1
izzy
Australasia
But for me what really let this drama down was the script. The story ended up being quite repetitive and there was so so much crying that I started to feel nothing when Pharm cried, Fluke can cry really well, but it loses its power if it happens constantly. The story started to get a little too ridiculous and soap operaish that I had to roll my eyes a couple times. And the pacing in the final episode was a bit too slow, for example we had their families crying for 7 whole minutes, just crying FOR 7 MINUTES!
That being said I do think this drama is special , the majority of the time it was a lovely relaxing watch and early on I did really connect and care about the characters, I just lost that connection the more repetitive and out there the story got. It is really similar to what I read of the book which I couldn't finish though, so maybe this story was never one I was going to love. But I think certain aspects of this show were lovely and it’s definitely a move in the right direction for BL dramas, they’re getting more money, creativity and time put into them.
So as I said I do think New is getting better and better and it’s so cool to see his journey as a creator from Make It Right, to Love By Chance and now this, it makes me excited to see what he’ll do next because I know it’ll be even better than this, just please not so much crying next time...
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It's a roller-coaster with some insane chemistry.
3 episodes into this drama I realized that my feelings on it changed completely episode by episode - which probably had something to do with every episode being the length of a movie. So I decided instead of reviewing the drama as a whole I would review it episode by episode as I watch it. So here are my spoiler free, exhausted, binge watch feelings on every episode of My Husband In Law:Episode 1:
Meh, I don’t know if this is for me...yet.
Episode2:
Ok I’m more interested, I’ll continue.
Episode 3:
Yep! Confirmed, they have amazing chemistry, Muey has my whole heart. I'm really liking this!!!
Episode 4:
Umm...I’m starting to get confused...Muey what ya doin!?
Episode 5:
What the hell is happening!? Also this editing is seriously TERRIBLE...the S&M stuff was hilarious though.
Episode 6:
I’m so confused and don’t really care anymore, really about to drop this. Also Thien is being new levels of mean.
Episode 7:
I TAKE BACK EVERYTHING!!! I love it now! It all makes sense! My confusion is gone!
Episode 8:
I’m happy! I’m in love! I need more! I’m at hour 12 without a break. Also Jealousy!?
Episode 9:
Oh! My heart felt so much warmth and then pain and I cried A LOT. (Really could do without the SML) But these are some of the most beautiful scenes I've ever seen. I've also now been watching this for 15 hours straight - so I need sleep!
Episode 10:
I’ve slept! It seems like over night I forgot what Thien is like - he’s so aggravating! I’m mad at him! But also “ADORABLE”!?!? ps lesbians
Episode 11:
Ugh! COMMUNICATE you idiots! Also these guys are back? Seriously? Ugh. But still the mains make me emosh.
Episode 12:
They're so cute and their chemistry is crazy good, but I’m getting confused and angry cause Meuy’s not actually given a reason that makes sense for her wanting what she wants to happen.
Episode 13:
I get why Thiens doing what he’s doing at least. But why is Muey sad that she's gotten exactly what she wanted!?!? Ugh! I’m starting to hate this drama again, because of Mueys terrible writing - I’d drop it if there weren’t only 2 episodes left.
Episode 14:
Ugh. I can’t be bothered. It really ruins the drama when you lose all understanding of Mueys character and all her motivations. Personally I feel they’ve ruined a character I loved. (Our leads are still extremely cute though)
Episode 15:
I’m gonna admit I did fast forward through a bit of the overly dramatic stuff. I teared up a bit too. Loved the cuter moments. It was an alright ending...
As you can see - my feelings really were up and down with this drama. I started it sobbing for Muey and whispering "You're so strong" and ending it kinda loathing her character. That's not down to the actress at all - its the writing. Muey starts out as this sweet, funny and bubbly character and at some point seemed to turn into a mopey, moaning, depressed jerk. But I loved Thiens character development, it felt really organic and I definitely want to watch more of Marks dramas.
