Reviews

If you are looking for a sign to watch it, then this is definitely your sign!

I don't usually write reviews until it's done but seeing it's more than half of the episodes are out then giving review is a must because I felt like everyone should tune in. If you are looking for a good romance comedy with good ost then this is the drama you are looking for. As someone who have been watching a lot of dramas, I must say I easily gets bored but for this drama, no boring scenes and its been planned really well. The younger counterparts are really good that you wish for them to reunite for another drama. The main leads are chefs kiss. I'm glad Ju Ji Hoon took another romcom after so many years. He has that melo eyes which is perfect and blends with Yumi's acting. There are cliche scenes but I love it.They deliver those scenes well and not cringe. Almost all kinds of tropes in a romance drama is here. From Enemies to Lovers, Youth Romance, Cohabitation, Office Romance, Second Chance, Ex Lovers, Family drama, they have it all.

This is such an underrated gem! So everyone should watch out!

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Utterly ridiculous but I loved it

I clicked on this simply because I'm slowly falling in love with Khaotung and I wanted more of him on my screen. This is the first time I have been really surprised by a below average rated show. I was prepared for nonsense but little did I realise that I would find the nonsense really. effing. funny.
Thai humour is very hit or miss for me but for some reason, I this had me crying tears with laughter. So I can't even say it's the Khaotung bias because every character, well, not every character, but our main group was so damn loveable that I couldn't help but find the cartoon humour hilarious.

Khao ofc and Mike's facial expression just got it right for me.

This is a don't think about it show. This is over the top, cringe flamboyance Thai style. Like an over the top anime/manga humour. Plotwise it's nothing new. If anything it's a comical take on deeply repressed sexuality with the usual narcissistic ex as our villain. Even the music is telling you not to think about it too much.

You'll either like it or you wont but I think it's one of those shows that if you try to make sense of it, you'll probably hate it. I can only recommend watching it for yourself and making your own decisions on it.

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heartfelt youth drama on friendship

I didn't expect to love this drama. At first, I thought it would have an ordinary story, but it turns out this drama is, if not the best, one of the good youth dramas I've watched. Lan Jinghui's character definitely brought the story to life. Additionally, the strong, unexpected friendship between the characters—especially Lan Jinghui and Ling Dong—shows that there will always be someone who brings out the best in you. Their kind of friendship is truly worth keeping. Although this may not be the absolute best drama, it's definitely worth watching at least once in your life. One of the things I really admire about this drama is the lesson on genuine care in friendship. It shows how caring for others with sincerity can create meaningful, lasting bonds.

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INSANEEEE

If you’re hesitating about starting this drama, let me put your doubts to rest: WATCH IT NOW. From the very first episode, it had me completely hooked! The chemistry between Yoo Yeon Seok and Chae Soo Bin is absolutely magnetic, and the tension between their characters will keep you on the edge of your seat. The story is packed with some of my all-time favorite tropes—arranged marriage, the “he fell first” dynamic, and a cold yet secretly caring male lead—and it pulls them off brilliantly😍😍

Baek Sa Eon’s protective and possessive nature adds layers to the drama, and the plot twists are simply mind-blowing. Every scene is crafted with such intensity and precision that you can’t help but feel drawn into their world. The acting is stellar, the music enhances every emotional beat, and the rewatch value is off the charts. This is the kind of K-drama that leaves you craving for more.

Honestly, I can’t stop raving about this show. Whether it’s the incredible character dynamics, the sizzling tension, or the fresh plot, this drama does not miss a beat. Do yourself a favor—start watching it now, and thank me later for introducing you to a masterpiece!!!!!!

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Mun-dane ⏬️ They Blew It

I loved S1 and did a review on it already, so I won't rehash it all here. S2 is just awful. I would say it's not worth the time, and I have lots of time right now.

S2 is 12 addt’l eps. It opens hot & contains PG-13 language. They have a bigger budget, but that is not the key to a good show. Right away it's clear that this is a lazy-rest-on-our-laurels-in-we-had no-inspiration-or-good-ideas‐just-cash-in S2. The dialogue is stupid. The plot is stupid. The new characters are stupid. It makes me really sad. They think they're in the Mun-ee, but S2 is poor. It's Mun-dane.

