Parthivi
Maybe the reason I liked this drama was because their relationship was exactly the kind I was looking out for a long time in a drama. For some reason I loved Ae Ra as a female lead. She was strong, fierce, sassy and had an amazing group of friends. Another one the character I loved was Sul Hee. She was clearly an inspiration. Her dreams and aspirations were something I could relate to and she was able to evolve very gracefully.
I loved the silly comedy, and how airhead Dong Man was. I also liked many small arcs that were different from some of the conventional ones like the Moo Bin's arc, that was a really nice twist. Also the Kyung Koo one was interesting. One arc that was unnecessary which I felt was the Nam Il arc.
Anyways I really loved it. The ending scene was just too cute. Anyways I'm happy happy. Shouldn't have delayed this.
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The music is not really memorable, but it has a few upbeat songs that did catch my attention. Special mention to the cute baby. After the first few episodes, the show lost its momentum. The last few episodes dragged like hell. Anyways could watch this show to see something new.
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Existence and Time
I'll be honest in the review. I was not completely impressed with this drama. I felt the story and setting was heavily inspired from Master's Sun, a previous drama of the Hong Sisters and Goblin which was like a cultural reset with many dramas trying to copy it's fantasy world. Because I have already seen those two dramas, I felt deprived of an original story while watching this drama. The hotel and ghost concept was in Master's Sun while the theme for Supernatural protagonist with a curse from deity to be resolved by a human was from Goblin. There were other world building themes as well that I thought reminded me of Goblin. Because of these things, it felt a little dated.The Good thing though is that it did manage to find a cohesive theme within the show without having to drag out any narrative. The different ghost stories though not as good as the ones in Master's Sun, did progressed story and character development. And the whole theme of resolution of one's grudge using Time and Existence as a background was good addition too.
The biggest problem the the whole drama why I couldn't back it up was the lack of chemistry between the two main leads. Ko Chang Soo as a character was the literal definition of Gary Stue(Guy Many Sue) and a Manic Pixie Dream Guy. It was even more apparent because IU and Lee Do Hyun in their past shared so much more chemistry. They were definitely the highlight.
The show had breathtaking shots and cinematography. But the heavy use of CGI and VFX did feel a little artificial. IU looked Etheral. Extra plus points to her styling department. The cameos were a treat for old IU drama lovers
Finally OST were the best part of the show. Would definitely listen to this album on repeat
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Uee was pretty good as the Korean sweetheart/villain. I had a bad case of second lead syndrome with Shin Woo. I think Yong Hwa and Shin Hye had such a nice chemistry plus his character was so sweet that it made so many people fall for his SLS charm. I mean compared to the maid lead's narcissist personality. I understand that Tae Kyung had other family drama, but with the regular pouts and guyliner, I was massively irritated with him.
This is my least liked drama of Hong sisters. Anyways the drama is still fun to watch. I realized I am biased towards the story because I did not like the main romance. But you can go and watch this very famous drama for good music and nice fun filled-angst-ridden ride.
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Refreshing Fantasy
Excuse my POSITIVE RANT but - I'm whipped..........by Lee Jae Wook. He has been on my radar since Extraordinary You. He was absolutely phenomenal here. Can't get over him as Jang Uk.Now a short review of the show:
Finally, a fantasy drama that isn't an inspired copy of Goblin. A full-fledged Historical Fantasy, by Hong Sisters, and I'm really impressed by the world-building. Very refreshing after their last show Hotel Del Luna which I felt was inspired by their own show Master's Sun. Here I found the show to be extremely plot heavy yet never boring. The cast and the plot kept me engaged throughout even though there were many repetitions. All the characters except the villain were really endearing. The characters had distinct personalities. I did have a bit of confusion with the birth secret plotline because it never made sense to me how they define parentage. Apart from that things were kinda consistent. I adored all the secondary characters, Crown Prince and his chemistry with Jang Uk was fabulous. Usually, I skip many secondary stories, but I was really attached to other characters as well. Crown Prince, Kim Du Ja, Yul, and Dang Gu were some of my favorites.
I felt Hong Sisters really played well with their own tropes. They are known to use the concept of the "Trinkets from the ML gifted to FL" trope. Here they have not only used that trope, but they also added a comedy scene using that and then used it as a plot device in the next episode. It was pretty brilliant, to be honest, to subvert their own tropes like that. The visual effects were also so much better than Hwayugi (another Hong Sister drama) which was also an amazing show but only missed out on some poor VFX. I really felt Hong Sisters brought their A-game to the show.
