily interactions and the concern they feel for each other cements their marriage as a true love match.
Of course the story is not just about their sweetness and with the supernatural element, clever dreamlike visuals, great cinematography and SFX create an otherworldly atmosphere. Their is an interesting second couple, great support characters and a complementary OST.

Read More

This drama showed me that the 'perfect' partner is the one you need.

The two main characters are from very different family dynamics.

The ML, Pennueng, is a respected heart surgeon who has had to constantly try to be the best to win his controlling father's respect and his mother plays a passive acceptance to keep the peace.

The FL, Matalada, is a free spirited graphic designer, somewhat clumsy and accident prone but with a huge heart. Her parenting came from her divorced gay father, known as Aunty Grace, he is living his life true to himself and has always paid great attention to Matalada's emotional well being.

Both main characters have their support clique and we get to see how their pairing alters their actions as each accepts the others differences. It is a lovely warm romance and despite all the family ugliness (from the doctors side) and the over the top gayness and drama (from the designers side) they remain steadfastly true to each other to overcome family prejudices.

When they are together onscreen their sweet interactions are very natural and believable. Terrific fun yet delivering a lot of truisms about the ill affects of family influencers.

Read More

This amazing fantasy drama was very surprising, constantly!

Not the usual genre that I would choose, however, I am glad I did.

The characters are well written and acted. My favourites were; Zhang Chu Lan who often looks nonchalant whilst tackling his fears, (listen to his words some of his insights are text book psychology and have huge impact on others), Feng Bao Bao her fierce martial art skills and the duality of innocence are wonderfully captured, Wang Ye maintains his aloof monkness but is shaken by visions of a hurtling train full of dead people and Zhan Chu Lan about to approach a catastrophic danger. his role is to try to influence Zhan Chu Lan to give up his quest for past answers.

There is a lot packed into each episode and yet is never felt rushed. The story line is sometimes hard to follow because so much is being revealed but I also like that we as the audience are not underestimated.

Sufficient detail is given to each characters super chi powers and the choreography, cgi and sfx were great.

At the heart I enjoyed this youthful drama because of the friendship and kindness shown amongst the badass action.

Read More

Excellent entertainment.

I was blown away by the production quality of this drama that is now (2024) 12 years old. The two child actors were already very experienced and their portrayals were terrific. Both actors have continued to have successful acting careers.
Kim Soo Hyun plays the older Prince/King and his acting is excellent he has manged to select some great roles and has won numerous accolades. The FL Han Ga was not as animated in her acting and has since married, had children and dropped out of the Kdrama scene.

The palace intrigues are predictable, however, the use of the shaman to create and evil spell and the consequences are what drives the plot. You need to suspend your logic at times, e.g. the bad guy seems to have unlimited assassin yet is never caught in his bad deeds.

The 2ML is loveable but doesn't stand a chance and the writers were especially mean to end him the way they did. The head shaman got under my skin with her weak character and inability to show moral character I wanted to smack her.
The young actor playing Seol really owned her role and the desperate fight scene trying to protect her beloved master was heart wrenching.
NB Jung Eun-gwol is the novelist and Jin Soo Wan is the screen writer and both have created more memorable dramas since then.

Read More

"Regrets I've had a few"

I have watched the other 2 productions and I feel that they are improving the format with each show.
I think the people who come on the show are very emotionally brave. They are about to be filmed during intimate conversations with their exes and be judged by the viewers.
We, as the audience are given a ring-side view of all these individuals and their past relationships are revealed later in the show so guessing the pairings is intriguing.

I find it fascinating to watch those who come on the show with a clear goal in mind find their determination failing as jealousy shakes their resolve. Few people, I believe, can handle seeing their ex enjoying and thriving in the company of another unless they had already handled a mutual agreement to split up as a couple.
This show sends the individuals into past reflection and has numerous contrivances to trigger this. I personally think this is a good thing because it gives them a chance to appreciate what was good in their relationship and what may have caused the breakdown.
Their are many shifts in the couple emotions and as a viewer, or even one of the hosts, it can seem easy to comment on where the individual is failing to communicate their feelings. As a participant the burden of emotions warring with their logical mind can elicit some poor responses and regrets.

These are real people and even if some participate to perhaps get higher media cover they are reduced to an individual looking for love.
I also like that we get to see that pairings are not always obvious. Brief connections can be as painful, or joyous, as longer term established relationships and offers us a chance to think how we might have reacted in this.

After all the exaggerated emotional dramas I have been consuming this program is refreshingly 'real'.

Read More

A food topic drama that focuses on relationships (food, maths, friendships).

This is a drama about what happens when your passion is extinguished then re kindled in a different direction.
Gaku is obsessed with maths. His way of comprehension is depicted in visual fx so we can see the complexity of his thinking. When he can no longer believe that maths alone will bring him to the pinnacle he was aiming for he is devastated. Enter the 2ml Kai who is looking for a genius successor. He challenges Gaku with more and more difficult culinary challenges and each time Gaku breaks through his own beliefs of limitations to create stunning food results.
Gaku is a pure soul and others are attracted to him and support him. There is an underlying problem with Kai that he has hidden and this has a profound effect on all the main characters.
Each actor stays true to their character and enough time is spent on revealing the back story of Kai to ensure our sympathy.
Gaku is now obsessed with Kai's goal and this drives him in a way that alters his basic sweetness to become a driven person who is unable to relate to those around him, leading to the inevitable alienation.

The ending is lovely after all the angst and a hint of bromance shows our to MLs encouraging each other in a supportive. caring environment.

Read More

Like entering a deserted alleyway at night - tread carefully.