It's not worth watching once you've gotten a good look at the evil spirit team. They're well done. Nothing else is. Kang Ki Young (Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Oh My Ghost-10) played buffoons early in his career. He is convincing as a bad guy in While You Were Sleeping-7.2. He has the perfect look, but the director portrayed him as too measured and it doesn't feel quite right. They should have gone more thuggish and guttural. Together with Kim Hieora and Kim Hyun-Wook, the evil spirit team is stylish, creepy, & catchy.

Mo-Tak is back on the police force but he's still a counter, so he's working 2 jobs. He explains his amazing intuition about crime by saying that he gets inspiration while pooping. Pitifully, that's a metaphor for the whole season. It's akin to a long smelly f@rt.

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Noodle Restaurant By Day ~✳~ Evil Spirit Fight Club By Night. Uncanny. °S1-8.4 S2-4 °

High schooler, Mun, has a new job at the noodle restaurant where that searing hot chick works. It's not so much about serving 🍜 as it is training to go out and 86 some evil👻spirits. He'd been left with a leg twisted up worse than spaghetti in a strainer from the accident in which his parents died. Left dependent on a brace for mobility, he'll need oodles of training.

UC is a free-range, quality action⚡packed thriller about "counters" who work the restaurant counter by day & counter evil👻spirits by night. The new recruit they're scouting to replace a fallen (KIA) counter is Mun. During the 1st shift his new coworkers drop the orders on him. The usual recruitment base is hospitalized & comatose patients. As counters, they'll sample life once more, so most opt to devour this on-the-house treat. Completely-conscious Mun is an exception; they see potential in him. The show creators do a nice job with the house rules in this expanded world. Too many Kdramas (and other shows) fail to do so, thus creating customer confusion. Even worse, it fosters the appearance that they're cheating, ie., cooking without a recipe & casting whatever in the 🥗.

Counters are typically 3✖ as strong as any of their regular diners. How can Mun hunt evil spirits, or even work a table with a griseled limb? Counter magic. Once he's cleared orientation, his leg untwists as if it never happened. Their strength is a pinch confusing, tho. For the older Mrs. Chu, is she 3✖ as strong as the average man, or the average noodle shop matron? Their spirited 🅱ad🅰$$ jumps are high enough to clear 4 stacked up noodle houses. Their patrons wouldn't be able to clear a noodle house table, let alone the counters' higher-than-soju-spirits poleless vaults, thrice divided.

The team members have strengths and skills to match their respective specials🍲. Oh my… I meant to say specialties. Writing this is making me hungry! There are other rules that Mun has sworn to uphold, and rules are enforced by a governing body in the Heavenly realm. Be that as it may, no matter how earnest & thankful Mun is, temptation is the biggest monster we must all overcome. Powers and other counter services are for supernatural battles only. Serving up counter-power at a human skirmish is as pr🚫hibited as health dept violations or stealing from the restaurant's pantry. With his newly found 🏋+🥊+🕺Mun begins sweeping up his onetime tormentors - the school's vicious bullies. This will eventually affect his review: He's put on progressive probation.

The team happy-meal is 4 active fighters and a retired one who manages the register and team funding🏧. Dropped trays can drop lives! They must choreograph their moves to function as one, so as to handle tense battles. (They're more stressful than dinner-rush at a joint Guy visited in the most recent episode of Diners Drive-Ins & Dives.) Clear communication, combined with organic trust, are essential to maximize potency. They all become as close as the 🦃-scarfing family at Sunday dinner, in the Norman Rockwell🖼. Mun crushes like 🍅🍅🍅 on the pretty, but prickly-🍐 Ha-na from the first moment she brusquely takes his order. Sadly, Ha-na ain't asking for any of *that. She's one critic that's difficult to impress. The blended mother-son relationship between Mrs. Chu and Mun is as healing as hangover soup. He had lost his parents; she, her son. It draws her to him, and he's perfectly happy sharing her warmth🍵. The whole team is family; a functional-while-functioning one.

Why does the team wage this dangerous war? For evil👻s, killing customers and passerbys is a generator; an energy bank that compensates during a power loss. A dark👻's most nutritious snacks are rotten humans, along with the occasional vicious bully-blogger. Spoiled ingredients are perfect for evil👻 digestion. "Well-done" decomposition, like a special sauce, strengthens & freshens these carrion, hyenas & Tasmanian devils. Early on, the team (en)counters an extraordinarily pungent "level 3" evil👻. L3's are as rare as Beluga caviar. (We'll learn that this Beluga's host was a hitman. They'll go together like ramen & broth). Evil👻s take-out the victim's soul, consume, and never pay the tab. Counters, via Chase & master charges, apprehendi & deliver Evil👻s to the counting machines of the justice system. Souls are like pearls extracted from poisoned oysters; they can be saved. There are no shortcuts for whipping up the house special. Evil👻s must be caught alive in the wild, like lobsters, or the team will burn the order & forever lose the more-precious-than-pearls souls to obscurity.

