Don't expect too much

Well, I watched Ep 9, and I'm now dropping this. I will tell you why: The writing is abysmal. You can FEEL this is based on a trashy fanfic that's only popular because of the hotness, the toxicity, the tension etc. I didn't read the novel, but it seems to me they are doing a better job in the series and are trying hard not to make it too stupid and too cliche. Unfortunately, they failed. Let me go into detail: the characters.
Kinn: His real persona seems to be a nice guy, who doesn't really want to be in the mafia. When he was out in the woods, he felt great, and didn't want to return. We got to see a very child-like, fun and adventurous side of him. So what now? What does he do? Is he planning for the future? Is he trying to escape his family? Is he trying to lead the family business in another direction? Is he doing anything? Yes, he is "acting" as the cold/bad mafia boss he is supposed to be. He rules by fear without being very convincing. What else is he up to? His love life is apparantly very important, but also pretty messy. That's what he is doing. Thinking about love, and who he can trust.
Porsche: Apparantly he is a nice guy too. He was working as a bartender. We got a sappy story with his uncle gambling away the money. You would think the family is poor, but their house says differently. Now he works for the mafia. He has to kill people. Gruesome! Does it bother him? Yes, a little bit and for a short time. What is he up to now? His love life. I would expect him to think about the future, to have nightmares, to wonder in what kind of mess he finds himself and what bad things will happen next, but nope. He is busy dancing in his underwear and flirting with the mafia boss. Guys, come on!
Then Vegas/Pete: Everyone on the internet is gasping if Vegas appears on the screen. Yeah, great. I'm getting wet too. Not really. What makes this character special? What? He seems to have sadistic tendencies. Is he smart? A mastermind who pulls the strings in the background? Nope. If his manipulative games are working, then only because everyone around him is dumb. And Pete? Well, he is the comic relief of the show. Great pair!
Then our 3rd beloved couple: Kim (the next as*hole) and Porchay. Well ... Kim plays guitar. You know, because it's not a BL without a guitar player or a soccer player. Enough said.
I don't want to go deeper into all this mess: Like making EVERYONE gay and most of them behaving like a f*ggot. You would expect gay guys in the mafia being more hardcore. Tankhun is too silly, and gets too much screen time. The character is not believable. Kinn's friends neither.
If you go for such a story: make it dark, make it intense, make it believable, play ugly mindgames, make me scream and clench my teeth from excitement! But no. Lets drink and dance and have some sex, while showing occasionally some torture and blood, before skipping to some sappy dialogue where Kinn's or Porsche's friends gives some deep love advice as if there is nothing more important than having a sincere love life, while being in the mafia. And if there is some time left, make everything more gay and more stupid.
Come on! That's all you have got? Sad enough.
I will still give it a 7, because of the good performance and charms of the actors. They somehow manage to breath some life into those boring and brain dead characters. The filming (especially the love scenes) is pretty good, and overall you can see the effort and how hard the team worked. Just fire those stupid writers or hire some good ones. With such actors, such a production team, you could aim for the sky. Instead they give us a silly rom-com with mafia background without exploring it much further. Just do it for god's sake! Be brave! Be edgy! Be revolutionary. Nope. Play it safe. Show us some sex, so people will keep watching and talking about it. No offense to the sex scenes. They are without a doubt the highlight of this brainless series.

EDIT: I watched until Ep 13, though I skipped many parts. I'm shocked, really, and I will lower my rating. The VegasPete story was soooo strange. Is this BDSM? No. What is it then? It was cruel, and then it was cheesy, and everything happened too fast. I'm baffled how bad this relationship was presented. Meanwhile KinnPorsche became also such a cheesy couple with lots of scenes nobody needed. This went downhill BADLY. Stupid people, shallow emotions, unnecessary violence and sex scenes that don't do anything for the story. But you know, 50 Shades Of Grey was apparantly also popular. I'm out here. Bad. Really bad.

