Reviews

A Journey of self-acceptance and empowerment

True Beauty is a drama that resonates deeply, especially for anyone who has experienced bullying or struggled with self-esteem, like you did in your childhood. The show touches on themes of beauty, self-acceptance, and personal growth, making it not only visually stunning but also emotionally impactful. Tthis drama can serve as a reminder that beauty is much more than skin deep, and it celebrates the importance of overcoming challenges to find inner strength. The journey of the characters mirrors the real-life struggles many face, which makes it not only entertaining but also empowering.

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Simply superb!

Amazing amazing story! I’ve seen so many period dramas that I’ve loved, but they were all invariably slow paced. This one here is the most fast paced period drama I’ve ever come across and the story kept me engrossed, entertained, excited, scared, giggling, feeling sombre and wanting more! The story was thoroughly unpredictable, with so many twists and turns, but not a single dull moment throughout. Just when I felt I’m getting a grasp of what’s happening, the story would take a turn and leave me surprised and looking forward to what happens next. I’m so glad there is a season 2! I’m looking forward to the story ahead!

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Amazing Start 1/13

William and Est, what are you doing to me?! These two swept me completely off my feet. Their chemistry is absolutely off the charts and it’s only the beginning.

The first episode is giving everything: so many emotions and a plot that already feels different from the usual GMMTV fare. Thame and Po are two broken people who are clearly about to find in each other the comfort and healing they so desperately need. Thame is chasing his solo dreams, leaving his bandmates behind while Po is carrying his own pain, all while documenting the emotional chaos of Mars’ final concert. There is so much loneliness in both of them and I already know their story is going to make us cry, swoon and then cry again lmao.

The acting is also WOW. I mean I expected Est to be good (he’s been a favorite for a while now) but William? He completely caught me off guard. His portrayal of Thame is so vulnerable and at the same time, you can’t take your eyes off him. Is there anything this man can’t do? And don’t even get me started on their chemistry. Thame and Po’s interactions feel so natural yet emotionally charged. There’s a slow burn brewing here that’s going to destroy us in the best way possible. I CAN FEEL IT.

This show is also feels very mature. Yes, there are lighter moments to balance things out but I think its more about healing and self discovery. PLUS the production quality is chef’s kiss y'all. Every shot is so beautifully composed, you could frame it as art ffs. And the music is of course an orgasm to the ears. I mean, we are talking about LYKN here.

Either ways, this first episode has me hooked. There is incredible acting, the chemistry is beyond amazing and the emotional parts are very well done. I can’t wait to see how Thame and Po’s story unfolds. It’s already promising heartbreak, healing, and everything in between, and I am so here for it.

Note : This review will change as the story progresses

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My goodness, wtf?

This drama is a direct sequel of Forensic Heroes 5, and despite some hype because it had been a while since I have seen Bosco Wong onscreen, this was ultimately a huge disappointment. Don't get me wrong, there were some interesting scientific explanations for many weird cases the show brought up, but the character situations and interactions just had me go wtf (what the fish) often. Really, I was going wtf so many times that I lost count.

So, this kicked off directly from the last series where Bosco Wong and Venus Wong are now married, Benjamin Yuen had broken up with Sisley Choi following what happened previously, and Jacky Cai was suffering from severe PTSD after being tortured at the hands of the crazy Kelvin Kwan. This series dealt with the aftermath of some traumatic events from the last series, but since the writers needed the trinity of main characters to suffer, they made Bosco Wong’s wife go missing while they were visiting Osaka, Japan.

What really annoyed me was how annoying most of the people were in the series. Bosco was not annoying, but he was so boring to watch because of how the character was written, that the only part in the drama where he started getting interesting was near the end when he was desperate to find his wife.

Bosco is still the same amazing lead of forensic investigation, but directly under him were several people - particularly Joey Thye and Niklas Lam. Now, I didn't mind Joey because she added the teacher’s pet element to the show, which was quite fun to watch, but Niklas Lam was just so annoying to watch. The guy's face rubs me the wrong way and in all his scenes he is just talking nonsense. He is only there to give Joey somebody to talk to, giving her more lines to speak. The guy cannot act, period. But somehow there is someone in the team who is even more pointless and that is Juliana Kwok. She is purely there as eye candy and she barely says anything, cannot (or does not) emote much, and the scenes where she was apparently doing science looked so unconvincing. She doesn’t even show us her ample assets. Why was she in this drama? Why? Wtf?