Mun learns the accident that killed his parents may have been no accident. In fact, the #1 suspect for the dash-&-dine style hit-&-run, is their current competition, the L3. If so, Mun's parents' souls will be lost if the L3 escapes or dies, but in the meantime, M&D can be salvaged. Mun and the team urgently dash to win this wild game; it's more intense than any Iron Chef showdown. The prize: trapped souls boiling over inside this specter, Mun's parents being the Blue Ribbon.

Hitmen don't order for themselves. The backdrop is a rancid political system from porridge-police to nuts-mayor. Around the same time as Mun's tragic accident, fellow counter and former detective, Mo-Tak, was left in a coma from a still unsolved attempt on his life. These incidents could be connected like crab & claw. Meanwhile, the L3 evil poacher recruits his own 👻👻👻 team, making the Counters' jobs more challenging than waitressing in slippery souled, er - soled shoes. Unexpectedly, Mun brews skills that are far from everyday junk food. It's as unexpected as harvesting shrimp and finding a gold bar in the net. Looks like Mun is no small🍟plate.

UC is altogether worthy of an enthusiastic 👍🏾 yelp review. Kdramas serve up excellence morning, noon, and night; UC is no exception. Every element tickles the palate: The 🎭, 🎬 & 🖋〰 are incorporated more smoothly than soju & 🍺. Special effects add BAM! while complimenting the plot, instead of becoming a centerpiece. The villain is creepier than roaches in the teapot. The writer🖋〰 baked in savory setup lines. Here's some free samples: When Mrs. Chu announces: "We won't lose anyone in this photo." Soon after that... Well, 👀 and see. 7 yrs back, Mo-Tak tells Ofr. Jeong, who insists on going to a dangerous mtg: "Take your 🌂. I think a 🌩 is coming.".

The action is fun. In Ep7 there's a crazy fight that's more exciting than murder mystery dinners. Ha-na has entered Mun's mind to warm-up his memory. The evil L3 materializes inside Mun's consciousness like a sidedish of dogfood. Before Mun can scrape the scraps of shock away, they're fighting ~> inside his memory! They spring around like yeasty dough. They slip into places, including the evil👻's hideout, and then back to into Mun's memory. O.H.😍M.Y. They could have built a franchise around that! This succulent treat is a test recipe that management, inexplicably, failed to add to the menu. That sauce is too awesome to be left hanging out there as a one-off.

It's common for omelets of sci-fi fantasy to contain some logical eggshells. This show has some. One biggie is: Why don't the evil spirits just bring a 🔫 to the 🗡fight and toss the counters like salad? Did they mention it while quickly running down the list of spirits on tap? Maybe. Think of it as a delicious meal😀 but without the extra pickles you ordered😔.

Nevertheless, the bloggers got this one right. UC serves up a 🏅winner-winner-🐔-dinner. You can count on it!

QUOTE🗣

"Not taking action when you witness an evil deed is another form of wickedness." (The wickedness of enabling evil)

〰🖍 IMHO

🎬8 🖋〰 7.3 🎭8 💓6 🦋5 🌞7 🎨8⚡8 😅 😭 😱 🤢 🤔7 💤🔚8

Age 14+ (3✖ creepy & sinister)

Re-📺? 👍🏽

Final add-on
S2 is 12 addt’l eps. It opens hot & contains PG-13 language. They have a bigger budget, but that is not the key to a good show. Right away it's clear that this is a lazy-rest-on-our-laurels-in-we-had no-inspiration-or-good-ideas‐just-cash-in S2. The dialogue is stupid. The plot is stupid. The new characters are stupid. It makes me really sad. They think they're in the Mun-ee, but S2 is poor. It's Mun-dane.

It's not worth watching once you've gotten a good look at the evil spirit team. They're well done. Nothing else is. Kang Ki Young (Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Oh My Ghost-10) played buffoons early in his career. He is convincing as a bad guy in While You Were Sleeping-7.2. He has the perfect look, but the director portrayed him as too measured and it doesn't feel quite right. They should have gone more thuggish and guttural. Together with Kim Hieora and Kim Hyun-Wook, the evil spirit team is stylish, creepy, & catchy.

