Reviews

True Power °8.3° °Excellent°

“You're retired.”

When powered people are “retired,” it's meant to be permanent. Someone is making sure they are gone for good. He has a list. He's checked it more than twice.

M is a 2023 release that is rated 91 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 20 38-58 minute episodes. I've never seen a KDrama open like this… with astral vision, a hard landing, and a harder awakening. The ample budget is showing. It starts in HS. We follow kids with mysterious powers. Before long, we are in the backstory of their parents.

The backstories are /rough/ - Like pull-your-fist-back-and-take-a-moment-to extract-your-opponent’s-teeth-that-got-embedded-under-your-skin-after-a-powered-punch rough. Next, there's a HALL FIGHT!!! Fists of Flame!!! Dooooooood, it's awesome!!! And that episode is titled “The Romanticist”. Then it gets even more violent. It is alittle much- among the most intense I've seen. Clearly, they broke the budget on ep11.

Lee Jung Ha (Nevertheless-7.6, The Auditors, Rookie Historian-7.6) opens the show as the lightweight, Kim Bong “Seok”. Lightweight? More like weightless, at times. He has to wear a weighted backpack to keep himself from floating away like a lost party balloon. This town, that town, new school: To avoid predators, his mother has kept them moving constantly. He's sweet, likable, winsome, and pretty much adorable. Han Hyo Joo (Happiness, W, Blood Free-8.5) is his mother, Lee Mi Hyeon and Zo In Sung (Escape from Mogadishu, That Winter, the Wind Blows-7, It's Okay, That's Love) is his father, Kim Du Sik - He's just killer in the role.

Go Youn Jung (Alchemy of Souls-8.3, Sweet Home-8.4, The School Nurse Files-7.6) is his brand new schoolmate, Jang “Hui” Su. She's a transfer student, and she's pretty, yet she strangely befriends Bong Seok. I just finished watching AoS-2, in which this actress takes over as the FL. M follows a year later, yet she looks 5 years younger. I wouldn't have recognized her if I hadn't checked the credits. The funniest scene, early on, is when he brings her home. His mother's reaction is precious. At first, she's nonplussed. “You're a girl…” is what haltingly comes out. “A girl who's a /friend/…” Hui adds, trying to aid with the processing. “But you're pretty…” Mom is still working on it. When it finally clicks with Mom that her son has brought a pretty girl home, she gets too happy. Too friendly, too. The whole thing is really cute. Ryu Seung Ryong (Portrait of a Family, The Painter of the Wind, Kingdom-8.3) is Hui's father, strongman Jang Ju Won. He is marvelous as well.

Cha Tae Hyun (Team Bulldog: Off-duty Investigation, Brain Works) is the electric Jeon Gye Do. Ryu Seung Beom (No Mercy, Solitude) portrays a very creepy hitman named Frank. Kim Hee Won (Pawn, Han River Police-7.4) is one of the teachers, Choi Il Hwan. Moon Sung Geun (Falsify, Vagabond-8) is the vile governmental department head, Min Yong Jun. The director is Park In Je of Kingdom S2, and the screenwriter is Kang Full from Pain, Love Never Ends.

This production has it all: Love, laughter, warmth, sadness, pain, action, and excitement.
The fight scenes are exceptional and put quite a few Hollywood features to shame. The hitman/hunter is Steven Segal; H2K; Hard to Kill. They do a great job in speeding up the action in places in a way that multiplies the excitement. They are really showing off. The soundtrack is mostly average but not bad. Alone again Naturally, by Gilbert O'Sullivan circa 1972, unexpectedly showed up.

To be different is to be alone. To be normal is to accept the compromise of conformity which can be difficult to distinguish phoniness. That is the theme as well as the nature of power and what is most important.

“Hero? …What do you think power is? Empathy is what real power looks like. Having the ability to care and understand the emotions of others. What kind of hero breaks other people's hearts? …You acted like you were better than him. What you did wasn't admirable at all… a hero has compassion towards others.” Seok had showed off at school and his classmate was hurt when trying to imitate him. His mother is not impressed. Seok has never fit in. He watched a kid jump off the jungle-gym, claiming he could fly. All the kids cheered. Seok couldn't help but go and show them what he could do. But later, the first kid was badly hurt in a fall. His mother is right, but he's just a kid and he wants to fit in. It's a bitter lesson, and it underscores how isolated Seok is. The NK fighters are so sad. They were tortured into what they are. The human brain is terrifying. They are powered, yet still powerless.