PS. Do want to give a little shout out to this drama for its representation. Its only side couples were LGBT and I really respect that, as a bisexual girl, seeing gay female characters is unheard of so it was a really cool to see.
Also I only realized when I finished the drama how great a character Chet was, he's great at his job, he's the right hand man to the big boss, he's so smart, he's openly gay, he goes after what he wants, he loves wearing dresses, but also wears gorgeous suits and he's a romantic with the biggest heart. Personally I didn't love his ending, but he was a character I've never seen portrayed on screen before and I really loved his scenes.
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This review may contain spoilers
I've been watching Korean dramas the past 3 years and Taiwanese and Thai dramas for the past 2, but I had avoided Chinese dramas up until this one. I don't tend to write reviews for shows I really really love or hate, I write them for the ones where I don't know how I feel about them. So to organize my feelings I will first write about what I didn't like and them what I did like.
So what I didn't like first of all where all the things that got set up that the writer just didn't end up picking up again, or were forgotten. (very mild cryptic spoilers ahead) For example, why did the sister get a flower? We never saw her again after that. And how could he've considered blowing that guy up in that house, after whats revealed later? And it may've been because I wasn't focusing but what did Tommy actually dig up? could someone please tell me?
I also didn't love the female leads character, she was set up to be strong and confident but in the end she kind of cried a lot and was saved by the male lead a lot, her acting was great, I just didn't love the character.
But the main thing I didn't like was that this show couldn't go through with any dramatic decisions. Any big deaths, that left me thinking "wow! good on you show for killing off that character/ those characters, that's a bold move!" ten minutes later were like, "guess what...they weren't really dead!" and it just felt like a cop out and it made big dramatic moments less dramatic, because you quickly realize no ones life is really on the line.
For what i did like, I liked the set up of the relationship of our 2 leads. There were some very cute scenes in the lead up of them becoming a couple (the accidental kiss!!!) and their first real kiss was all sorts of amazing! But after a while their relationship kind of started to bore me, but the few cute scenes they did have throughout the show did reignite my love for the pairing.
The second thing I liked- no LOVED was Wallace Huo, his acting...straight up amazing. As was Edward Zhang, the 2 of them were the big standouts of the show for me.
I liked the early mystery's and the long mystery for the second half of the show at times was a real chore to get through, but then it also had certain moments where I was squealing because it was so intense and insane. But there were a few too many "hes the guy! No, actually he's the guys! No, wait its him we've been looking for!" -it got a little bit tiring and I was only paying half attention to the final 2 episodes. (I was more of an Edward Zhang fan!)
This was a good choice for my first Chinese drama, it had brilliant acting and it was also a lot shorter than the average Chinese drama. Although I had a lot of issues with the drama I can see why people love it and why its quickly become a classic. I wouldn't watch it again because I know all the reveals, but was it a fun journey to find them out for the first time...mostly, yeah. I will definitely be watching more Chinese dramas in the future.
(P.S But they better not give me any more Breaking Dawn Part 2 endings like that, what the hell was that???)
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I understand why other people love this and I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it...
My big issue with this series was that the macro political issues being put in the micro environment of the school just didn't fit for me - on paper I love the idea, but personally I felt it didn't work in this series. Some of the eclipse "stunts" seemed almost comedic to me when they were supposed to be metaphors for extremely serious real world issues. So that is such a large part of the plot that I didn't connect with emotionally.That being said I did really like so many things in this series:
it was visually stunning - the locations- BEAUTIFUL! (Also I think the first gmmtv bl where in every single beach scene the audio was perfect!)