Mo-Tak is back on the police force but he's still a counter, so he's working 2 jobs. He explains his amazing intuition about crime by saying that he gets inspiration while pooping. Pitifully, that's a metaphor for the whole season. It's akin to a long smelly f@rt.

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Love Is Beautiful

Firstly I have to say that there was very little I did not enjoy about this drama. Anything negative was my own response to annoyingly clueless characters who did not know the meaning of personal space - and probably cultural differences with over-protective family members.

The most enjoyable thing about this drama aside from the beautiful music and gorgeous scenery was the development of the ML/FL as a couple.

There were no stalker-like exes who insisted on pursuit even after rejection, no vengeful coworkers or sinister plots by competing companies or peers. It is a beautiful, sweet and pure development of love, respect and transformation of two people coming together and learning the complexities of love and sharing good and difficult things - together.

There was no noble sacrifice, no break-up, no angst. Just people learning how to love each other, and sharing a passion for music and voice acting.

I have watched this several times now, and enjoy it every time. It is a very well done production from start to finish. Encore!

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Simplistic plot for a sexy family drama - It feels like the sequel of "Your Trap"

FL is amnesiac after an accident 7 years ago. She had 2 children and she meets ML who is looking for her because she was his fiancé at the time.

The background story is very similar to the plot of "Your Trap" (for those who know it, I will not spoil it here). It feels like a sequel with different names. They even kept the same filming locations. This is nice to notice, the same restaurant, office, father's villa, appartment, staircase.... I was still happy to watch the same heroes again.
Is it as steamy as "Your Trap" is ? There is some very steamy scenes but I would say that it is overall rather warm than hot. I am not surprised because it is a family drama. The kids are mischievous and very cute and I enjoyed watching them play tricks on their mother.

Liked :
- Strong and sexy ML and FL.
- Cute and mischievous little children.
- Some funny jokes.

Disliked :
- One dimesional villains.
- Acting sometimes lacking ( not the leads, they are great).
- Simplistic revenge plot.
- I would have liked the oversease scenes to be handled differently because those were not very interesting to me, for the most part. Some particular ones around the temple were great though. It dragged the story a little bit.

Overall:
It is an easy watch, cute and funny. Especially because of the children. I liked it and recommend it. Some steamy kiss as well, for those who like them.

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When the man found the 52-hertz whale that lives in a mountain

The acting performances from the three of them made the drama more remarkable. Despite shooting in a limited location, episodes, and casts; the outcome was insanely great. Pond with his long hair and exposed chest is legendary. I am drooling at how sexy he is but more importantly, in awe of how great he is with the dramatic exchange of lines with Uncle In and his mother. A boy who is seeking an answer to the death of his father but eventually falls in love with his father’s true love. A complicated flow of events but I am buying it.

Nike, as Uncle In, is the definition of a daddy. I can’t blame Wang for shooting a fiery glare on those tight muscles. Both of them are too hot to handle. The more episodes I’ve watched, the deeper I wanted them to kiss. Those stares sent signals of them craving to eat each other but holding back because of their tangled relationship. The sexual tension is high and showcases a perfect atmosphere to convey the feelings of their characters,

They also introduced me to the story of a 52-hertz whale which is sad knowing how isolated it is while patiently waiting for someone to reach its place. It was a prominent concept in the drama as it visualizes the life of Uncle In. Not being together at the end was understandable and I love how the finale ended with taglines representing the lessons we got from the three characters; Wang, In, and the noisy mother. This has already carved their uniqueness in the BL history and I salute them for bringing a new trope to BL fans.

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light-hearted, entertaining, with a good mix of thrill

I definitely had so much fun watching this drama! It wasn't just because my favorite lead couple, Zhao Yiqin and Li Jiaqi, starred in it, but also because the drama is light-hearted, entertaining, and has a good mix of thrill. Fake relationships or marriages are definitely one of my favorite drama tropes, which made Debit Queen even more enjoyable. I was easily hooked on the storyline, and the little arguments between the lead couple made it even more entertaining.

This is also a great costume drama for beginners, as the story is not overly complicated, and the pacing keeps things interesting without being overwhelming. Its simplicity makes it easy to follow while still being captivating, making it perfect for those new to the genre. I’d recommend this drama to anyone looking for a fun and engaging watch!