M is powerful. It isn't the typical sweet and tame Kdrama. The language is rough (is that Hulu's influence, I wonder? Regardless, it isn't unrealistic) and the violence is jarring at times. This isn't for kids. They are keeping the story moving: S2 is in the works! No early retirement here.

〰QUOTE〰

Crying becomes a habit. A habit becomes a weakness.

〰IMHO〰

RATINGS
Directing 8.3
Writing 8.3
Acting 8.3
Romance 6
Flutters 5
Art 8
Sound & music 7.3
Ending ?
My personal EQ 6.5

LEVELS
Warmth 5
Action/ Excitement 7
Laughs 2
Tears 2
Fright 4
Tension/Anxiety 3
Gore 8
Thought provocation 5.5
Snores 0

Age 15+ Violence - an episode on bullying is very emotional and difficult, gore
Language: R-rated w/ many F💣s

Rated TV-MA: Mature Audience Only.

Re-watch? WOULD

In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

The Legend of the Blue Sea-7.2
Racket Boys-8.3,
Reply 1988-8.6,
The school nurse files-7.6,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Oh My Ghost 10,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Descendants Of The Sun-8.3,
Law School -8,

Period
My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy,
Mr. Queen 8.5,
My Sassy Girl 8.5,

Sci-fi / Action
Glitch-8,
Missing: The Other Side-8.3,
Mystic Pop-up Bar-8.2,
K2 8,
Inspector Koo-8.4,
Private Lives 8.1, When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Sisyphus 8,
The Golden Spoon-8.1,
Uncanny counter season-1 only °S1-8.4 S2-4,
Vagabond-8,
Tunnel 8.5,
Signal 8.6, Iris-8,
The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9, The Wailing-8.8,
Black 9,
Squid Game 8.4,
Kingdom 8.3,
Sweet Home 8.4

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Underwhelming

Due to Kim Soo Hyun’s three year absence from the small screen, there was much hype and anticipation when his role in QoT was announced. Sadly, QoT didn’t live up to the hype.

The story had potential, but got dragged down and lost. It was greatly overshadowed by the two villains, who had more weight in the story than the two leads.

There are plenty of romance KDramas that include a stalker or killer that don’t lose the power of the romance, such as Kim Soo Hyun’s last KDrama, It’s Okay to Not Be Okay, or Strong Woman Do Bong Soon, W:Two Worlds, Extraordinary You, While You Were Sleeping, etc., even QoT’s competition from this year, Lovely Runner. All had pretty nasty villains, yet the romance never got buried or overpowered by the evil.

If anyone got a bonus out of this show, it was Kim Ji Won who more than proved that she has the talent and acting chops to deliver any role in which she is cast.

There is a sweet romance lost in the villainy.

Too bad it wasn’t given preeminence.

Positive: It has a happy ending.

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It is my first drama review so don't be too harsh on me.

Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru (My Dress-up Darling) is an adaptation of the very warmly received and well-reviewed manga by Shinichi Fukuda.

Story: 7/10
The story follows two highschool students, Gojou Wakana, a young adept of Hina doll making, and his classmate, Marin Kitagawa, a popular gyaru whose secret hobby is cosplay. Their fates meet by accident when Marin discovers what Gojou really does outside of school. Then, she introduces him to the world of cosplay.
The plot in the first five episodes does not differ so much from what we have already seen in anime. The scenes are well adapted, and also the settings fit well. Unfortunately, in the last five episodes we have the impression that the action is too rushed and we cannot feel a greater bond between the characters. The drama would need a few more episodes. In this case my rating couldn't be higher.

Acting/Cast: 7/10
By live-action drama standards, the acting is good. Both the main characters and the side characters fulfilled their tasks.
The styling and outfits also deserve great praise. These did not differ in any way from the original.

Music: 8/10
There's really nothing to complain about in this category. The music matched the appropriate scenes and was very nice to listen to. The opening and ending theme songs were also great.

Rewatch value: 5/10
I'm not really the type of person who rewatches drama, but there were some interesting scenes (especially with cosplay) that would make it worth returning to the series.

Lastly, it was a good adaptation of manga, although not at the level of anime. Some things were good and some of them were used unnecessarily. Overall, I have to admit that I enjoyed this drama.

Overall score: 7/10

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Main dialogue " This is just wrong" at least that's what the subs translated it as.

