Reviews

This show may be one of the most realistic we've seen so far.

I kind of never will forgot this bl. It portrays life in such a realistic way, with several approaches that will destroy you. 😭 Literally EVERYTHING is perfect on this show, from the filmography to the actors, conveying feelings in such a beautiful way. Its quite impossible to not cry or to not feel involved/part of the mc, especially for us - lgbt community - life can be not easy for us and maybe we will have to deal with this loneliness until the end. I cried over all episodes, im not even joking, this really touched me and made me reflect on things i never had before in a deeply way. (religion issues yk, it hits so much hard when Fable song was released lol...)
TRUST ME!!!! It is worth it. gente nao sei mais o que falar serio to destruida brasil ptbr aqui é nois galera tmjjj pai que tanto de linha

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Amazing delivery of tropes, drama, and feels.

The tropes in this show absolutely wrecked me. Pair those with the amazing writing and pacing, and it was something really special. And don’t even get me started on the emotional scenes, they knew exactly how to pull you in and keep you invested. So well done.

I did have a few issues, though. Dr. Fahlada’s questionable actions and how quickly Earn forgave her felt pretty unrealistic and pulled me out of the story a bit. Also, the love scenes were kind of stiff, but honestly, I wasn’t watching for that anyway. I’m here for the drama, the plot, and the feels, and the show definitely delivered on those.

The supporting characters? They delivered. Even the comedy scenes were solid, not too over-the-top, just enough to keep things fun. Way better than shows that make first-time viewers cringe at the humor (looking at you, GAP).

Overall, this was an amazing series that left me wanting more from the two lead actresses. Loved it.


2024 GL Ranking: https://mydramalist.com/list/Ln8MOBO4
My Top 10 GLs of All Time: https://mydramalist.com/list/4vGQqnb1

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#JusticeForReverse4You

Do people just hate good art or something? Like, why does Reverse 4 You only have a 7.7 rating? Put some respect on its name because this show is so underrated. Honestly, it’s the best GL of 2024 in my opinion, even though we got robbed with only 8 episodes.

The balance of romance, comedy, and angst? Absolute perfection. And I mean perfect. Four is a masterclass on how to write a "mean" character. She starts off as an asshole, sure, but the way her character grows and deepens makes you fall in love with her. Then there’s Wa, she’s such a fun and likable character that you can’t help but root for her.

The writing is so good and does not get the love it deserves. Their banter? Pure gold. I was kicking my feet and giggling like crazy. I haven’t read the book, so I don’t know how faithful the adaptation is, but the delivery of the lines? Top-notch.

And let’s talk about that confession scene. The build-up was chef’s kiss, and the scene itself? Best one in GL history, hands down. So cute, so romantic. Writers and directors everywhere need to take notes because this is how you do it.

Even with only 8 episodes, the pacing was just right. Every episode felt complete and left you excited for the next one. Unlike other shows, it didn’t leave you feeling like something was missing.

I love everything about this show and will defend it forever. Absolute masterpiece.


2024 GL Ranking: https://mydramalist.com/list/Ln8MOBO4
My Top 10 GLs of All Time: https://mydramalist.com/list/4vGQqnb1

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An unexpectedly deep story about processing trauma and learning to love yourself

STORY
On the surface, Love Game in Eastern Fantasy seemed like another transmigration-based fantasy romance that I've read and watched many times. I came into this with certain expectations on how the story would go, but it subverted and exceeded those expectations from the very first episode. What I thought would be a fun and relatively light-hearted fantasy romance turned out to be an unexpectedly deep story about processing trauma and learning to love yourself. I was hooked from the get-go and could not stop watching.

Whoever wrote the script took great care in developing our lead characters on an individual level as well as their romance. The plot was engaging and paced well with each narrative arc having an intentional purpose in the overall story. The romance was super endearing to watch and felt very organic. Sure, it had its cliches, but somehow it worked and didn't feel overdone in this drama.

