interesting story

like most people, i was intrigued by the trailer and decided to watch. i can’t say i was incredibly amazed but i wasn’t disappointed either.

regardless of what others ratings are saying, this series is GOOD. it’s dark and raw and the acting is freaking amazing, special shout out to KYK!!!

having said that, it is rather slow ? at times and even though there is 8 hours of it, it feels like some essential parts were missed. the fact that our ML was in love with the FL was stated quite clearly at the end but we don’t see much of him rwallg caring for her that deeply. yes, he caressed her before leaving but that was canceled out by the fact he destroyed her beloved creation. yes, he tells the Sha-man our FL is different than others but we don’t see how he’s come to appreciate her like that. the most emotion that we see him share regarding her is when he’s outside her house crying saying he wishes he met her earlier.

i really did enjoy the series. i just wish i saw more of the development towards their emotional relationship. i feel it would benefit the story, ending aside.

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great elements. to each their own?

started off strong slowly declined and later i just wanted to get over it. as soon as i started it, i began to really like it! very funny and quirky, two great male leads, fun gangster characters and interesting storyline about revenge.

however as we continued the show (ep 12 onwards) they slowly drew back from what i was enjoying. chil seong focus, the bond between him and his boys, the good humor, the “revenge” started to weaken and you no longer believe anyone even cared about it (even though they hammered on it at the beginning). you don’t believe the ceo to be a good villain either 2/3 into the series because of what they reveal. the ex wife also disappointers without a word even though she was dating the ceo, somehow.

instead they gave us more of sae woo’s selfish and incredibly annoying mother. they kept giving her more focus as the show went on. i was also annoyed how sae woo and her family acted like poong was not allowed to reprenand people who make mistakes in his kitchen. he is their boss, if someone doesn’t do their job right he can tell them they’re doing a bad job. seeing poong bend to them constantly was very frustrating to watch.

the woman cheol sang was seeing around (3 times) was never seen again which was sad considering they were already developing a story there! not even a hint at the end!

the development of the series left me wishing that they had taken a better route and worked on their plot + execution more.

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fell off HARD..

let me start off by saying that this premise is so fresh and different to the ones that i had seen around, sadly it didn't deliver.

it started off so well! fierce main character interacting with her future love interest in a way i hadn't seen for a while, truly enemies. there was great chemistry between them in the first half but as the major plot twist of the story is uncovered, it fizzles out. i understand that there would be no murderous tension but even their chemistry disappears i dont understand.

after the plot twist, she became an extension of him and feels muted down which was frustrating to watch.

big let down.

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nothing remarkable

i was excited to finally watch this show since i’ve been recommended this multiple times but i just couldn’t. i couldn’t finish this.

the story itself is nothing extraordinary but it is not often a drama talks about weight loss n being healthy in a relatively ‘positive’ way. i like that the boy trio helped out and the bond they seemed to have created but she was not fat. she was just over a view pounds so it’s annoying to see everyone call her obese and fat. i suppose we can blame societal differences on this.

the acting itself was again, nothing compelling. female lead is fun and carries most of the show on her shoulders because our male lead has a total of 3 facial expressions. 3!!! our side characters feel hallow and flat given that we don’t see much of them as their own people. the side couple between the model n our boxer was frustrating because she literally stalked and forced herself with him multiple times.

nothing remarkable about the music either.

nothing much i could say about this. story felt disjoined and hallow as a recflection of the script and acting. maybe if this was not 16 episodes it would’ve felt alright to be so empty but this just didn’t work out

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need substance

It started off really well but eventually it felt repetitive (!!) and i never got the deep emotional moments that were needed for this to really hit.

There was scenes that I could see where supposed to be the emotional backdrop and depth for the show but it wasn't done well enough. There should've been more.

The relationships in the show were also not that great. Mother/son needed more depth and the romantic relationship wasn't good either. Both of them could've been explored more.

Perhaps its good for a mindless watch but I went in expecting a lot more.