I just can't get enough of Jang Uk. I believe he is the selling point of the drama for me. Jung So-Min probably had her career-best here (apart from Because This is My First Life because that's better). I have seen part-2, so I'm giving a standard rating across. For me both were great, part-1 slightly better due to pacing, but still amazing overall, as it brought me out of the Kdrama slump. That's it, that's my review
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Beautiful Couple
I feel CLOY is one of the best Rom Coms of the past 4 or 5 years. In India, we also have a cross border cross starred lovers story called Veer Zaara. Considering the similarities between the two countries geo political situation, I was extremely intrigued with the premise, how they will incorporate such a tricky story which doesn't involves Aliens, Gods, Robots or Goblins but rather a Geo Political conflict.First the positives, the USP of the show is the beautiful chemistry of the couple who are one of the most good looking couples I've seen in KDrama land. The couple and their whole dynamic has made the show a really smooth ride. While I agree Captain Ri is kinda unrealistic ?, but what I loved about our leads is that they both have their own rich lives outside their romance and only want what's best for each other. It's a very healthy relationship ideals.
The cinematography is as usual amazing with amazing shots from for the rural setting as well as the breathtaking shots of Switzerland.
I loved the story and the character dynamics. It was refreshing to see many characters and their interactions and I was rooting for all of them. I fell in the love with the second leads romance as well. In fact towards the end I was more invested in their story as compared to the leads.
This brings me to my small negatives. Last 3 episodes were melodramas af and fulfilled all KDrama cliches. What started as refreshing take soon got muddled with melo situations and that was a little irritating. Also I thought the whole resolution for the country infiltration thing was resolved in a very unrealistic way, things could have gotten way dark considering how most countries have strict protocols to deal with such a situation but yeah I can make sense of that.
Overall I loved this one after watching 4-5 unsatisfactory ones so yeah I'm happy.
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Anti-Hero Hero Glorifield
I have had a lot of thoughts while watching this show. Both good and bad. Let's start with the good shall we:1) Production Design - Amazing production and direction. The Italy piece was amazingly shot. Made me pause just to look at the vertical shots, and the different angles many action scenes were shot as well. The fight choreography was decent. Every arson scene looked so real.
2) The Villains - I was definitely more interested in the villains than the main character (will come to that later). Ok Teac Yeon made me so much invested in his character that I completely ditched the MC, and was primarily watching for him. For me, he was definitely the USP and the one character which I felt could have had better treatment. Choi Myung Hee was such a great subversion for a feminist trope that I never knew I needed. She really made me hate her character and I really despised her till the end.
3) Song Jong Ki - The man is so charismatic as Vincenzo, it is really difficult to take your eyes off him. Half the reason Vincenzo works is because of this man.
4) Supporting Characters - I did have a like-dislike relationship with the Plaza people. It was definitely a funny gag to see how each one of them was immensely talented, and their coming together as the Casanno family really melted my heart. But their search for the gold plot tested my patience and I skipped their many scenes.
5) Music - The Music and Background Scores are bangers and elevated the scenes a lot. The song Adrenaline really did come at a funny situation, but still a banger.
6) Chemistry - SJK had chemistry with almost all the actors and even more so with his male cast members. I did feel a little queerbaiting here and there but I cast was really good and the acting was amazing.
Now what didn't work for me:
1) Vincenzo as a static character - VC is a charter who remained static from start to end. He has precisely one change in the entire show which was after episode 3. And the ONLY consequence or low point in his life was episode 17 when his mother died. Apart from that Vincenzo would Swoop in save the day, get in trouble by the last few minutes of the episode, and then by the next episode within the first few minutes all his problems would get resolved. He is ALWAYS ahead in his game, never loses literally. I don't have a problem with OP characters but this problem persists throughout the show, which made me believe there was really nothing at the stake for him.
2) Themes - Glorification of VC as an anti-hero and no nuance themes. The drama treats VC as an anti-hero but at the same time, he acts as the hero most of the time. The show never shows me (lesser evil vs evil). It treats its lesser evil as a Heroic trait. All the scenes of VC come off across as "cool" or "wow" but never, is he right or wrong because he is always right. Even if you see the MC, he barely has more than a scratch on his face doing col stuff.
3) Female Lead - The FL really came off as annoying and over the top. She did shine through after episode 3 but rarely showed character development in the latter half of the show. She blindly followed all Vincenzos plan. While the actors did have chemistry and romance was slow-burn and had a comrade of a married couple, the romance did feel a little off and little to no need.
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