It was funny which is great. It had elements of "Ugly Alert, My father is strange, and What happens to my family? " so if you liked any of these u will like this as well as it comes with lots of laughter and the only thing that saddened me was not having one more episode for the ending.

The father of the sister had it rough! I really feel bad for him, not only (in the beginning) are his daughters ungrateful but also vicious. Slowly they start to learn the truth but still continue doing stupid things giving the father more embarrassment. I don't think any man in the real world could have his character and personality. Just watch it you will like it.

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Trying a bit too hard to be "epic historical drama"?

First of all: This is long. It is dragged out quite a lot – I watched this on Netflix, and ended up watching a lot of the episodes on 1,25 speed. Couldn't do faster because of the subtitles, lol.

Second: It is a bit dated, but sometimes that doesn't matter that much with historical-style dramas. I try to overlook the dated factors in my ratings for older shows, but here there were elements that slightly bugged me to the extent that I will mention them:
- (Occasionally) Poorly done makeup, especially the wig-lines
- Overly dramatic music, a bit repetitive
- "Soap-operaish /telenovela" style

When it comes to the casting and acting, I think they did a decent job under the circumstances. It tended to be "overacting" for certain characters (especially the villainous ones), which I am no fan of.
The three main leads all did rather well – I found the performances to be a bit either too flat or too stereotypical at times, but unsure if that has to do with when this was produced or the script.

As for the story, it became extremely plot-heavy and too dragged out, especially the last like 10 episodes or so. I nearly abandoned this after watching somewhat over 30 episodes, but then it really would have felt like a waste of time.
There were some smaller things in the story that either didn't quite add up, or that I missed.

When about half-way in this drama, it reminded me a little bit of "Empress Ki", but that is a much better drama.
As for this drama ("Introduction of the Princess / The Glamorous Imperial Concubine"), I get the impression that they tried a bit too hard to make it into an epic, historical drama.

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Shu Brocade Family

Rating after 25 episodes:

Story: 10

Although it's not a perfect drama, it has a storyline framed around historical Shu silk, fighting for justice, and weaving love and friendship. I enjoy watching it. I generally don't like every drama. This year, I liked only a few dramas that were released. This drama is better than all of them. The story is so good that besides war and intrigue, there are also funny scenes. The main couple constantly argues with each other and finally unites to fight for justice.

Acting: 10

Ji Ying Ying (Tan Song Yun) has a cunning, cute, businesswoman, strong woman character. Due to the events in her childhood, she took all her family's responsibilities upon herself. So, love and marriage were secondary for her. Her life continued to get more difficult. After her first fiancé left her, a romance began to develop between her and Yang Jing Lan. And finally, they got married in the 25th episode.
Tan Song Yun does justice to this role. She is a very talented actress.

Yang Jing Lan (Zheng Ye Cheng) has a funny, just, and somewhat carefree nature. He is both a warrior and a government official.
After this series, I fell in love with ZYC's acting skills once again.

Music: 10

I really liked the OSTs. They were performed by Liu Yunning and Tan Song Yun. Both of them have very beautiful voices.

Rewatch Value:

In your free time, you can watch Ji Ying Ying and Yang Jing Lan's arguments to relax.

Overall: 10

Both the story, acting, and music are very beautiful. It's a drama worth watching.

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Another Stockholm Syndrome Plot

I wish a story like this had not been produced. It is a wrong message that got twisted into a pretzel trying to make it feel and turn out respectable. I am sorry but it should not have. Someone was kidnapped at gun point, threatened, tied up, terrorized, and almost killed. And then the victim falls in love with his captor. This is another version of the ‘Stockholm Syndrome’. Yes, of course, the story is more complicated than this. But then again, it really is not. The story gets convoluted and endlessly waxes and wanes between ridiculous plots and scenarios. I cannot say anything bad about the acting.

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a very casual rom com

Slice of life kind of drama! A simple and fun romcom! Roles are kind of reversed here where the female lead #KimSejeong is more outgoing and has a tomboy kind of personality (initially) while the male lead #LeeJongwon is highly introverted and a quite person.

This is really a binge worthy show it’s only 12episodes and when you feel like watching something light and casual without any complicated breakups or misunderstandings this show will be good. It takes awhile for the leads to get used to each other but they have a very mature relationship and solve their issues properly 👍

The second leads are also really cute surprisingly both of them also had their own arcs given and challenges they had to overcome! The village people were so funny especially the biggest shippers of juju couple the 2 ahjummas!