It is not just people in the forensic team that are annoying. Benjamin Yuen is still a cop and under him is this female actor that I have forgotten the name off. This is not my fault, she has a very generic face and spoke in a very generic way, so much so that I cannot remember anything unique about her except that she annoyed me enormously. Her grandfather was a fortune teller so she had picked up some tricks from him, and she spends the start of the drama thinking she would bring bad luck to some characters because their birth signs were clashing or something. And when something did happen, she felt responsible because she was too close to them. B***h please, you're not that important. She later checked out the entire teams’ details, even Benjamin Yuen's, and told Benjamin his fortune causing Benjamin to slam his hand on his desk (and rightly so). I found her very disrespectful because she did it without asking for permission first, a clear invasion of privacy because she thought Jupiter was going retrograde up Uranus. What really was the camel that broke the camel’s back was later - while in hospital to take a statement - she was speaking to a rape victim and assumed she killed her rapist, so coldly but firmly told the victim to confess to the murder or she would get into trouble later. Who talks like that? I hated her character immensely after that scene, like who did she think she was? Wtf?

Benjamin was not without his issues either. Early into the drama, one of his underlings played by Mark Ma, dies after being stabbed by a drug addict. This led to Mark leaving behind his wife, played by Kelly Fu, and their son. Now, I understand you supporting the family of the bereaved and helping them out during this time of grief, but Benjamin decided to allow both to move into his home. He was a single guy who had just broken up with his fiancée so was living alone, so having both move in with him was inappropriate, especially after her husband had passed away. Why not stay with family? This, predictably, led to Benjamin and Kelly developing feelings for each. Luckily, the drama ends with Kelly taking her son and moving to Paris, leaving Benjamin alone and sad, but if I am honest, he shouldn't have invited them over to live with him in the first place. Wtf?

And then we have Jacky Cai who was suffering from major PTSD and was seeing Kelvin Kwan everywhere she went, despite Kelvin dying in the last series. She later meets a night Doctor who looked exactly like Kelvin Kwan and had the same birthday date as well. Later, Jacky approached the Kelvin lookalike, and they became friends, and she started to think her PTSD was getting better, despite him meeting Bosco and Benjamin and both telling her that this Doctor guy had no resemblance to Kelvin at all. She obviously still had severe PTSD issues, but her friends would not try to help her and instead just brushed it off. Things really came to a head near the end of the drama when the lookalike Kelvin started to become deranged and thought Jacky liked him but ends up getting killed by his ex-wife. Later when Jacky looked at his corpse on the autopsy table did she realise it was actually King Lam. Why did nobody tell her "Yo, you need help because he looks nothing like Kelvin" and instead just humored her? Why? Wtf?

We now get to Joman Chiang, a supermodel who is hiding from her ex-boyfriend, played by Leonard Cheng, and has a manager played by Ball Mang. Now her manager Ball Mang was so darn useless, I mean in the drama there were so many times I wondered why Joman kept her around because she was not doing a good job as her so-called manager. For example, Ball Mang decided to go on holiday, and instead of getting someone to take over for the time she was away, she tells Joman to take care of herself for a few days. And in one case Ball even called Bosco - because he was a neighbor, to pop over and help out Joman because she was away. What? Why should he help when you're the one getting paid? She later found out Joman was pregnant with Leonard's baby, and despite being told not to tell anybody, she told Leonard leading to many awkward encounters. Why? And Leonard also used Ball Mang to force himself into Joman's apartment. My goodness, I would have fired her ass if she was my manager. So useless! Wtf?

Leonard Cheng as the ex-boyfriend was also unbelievably infuriating to watch. The guy is the sole male heir to the Lee family conglomerate, so his mother had huge control over everything he did. Every single word that came out of his mouth was "I need to ask my mom" or "My mom should know about this" or "Please do this or my mom would be angry". Like dude, can you think for yourself? Even if you're afraid of your mother, don't bring her up in every sentence! And to rub in how pathetic he was, he didn’t understand that no matter how many times Joman told him no she didn't want to be with him, he would not take no for an answer, being unable to comprehend that some people just cannot be bought with money. The scene where he was in the car and simply didn't understand that Joman really did not want to be with him made me want to break his neck telepathically. But I did not have to wait too long because later his elder sister just outright murders him. Wtf?