This cast was amazing! Khaotung has been one of my gmmtv faves since 2018 and First has also become one in the last 2 years. My favourite moments in this series were Akk and Aye just being goofy and flirty - I'd love to see First and Khao do something with more comedy, because First is so talented comedically and I'd like to see them being cute and coupley again, but older - maybe in university or an office. Neo has also been an actor that has grown so much since I first saw him in 'Cause Youre My Boy' in 2018 - every drama he gets better and better - give him his leading role already GMMTV! Louis fit very well in this role - but I did have a HUGE problem with him outing a fellow member of the lgbt community to the entire school before he was ready - that makes me immediately dislike a character - so I left the series a Thua hater (oops)
Overall I enjoyed this, its not one of my top 10 BLs of the year, or my favourite gmmtv BL of the year, but that's because its been a year of incredible BLs and because the metaphor of the plot didn't work for me personally - I am very excited to see how this cast fits into gmmtvs 2023 plan - I have so many 2023 predictions!!!
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I have to be clear that I LOVED this drama when I first started it. I've found that recently I've not been looking forward to each new episode of the dramas I'm watching, but for this one I was excited to see where this story would take me. The dialogue wasn't great, it was kind of convoluted and a little bit confusing, but the overall story was an interesting one and so I was truly hooked.
The things that I really enjoyed throughout this entire drama were the setting, the acting, the chemistry of our leads and the music. The setting was stunning, I never got tired of seeing these characters wandering around the forest and discovering new parts to it, it was so beautiful to watch and not a setting I'd seen explored in a kdrama before. The music was really on a whole new level, it really enhanced the drama and the music alone made me excited for certain scenes. Now to the acting, as i said I've only ever seen Park Hae Jin in Doctor Stranger and I have to say that although that drama was jam packed with beloved actors, his performance was by far my favorite. And in this drama I was not disappointed at all! He was brilliant, he brought a wonderful child-like side to this cold man who lost out on his childhood. I seriously can't wait to see him in more dramas and this was my first Jo Bo Ah drama, but WOW she was good. I can understand that some people were annoyed by her character, but that was completely down to how she was written rather than her performance, I loved the believable strength she brought to the character and the fun side to her that was also always present. And the chemistry these 2 characters had was insane, there were a few moments that were seriously steamy, I mean that first kiss with the stethoscope... And big shout out to this being Noh Kwang Shik, this is his first drama....WHAT?
As I said the first two thirds of this drama were brilliant. Choosing to have drama be about the forest rescue team was such a unique idea, having a little look into how difficult their job is made for a great watch. And the rescue teams scenes were always so fun to see, I have a weakness for found family plots in dramas, so I seriously loved their moments. And the fact that they managed to put a cliched kdrama love story in the middle of such a unique setting worked brilliantly. It was a new angle on all the cliches I know and love, it was an adorable, sweet and funny drama.
But towards the end we lost a lot of that stuff and our main couple were really the only thing that kept me coming back. For some reason the writer decided to pretty much drop the fire rescue portion of the story (which was what was making this drama so unique) and have it become a drama about "evil" businessmen trying to one up each other. It stopped being funny and sweet and started behaving more like a melodrama. And it got to the point where it was ridiculous. Having our villain maniacally laugh every 5 seconds was way to much and having Park Hae Jin beat someone up and call him self a "superhero" was eye roll worthy.
So for me this drama just lost its magic and got kind of boring. I'm not sure if I'm glad I started this drama. I'm glad I got to experience some of these actors again and some for the first time, but the script was just so bad it made the last few episodes a chore to get through. This is one of those dramas I will have almost completely forgotten about in a years time, BUT one thing I'll never forget was that first kiss, it's gone straight to the top of my list of best kdrama kisses.
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"WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT!?" "I'M SO CONFUSED?" and "BUT I DON'T GET WHAT'S HAPPENING!"
The reasons for characters actions made no sense to me now and even tainted the actions characters chose in earlier brilliant episodes (like why was Jai Hee doing what she was for like 10 episodes?) It seemed like the writer had a bunch of brilliant ideas to start off the show but was then left with a bunch of questions they didn't know how to answer and ended up confusing themselves and therefore the viewers when writing the later episodes.
