There were really great things about Tale of the Nine-Tailed and there were really bad things. Unfortunately, the show chose to focus on the things that didn’t work more often than not.

Lee Rang is hands down the best part of the show. He was such a complex character and it made him fascinating to watch. His backstory broke my heart and the actor was able to show the deep emotional wounds that even adult Rang still had. His found family with the other foxes and the little kid was so sweet, and I really wish we had gotten more of them. The problem was that Rang was more interesting than the main characters or the romance.

I have never seen Jo Bo Ah before, so maybe it was the character, but her performance fell really flat. There also was very little chemistry between her and Lee Dong Wook. After seeing Lee Dong Wook in other things, I don’t think they gave him enough to do here. The past lives romance really didn’t work and it was completely overshadowed by the terrible wigs and costumes. Lee Dong Wook is such a beautiful man and the long wig they put him in is a crime.

It was hard to get through this show and the last couple episodes were such a slog to get through. The ending of the show was very disappointing and felt like an insult to a lot of the character development.

Even though this show was a letdown, I do still want to watch 1938 because I did grow very attached to quite a few of the characters

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Style Over Substance

This drama was so promising at the beginning. The dark fairytale aesthetic was so beautiful and it had me under the impression that there might be some magical realism or even fantasy aspects to the story, which it really didn't have.

The Good:
Mun-young's wardrobe was iconic and really added to the fairytale aesthetic. The dark fairytale vibe and the incorporation of the storybooks was very visually interesting to watch.

All three lead actors had great performances and chemistry with each other. I liked how they became a little found family and she developed her own friendship with his brother. All of them staying together in this huge, gothic mansion was also a cool dynamic.

There are funny parts of the show, especially when Mun-young just has no filter.

The Bad:
The portrayal of mental health is terrible. At certain points the show tried to display empathy for people who had committed terrible crimes because of their supposed mental illness when truly mentally ill people are rarely violent to others.

The relationship between the leads just did not work for me most of the time. They did have some good chemistry, but they did not show how he developed feelings for her or why. He seemed to go from feeling disdain for her to loving her very quickly and it was a struggle to understand why his feelings had changed, especially when she did act so over-the-top towards him.

The character's backstories were so traumatic and it seemed like that was never handled with care or dealt with. Based on the title, I thought this drama would have a lot more healing in it, but that was almost never seen. I was taken aback a couple times by how little empathy was displayed towards characters experiencing trauma. Spoiler: there is one scene where Mun-young's father tries to strangle her at the psychiatric hospital and the other characters just left her on the ground and no one seemed to comfort her or make sure she was okay? Parts of Mun-young's backstory also felt so impossible that I wondered if the show really was going to have a fantasy element to it. I really wish that mental illness and trauma had been handled better in this show, as it felt a little bit like a joke.

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Yes, it's yet another show about addressing generational trauma through time travel. And I eat it up every time.

My Perfect Stranger was a little bit different because it was also trying to tie in a serial killer murder mystery. I found myself bingewatching My Perfect Stranger because I had to know what happened. The plot moved really fast and all the twists kept me intriguing. Even though I had a good time with the murder mystery aspect, I felt like there were a lot of plot holes that were not addressed and the ending didn't feel particularly satisfying. I gave it up a bit of a pass because the lead up was very fun.

The character dynamics I think worked much better than the murder mystery plot. Seeing Yoon-yeong's relationships with the young versions of her parents was a highlight. I loved seeing the friendship that she built with the young version of her mother and the way she was driven to protect her at all costs after what had happened in the future. Her antagonistic relationship with her young dad was super entertaining to watch and vacillated between being hilarious and heartbreaking. While it's not a new idea, having a character realize they'd gotten their parents wrong their whole lives is always something that gets me.

I really liked the relationship that developed between the two time travelers. I thought it developed nicely from strangers to partners in crime to friends to lovers. I do wish that we had gotten to see more of the romance, as I thought the actors had really great chemistry.

Even though I was definitely with some questions that weren't answered, My Perfect Stranger was a great watch. It balanced humor, heartbreak. romance, and intrigue very well.

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Jung Hae-in, the Actor You Are

I have been watching Love Next Door and wanted more Jung Hae-in in my life while I waited for new episodes. Weird choice, I know, but now I want to watch even more of his work. His performance in DP was truly fantastic.

The main character, Jun-ho, had me interested from the beginning because even though he comes off as very restrained, it was clear that he was suppressing so much anger and hurt, which you see explode out of him several times. The partnership that he had with the other DP soldier was kind of a classic buddy cop dynamic and it really saved the show from just being completely bleak. The humor that the DP team dynamic brought kept me watching because it allowed for some balance to the very tragic and horrifying elements of the story.

I didn't expect this show to take such an empathetic approach to telling the stories of deserters, so that was such a pleasant surprise. Knowing nothing about the South Korean military, the show made it so clear how systemic issues could cause people to desert.

The depictions of bullying and violence were pretty severe, but it did show how far a lot of these characters have been pushed past their breaking point. I did not expect that the show would take one of the nicest characters and have them take such a turn, but it worked so well. The last few episodes had my anxiety through the roof because I had to know what happened and I had no idea how things were going to go. Jung Hae-in's performance in the final episode gave me chills with the raw emotion that he portrayed.

