Reviews

OST and Characters Steal Your Heart

Honestly there hasn’t been a drama this intense and gripping for me in a while! I thought the casting was great. One of my favorite scenes was the academic competition where JiangLi performs her musical piece. I just remember first watching it and being like WOW. Dramatic but amazing LOL. CGI could have been better, but the meaning and impact of the scene left an impression on my heart. Show has you feeling so many emotions and I legit binge watched in two days. We Jin Yan's presentation of betrayal is SO convincing and heartbreaking. Paired with an amazing OST, I still listen to it sometimes.

I love the chemistry between JiangLi and the Duke; very little skinship and more focused on subtle glances and tacit understanding. Their fates/goals/intelligence really showed in their teamwork. I love how it displayed that he knew her secret all along, and it cracks me up how they communicate in puzzles, talking about pawns haha. Given the age gap, I think they still did a great job of portraying romance through trust and acts of service. I'm personally a fan of slowburn.

Wang Xing Yue is so good at portraying subtle emotions in his eyes. Every episode keeps you entertained and with historical dramas, I find myself dropping it rather quickly if it doesn't make me feel anything. The connection between the real and fake Jiang Li was very meaningful. FL takes over her identity, but does great things in her name — restoring her honor. FL needed the Jiang status to be able to seek justice for both of them. Gotta love a smart and resourceful FL.

The plot was more centered on seeking justice for the innocent vs her just trying to make her ex-husband miserable. FL’s brain was literally on a different level even after getting hit by the shovel LOL. She knows when to use words and when to command with her emotions. Plot was believable, and FL was steps ahead since the beginning since she knew her identity would be checked. Though at some point it was just flat out obvious she wasn't Jiang Li.

Rewatch value is high on this one. I am impressed with WXY as he is so young! I wrote this review as I watching it and I'm not surprised it had so much a high rating on MDL months later. One of my tops for 2024.

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" A Heartfelt Tribute to Thai GL Series and Their Bold Celebration of Love and Culture"

First of all, I want to thank Thailand for producing GL (Girls’ Love) series while other narrow-minded countries remain immersed in promoting homophobia through media content. I am genuinely grateful to this country because I would not have been able to find happiness and joy during my darkest times if it weren’t for Thai GL series. Thank you so much.

As for this series, it created an unforgettable space in my once-shrouded heart. To be honest, I found some episodes to be dull, as it felt like they repeatedly featured similar scenes. However, despite this flaw, the show deserves to be praised and applauded for its unique qualities.

The series beautifully captures the little details in the environment, making every scene vivid and immersive. It showcases traditional Thai food so exquisitely that I felt like I was watching an aesthetic food blog—something rare in television. Moreover, it highlights Thai royal traditions, cultural events, and functions, offering viewers a glimpse into the royal attitudes and behavior of Thailand.

Above all, the show masterfully portrays the calm, sweet, lovely, restless, emotional, romantic, intense, overwhelming, and even dangerous love between two Thai royal women—Princess Anil and Lady Pin—who belong to a conservative society.

One of my favorite moments was the scene where Anil bravely declared her love in front of her mother, brother, and Lady Pin's aunt, Pattamika. Her courage to confess her secret love for someone of the same gender in front of her family filled me with pride and left my heart boiling with emotion. I admired her guts to stand up for her love against societal rules and restrictions.

This show is not only a beautiful love story but also a bold statement about love, culture, and courage. I truly loved it.

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Well written, fast-paced romantic suspense series

I can't remember what led me to this series but glad I watched it. It covers many genres: romance, thriller, action, drama and a bit of science fiction. With 16 episode format, I think this series can be adapted into Korean drama.

What I liked:
1) The writing - This series was well-written and engaging, thanks to its tight running time (16 episodes with each episode lasting 25 to 45 minutes). Even though I figured out the doppelganger, I appreciate knowing the intent behind this doppelganger arc. I also like that 3 supporting characters (Ding Bei Fan, Tian Sui, Jiang Tian Cheng) had substance & played important roles in the storytelling.
2) An Yue & Xu Xi Xi's characterisation - It's wonderful to see contrasting personalities of these individuals but the evil twin wasn't evil all the time. I understood and sympathised her despite the mean demeanor.
3) The romance - For a romantic suspense series, there was good amount of romance between female and male leads. Makeout sessions were hot but my favourite is the first kiss - I was surprised. Yilia Yu and Tsao Yu Ning seemed very comfortable with each other, so the development of their love story seemed natural.
4) Acting - Good acting in particular Yilia Yu, Tsao Yu Ning and Wu Hao Ze. The latter was a standout because he was earnest at playing a newbie in entertainment industry who is attracted to a talent manager that already has a suitor. Tsao Yu Ning did well in expressing different feelings such as desire, concern, anger, love.
5) Action - Wow, the action scenes were impressive. The fights were well choreographed and even the 'blast from the past' scene was good.