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It was shockingly enjoyable

It has been a while since I have watched a Filipino series, my last one being in August, and it was the 2021 series 'Love Beneath the Stars.' So, I was a bit sceptical in watching this. But I must admit that it surprised me in the end.

Is it the best Filipino BL series out there? No, it's not. It does have some flaws. BUT! And hear me out on this one. But it was a bit different. I have watched numerous stories between a human and a ghost, yet this one was somewhat different, yet similar. They met at a party. Jack didn't realise Magic was a ghost until later. Jack was doing everything in his power to get Magic to cross into the afterlife. He found out the secret Magic was keeping from him. They were able to resolve it, and Magic was able to move on.

Something happened in the ending that is understandable why people may not like it. But I believe it's a better ending than some previous endings that I saw where the person just lived out their life and met with the ghost in the end for them to be reunited. It may not be an outstanding series, but it was still enjoyable, and it is also an easy watch.

You can watch this for what it is—a cute, quick web series.

P.S. - Saying this now, so people don't have to ask. No, Chukchuk isn't in this web series.

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This dragged for what felt like an eternity

Let’s get spoilers out of the way first: this story is about two teen best friends who used to be in a gang, one wanted to leave to have a football career, the other didn’t want to let him go, so he gave him a “customary” beating, breaking a leg of his friend and ending his football dream. The perpetrator felt ashamed and vanished while the victim felt abandoned. 3 years later they meet again and – instead of clarifying things – begin a prolonged back and forth with the perpetrator wanting to apologize and the victim refusing to listen; they eventually reconcile, but by that time the show introduced several side plots which sidelined the main plot and the series can’t end before those side plots are concluded. At the end of the day we get whopping 16 episodes filled mainly with repetitive content (e.g. in ep. 1-6 Saint follows Shin and tries to talk to him, Shin doesn’t want to talk; they nevertheless kinda talk, but nothing comes out of that – no conclusion nor resolution – so Saint follows Shin… And this happens 2-3 times per episode) or side plot content – about various problems of Shin’s and Saint’s classmates. I admit I got tired of the main plot by ep. 3 and started watching the show on FFDW.

Some claim that this is actually a BL. I guess some people could get this impression as the show was produced by a company specializing in BLs, both main characters are male, young and attractive, and the show’s about their relationship. Others might believe that nonromantic love between males is impossible (hence it’s no “bromance” – it must be a BL) or that the supposed chemistry between Nani and Sky proves that their characters are more than friends. I strongly disagree with the above – and not just because there’s nothing in the story that would imply “High School Frenemy” to be something else than a “bromance”. It’s also the structure of the story. In most BLs (and love stories in general) story is about characters developing their relationship, going from strangers to a couple. This is a gross simplification, but – with a few exceptions – that’s how vast majority of BL are written. “High School Frenemy” is about two characters who already had a strong non-romantic relationship and want to rekindle it – which takes them most of the 16 episodes. I’m not saying forgiveness, healing and rekindling of a friendship are easy nor that they can be achieved quickly, but in case of this show it’s more than obvious that this process was treated as filler for as many episodes as possible. The aforementioned repetitiveness does not result from Shin and Saint needing a lot of time to reconcile (they actually do it in two scenes), but from the show needing content. There’s like 2 hours of actual story and content of the main plot and it could have been told in a concise and emotional way; it loses a lot of emotional weight due to being stretched over far too many episodes, with the few decent scenes getting drowned by constant repetition. The “give up what’s most important for you” thing in ep. 7 is a good example of what this show does to good concepts: it was supposed to display Saint’s sacrifice and importance of friendship, but was executed in a horrible way, ruined by awful dialogue (spelling out what Saint was giving up), poor delivery and dragging it over three utterly pointless scenes, making it lose all emotional charge.

As for subplots, I feel all save one were shoehorned as additional filler. Sure, when you have a school/classroom setting for a story (regardless what the story is about), you need people to appear in the background – as students, teachers, administration etc. What I don’t get is why any of them needed their own small story, which was unrelated (or very loosely related) to the main story.