BUT and its a big but
those first 14 episodes were pretty much pure magic, at one point my nails had cut into my hand from the anxiety and excitement this show gave me.
Also it was my first Lee Jong Suk show (other than his tiny appearance in WLFKBJ which although it was only seconds made me really like him) and I have to say, I went into the show thinking he might’ve been a bit over hyped because he’s so pretty, but NO! He was honestly brilliant. He brought a lightness and charm to the character, which I think may have gotten a little lost in the darkness of the characters past for some other actors. He blew me away and my expectations were extremely high! I know I'll be excited when starting one of his dramas in the future.
And Park Hae Jin isn’t a actor I’ve heard much of before but his character became the stand out of the drama for me and the complexity and vulnerability he played Jae Joon with was so brilliant to watch. He was so subtle and real! I've been wanting to watch Cheese in the Trap for a while now and my love for him in this has given me a good reason to start it soon.
And on top of that all the female characters were all so bad ass and brilliant not just the main 2 (who I loved so so deeply) but all of them! They were all so strong and crazy inspirational and I find that to be so rare for ALL female characters in a drama. I'm going to take a special moment to praise Jai Hee (because everyone loves Quack and fairly so) but Jai Hee was equally as brilliant for me and the pain and inner struggle she carried was portrayed perfectly and I wouldn't have changed her performance in any way. I strongly disagree with all you haters!!!
The love story of this drama wasn't something I expected I would enjoy because we didn't see the falling in love part of it and I find for me to like a love story I've gotta see them fall in love or I'll usually feel nothing for them, but in this drama there were some genuine moments where I teared up and I "awwed" and whilst they wont ever be my favourite kdrama couple I did really enjoy watching them.
The surgical scenes: I'M SPEECHLESS, THEY WERE EVERYTHING, I LOVE LOVE LOVED THEM! (and this is coming from someone who isn't a big surgical show fan) - round of applause for the director especially for those.
This show is tense and dramatic and wonderful and FULL OF PLOT HOLES, but the reason the plot holes annoyed me so much is because 3/4's of this drama were on there way to this being one of my favourite dramas and that is why I cant bring myself to rate this show any higher OR LOWER than I have.
I would say give it a go, I don't regret starting this drama because of how good it gets, but if you get the urge to turn it off after 5 episodes or so, do that because that's the best it gets. It drives me crazy knowing how good this show could have been, but I guess still enjoyed it. Thank you Doctor Stranger for a pretty good time!
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This drama is extremely slow but in the best way, it takes its time rather than dragging anything out and to my surprise I've found they're actually giving us some subtle yet brilliant character development and growth. All their characters - bar one - are not solely perfect or evil, they are real and that's so fun to watch. Admittedly Chung Ah is who I come back for again and again, whether it be her sweet relationship with her best friend, her up and down relationship with her sister, her strained relationship with her father or the beginnings of love with a man who swears he will never date or marry. Seol In Ah is a fantastic actor and having only seen her in Strong Woman, I'm so pleasantly surprised by how well shes managed to carry this drama for me. She plays such a brilliant character and although at the beginning of this drama she was who I watched it for, I am now finding I'm starting to like characters and look forward to seeing characters who I swore I would hate for the entirety of this drama.
Anyway as someone who has never finished a show with over 25 episodes in it (Korean, English, american or otherwise), I know that I will be finishing all 100 episodes of this drama and that makes it pretty good in my books.
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I really liked it but...