Oh yes, his elder sister is played by Toby Chan, and she really wanted to be the Lee family successor. Despite her brother telling her repeatedly that he did not want to be heir and would not fight for it, she still murdered him out of jealousy because she assumed their mother loved him the most and that he was lying. That was her brother, and she knew he was useless and yet she still killed him to take over the family business. That action made no sense because at that point he had already given everything up to try and be with Joman so he had nothing to stand on, but the sister just would not stop. Wtf?

And now we get to the final biggest head scratcher that just sealed it for me. Bosco had been spending the entire drama flying back to Osaka to look for his wife every weekend in an obvious Greater Bay Airlines promotional move, he finally found out what happened to his wife. His wife's friend, played by James Ng, had spent the entire time acting like he was helping Bosco in investigating the wife's disappearance, but it turned out that it was James who had abducted her and locked her away in a cage. The reason? In the past when Venus Wong and James Ng were at the same University in Japan, James had developed a crush on Venus but was unable to tell her his feelings because she said she was returning to Hong Kong. He had forgotten about her and had married Angel Chiang, but suddenly Venus returned to Japan and brought with her Bosco, her new husband. This apparently made him insanely jealous, and unlike a normal person who would let it go and realise he was already happily married, he decided to kidnap Venus, lock her in a cage, and try to make Venus love him. Oh yes sure, that was very romantic how he kidnapped her and locked her in a cage! (I was being sarcastic there). If that was not stupid enough, but what I found more ridiculous was how the drama did a fake-out death of Venus, so we all thought she had died, and right at the end of the drama - fast forward a few months - we see that she was okay and was happily camping with Bosco while travelling the world. She was completely fine! After over 1 year of being locked up and isolated from the world in a small cage - in the dark - she apparently had no PTSD or needed any time to recover at all, just a few months and boom yeah, she's good, she's fine! Wtf?

Despite all the idiocy in the drama, there were a few people who were exceptionally good in the drama.

Mason Fung plays the autistic younger brother of Venus Wong, and he plays the autistic role extremely well. His mannerisms and how to speaks were really accurate, and even when his sister goes missing, he showed little emotion about it, which was actually very accurate. He does care but does not show it openly or admit to it unless asked.

I also found Bob Lam as Bosco's boss to be entertaining. He is the much-needed comedic relief the show needed, and it cuts through the constant scientific postulating everybody in the forensic team does. Bob Lam is a talented forensic scientist, but was shown to be a mediocre leader, which really fitted with how Bob naturally acts so it worked well. I know many call him the cheap man's Bobby Au-Yeung, but I found him a lot of fun to watch whenever there were scenes with him in there.

But the best acting must be given to Nicole Wan. She portrayed a Japanese victim of a serial female attacker, who would wear a Fox mask and disfigure his victims. Her portrayal of a Japanese woman using English with a Japanese accent was unbelievably convincing and really accurate to how a Japanese person would annunciate English. I was very impressed with her performance.

I was hoping for so much more, but ultimately this drama was disappointing and made me want to watch the first three Forensic Heroes series instead. Those are classics! This just makes my class sick!

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Lovely Runner - #1 out of 417 KDramas

Contains Spoilers!!

Lovely Runner Review and why it has become my #1 KDrama out of 417 seen (so far).

This will contain a review of Lovely Runner (LR), giving a few spoilers as possible, but will also provide data showing the uniqueness of this show, and its bombshell effect on the global audience which resulted in a first leading role catapulting ML Byeon Woo Seok (BWS) into a global superstar.

Other than seeing posts of excited fans on KDrama pages, I had no information on Lovely Runner (LR) when I started watching.

It still had several weeks of airing when I “thought” I would just pop in and check out Episode 1 to see what all the stir was about and then wait for it to finish to see straight through.

Ah…NO!