Ken’s subplot, the only one somewhat connected to the main plot, was stretched just as unnecessarily as the main plot. This had several consequences – we got tons of pointless violence (apparently one fight scene wasn’t enough to illustrate the problem) before characters were allowed to realize that it serves no purpose: neither side could “win”, asserting permanent domination, and even if “winning” was possible – it wouldn’t change much (they would still be students at a high school). Furthermore the show presented school violence (and violence in general) as something ordinary, an element of everyday life – normalizing it. Violence and danger are so common, that the stakes are oddly low: we get a solid beating every other episode, yet it ends with a few bruises, no apologies and no punishments.

The school setting makes sense – but only when viewed from a distance. As someone who does not require full realism I can say that too many things felt nonsensical and were written like that because of plot (and not realism or relatability); I listed some examples of that below.
1/ Teachers (not just Jan and Sung) had no idea what they’re supposed to do, imposing “clever” punishments to force students to think (punishments that no school in the civilized world would dare to apply). The method of tricking someone to change their behavior or mind was also used on one of the teachers.
2/ The principal was unhinged, throwing tantrums and switching between having bright ideas and going hard on students, between being bent on expelling an innocent student and overlooking those that are responsible and applying collective responsibility.
3/ The exam cheating issue was presented in a crude and heavy-handed way, plagued with banal statements by Jan and Sung (which were, of course, made sound like something profound and important). Jan punishing herself/forcing students to “punish” her for them cheating during the exam was pure cringe.
4/ School bullies who associate themselves with criminals were scared of a teacher quoting penal law and threatening to tell their parents about what they do. Were they naughty teens, who can be kept in line by teachers, afraid of getting expelled, or delinquents who don’t care about graduating or their parents finding out that they’re bullies? Which is it – cause it can’t be both, and the show sure wanted it to be.
5/ During the “investigation” into cases of violence (in ep. 6-7) nobody remembered the brawl which resulted in Chatjen throwing a chair through a window nor about the one class member who was recording all the school fights for “content”. And how come virtually all the surveys from class 2 incriminated Shin – did Saint, Chatjen, First, Thiu and Cable accuse Shin of being a violent troublemaker in their surveys?

A few words need to be said about the cast. Most performances are either weak or unimpressive – this includes what both Maria and Foei bring to the screen. Nani’s delivery is pretentious and annoying in nearly every scene, while Sky is stiff and wooden; in all “emotional” scenes he’s reciting lines like an automaton and gets better only during the very few “friendly banter” scenes he shares with Nani. Neither of them can act and they have little chemistry (although these two things are not related – there are many couples and ships with no acting skills, but with good chemistry), with just a few better scenes in later episodes, when Saint and Shin reconcile. The single good performance of the series comes from Mark Pakin – the only actual actor in the cast. I did, however, enjoy Winny’s guest appearance, while Marc Natarit was surprisingly convincing in his little role.

I enjoyed some of the music used in the series. The opening theme by “Kong” Jaithep Raroengjai is very good and I was upset upon finding out that it’s only 1:08 minutes long (no “full version” or longer version is available).

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The Land of Smiles on Trial

If you plan to watch the Thai adaptation of “Lawless Lawyer”, I recommend approaching it with an open mind. This remake does bring something fresh to the table, with more thoroughly developed backstories and a pace that doesn’t feel rushed. While the Korean version wasn’t necessarily hurried, the Thai version takes its time to flesh things out, which is worth noting. That said, there are a few disappointments.

The romance, while decent, doesn’t quite compare to the electric chemistry between Joon Gi and Jae Yi in the original. However, since the show isn’t centered on the couple’s relationship, this isn’t a major issue. Namtan and Lee deliver solid performances and carry the show well, exuding an on-screen charm that makes them undeniably engaging. Their acting holds up throughout.

One significant difference I noticed between the adaptations lies in the tone of the characters. In the Korean version, when a character was furious or impassioned, it was impossible to miss—they let you feel every bit of it. Conversely, the Thai adaptation adopts a more subdued approach, reflecting Thailand’s “Land of Smiles” ethos. While this doesn’t derail the plot and allows for a more patient storytelling style, it does impact the intensity of certain scenes, particularly those involving the main villain.

Speaking of the villain, their story was perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the series. While their backstory adds a layer of tragedy, framing them as a quasi-hero, their actions throughout the show make it hard to sympathize with them. The lack of a sincere apology to Win (the male protagonist) or any meaningful consequences for their crimes leaves the ending feeling hollow. The villain and their associates walk away relatively unscathed, and this unresolved arc undermines the emotional payoff.