What I disliked:
1) The music - I think there are 2 separate English songs used in this series. The lyrics are sound though I would tweak some words of the main song to make it more meaningful. The only thing I cannot stand is the voice. The song is too loud (sound mixing needs to be fixed) and singer's voice doesn't suit the song/moment.

Favourite scene
When the bomb was about to explode

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the new line up is a breath of fresh air

it is very interesting to see the only girl in the group is the boldest among the chickens lol. if you are a fan of Great Escape and watch all previous 5 seasons, you should already know how great Bibi's brain is in problem solving. As the strongest brain in the group (Da laoshi's words in ep 0), she is calm, kind and not scheming. i love her as a guest in prev seasons, definitely love her as a regular member this season.

about Xukai and PengPeng, oh dear who doesnt love this duo in season 4 and 5. all episodes with them together are so hilarious and funny. i look forward to laugh really hard in this season too since they are both regular members now and we will see alot of these infamous chicken duo moments haha.

talk about chicken, this season we have the third one in the group. Chen Zheyuan is hilarious when he was scared (sorry not sorry haha). thanks to him, KaiKai and PengPeng suddenly looks courageous as compared to him. and thanks to him, season 6 has chicken trio now lmao.

Da Zhangwei is as great as ever. as a senior in GE, he is kind and very supportive towards other members.
so nice to see Guowei stay as a regular this season too. he absent alot in season 5, kinda miss him.

overall, if you are dissappointed not seeing old members in season 6 but you are a fan of this show, continue watching. the new line up is a breath of fresh air. you can see the difference in dynamic of the group and how they solve problems together. the theme is always entertaining. but if you are watching GE simply because of your idols in it and not because the show itself, dont waste your time here. im halfway watching season 6 btw. gonna finish it soon.

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A suspenseful revenge plot!

WOW! It's been some time since I've watched a TVB series, and this 25-episode drama had me invested from the get go. I will start off by saying that although there are elements that make Dark Side of the Moon similar to the Kdrama, The Glory, I still enjoyed watching this.

Highlights:
- The main characters. They were all intelligent people with their own motives and stories, and they were steadfast in achieving their goals. Because they were all capable of strategizing, it made things even more interesting. It felt like a suspenseful game of chess to see who would be able to take down the other player. The actors did a wonderful job portraying their characters - notably Tavia, Rosina and Edward. They really brought the characters and emotions to life.
- The great pacing and suspense. This is what kept me engaged, wanting to see what would happen next. Just when you think things couldn't get anymore chaotic, it does. We're all here for the drama right?
- I'm not a fan of dramas that use too many flashbacks, but it was well utilized in this series (compared to other dramas) for the storytelling, and to illustrate how the past events shaped each of the characters and their relationships. Some of the things I questioned were answered through these scenes.

The lows:
- The ending. Considering the build of the story and all the efforts in plotting the revenge, I was fairly disappointed with how it played out in ep 25. It was like a deflated balloon. I'm curious as to why so many great dramas get butchered in such a way - they feel like a cop out/rushed. Having the FL give a lengthy explanation at how she took her enemy down was not what I had anticipated. This is the reason why I gave this drama an 8.5.
- The plot holes which I overlooked due to the suspense, but they were definitely there.
- Vincent's role. Look, I love a devoted ML, but I found myself just baffled at times because of how unrealistic (for the lack of better term) his unwavering love and actions were. His deep affection almost came out of no where (perhaps due to the lack of development in the beginning). Yes, he had a crush on her for some time, but to just jump right into the FL's life and be willing to whatever it took to help her was a little too good to be true. As much as I wanted the FL to get justice she deserves, I felt bad for his sacrifices. Great character but he definitely could've had more of a story/role due to his potential.