From the concert to the scene on the bridge, I was HOOKED

https://youtu.be/T_uVy8v9-S8?si=onMuDs1mn1vgy039

When we got to the time-travel back to 2008 and her run to “Sun Jae-ah!!”, I was enthralled.

The story is fascinating and fabulously executed by the cast and directors who all went far beyond the norm to make this 3 years in-the-making-story come to life.

https://youtu.be/76CbAftjgRQ?si=_1FDZmxSW5-8p0L4

Due to a challenged to her perspective in the darkest time of her life, Im Sol is Eclipse lead singer Ryu Sun Jae’s longest and most dedicated fan. Through a series of events. when devastating news about him hits, she is transported from 2023 to 2008 where she attempts to change his path to avoid the catastrophe.

This leads to a hilarious intersection of 30-year-old Sol with teenage Sol’s life, much of which she doesn’t remember, as she acts bizarrely for the teenage Sol in order to save Sun Jae.

What is done differently in 2008 has an effect on 2023, some unforeseen.

Since it involves multiple trips, as she goes back-and-forth, she begins to understand the patterns of what is transferring between 2008 and 2023, and make adjustments accordingly, with her eye on the goal of saving Sun Jae.

However, Sun Jae has his own thoughts on the new Sol in each timeline.

This brings us laughter, joy, frustration, deep concern for their safety, desperately wishing for things to work out for the future, and ultimately a fabulous romance.

I am a retired professional singer and actress, so music with theater is my bag. Anytime those two are put together with excellence, I’m in, and that was certainly the case for this show with BWS actually singing the lead for the five Eclipse songs, the majority of which ended up on real life, professional music charts, one of which so resonated with the global audience that it broke and set records.

Hearing the behind the scenes footage between the actors and main director lets us appreciate the beauty of KDramas in building depth in a relationship through a directorial fine hand to make the romance heart-grabbing while specifically avoiding pushing it into being explicit.

https://youtu.be/IuF53Sw21UQ?si=zQmSpPiGr21qkkys

Result:

https://youtu.be/vY7AEc7OljY?si=dwM6cp7pPDCqA10q

I applaud that the villain propelled the story forward without overpowering the leads’ story and romance. Even as a very real threat, he was written as the impetus behind their story vs the leading couple’s story being back-burnered as disappointingly happened in the much anticipated KDrama Queen of Tears earlier this year.

I love a story that is intriguing, that makes you stay glued to the screen to keep up with the events happening to put the puzzle pieces in place instead of spelling everything out as it goes, one that requires some effort from the viewer and this one DOES - though in case you missed the clues, everything is put in place for you by the end.

We have comedy, time-travel with multiple trips back and forth, sports, music/idols - and a romance for the ages.

(Spoilers):

https://youtu.be/G273OX8r-bQ?si=FNrP06eer5G7GqAe

Sun Jae’s faithful and sacrificial love for Sol and her faithful and sacrificial love for “Sun Jae-ah” are exemplary of what true love should be. Each repeatedly put their lives and happiness on the line to protect the other.

https://youtu.be/Eh-ImBhwg7E?si=fOzOlHVzzb2Zvf-A

All KDrama fans quickly learn that S. Korea has some pretty phenomenal actors, even with K-Poppers turned actors.

Kim Hye Yoon (Im Sol) is well established as a FL and known for several roles including Extraordinary You which is set in high school (as is part of LR) where she had an even taller ML than BWS.

However for a first lead role, LR was a very ambitious and risky undertaking for novice ML Byeon Woo Seok. LR made Ryu Sun Jae a sink or swim career role for BWS’s first lead, which was a risky “make it or break it” move. The role covers swimming, singing, acting - and portraying the ML from ages 19 to 34, and he made the transitions beautifully.

In many scenes, his emotions are pouring out of his eyes, if you look. I refer you to the scene in Episode 8 right after he dumps his best friend in the bathtub and walks out to see Sol holding what he wanted to remain hidden.

As a retired actress and former university faculty in Theater, I have to say that I pegged BWS for global stardom some time back from his appearance in another show

I am very impressed with him - not just his acting ability and talent, but also his tenacity and dedication to his craft.