On the flip side, one of the major villains had a more satisfying resolution, though they, too, left me feeling slightly let down. That said, the actor playing this role did an excellent job, which deserves recognition.

The ending itself is where the Thai adaptation falters most. While I might have understood the ambiguity if it were setting up a sequel, the inclusion of a time skip—marked by a “many years later” title card—suggests otherwise. We see Win and Praw return as celebrated (Bangkok?) lawyers, but so many questions remain unanswered. If the moral of the story was to highlight the futility of fighting a corrupt system, then it succeeded. However, unlike the Korean version, which left viewers with a sense of hope, this adaptation offers little resolution or closure.

Despite its flaws, the Thai adaptation has its strengths. The protagonists are written as genuinely sympathetic, and the actors’ camaraderie on set shines through in their performances. The good guys know when to be ruthless, particularly when acting within the law, which adds to their appeal. Still, the Korean version ultimately comes out ahead for me. While the Thai adaptation held its own for most of the series, the disappointing ending undermines much of what it built along the way.

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A thriller of Culpability

The story kicks off with a mystery of all the teens being forced to play Mafia and is propelled with fear of death and bullying at every point. The deaths themselves become spectacles. All of the head hits are impactful, as are the ones where they throw themselves over the railing. The self strangulation one was too silly, they should have rethought that one. Selfish bullies push people to the edge just as much as the assigned Mafia do. Everyone is forced to be complicit participants in someone's death by voting. Friends turn against one another. Kids blame themselves. The selfish flourish until their time is up. Intrepid asthmatic Yeon Seo analyzes the crime scenes and tries to find clues out of this giant, murderous Mafia themed escape room. Aside from her observational skills, she's also special in that there is a force who wants her to see beyond the code.

Jung Won turns out to be this force, a character designed to win the game and causing discord and murder in the wake of it, decided to lose it to save the two players who became her friends instead. She's the virtual stand-in, the virtual ghost of Se Eun who took her only life from bullying. The intense loneliness being targeted everyone around you is truly suffocating and it may be hard to understand by those who have not experienced it themselves. It doesn't matter what type of reason was used to bully her, it mattered that it was the people's attitude and actions or inactions towards her. Her parents took it upon themselves to kidnap her entire class and use them to mentally and physically hurt each other. There is no legal recourse that would give them justice for the daughter they lost. Yeon Seo gets to see the set up she's trapped in so the parents could find out what made Jung Won go against her programming to help. They are unwilling to see that Jung Won/Se Eun has found the feeling of friendship and loyalty that she didn't have before. Jung Won found a catharsis in the game that the parents are not willing to embrace yet outside of it even though they have engineered the repeated suffering of the key perpetrators and bystanders. Jung Won is reset along with the rest and she was not able to free Yeon Seo by letting the citizens win as Yeon Seo is only able to awaken when the parents allow her to. The kids aren't there to learn a lesson, they are just to suffer indefinitely. I wonder if aside from Jung Won, the other roles are randomized? If Yeon Seo is put into the mafia role, what would she do? Ultimately her morality doesn't matter to her jailers. Even Se Eun is trapped in this virtual hell until her parents can find their way out of their grief.

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Disappointing Drama with Missed Potential

Overall, the drama isn’t THAT awful; it’s watchable, but there are several issues that stood out to me.

First, the format is a real problem. With 80 episodes that are only about 2 minutes long each, it felt like the creators didn’t know how to properly edit the scenes together and just decided to go with this format. The pacing sometimes is too fast, and some scenes feel abruptly cut, which makes it hard to stay engaged.

Second, I struggled to feel any genuine connection between the main characters. They hint at a mutual interest, but they dont show us how they fell in love. It’s as if they just decide to like each other with no emotional build-up or depth.

Third, I cannot understand why r*pe scenes are still being included in 2024. I thought we had moved past that. T
An even has trauma afterward and is afraid of Jin touching him, but the show barely addresses it. There’s one scene that acknowledges the trauma, but then it’s completely ignored for the rest of the series. What makes it worse is that Jin wasn’t even toxic up until that point; he had the potential to become a great character. Honestly, I found An to be more toxic than Jin. An had zero communication skills and refused to talk to Jin, even though Jin repeatedly encouraged him to open up.
Also dont get me started on the side characters, like the Aunt and Uncle.
The story had potential and so did the character BUT they ruined it.

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this drama, nor would I watch it again. There are just too many issues for me to overlook.

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