Now, I went into Sotus expecting great things. Fans of BL dramas all seem to agree that this is one of the best if not the best BL drama. So I was expecting this to be my new favourite BL story and I'm afraid to say that its not, but that doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy it.I have now seen several Thai BL dramas I started with Bad Romance last year, which was fine and I watched a little bit of Together With Me which was a lot better, but then I took a break from Thai dramas and only recently have gotten back into them. So I've been trying to get through the GMMTV BL dramas first, so I started with My Tee which has potential but it really wasn't that good. Then I moved on to Kiss: The Series and Kiss Me Again, I really enjoyed them both but especially Kiss Me Again, I'm a big PeteKao fan now. After that I moved on to My Dear Loser: Edge of Seventeen and WOW this drama was almost perfect to me, I thoroughly enjoyed the main couples love story and the chemistry between In and Sun was unbelievable - watching their bond and friendship grow was pure magic, although they didn't define their relationship they are my favourite GMMTV BL couple at the moment. I also watched Puppy Honey, it was pretty good, Pick and Rome had great chemistry but the writing for them wasn't the best (but I am very excited about the bits and pieces I've seen of Theory of Love - also OffGun's friendship is adorable)
When I finished Puppy Honey 1 and 2 I knew that I only had Sotus left before I could watch Our Skyy. So I saved Sotus knowing it was everyone's favouite and so I could compare it against all the other dramas and I did really enjoy it but certain parts also underwhelm me.
I think the writing was a little weak and dragged in some places but overall it was very good. The direction wasn't anything new or amazing, but it did the job more than well enough and the actors I thought did a brilliant job. So the one thing that let me down (and I hate to say it) was the lack of chemistry I felt between Singto and Krist, I really like the interviews and appearances they have made in other things, I love their personalities, but somehow the chemistry was missing a little for me in Sotus. That's not to say I didn't "aww" and squeal at their cute moments, because I 100% did, but as I said there were some scenes where I found the chemistry was missing.
Here's the thing chemistry is completely subjective, if it wasn't people wouldn't have shipping wars, so although I didn't see it clearly hundreds of thousands of people did and so the only real weakness this show has for me is a very personal reason, It may have also been that my expectations were way too high, but because this show is their love story, I'm afraid I can't give it a higher score, sorry! But I will be onto Sotus S soon and I'm pretty excited for it.
My current ratings for the GMMTV BL dramas:
My Dear Loser: Edge of Seventeen
Kiss Me Again
Sotus
Kiss: The Series
Senior Secret: Puppy Honey
Senior Secret: Puppy Honey 2
My Tee
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It’s just another crime drama and sadly not for me
I've watched till the halfway point of episode 5 of this drama and I think I've just come to the realisation that this drama just isn't for me. I'm watching so many dramas at the moment, but this is the only one I'm not excited for each week. In three years of watching kdramas I've only ever dropped one other and so I thought I should explain why I'm dropping this one.I have to firstly say I don't think this is a bad drams at all, it's just becoming more and more each episode not my thing. It doesn't really let you know what type of drama it becomes in the MDL 'about' section so I'm letting you guys know with this review. The first 2 episodes were outstanding I loved the really dark tone of the story they told in the 80s, it really looked like this drama was going to be something different and new for me - I especially found Gong Ji Chul (played by Jang Ki Yong) a really interesting character to follow, his story and the exploration of his character were told so well.
But it seems with the modern episodes this drama has become your basic crime/murder mystery drama and I've just been watching too many of that genre of drama recently, so the ones I do watch have to really hook me. But I'm not feeling like the crime plot is anything that unique so I've lost interest in the core plot of the drama now.
Also annoyingly Jang Ki Yongs character is the only one I'm interested in learning about in the present. The other two characters in both times just aren't ones I gravitate towards - they're just a bit dull (no hate to the actors it's just the characters I'm not a fan of) - and this drama has three stars, so that's two thirds of the drama which I don't feel any sort of emotional attachment to. Our main relationship for example is something the viewer needs to be really invested in but that just hasn't happened for me.
I will probably continue to check in on this dramas tag, just to see it my predictions are right, but sadly I won't continue watching the full episodes. One good thing has come out of this drama for me though, I used to really dislike of Jang Ki Yong, but watching this drama has turned me into a big fan of his. I am happy I gave this drama a go because those first two episodes were so brilliant and I'm glad I got to experience them.
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