Read More

Jesus Christ...! I binge watched this series until 4am and now I have a terrible headache and dry eyes.
Honestly, I don't even want to know what other people think about this. I can imagine some find it disturbing seeing a love story between a robot and a human. I know about the sexbots and AI development of recent years, the uncanny valley, so it wasn't surprising to me even though a had a strong reaction when I first heard about it. I think those kind of develompments tell us a lot of society and what a person is looking for in a partner. He has to be good looking, capable of doing everything, always kind and nice, never talking back etc. It seems we want the perfect partner and a human cannot be perfect. That said, I didn't mind the romance. It was cute and fluffy, the sexual issue was never adressed (thank god) which wasn't surprising. I mean, we are talking about a Korean drama where everything is innocent and lovey dovey. To make it short: the robot was cute, the romance enjoyable, but it wasn't the reason why I binge watched this until early morning. What I enjoyed was the conflict between the human Nam Shin, the robot and the whole envirnoment. This was extremely captivating. It's a while since I felt so much for a character. The human Nam Shin was very complex, but also a poor soul. He was the "bad guy", but it was obvious many cared for him, because they knew how kind he really was. The anger, pain and sadness made him behave like a jerk and cross the line. The relationship with his mother and his assistent made me tear up several times. I cried a lot watching this drama and I must give credit to the actor. This sure was a very difficult role. He had to change so often between playing the "robot" and the "human". It was always very clear which role he played at the moment (expect for the scenes where he intentionally tried to imitate the other one).
I must admit I wasn't a fan of the comic relief scenes in the gym with the father of the girl and the robot. Also, there was just too much fluffy romance going on (which is typical for Korean drama), but that doesn't make me love this series any less. I wished for more scenes with the human Nam Shin, I would have loved to see how he redeems himself. He did that at the end, but I really wished for a happier end for him. The robot was always the "good guy", the hero. That may arise many questions. The robot had a much better life than the human to begin with. The mother giving all of her love to a robot instead to the human ... I mean, come on! In my opionion the human was the bigger hero who had to survive many hardships (his father died when he was child, he was threatened by his grandfather, he lost his mother, he had to live in a hostile houshold). I honestly wondered throughout the drama why they insisted to make the robot the perfect guy, perfect lover, perfect son, while the human was always on second place.
Well, whatever. It was a good story and whoever wrote it did a good job. I would have changed some things, but that wouldn't have made it better or worse.
To sum it up: A great drama. One of the best I have ever seen. If I think about it, no other drama ever could draw me in so much as this one.
10/10. I'm thankful I found this one. It's proof that there are intriguing stories out there. Korean Drama can be really great.

Read More

I lately watched Semantic Error, a very short and cute Korean BL which I rated with 10 stars. So giving Not Me less stars may seem very unfair. And maybe it is. But it depends on what a series is trying to do. Not Me is a very serious series that provides us with lots of action and social criticism. It tried to do A LOT. It tried to be A LOT. It succedes in many aspects but not always and not 100%. Let me start with saying that I didn't care much for the romance, because everything else was more interesting. That doesn't mean the romance was bad or boring, it just means that everything else was more intriguing. The plot, especially the twin aspect, was great. I waited for Black to wake up, I wanted the gang to find out there is a twin, I wanted to know who is the traitor etc. But not only the main plot was interesting. The way how they told the story was excellent. The music and the filming just draws you in. There were countless beautiful well filmed scenes. So why did I not rate it higher? It just didn't feel "perfect". Sometimes the action was great, sometimes rather amateurish. Sometimes I was on the edge of my seat, then again everything was rather dragging. I was into the Sean/White love story, then again I wasn't so much into it. The plot was convincing, then again it wasn't. Sometimes it just didn't feel "smooth". If I rate this with my BL googles on it deserves more than 10 stars, but since I want to look at it as a series where BL is just the subplot, I feel like 9 stars is a good rating.

Read More

Beautiful drama. The writer is a genius. I was constantly on the edge of my seat and didn't skip a single second what NEVER happened before. I'm honestly thinking this is the best Korean Drama I have ever seen in my life and I have seen many over the last 10 years. I can imagine people aren't fully sold on this, because 1) they don't like the gaming theme, 2) they watched this mostly because of the love story and – to be honest – the love story wasn't overwhelming and 3) they were disappointed in the ending which has a lot to do with number 2. I'm personally not a fan of those gaming series either. Since I watch Japanese anime for over two decades now, I know very well that this is a popular genre. Seeing some medieval soldier coming to life and having a sword fight with Hyun Bin somewhere in Spain made me almost drop the series (I'm really not into this stuff), but everything is so incredible well done, that you cannot stop watching. The directing, the music, the acting – this is flawless. Hyun Bin did a great job. Everyone was doing great. About the love story: It was nice. But this wasn't the strongest part of the story which is okay. I never got tired of Hyun Bin being the tragic hero, I never got annoyed by the girl being rather helpless. This couple worked out pretty well. For such a tragic hero a woman who supports him emotionally is the best writing choice. The strength of the story lies in the whole gaming theme and how one detail after another gets revealed. The strength lies in the psychological aspects of the story, the deep and complex relationship between the characters, the whole life-threatening scenario. This was such a great watch. I‘m still in awe of this incredible series after finishing it an hour ago.