With a revenge plot full of twists and turns and Tavia playing the lead, it made the journey even more worthwhile. Despite the plot holes and the predictable scenes, the drama kept me on my toes. Definitely recommend!

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Starts As One Type of Show, Morphs Into Another

Four Immortals descend from the Heavenly realm at different times in order to collect a series of artifacts and stop the Heavenly Tribulation once and for all.

The show itself is a glaringly low budget Xanxia all the way through. Bright stage lights, bad make-up, awful wigs and costumes, flat cgi backgrounds, and MUCH more. The beginning of the show though treats all of these aspects as a comedy, having you watch the show knowing just how bad it looks and knowing it is deliberately making light of all these aspects. In this way the show falls into a very niche category of so deliberately bad it's amazingly good.

But then the show continues and with each episode there seems to be less and less deliberate comedy infused until suddenly you're watching a "serious" Xanxia but it's still just as low budget and bad looking. By this point you might find yourself wondering whether it is worth it to continue the show; after all, it still is lacking the emotional depth of the beginning and yet the scenes are calling for an emotional response that doesn't seem to want to come.

I finished the show liking it "okay" enough but with an absolute lack of the enthusiasm I'd had during the initial episodes. Instead, it left me frustrated with how to rate the show as a whole production and wondering if there were multiple writers and/or directors attached to the project.

In the end I would recommend this show for anyone who likes "so bad it's good" productions, light-handed absurdist comedy, BUT ALSO, "generic" angsty Xanxia without comedy. If you go into the show KNOWING that the comedy ends and the generic begins around the halfway/three-quarters point and like both types of shows then this will still be an okay show for you.

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Best I have ever seen.

This drama is a credit to all who come together to make this happen. Kudos to all the actors who carried their part with a high level of professionalism, and exceptional skill. I cried for them, I laughed with them, I felt the despair of the situation, the hope they have and shared with each other. This the best Thai BL I have ever watched. The first night I could not run it off until about 4:00 in the morning! Truly enjoyed this because it was mature, had such realism, get sets, costumes, issues, joys etc. I could identify with each person and their livea individually and how they wove their way into others lives. Excellent

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Painful Insights

This drama series is unmistakably written and directed by Hwang da Seul. First of all, I have to say, da Seul is brilliant and she is much smarter than anyone in the room. This drama has a lot in common with To My Star 1 & 2. There is a similar time gap in TMS 2 although not as long as in Curse. It is only 2 years i think, but that is still a significant amount of time. Also the two stories appear to take place in the same Korean village or town. The character of the mayor is the same actor. The time lapses in both are shrouded in mystery and there is real pain involved for the characters. Painful mysteries that are not resolved until the end. As much as I wish she would not put her characters/audience through so much pain, her writing is very insightful.

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It's probably a square... or a circle.. not that complex of a shape

I firstly will just say, I am likely only have started this for Ryousei Yokohama. I have watched a handful of his works and the guy is just so captivating to me. I assumed that he'd be just as captivating in this Japanese drama adaptation of the Korean Drama and webtoon Nevertheless... and I was right!

Now this could get people upset at me.. but I honestly think this drama is much better than its counterpart. With the Korean version, it was a bit lengthy and therefor boring. It was boring but had great aesthetics. I will say that the original soundtrack for the Korean drama is a whole lot better, but this one gives the same aesthetic and reaches in on a deeper level. Let me explain why.

Now in the Korean version I found it overall a frustrating drama. Here and there the female lead isn't much of anything, she really doesn't have much development and is boring, naive, and stays that way! The actress here does a good job with the timidness, but to a point I wonder how exactly she lets loose and sleeps with with the ML? Here she seems a whole lot more conservative to me.. I don't know if it is the styling or not. I found it annoying in both how much focus there are on butterflies, and honestly I think the story just doesn't know what exactly it even is. Like this is NOT a romance to me, I am seriously unnerved by both portrayals of the ML, and I am sure that their respective actors knew that they were playing a lead that is a serious red flag. So my take is that maybe, just maybe, this is more of a cautionary tale.. but I know that is just not the case.

The Shapes of Love is nice with the side characters coupling up, unfortunately the main pairing is seriously unnerving that I am creeped out and left with a perpetual raised brow at whatever scene is going on between the two. I can say I like the characterization of the ML better in this adaptation.