This is the first time i’m seeing lee jongwon and !!!!! he should have gotten lead roles much earlier!! His acting was good and really very natural! Sejeong was really good in the emotional and sad scenes but aegyo >< (maybe not for me) yea the over the top aegyo all the time was just not for me...

overall will rewatch this drama down the road! The plot was easily to follow and very straightforward ~

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I need more explanation

Watch this for my alphabet challenge. Quite enjoy it, but still left hanging feeling in the end

Story about Seol Dong Baek (DB), a man who entered a company. On the first day, he got a text that he was transferred to another department. Now, he works as secretary for the CEO, Min Yu Dam (YD).

At the very first of their encounter, YD asked DB to date him. Not because of love, but because YD said DB needs to date him, if not DB will be dead. Thinking the CEO was crazy, DB ignored his word. But from that day on, YD started asking DB to have dinner with him. Of course, can’t reject the CEO's word, DB just goes with it. And that’s how their relationship started.

Strangely, on the day DB can’t dine with YD, DB started having a nightmare and his body started to feel the pain. ‘Cause in the dream, he was shot & the place where the arrow shot him, it hurt in real life too. When DB woke up, he told YD about it & YD kissed that place, and the pain started to disappear. And that’s how their relationship started going forward. Haha…

DB who tries to run from the relationship just finds himself feeling more and more for YD. At the same time, Dennis Lee also feels attached to DB. So, how will their relationship go forward from this…?

That's pretty much the story without giving any spoilers. Now what I like and don't.

What I like:
+ Interesting story
+ How DB & YD relationships grow. Even though this is just a short drama, it feels a little bit too fast.

What I don't like:
- a 2 minute recap is freaking too long for episodes that are under 15 minutes.

Overall this is quite an interesting short drama to fill ur time. Unfortunately, they have quite a big hole to fill, so therefore I can't give this higher score. But it's still a good short drama.

Below I'll write about the big hole. But that also means SPOILER ALERT!!! Read it at your own risk.












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SPOILER ALERT!!!
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- They don't explain to us about the curse that YD had. What the hell is that? Why does he need to live for 300 years…???
- Who the heck is Dennis Lee? Why is he obsessed with DB? Why does he look like he's been alive for so long, or is it just my impression of him…?
- Why in the past DB can't be named? MDL wrote: “Hundreds of years ago, a child was named after god and was cursed.” I don't know which one is wrong, MDL or the translation of the drama I've watched. But according to the translation in the drama, DB is a child of God that can't be named. And they never bother to explain to us why…? That's kinda frustrating me… Who had explanation for this please kindly message me

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Brewing love

I love Kim Sejeong - she is amazing singer (we got new OST song!!!) and actress - so of course I had to watch this. Her character is cute and badass, for many people mix of Do Hana and Shin Hari, maybe at the beginning, before we got to know her more. Chemistry as always is great. Lee Jong Won - it is first drama where I see him and he was really good. Baek Sung Chul - I know him from Once upon a small town (he safed it for me) - after shooting scene I believe that he would play perfectly some criminal or psycho and I need it to happen. Shin Do Hyun - I know her from Doom at your service, I also like her character here and chemistry with BSC was great.
I think that many people believed that it would be more similar to Business Proposal - it is also cute and light, but it is more like Strong Woman Do Bong Soon, we have cringe, cuteness overload but also some dark (BSC's past and trauma) and sad moments (grandma - eventhough I expected that).
Main point of this drama - outside of making beer - was to show how people hide behind masks, pretend to be happy when they actually want to cry and that they do not have to.
Personally I really like this and I think it is worth giving a chance.

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Arranged marriage, what could possibly go wrong?

Man I did not expect to love this show as much as I did. The couple gave me so much butterflies and their chemistry was really something. I loved their dynamic, and although they were often described as ‘opposites’ of each other, somehow I found them the most similar to each other than any other character.

I loved everything about this show. The plot, the characters, acting, the pace. I think everything plot wise was perfect, and everyone got their closure in the end.

I can’t exactly say I was happy with the ending, although it was hinted that everything ended nice and happy but I just had wished after all these 8 sad episodes we would get a nice ending with them. Still, I won’t say the ending was bad but it was a little disappointing to say the least.

Like I said before, 8 episode K-Dramas never disappoint! It reminded me a little of My Mister since it started off very melancholic and it ended like My Mister as well. I love when sad characters find each other and help each other be happier.

I recommend this a lot! It includes a lot of psychological messing with your head as well as childhood trauma/ past marriage issues. I recommend it. Give it a go!

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