The team did an extraordinary job of balancing the heavier topics with light-hearted moments. Then we get to the last episode and ending, which made this drama stand out from its peers and clinched the high rating from me. There were definitely some things they could've executed better in the story, but those issues weren't enough to detract from the bigger picture for me, and I enjoyed this drama from start to finish.

ACTING/CAST
Our main leads' chemistry was definitely the star of the show. Ryan Ding is a superb actor and he was so magnetic on-screen. He has amazing control over his facial expressions and body language. My eyes couldn't help but be drawn to him whenever he was on-screen. He played the gray, anti-hero character exceedingly well and I sincerely hope he gets more roles like this in the future.

I've watched Esther Yu in a couple of other dramas, and I believe she performed significantly better in this drama than those other ones. Her cutesy character and acting didn't feel as unnatural here and she pulled off the character well. Her cheery disposition was a nice counter to the male lead's brooding.

All the supporting characters shone in this drama as well and surprisingly had a significant part to play in the overall story. If I had to gripe about the cast, the second leads felt underdeveloped compared to everyone else and their roles didn't leave much room for them to showcase their acting skills. The second leads both had the stereotypical stoic and upright character personalities and honestly, they were boring to watch. I suppose we had to assume certain things given their roles and the showrunners wanted to keep the focus on our leading characters.

MUSIC
The music was great! I loved the theme song and all the different soundtracks for different moods were appropriate.

REWATCH VALUE
I've already started rewatching this, and I've picked up on some Easter eggs/hints that I didn't pick up during my first watch-through. There were also many emotionally impactful moments for me that I love to rewatch, whether they were sad or happy or funny moments. Since the story was paced well and it was just simply super entertaining, I think this drama has high rewatch value. The cinematography was also outstanding and the CG was relatively good.

OVERALL
This drama has many elements I love: fantasy, adventure, mystery, action, comedy, and romance. It has easily made its way into my top 5 favorite dramas of all time now. I applaud the showrunners for the direction they took this drama in and I'm genuinely happy for its success in China because it could encourage more showrunners to break the mold a bit more. I'm convinced that those who didn't enjoy the second half and/or ending of this drama were not able to appreciate the bigger picture of what the showrunners wanted to convey through this drama, but to each his/her own. I highly recommend you give this drama a try and form your own opinion.

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Messy, dramatic, and full of feels, this show had me hooked despite its flaws.

This show had me all up in my feelings. The way they handled the details? Chef’s kiss. Wan’s promises, her 4 a.m. trauma, and her unshakable love for Pleng. Wan’s loyalty was next level. Even when Pleng tried to push her toward Ek, she stayed true. And when she finally married Ek 13 years later, it was still all about Pleng. Wan’s basically the ultimate "lover girl," though, let’s be real, her overprotectiveness is a giant red flag. If controlling characters aren’t your thing, this might not be for you.

The love and kiss scenes? Top-tier. Seriously, no competition. However the men? Absolute headaches. Ek’s behavior throughout the show was so gross, and yet somehow it was always the girls’ fault? Wan had to apologize over and over yet Ek never did? It was disappointing.

The last couple of episodes had me side-eyeing hard. Wan attempting to end things in the ocean knowing Pleng’s trauma? That was so out of character. And the indirect slut-shaming? I had a major ick.

Even with those missteps, though, I can’t lie, I love shows that bring the drama, feels, and intimacy, and this one delivered all three all the way to the end. Messy, but worth it.


2024 GL Ranking: https://mydramalist.com/list/Ln8MOBO4
My Top 10 GLs of All Time: https://mydramalist.com/list/4vGQqnb1

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A surprisingly realistic and family friendly drama, with great acting and cast.

My review for Welcome to Samdal-ri, starting off with the cast:

The cast for Welcome to Samdal-ri was great. Shin Hae-sun did an incredible job as always, and the chemistry between her and Ji Chang-wook was pretty good, though not overly special. A supporting actor I really enjoyed in this drama was Lee Jae-won, playing the support role of Gyeong-tae. He has been amazing in every drama I've seen him in, and the character he played in Welcome to Samdal-ri was hilarious!