You wonder why he is so liked, so 'special, and so arrogant. The guy seems like a fantasy man, like I wonder what seriously goes through his head. He seems to do whatever he wants without thinking he will have concequences, and has serious pretty privilege. Yokohama is very pretty, so good job with the casting there. He has got the looks to be a this seductive guy, as his visuals and gaze can play into that character very well. I like the changes where he is now an established artist that has succeeded. Put into the setting of college students who are pursing their passions with an uncertain future, it makes sense why people are jealous, and why people admire him. Ren is a successful artist, unlike the Korean drama, he has a reason to be there. He is a substitute teacher and a character that the others look up to in terms of his artistry and talent. When it comes to the ladies.. I wouldn't say anything more than being frustrated with his tactics (if that is what you call it). I don't see a sense why this had to be made, a frustrating tale in every way equals a frustrating drama. I can say I like the minor changes of aging up the characters and shifting the story. It would make a whole lot more sense to me if they could just change the story entirely... maybe have the perspective be Ren.. so you can see why he is so off-putting and arrogant.

Make something different, tell a different story. At this point it is just the same thing, a little better though! It has great production value! The good things are what they are, and it isn't bad.. it is just like.. why was this made? I don't know.. I am glad to see Ryousei on screen honestly, I could watch him all day haha. I wish he would do a melodrama.. but alas...
I kind of think it is supposed to be cautionary about not letting yourself be timid, but also not letting yourself think you are something you aren't. Like no one is special, not even this mystery man who is perfect.. he is just a guy.. we are all people.. I am just so confused here.

It is unfortunate to me when I see a competent cast with a great budget using itself towards something like this. A. it was done before. B. it was done and wasn't even good. This story simply is one that doesn't need to be told or retold. Each adaptation I believe was missing what was trying to be told. Or maybe there wasn't something to be told anyways?

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maybe just listen to the ost!!

i was extremely excited to start hierarchy. i was in korea when it was released, and i really enjoyed watching first few episodes and uncovering the plot. sadly, this didn't last long, and i think the main reason is how long it feels.

the visuals are all very similar and the episodes just felt dragging. i do think this was part of the point of the show, as to explain the type of environment jooshin is, but it just made each minute feel like 10. there were times i was 15-20 minutes into an episode, but it felt like 40. this is honestly the sole reason it took me so long to finish the show. i started it at release, and it took me almost 5 full months to finish it. the scenes that felt the most refreshing were the scenes at jaei’s beach house and when the main cast was in the city together.

alongside that, the plot was handled poorly. they really did have EVERYTHING to make an amazing show: good music and actors, beautiful set, and a plot that could have been amazing. in a way, they focused too much on the aesthetics and less the actual plot. the relationships felt undeveloped and the absolute full plot explanation within the last hour of the show was extremely disappointing to see. even though all of kangha’s motivation stems from inhan, it felt like in half of the show he was an afterthought. for a show that spent so much time with all the characters, i feel like i know nothing about them and their relationships. while this could be intentional, it makes too big of an impact on the show to were i can’t think that. the only thing strongly revealed was the hierarchy of the school, which does make sense in the context of the show, but i would love more.

the characters also made me mad. i went from liking people to hating people to liking them again. i do like that everything was wrapped up, like kangha getting closure on his “relationship” with jaei, hera and jaei becoming friends again, and rian and jaei semi-fixing their relationship. woojin felt extremely underutilized, like his only point was to be dating a teacher and pining over hera (which felt like a reallyyyyy unnecessary arch). i really wish time was spent developing them more, instead of focusing on messy relationships and extravagant party life. i assume some of this was the point of the show, but it still is annoying.

onto the thing i actually love: the music. i don’t listen to osts often, unless someone i know is in it, but this is one of the best osts i’ve listened to. just from the intro with cocona’s ‘holler time’, i was already in love. next, junhyeon’s song ‘ruin life’ is amazing when it appears in the outro. aside from holler time, my favorite song is probably ‘paradise’ by xydo. if you haven’t listened to this entire ost yet, i would definitely recommend it! out of all the aspects of this show, this ost is the thing that fits along with the visuals. i felt much more emotion from this ost than the show, and if you don’t think you want to watch the show, listening to the ost will give you a similar feeling.

anyways, did i enjoy this show? yes. do i think it has a high rewatch value? no. now that i’ve seen it and i’m done with it, i’ll probably not revisit it. i’m happy i finished it though, and it’s clearly a labor of love from everyone involved.

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