Read More

After watching the first episode, I was like WOW. High production, great acting from War and Yin, interesting heist plot, I have never seen before in a BL, super exciting main characters, charming side characters, great fight scenes. I was hooked. Watching the second episode, I understood the writing was silly and weak. So watching this series feels like being in a bad relationship, but despite all the red flags, you're in love and keep telling yourself it's not that bad.
It is that bad.
The writing is bad.
The overall plot ideas aren't that terrible, but the execution is more than lacking. I was willing to overlook a lot, but when I finally understood (and it was confirmed much earlier than I was willing to see it), that even the characters were badly written, I had enough.
I don't care about Jack and Joker, despite War looking beautiful when crying. I don't care. This is one of the most boring romances I have ever seen in my life. If people love it - great! I'm out of this relationship. No more excuses for this snooze fest.
To be precise (since people will hate my review anyway): Joker is not the mischievous thief they were advertising him. He is a con man with some luck and stupid sidekicks. Jack has no balls. He is not a dangerous loan shark, but a boy who can't make the right decisions. He is a coward and still salty about his bad luck in life. I also highly disagree with the social criticism they are trying to show us. The basic idea is: poor people remain poor, because the rich exploits them. While this isn't all wrong, the "poor" people in this series make wrong decisions, are lazy and stupid like Tattoo and Hoy. So I don't see how this is really helping them to bring their point across. It's a black and white world, when I expected a gray one. It's oversimplified and childish, but well, that sums up the whole writing, from the silly plot developments, to the silly and boring characters to the silly moral and social criticism. This is a series for young impressionable minds, not for those who love complex writing and characters.

Read More

I felt in love with Lee Seung Gi after watching "My girlfriend is a Gumiho". That guy's smile is the most beautiful I have ever seen. Then I watched King2hearts because I was curious about how he would do with a more serious drama. I have seen Ha Ji Won in "Secret Garden" so what could go possibly wrong with King2hearts? Two talented and charismatic actors on the screen, an interesting story ... I was hooked. After watching the first episodes I was surprised how great the drama was. Story, acting, characters, everything was good. Lee Seung Gi's performance was one of the best (if not the best) I have ever seen in a korean drama to date. So what went wrong? I don't really know. The politics, Ha Ji Won's character, everything became so silly. The romance didn't work for me, the story become boring and cheesy. Ha Ji Won really overdid it here. I dropped the series somewhere in the middle. It's a shame, but look for yourself. Everyone should give this a try. It seems many liked it to the end.

Read More

When a series has such a high rating, there is only one explantion for it: It appeals to a majority of people. And what appeals to a majority of people? Something that's simple. Well, honestly, Goblin is really beautiful. If you want to watch something nice, calming and beautiful - watch Goblin. I cannot imagine that there are people out there who don't like it or don't enjoy it. The cinematography, the music, the scenery - spectacular. The best I have ever seen in any Korean drama to date. So why the rather low rating? It has no substance. The story isn't very exciting. After four episodes I felt like I knew everything I had to know about the main couple. What keeps you watching then? The love story of the Grim Reaper, I guess. Unfortunately he and Sunny only had a few scenes in every episode while the main couple is going back and forth. Again and again. There were so many recaps later on (I don't know when it started to annoy me), many flashbacks, I felt like they recycled scenes. The end product was somehow very artistic (I will admit that), but the story in general wasn't very deep. The emotions couldn't reach me. If I compare Goblin to the drama Korean Odyssee I recently watched I must say that the latter made me cry and weep like a baby many times while I had a hard time feeling sad for the Grim Reaper or the Goblin. I cried when the old men climbed the stairs to heaven and his dog was there waiting for him - just saying. That was sad. Maybe it was because of the comedy between the two characters (there was comedy between the couples too), but even though they had a tragic past, they lived pretty good lives for a very long time. I mean even if they would have died at the end of the series (for real) they had a satisfying life. This series was in general very "satisfying". Every single moment felt satisfying. I just think there was no real reason for being sad. I felt like they shared too many tears that couldn't reach me. So to make it short:
Story: 4/10 (not much depth), but the execution was 10/10, so I wil give it a solid 7
Acting: 9 (because I think Lee Dong Wook could have done a better job, I liked him a lot more in "Scent of a Woman")
Music: 10 (it cannot get any better)
Rewatch value: Well, if I want to relax and enjoy something that's beautiful for the sake of being beautiful ... 8.