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fun non serious sageuk

a new take on a non serious sageuk!

this drama doesn't take itself too seriously which is one of the reasons that i really enjoyed it. there's obviously a horrible minister planning to take political power and meddling people in the palace. the things that made this drama so good is that it doesn't take itself to seriously as they make jokes.

they weren't afraid to lean into the charmingly boyish side of men with their two leads.the small mannerisms from each definitely made it better.
lee heon and shinwon were really shy for the woman they had affects for, especially lee heon. which brings me to my next point...

the characterization and story of the king is what really made this for me. lee heon being head over heels for his queen, who is rather indifferent to him and his really affectionate form of loving, suffering for almost a decade because he is haunted by what he knows is the wrongful death of someone he loved was so MOVING. this haunting is obviously done by the people wanting to destabilize his power and hoping to drive him to insanity. being haunted by that wrongful death since he felt he failed to protect her, seeing women constantly die in the same way thus not letting him forget it, and depriving him of sleep.

it was so nice to see the way he was reanimated with life and love after meeting so rang + to see so rang allow herself to return to her life and actually live it. and they're such a good match. heon can express his love and affection to someone who is very reciprocate of it :)

anyway, the show obviously has its issues (some loose ends w the political plot going on) and some things not explained well(which results into this feeling lower budget and web series like for me) but i still enjoyed it. made me super sympathetic towards the main three and made me laugh a lot! definitely recommend!

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incredibly overhyped -->

the way everyone was raving about this drama i expected it to be good and well rounded but instead its Cutie Pie 2.0.

there is a semblance of plot initially but it is very quickly abandoned. plot and any sense of story is lost to make way for explicit kissing and sex scenes which is the reason most people seem to be enjoying this show. the writing is weak and the acting is consistently not the best

i really tried to give this a chance but i couldn't put up with this anymore. hope to see better quality for thai bls in the future.

rating reflects what i did manage to sit through

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transmigration on a time crunch

A lovely little transmigration story - on a budget! While watching the show it is obvious it is not a big scale production but it is still really well made. The female lead is lovely, smart and actually funny which I enjoyed. She showed understanding to make it believable she was from the present but nothing too over the top like other transmigration stories have done which I liked. The couple is really affectionate with each other when they get together, there is plenty of skinship as well which I am really glad about! OST is really nice and enjoyable, Hua Ni's outfits are so lovely and I LOVED her hair pieces!

Although the ending is unpleasant for many, I do understand why she was brought back to the present and how it turned out she was "dreaming" it all. I understand the ending is because straight up time travel in shows is not allowed anymore (reason why Story of Kunning Palace had a story within a book kind of ending).

Now when it comes to understanding it: At the beginning of the series it is implied that she goes into the book she is reading and she turns from that book at the end. The show depicts it that she simply hit her head hard and dreamt that up in the time she was passed out but the bracelet and the flower shows us that she truly did go back in time. They love each other but can't be together per the time difference, a a la Moon Lovers Scarlet Heart Ryo - style.

All in all, I'm not mad at it because everything else hit the mark for me. I say give it a shot !!

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great premise, fell really flat.

the idea of a powerful female cultivator loosing her power and memory gaining it back is very enticing. the idea of the man who called off an engagement leaving her in shame yearning desperately for her is even more enticing. however, it is only good when it is done right.

there should have been more groveling and longing from the mans side. it felt like we had two or three instances where her power was showcased and thats it? the story could have used better mapping, writing and development for sure. they had a good number of episodes but not a good enough plan to really utilitze it.

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every good story needs a good pacing

first off, I'll start by saying that I really enjoyed this drama. I always enjoy the set up of stories where someone jumps into a comic book/novel and messy moments ensue.

I loved the main cast and supporting leads. you don't often see such a great round up! their characters were fun too even though Rowoon's was a bit flatter compared to everyone else.(understandably so). but even at the end there was nothing to him besides his love for dan o. I would have loved more character development.

my issues lie with the repetitiveness of the story and how stagnant it really was/ felt . the premise was great but ultimate delivery felt lacking.

if you want to something with a similar premise, I recommend that you check out "Fall for you (2022)". It's like a mashup of Extraordinary You and True Beauty.