Another one of my favourite characters in this drama was Yong-pil's father, Sang-tae. I really liked his character throughout the whole drama, and his character development near the end was incredible. He reminds me a lot of my own father, and looks kind of similar too!

The storyline is surprisingly realistic compared to other dramas. No fantasy or supernatural stuff, and no incredible coincidences that would be completely unfeasible in real life. Everything in this drama are things that could actually happen in the real world. It makes the snap back to reality much less jarring once you finish watching. The drama also features a lot of side stories, which take up a lot of the storyline. I typically prefer having less characters and more focus on a main storyline, but Welcome to Samdal-ri does a good job of combining them all together.

There were still a few disappointing things with this drama, however. Firstly, there wasn't much intimacy between Samdal and Yong-pil throughout the drama. I was waiting for something to happen the entire time, but there wasn't really anything of note. This does have the upside of keeping the drama quite family friendly, despite many drinking scenes.

Another thing that disappointed me was the ending. Not going to spoil too much, but I think it would have been so much better if Samdal and Yong-pil had stayed together in Jeju instead of leaving for different places. And, the antagonist never gets punished in the end!

Overall, I enjoyed this drama, though I think it would be best if watched with family or friends. I watched it on my own, where I was left wanting a bit more. The ending could be better, but it's not a bad ending by any means, and I would still highly recommend Welcome to Samdal-ri to anyone considering it.

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The show had perfect pacing!! It did such a great job discussing trauma and toxic relationships. This is what I wanted to see for Mr.Plankton. I see that many new directors of this genre are doing abnormal camera shots and music which is great because it's good to see something new. Though I disagreed with some of the characters, especially the original wife, I sympathized with everyone. I loved how the writers addressed being apart of the LGTBQ in a non cliché way(I even think the female lead friend liked her). It made the movie feel real. I thought the first wife would kill herself, but I'm was glad she stuck through. This was really a solid 8.5. This genre is hard to execute well, but the director in my opinion did a good take on it. I loved that the leads were not the typical lovey-dovey couple — that would be unrealistic. Everything about this drama was raw and real, not forced at all in my opinion.

Reading other reviews, I understand why people would think it was dull or drawn-out, but I think it's because they went in with high hopes. I went in knowing nothing, and I guess I was in the perfect mood for this drama.

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Watch as blindly as possible!

I added this drama to my list about a year ago or so solely because Park Boyoung, if she's in it I'll watch, literally anything no matter what it is or what it's about. I knew this was based on a manhwa by the same author of Moving, another 10/10 series, and I planned to read tje source material, but I never did.

I came into it confused, not really knowing what was going on, scared and anxious, pretty much like one of the characters in the series. Every thing about this series is absolutely perfect, the dialogue, lighting, sounds, ambience and the subtle foreshadowing kept my eyes glued to the screen the entire time.

My advice, watch with as little information about it as possible, pay close attention every single detail is important.

There's a post-credit scene in the final episode, be sure to watch. It's awesome!!

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I loved it but writers failed on the ending

I’m a Zhao Lusi fan. She has always been appealing but lately her acting been more mature and effective. This pairing with Liu Yun Ning was the highlight of The Long Ballad , so happy they are matched again here.
This is one of the best Chinese series, I have yet seen. Excellent acting, the production values were awesome. The storyline was very exciting. I saw it with english subtitles so the script appeared to be good,although my main complaint is the ending.

SPOILER;
I would have liked to see a “Jane Eyre” take. Mr. Rochester is not a pure hero lead, so cannot have an idyllic ending. The same for Yan, who will torture and kill in order to achieve his revenge. Mr. Rochester, blind but content surrounded by his family… Can you imagine Yan ending the same?
Instead, the last scene is a distance shot of a caravan with a voice over. -Boring and confusing. Maybe, this leaves a season 2 opening?

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Watch it at your own risk

So i just finished watching this drama while i binged it for two days.

Overall i liked the story and the actors, they did so good, their chemistry was just good. I really enjoyed it, but would never rewatch it.