Read More

When it comes to those two actors acting as a couple there is some psychological problem going on in the heads of the fans. I feel like everyone is crazy in love with Mean/Plan acting as Tin/Can in LBC, so if they don't act as exactly those two characters - then nobody likes it. I had a similar problem. At first, I wasn't interested in this, but then I gave it a chance and the characters grew on me. To rate it objectively: The story was nice and realistic, the acting was good, the production was good. The happy end happened too fast, but well, who cares? It's a bit too silly occasionally, but again, who cares? It was fun. Good. Solid. Enjoyable. I was entertained and I'm glad that I watched it.

Read More

I never wrote a review for this series, because back then when it aired, almost everyone hated on it, and so I didn't visit this site anymore. All the negativity got to me.
So let's talk about the elephant in the room: the plot involves cheating. That's a red flag for most people, because it destroys the idea of pure and everlasting love. I only care about a good story. A believable story. A story that feels real where you can connect with the characters. I don't care about cheesy fairy-tales. I don't even care about a sad end.
The thing is, that this series was rather mature compared to other BL series out there. Some parts of the plot were rather silly, but the way they portrayed the emotions were really great. There was sadness, desperation, regret, love. Everyone (Yihwa and Cho included) did a great job. I wasn't really a fan of the "villain", but the whole series was extremely intense. I can recommend it to people who are tired of the cheesy school-boys BL.
Max and Tul are the kings of the BL genre. The most "badass" couple how Tul once said in an interview. The chemistry is mind-blowing. That alone makes this series worth watching. Even though they weren't lovey-dovey (they had trouble in their relationship after all), a simple kiss on the shoulder could melt my heart.

Read More

A beautiful, very realistic love story. For once the girl chases the guy which was very refreshing. She is the strong one in this relationship. I loved it, how those two met each other. She found him in an alley all beaten up and brought him to the house of her father. In so many dramas the first encounter is something special. The leads feel attracted to each other immediately (or are fighting with each other). In any case there is something going on. In this drama the girl didn't even look at him enough to recognize him when she met him later. The male lead was looking for the girl who saved him, but not in a desperate way. He just saw her around and got interested in her (not in a romantic way at first). THIS was great. Really. They then gradually fall in love. Everything feels so real, like how he brought her to his house to read comics. Everything was cute, lovable and beautiful. Like I said before: the girl took the initiative which I really liked.
About the acting I must say Jun Ho (I didn't know him before) was spectacular. The female lead, Won Jin Ah, was great too, but Jun Ho's role seemed more difficult. He somehow managed to play a character who was strong and vulnerable at the same time. I must say I'm not a fan of those overly dramatic series where PTSD plays a big role. It becomes cheesy and unrealistic pretty fast. But Jun Ho did a really good job.
Enough praise. I would rate this series with a solid 10 if I only had to rate the first 9-10 episodes. But later on it became so cheesy suddenly. I know, other people may like this, but I felt it became so slow. Even Jun Ho's acting couldn't save this anymore. Don't get me wrong, it was still a good series, but they just dragged it out and made the character too emotional for me. Still the end was great and the series overall was just very well told. It was one of those series where I didn't feel like skipping parts (at least until episode 9-10).