Not only did he tackle a difficult and complex role as his first lead role and bear the responsibility of carrying the weight of the show as the ML, but he also had to learned to swim (he said he previously could only dog-paddle!) well enough to portray an Olympic level swimmer AND swim credibly against South Korea’s own real-life Olympic Gold Medalist in swimming Park Tae Hwan, which he DID.

Additionally, BWS mastered singing five songs to play an idol, with the majority of his songs placing on real life professional music charts, especially Sudden Shower (Sonagi).

Additionally, we have a wonderful second lead in Sun Jae’s rival for Im Sol, 2nd ML Kim Tae Sung (played by Song Geon Hee), who honorably steps aside when he realizes that it is not himself, but Sun Jae who holds Sol’s heart.

Sol’s goofy brother and her best friend provide many instances of comedic relief (as do the rest of the cast), as their awareness of each other and romance plays out.

We also have other great supporting characters in Sun Jae’s best friend played by real life S. Korean band N. Flying's Lee Seung Hyun, Sol’s not-so-out-of-it G’ma (Sung Byung Sook), Sol’s Mom played by veteran actress Jung Young Joo, Sun Jae’s Dad played by veteran character actor Kim Won Hae.

I shared LR with both of my adult daughters who are also KDrama fans, and for them it has also become the #1 KDrama they have seen, and we have all seen MANY.

A great script including a love for all time, incredibly talented actors, excellent direction, a fabulous OST, much of which was sung by the ML, award winning cinematography, comedy, pathos, intrigue, celebrity, off-beat families and a happy ending - what’s not to love?

_____________

Some of the awards and global response:

The Eclipse band (in the show not a real life band) has won numerous real life awards!

(To hear their #1 song, Sudden Shower’s Official Music Video - no English my subtitles):

https://youtu.be/fBB4MaBybyg?si=id6uGjBiKJaburq7

With English (no video):

https://youtu.be/Rx-R_qIYAiA?si=VCDuztOf02t5vkFL


The complete Lovely Runner OST is so well done it’s worth purchasing as well as being one-of-a-kind with the addition of fictitious band Eclipse’s songs sung by non-professional singer, ML Byeon Woo Seok as Idol Ryu Sun Jae. The OST has released Eclipse’s songs as a Bonus album to the show’s OST.

One of the unique qualities of Lovely Runner among 2024 KDramas showing it’s global fandom is that it brings a compilation of record-breaking and record making accolades including:

• LR script book becoming a #1 best seller BEFORE it hit the market

• LR OST recorded the all-time highest pre-release sales of any KDrama OST

• Sudden Shower sung by Byeon Woo Seok placed on the U.S. Billboard chart which has never before happened for a Korean actor

• Being the #1 show in over 130 countries on its original streaming platform Rakuten Viki

• Being Netflix’s highest rated KDrama to air in 2024 - even though it only aired for NF after the show ended airing on Viki and only aired on NF in limited parts of the world

• Its Fundex/Gooddata numbers showing that even not being originally aired on NF (for which NF viewers gave them major grief), tvN‘s OTT platform’s airing of LR beat NF in streaming viewership for the first time and LR (95,789,84) even beat NF’s Queen of Tears (71,412,39), which had just beaten the record held by Crash Landing on You a month before

• BWS and KHY won many unique awards including multiple fan voted popularity awards for their roles in LR

• And several more, listed below.

• Sudden Shower/Sonagi reached #3 on S. Korea’s professional music chart (Melon) AND placed on the US Billboard professional music chart at #199, ultimately reaching #167 where it beat Taylor Swift and even BTS. Currently, Sudden Shower has over 100 million plays on Spotify, alone.

Now add in the astounding number of awards Byeon Woo Seok and LR have racked up.

We’ve seen K-Pop singers turn into actors plenty of times, but BWS is the first actor to become a real-life professional music Idol - through a KDrama.

He is the first actor who by playing an Idol received:

.• A real life Global Music Award at the professional MAMA Music Awards (which upon winning, he acknowledged his Eclipse band members by their LR names).

• The first actor to sing at MAMA before 55,000 people - LIVE

• AND BWS’s Sudden Shower/Sonagi (소나기) just won S. Korea’s Melon professional music award for Best OST song

- All of which has never happened before.