Pros or things i liked in this drama:
- His acting while he was blibd, pretty much better than a lot of other actors i have seen
- The sweet moments between the leads, including his jealousy, her "stupidity", their childishness and their love in general.
- How she fell for him regardless of his past and his condition.


Cons/ things I didn't like:
- the lack of communication sometimes, like girl instead of asking him who was that wonen tell him your dad is sick and you need to leave, it was so stupid it made me shout behind the screen lol
- he stalked her, forced kissed her, never even told her he love her, and ordered her to marry him .. and she accepted all?? eehh??
- the ending made no sense to me at all, wdym her friend died and she is paranoid? they just threw this even in the middle of the episode and never solved it? i don't get it
- so many things were skippable in the drama like the plot of her friends who cheated on her and ended up gettjng married? i just couldn't swallow that and watch them. Besides that the autistic kid eho came to their house? what was the reason for it? You telling me an autistic kid flew all the way to another city to stay with them? heeh??
- the soundtracks sonetimes were so random, especially during their romantic moments, it sounded like a horror backtrack lol.

I can write more things but I guess it's enough since this sounds like rant more than a review lol.

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Review ep1

was really angry with William's character, but it's ok because he's literally in idol survival mode. I really loved Est's character, he's so handsome! I love his acting.
I'm very proud of my Lykn boys (fan since before the series was announced☝️) them acting and singing is everything, I'm 100 times more in love.
(Tui and Hong's girl here🤭☝️)

a mention to Ciize and Samy who are shining as always! (gmm please value the women in the company more. we love them) 🌸💖

Was that song made for the series??? What a good song, I loved it so much! Add it to Spotify now!!!

So far I've loved it a lot, this series came with a lot of potential, I hope everything works out. I loved the acting, soundtrack, photography and everything else.

I love MARS, omg!!!!!
(don't disband, please! 🥴)

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Other than encouraging you to go watch this, I don't have much to say. Maybe I'll update once I've finished.

But for now, I just want to say how amazing it felt to start a drama and instantly love it (it's been a while since that's happened to be, excluding rewatches). And I already see myself wanting to rewatch this in a few months, despite how stressful it can seems sometimes, because I truly just want the main 3 characters to be happy and experience freedom in their own ways.

The relationship between the brothers and the child is so wholesome and loving, and I think that is enough of a reason to pick up this drama

<3

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The most romantic "bromance" out there

I don't remember the last time a drama made me have so many mixed emotions. At times I absolutely loved Killer & Healer. And at times I couldn't stand how stupid it felt. This uneven quality of the show made it difficult for me to rate it, but I ultimately still gave it a strong 8.5, hugely due to the absolutely enchanting, disarming and beautiful "bromance" between two main characters. However, they are not the only aspect of Killer & Healer worthy of appreciation.

Let me start with the things I disliked, though.

The biggest issue I had with Killer & Healer was that the entire police-vs-criminals plot was lacking in logic.

The police force would get an unconfirmed info about possible opium hideout, they'd barge in without an actual strategy what to do once they're inside, kill off almost all of the criminals and then be disappointed that they don't make any progress in their investigation. Well, how about keeping the witnesses alive? Going undercover? Having trusted informants?

Throughout the entire drama there were multiple situations when supposedly secret information got revealed because a person *forgot to close the damn door*. This happens not just once and even to people who are supposed to be big crime masterminds. It was especially hard to swallow when happening to Jun Bai - an otherwise mostly intelligent villain, who - for whatever reason - decided to discuss his criminal activities without closing the door to his room despite having an opera singer as a guest moving around freely in his villa.

And don't even get me started with the whole Yue Lou-goes-undercover mission, when San Ye (previously super vigilant about exposing his identity) reveals his true face to his archenemy from just two days ago. Like, what??!!

These are just some examples at the top of my head. There were more, but I didn't really wanna sit and make notes on everything I disliked, especially since I pretty much decided on suspending my disbelief and charging on, watching (or looking the other way ;))

Another qualm I had with this drama is the numerous deaths in the final episode. Most of them felt completely unnecessary and made me scratch my head, wondering what was the goal of the creators. How was I supposed to feel when Chu Ran is sitting terrified, yet keeping her veil on, her vision blocked completely for no reason I could think of, doesn't ask who entered the room and then proceeds to stab this person (who turns out to be her younger brother) without uttering a word of "who is it?". Why the brother, who previously kept on talking and talking didn't speak up to her at all?