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wowwwwww

wow what a show! so many heartfelt moments mixed with heart-wrenching moments as well.

while the show has some "cliches", and plenty of plot twists it felt so incredibly refreshing because of the way it approached them in regards to how the characters felt. it was very nuanced. also like the messages that embedded throughout the story. i could go into great depth into any of them but i won't just to keep this short. especially like how certain reactions from the characters felt very realistic. the main message of community being nothing without genuine connections and empathy was such a good thing to throw in. love the way they approached all of these messages.

yeo jingoo gave a great performance as always. he never fails to amaze me with his acting. moon gayoung was very good here too i was pleasantly surprised. the show does have its hick-ups but i enjoyed watching so much that they didn't bother me much. i laughed, i giggled and i cried (SO MUCH). definitely recommend

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best kbl of the year so far

such a great series, definitely the best kbl of the year! the story is somewhat simple but it was very well done and filled out by the great chemistry that our leads have. sometimes its difficult to believe some pairings are into each other but i could actually believe they were into each other and wanted to be together.

solid acting from the cast especially lee seung gyu (ki tae). i could feel that he was legitimately worried and anxious about lee wan disappearing again. i found it very realistic that he would have this unspoken anxiety about lee wan leaving because of what happened before.

i also want to commend them for how they focused they were with the telling of the story. they focus on the relationship between our leads and don't really waste time showing scenes in which they aren't there. a lot of other shows with short run times still struggle with this. there isn't a lot of miscommunication (besides the obvious one) and the characters are pretty forward with each other which i loved.

watching the dating sim play at the end was so cute i loved that we got to see it! overall cant recommend this drama enough.

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pretend its a parody if you must

the only way that this show is entertaining and enjoyable is to look at it as a parody show of murder mystery dramas.

as soon as you start watching episode two (because episode one is pretty strong i suppose) you realize the quality of the show you are starting. the writing is pretty weak as in not only the story but also the script for the characters. if you watch it as a parody of the genre it is lot more enjoyable because its not well done, its easier to pretend its done on purpose than believe something actually fails this bad.

anyway, it does lean on the main leads a LOT to carry this show. i did enjoy seeing them on screen together I will say. i loved min a lot best character here.

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definitely the best adaption of the source material in my eyes.

i was hesitant to give this a try because of how much i did not enjoy the korean and Chinese versions for specific reasons. its hard not to compare it to other adaptions given how numerous and popular they are but even without comparing, it is the best adaption hands down.

While some may believe that it changed the story completely, i would argue that it took the source material and took it further than even the first adaption Hana Yori Dango did and even did what the 2018 version failed to do- great modernization of the story. A lot of the toxicity was tamed down especially between the two main characters but not to the extent that we would miss the angsty or fighting scenes. we even get to see the progression of their feelings including our female main character which i feel like i didn't see much in other versions. they built on so much including the f4 friendships that its hard to list everything down. the development of thyme's character was amazing to watch as well within the story as well as comparing it to other adaptions (and how he actually apologized and was ready to face repercussions for his actions)!

the director, screenwriters and the team behind this show saw the potential in the story we all love and continue to watch, and added so much to it and made it even better. im in awe of how well they did. i just wish it were longer than this was and that the second half didn't feel so messy. other wise great series and adaption.

also loved the small references to past adaptions and the source material!!

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one of the best historical dramas of the year...

wow! just finished watching and definitely wasn't expecting that. i went in with low expectations and i have been pleasantly surprised.

this is a very well rounded drama for the most part. the cast is good for their parts, good acting, mains have great comedic timing and the funniest expressions (especially the emperor). the jokes carried throughout an episode and occasionally built off each other through the show which i always enjoy. even though i've watched my fair share of historical dramas this has got to be one of my favorites because it was so well rounded for me and funny.

i will only nitpick on two things. first: even though our main couple was so funny together, they did not have much chemistry. two: second overarching plot point in the second half was just not that interesting and made me lose some interest.

other than that it was such a good series. constantly laughter and smiles. also really really loved the soundtrack!!

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