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A Shop For Killers was everything that I wanted and more from an action thriller. The fight sequences in this show were great and I appreciated how many different styles of fighting it showed, so the scenes never got boring. The way the show switched back and forth between timelines was very effective and I did not mind at all that they would show scenes more than once but with added context or a new perspective.

Lee Dong Wook as Jeong Jinman was definitely the highlight of the show. I had only ever seen him in Tale of the Nine-Tailed before and that show really wasn't for me, so I did not realize how captivating he could be on screen. Even though his character is pretty morally grey, I couldn't help but root for him and I really ended up loving him. The relationship he had with his niece was very complex and interesting. The scenes of her trying to hit him were very funny and some of my favorite in the whole show. While I don't feel like all of the characters worked, I did love quite a few of the side characters, especially Min-hye, who really stole the show.

The main issue that I had with the show is that it felt like half a show. I think the choice to do 8 episodes and very clearly set it up for a needed second season instead of just doing a 16 episode season was a mistake. What they showed in the finale could have been a great place to stop for a mid-season break if they wanted to split it into two parts. I was left with so many unanswered questions at the end of the finale and it felt very unsatisfying. While I didn't hate the last episode, it just felt very rushed. I will be so sad if there isn't a season 2!

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Huge Letdown

I loved season one of the uncanny counter and season two felt like a completely different show. A huge problem with this season is that they tried to make the stakes personal like they were in the first season, but it just didn’t work at all. In season one, the plot really revolved around So Mun and I was so invested in his character that it really worked. This season, they made everything revolve around side characters that were not at all compelling and that I was not attached to at all. If they wanted to do that, they should have made an existing character that we already cared about go dark, instead of trying to add on someone new.

The addition of the new counter was a huge misstep. While the plot has always been a little goofy, I feel like this character made the whole show feel really silly and changed the found family dynamics.

Maybe it’s because I did not care about Mr. Ma even a little bit, but I feel like this season did not have the emotional impact that the first one did. This season did not balance darker and lighter elements, but seemed to rotate between slapstick and action, with no real emotional weight behind any of it. I think the actor for Mr. Ma just felt like he was really not pulling off being a villain, so even those scenes felt very silly. I wish they had just made the main trio of demons be the villains of the season, as they were way more compelling and scary than Mr. Ma.

If they were going to give Ha Na a romance storyline, I wish it had been with So Mun. The introduction of so many new characters this season made it so that it was really hard to feel invested in any of them.

I skipped so much of this season and I really considered just not finishing it, but in the end I did watch all of it. This season did do a great job with a lot of the action sequences and I think those were some of the most interesting to watch. The heightened powers for the counters made for a lot of really intense fight scenes. Even though the group dynamics did feel really different, I still love a lot of these characters and feel attached to them. I do think that the show would’ve been a lot better off sticking to one season.

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I’m sure I won’t say anything that hasn’t already been said, but I had a blast watching Twinkling Watermelon. Between this show and Weak Hero Class, Choi Hyun-wook has become a must-watch actor for me and I think his character is the highlight of this show.

The time travel plot is nothing new, but what really made this show work were the characters. Eun-gyeol is possibly the least chill time traveller there has ever been but it was hilarious to just see him calling other high schoolers mom and dad immediately. His dynamic with both of his young parents was so good. The relationship between his young parents was my favorite part and I wanted so many more scenes of young Yi-Chan and Chung-ah. The friendships between all of the characters were so much fun and I loved the nineties setting.

This drama almost made it into my top five ranking, but I did have some issues with the plot. The first couple of episodes were hard for me to get into and I think all the scenes taking place in 2023 just were so much less interesting than the ones in the past. While the adult versions of his parents were fine, they were not the beloved young versions that we got from the past. Especially for his dad, I think it was very hard to see him as the same person as young Yi-Chan, even after everything he had been through. The pacing also felt pretty off, with a lot of the mysteries or secrets being drawn out really far and then the show not really having time to resolve them effectively. The show could’ve either tried to make some of the plot points less drawn out or it could’ve used a couple extra episodes. The last episode felt way too rushed as the show tried to wrap up all of the loose ends.

The characters in Twinkling Watermelon became so dear to me by the end of the show that it really did make up for most of my issues with the plot. The show is worth watching for Choi Hyun-wook’s performance alone.

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I am floored by how much I ended up loving this. I do not normally watch many Chinese dramas and I felt a little bit bored at the beginning. Once the main friend group was formed and the characters started feeling more developed, I was hooked. WIFTY is an amazing coming of age drama. The entire friend group is so well-written and each character is endearing and relatable in their own way. They really all felt like friends.

Lurang and Zai zai are one of the best drama couples. Their relationship is so healthy and the transition from friends to something more felt very natural. There was so little drama around this couple; they communicated, trusted, and loved each other in a way that felt so beautiful and rare to see. The actors did such a great job with their characters. They expressed their affection and emotions very differently but it was clear that they both felt just as strongly about each other. Zai zai was Lurang’s sunshine and he was her safe place. I actually cried at how beautiful and pure some of their conversations were.

The second lead couple was very different but still fantastic. Gu ran and Jiang Jia start off really disliking each other, become best friends, and eventually acknowledge their feelings for each other. The chemistry between the two actors was great and they had a lot of very funny scenes together. This couple should’ve had more screentime together.

WIFTY is a perfect comfort show. There is not a lot of major plot points or drama, it just focuses on the characters and their relationships with each other. While there are some sadder themes explored, primarily Lurang’s backstory, this is mostly just a feel good show that warms your heart.

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