Read More

Wasted potential ... could have been mind-blowing great

I have a different take on this as many others.
First, I had a hard time getting into the story, mostly because I disliked the cop's acting so much. Not Ji Chang Wook's acting, but the character's acting. He was supposed to be a cop, not an actor, but this was still extremely annoying. He behaved like some hot headed, not very smart brat that wanted revenge. I have no idea how the mafia boss could trust him. Every time he opened his mouth, he sounded so damn fishy. He was impatient and pushy. It made zero sense that the mafia boss kept him around and trusted him. He did try to dig up his past, and he remained cautious of him, but it wasn't enough. I know he was blinded, since he trusted the woman, and she knew his new subordinate. But the mafia boss was too weak. I honestly don't recall a single scene where I felt he is that fierce, dangerous and murderous guy he was supposed to be. Or maybe I just wanted him to be like that. Honestly, he was soft and composed most of the time. The more the story progressed, the stranger it felt, when the cop called him "boss", because they changed their positions. It 100% felt like the cop was the "boss" and not the other way around. So for me, this was a major flaw in the story, that the mafia boss was too soft and too trustworthy. After all, he build a big business, so I expected him to be smarter and more ruthless.
Second, and that's the biggest problem I have with this series: It was not possible to understand what those characters felt for each other. People praise the acting in this series, yes, it felt intense, but was it really that good? I don't blame the actors, more the director or writer, because I assume it was intentional. But there was no real depth in their performance, no real connection between the characters.
So let me go into detail: We have 4 main characters and main relationships.
** The relationship between the wife's cop and the mafia boss **
I never felt for a single moment that she genuinely liked him (in a romantic way). I felt she had some positive emotions towards him since she knew him for so long, and she remembered him when he was young. There was some nostalgia involved. But that woman was so damn plain and everything about her was boring. She was just looking pretty the whole time with that soft expression on her face. The relationship between her and the mafia boss was very creepy. I honestly have no idea how he could think this would work out since she is a cop. He should have known, she is not that naive. What she witnessed - how could she ever be okay with it? Those two together on screen made me uncomfortable. But then at the end, she was desperately sobbing? What were the writers trying to tell us? Was she sad for herself and what she did?
** The relationship between the cop and the drug cartel girl **
That was the only relationship where I felt there was something genuine going on. He even admitted at some point (and I believed it), that he may like her even more in the future. But the focus was on his emotions and his struggle to give in since he is married. So there was not enough room to really develop this relationship. I also didn't understand why the girl liked him in the first place. The qualities of his mafia persona were being loyal, she called him a "soldier". Well, he is attractive, that may have helped. The girl came across very smart and tough, despite being a small and beautiful woman. So it ruined her character that she failed her job so badly, just because she trusted that guy (who wasn't trustworthy at all). I felt in love with Ji Chang Wook watching K2, but in this series he wasn't attractive all (not physically, but his whole personality and attitude). So it's even harder to understand why she was so into him.
** The relationship between the two guys **
I disliked the cop from the beginning to the end. He wasn't a good guy. He was a cop, and he was hesitant to kill people = good guy? For that damn promotion, he was willing to do everything. And don't get me started about that bloodbath, because then it was clear who the real monster was. They made it look like he did all of it to protect his wife, bust since there was no chemistry between those two, it was just hard to believe. Not to mention that he let that guy die in this alley, when he could have called an ambulance. He would make a good gangster! That the mafia boss decided to make him the new boss wasn't that far-fetched, I may admit it. It's true the cop got things done, he wasn't murderous, he kept a clear head even in difficult times, and he was a hell of a fighter. Still, he was fishy and unlikable until the end. Those two had not a single genuine (!!!) bromance moment. It was the naive mafia boss who reached out to him emotionally and was open with him.
** The relationship between the cop and his wife **
There is not much to say about this: boring, no spark, no chemistry. I couldn't sense any love here, it was more like some obligation. They could have made her his sister, wouldn't change anything. But they deserve each other, that's for sure. And they deserve their fate. I was applauding (not crying) at the end. Serves them right. They shall feel guilty as long as they live. Despicable human beings. All of them. Until the end I have no idea - and not because I don't get it, nope, it wasn't shown clearly - what the cop and his wife felt for the mafia boss. How they reacted to his death, why the cop shot him in the first place. I read different theories, none makes much sense. I personally think, he just did it, so he can get the promotion since he caught the mafia guy. Sounds better than: He came to my home and shot himself in the head.
So to sum it up: The mafia boss was too naive. The supposedly good guys not good at all and not likable. I couldn't root for them, also the other cops. They made a big deal out of the death of one of those cops, when that guy also was such an annoying and unlikable character, and we didn't even know much about him. And the drug cartel girl was blinded by love, which made her look rather stupid.
Yeah ... I don't know. The cinematography was great, the actions scenes too, everything was intense and interesting, the pace was just right, the music was great. It was a very intriguing experience, and not a bad series at all, hence my high rating. But I'm not head over heels in love with it, because there was potential for a really, really good bromance, and for three really intense love stories. But they didn't go there. Nope. None of those relationships felt genuine, deep, or passionate. You just couldn't feel much love here, despite "love" being the downfall of the supposedly bad guys.
While I'm writing this, it really hit me hard, what this series could have been. Just make the cop more emotional, more of a good guy, so his "change" into a monster is more heart-breaking, make his wife less plain, and this could have been a wonderful series that would make me sob like a baby at the end. I didn't dislike the end at all, but it had not the emotional impact on me, it could have had.

Read More