Even more puzzling is why was his death even happening, when as audience, we didn't even get a story arc of Chu Ran suffering because of what she did, grieving her brother, questioning her life choices, wondering was it worth it to risk herself so much for a man who might've never loved her... We get none of that, because Chu Ran gets shot and dies herself 5 minutes later 🙃
And we're not even halfway deaths in this episode, btw.
The sheer amount of deaths would make a viewer somewhat numb, and it's even worse when half of them are pretty underwhelming...

Now, let's move on to the things I liked.

A huge redeeming quality of this show are its characters. Although they sometimes take some "damage" from the bad, let's call it "event-writing", most of the time they remain real and somewhat true to their established values, experiences and motivations. This pertains to both, male leads as well as side characters. I had no problem empathizing with them, because the show did a great job at making them feel human, with complex personalities. A couple of times I caught myself nearly-crying (and I actually ugly cried once) during the emotional developments, focusing on relationships other than the main love story.

The aforementioned includes the big villain as well, who had probably the most intriguing personality of all the characters. And that leads me to another aspect I enjoyed...

The villain himself. A good cops-vs-criminals story needs a powerful villain figure. Jun Bai aka San Ye is a very compelling "bad guy". He is composed, elegant, charming, intelligent and also ruthless and cruel. Still, he is capable of love - as shown by his feelings for Boss Yu - however the love he gives is terrifying, suffocating and borderline sadistic. Yet, he is still powerless in the face of his own obsession as ultimately it is still Boss Yu who holds the power over Jun Bai's heart.

Of course, an important aspect of the show is the "bromance" between two main characters. I call it "bromance" in quotation marks, because there is nothing bro- about the relationship Yue Lou and Yu Zhi share, aside from them sometimes referring to themselves as "xiong di". I can honestly say that I've yet to see another "bromance" cdrama that managed to create such an obvious romantic relationship between two male characters while still passing censorship (well, maybe Stay With Me could be a good contender, but it was marketed as a BL to start with, at least internationally). From the looks they give each other, to the looks the people around give to them, to the not-so-subtle comments they make about their relationship.

And the blatant display of the real nature of ML's relationship is not even the best part.

The best part is how beautifully their relationship is written. How reciprocal is their affection, how much they respect one another, how willing they are to sacrifice for the other person, how they take care of each other, lift each other up, trust one another and so on, and so forth. All of that is accompanied by a chemistry that I can only describe as sizzling (courtesy of two actors portraying the characters). Though, to be precise, the show somehow manages to fill their shared scenes with both, affection and tension simultaneously.

Ok, on to the final aspect of the drama I wanted to praise, and that is acting. It was simply really solid, coming from almost every character that mattered. There were also some exquisite performances, like e.g. the final moments of Zhao Jing Ming, being "interrogated" by San Ye. Zhang Jun Jie really acted his butt off in that scene. On the other hand, Mao Zi Jun and Ian Yi capture the essence of two people in love so well, it comes off fantastic and natural on screen.

All in all, Killer & Healer is a really enjoyable watch that can be at times frustrating as long as a viewer intends to keep their brain on while watching ;) but is capable of enchanting its audience with vivid characters and exploration of their relationships, the bromance between MLs being one, but not the only one of them. Despite its shortcomings, I intend to re-watch it in the future and I wholeheartedly recommend it to others.

EDIT: Oh, and just for the record. This drama has a female lead as well, but make no mistake - she is not here just to serve the purpose of making this show less gay, as it's often the case with such Chinese "bromances". Even more so, she is a full-fledged, complex character herself, with a complicated family background and her own struggles and ideals. She does fall in love with one of the male leads, but it is always very clear that - while they become close friends - she is never his priority and he never sees her in a romantic way.

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