And believe it or not, LR and its beloved leading couple have received even more awards, attention, applause, mentions and imitations than I have listed here, with even S. Korean celebrities taking selfies with BWS’s life-sized ad cutouts as the industry clamors to cast him or hire him for endorsements.

Obviously, LR hit a record breaking home run with S. Korean and the global audience.

Hats off to Byeon Woo Seok and Lovely Runner for giving us a great show with a love story for all time, fabulous music and for climbing new mountains in the industry and with the global KDrama fandom. 🫡

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Wholesome easy watching

It took me a while to get into this drama because it’s so different to the dramas I usually watch. It’s not super dramatic, with constant plot twists and and dilemmas, it’s cute and wholesome watching that makes you feel warm inside. It was a refreshing watch with no annoying misunderstanding trope to be found and the small problems that did occur were quickly solved. Usually with dramas I’m sobbing from heartbreak but in WIFTY I was shedding tears from happiness by the last episode. This is the perfect coming of age drama and I’m so glad I stuck it through the first few episodes.

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Even though I watched it with English subtitles, which is not my first language, and didn’t fully understand the story, I found this C-drama very touching. I was especially moved by the parts that portray the life of an optimistic single mom and her morals, the relationship between mother and daughter, the dynamic between mother-in-law and son-in-law, the support in the relationship between the male and female leads, and friendships. After I finished watching, I felt fulfilled and deeply impressed, especially by scenes like the marriage proposal at the end, which was super cute. Their performances made me believe in and feel hopeful about healthy relationships. The scenes involving Gu Yi’s mom were masterpieces in terms of both performance and emotion. I can’t fully describe how impressed I am by this drama. A round of applause to the entire team.

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Brewing self-care should be the subtitle

This was a sweet watch though I did get distracted a lot. I loved the topics laced in about mental health (though therapy needed to be introduced), social care/mental health for vets and so much more from a Korean lens, I loved that. I enjoyed our Green Flag of an ML. I enjoyed our FL though her purposeful fake masks did start to irritate me as well (which I know was on purpose). She did well in that.

Outside of those great things, including our secondary characters, somehow the story itself felt lacking, and it's hard to put a finger on what exactly was making it so substantial. It's odd. This had all the makings of a strong K-drama. It might have been the chemistry between our two leads, it kind of came off fake (more on our FL's end). I'm not sure. Either way, this is a good in-between watch.

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A rollercoaster of highs and lows

I aim to keep my reviews short, spoiler-free, and focused on the key points to help you decide if a drama is worth your time. I never fast-forward and always strive to watch the entire series to give a fair and thorough perspective.

This drama is a rollercoaster of highs and lows, offering an intriguing blend of heartfelt moments and over-the-top storytelling.

The characters are undoubtedly one of the drama's strongest points. They're layered, engaging, and easy to root for, particularly in the friendships and love stories that form the heart of the series. The cast delivers strong performances overall, though it does occasionally lean too much into exaggerated acting, which can be off-putting at times.

For viewers new to K-dramas, this show may feel like an instant favorite with its charming leads and emotional storytelling. However, for seasoned fans of the genre, it may not resonate as strongly. Unless you're a devoted fan of the lead actors, the drama's flaws might outweigh its strengths.

The storytelling is uneven, excelling in the portrayal of relationships but faltering elsewhere. For example, the first responder scenes and the depiction of a pivotal event that drastically changes the male lead's trajectory feel cringe-worthy and lack the realism needed to support the narrative. These missteps make certain parts of the drama feel over-the-top in a bad way, detracting from the emotional weight of the story.

Additionally, the long runtime of certain episodes clocking in at 1 hour and 30 minutes per episode can test patience, with some scenes feeling unnecessarily drawn out. A tighter edit would have made for a more compelling watch.

On a positive note, the OST is a highlight, beautifully enhancing the drama’s emotional moments and leaving a lasting impression.

In conclusion, while this drama has its charms, particularly for fans of the leads or K-drama newcomers, it might not hold the same appeal for more seasoned viewers. Its engaging characters and touching moments are worth watching, but the uneven storytelling and unrealistic elements may make it less satisfying overall.

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