There are a lot of dark truths depicted in this drama.
It starts with Kim Mo Mi's childhood dream of making it big as an entertainer. She has the body and the talent, however, her face does not conform to societies standards of beauty. Her solution to wear a mask and live stream fulfills this desire,
Her fans are men who lust after her and during a brief encounter with a shamelessly flattering man she is attacked and almost raped. The man is accidentally injured and her rescuer is another fan who has been stalking her. Her instinct is to call the police but she is persuaded by Joo Oh Nam that he will fix things.

Each chapter reveals more about the the individuals.
Their fears and lack of autonomy leading to reaction without plans. We learn some of their back story and how their family upbringing has emotionally crippled them.
The decisions made are reactions that they justify;
She asked for it
He deserved it
God wants me to punish her
I was pulled into the drama by the terrific acting and the moody lighting and sets. A tawdry element overlaid with gritty reality and a serious lack of glamour is reflected in the choice to have plastic surgery to become beautiful but still have the inner ugliness show through.

Read More

Good in parts and off in parts so quite inconsistent but the actors nailed it.

This is a fairly unsubtle drama. The actors play their parts well and the camaraderie in the kitchen is heartwarming.

Our two FLs are polar opposites so it is easy to dislike the self-effacing Na Bong Soon, although her character development makes her a lot more likable towards the end. Shin Sun Ae has a very bold personality and feels grieved that she died so young and is nearing the 3 year time of ghost departure. She is focused on possessing female bodies so that she can get laid and ditch her virgin ghost grudge.

Meeting chef Kang Seon Woo seems like the answer to her prayers so she goes all out trying to seduce him. This is so startling to him because of Na Bong soon's about face of character that he is very flattered but decidedly uncomfortable.
This comedy premise is also uncomfortable for the audience as at times it borders on sexual harassment.

There is a mystery about how Shin Sun Ae died and the ever helpful officer Choi plays a dark and damaged character that also is exaggerated towards the end then unbelievably looks like he gets redeemed. WTF!
I almost dropped it whilst the hostage situation unfolded it became too absurd with characters charging off without police assistance and the evil spirit being exposed as the really bad element.

I also do not understand why Asian dramas are so hung up on starting a romance the abruptly leaving to go overseas - probably a cultural necessity ......

Read More

A scrutiny of corruption

This complex tale of corruption by the people in power and the actions used to cover up their greed and malfeasance is quite gripping.

The ML, like his father before him, is a genius at maths. His savant nature enables him to absorb and compute vast data and understand it. He appears disconnected to the world and has only one friend that he can relate to and together they set out to correct the corruption.

Enter the jaded lawyer whose ability to use his rhetoric to confuse his audience and lead them to the outcome he wants (has been paid to get) and truth is lost.

The story may have a dry topic, however, the cliff hangers come thick and fast as the master mind conspires with the corrupt officials to maintain his position and do away with these two upstarts.

Their near death experiences and last minute rescues keep the action at the forefront. Their touching trust in each other and strong support add warmth to the story.
NB Ep. 13 the solo singing of the Tea Harvesting song is breathtakingly beautiful.



Terrific support roles, great settings and camera work add to the enjoyment of a tale well told and relevant today.

Read More

Classic Wuxia with top acting from the ML

I enjoyed this grand epic of a tale and I was surprised and grateful for the extra episode giving me an alternate ending.

2023 and I decided to watch this 2016 Wuxia, romance fantasy so even though the special effects are impressive, (the steam punk flying machines are a hoot), some can seem dated. There are tropes galore, however, perhaps less dated at the time. You can expect glamorous castles, bloody fight scenes, evil wicked queen, a species that some members able to grow impressive wings and fly, second ML syndrome and enemies to lovers.

Zhang Ruo Yun plays the ML Feng Tian Yi and he is standout in this standout, layered role and gets to act out various personnas with flair. He has a lot of presence bringing nuance to his acting utilising facial expression and body language.
The FL, Yi Fu Ling, played by Guan Xiao Tong, despite her extensive acting credentials, paled next to Xiao Tong.
There are lots of costume changes, I kept chuckling as I wondered whose wardrobe is the FL raiding.
The evil queen is suitably scary and is killed off along with her clever ex husband the mysterious creator of all the engineering marvels including the flying city.

Lots of action, magic, machines and fantasy to keep me interested.
Some plot holes and the usual lack of communication leading to misunderstandings (lazy writing) to be expected from Chinese Wuxia. Overall still good entertainment.

Read More

Two juicy roles for the main male leads and they work out beautifully

These detective stories are adapted from the novels about Poirot by Agatha Christie.

I am a big fan of the fashion from this era and the production of sets and wardrobe and lighting are terrific.
There are two handsome male leads and if this wasn't under the strict Chinese censorship I could imagine a very lovely BL story.

They flirt and Qiao Chu Sheng plays the role of protector /provider to the more ingenious Lu Yao. The dinner with violin and gift giving is very sweet.
Together the brawn and brains make up the investigative team to solve a series of murders. Lu Yao deduces the solutions from his science and medical knowledge and Qiao Chu Sheng provides the martial arts and police back up. Both actors do a terrific job inhabiting their roles and we learn about their backgrounds and what has shaped the characters they become.

There are interesting side characters - Salim and Lu Zi Fu in particular.

I like the comedy and bickering between all of the main characters. Leon Zhang proved he can do manga style comedy in Mr. Pride vs. Miss Prejudice. The rest of the ensemble contribute well to the complex mysteries.

The acerbic reporter, Bai You Ning, who makes up the trio, is less successful in adding to the story. More of an annoyance. She has zero romantic chemistry with Lu Yao and the writers have badly scripted the ending.
We are left with a cliff hanger but I hope they read the commentary regarding Bai You Ning and maybe lose her out to sea.
Also at odds with the drama is the poorly executed parts where English is spoken. Out of sync and not matching the voice of the actors it is a jarring annoyance.

Read More