Get ready for an unpopular opinion

I’ve noticed that slice of life is kind of a hit or miss for me. This one in particular, as sad as I am to say, was quite a miss. The story felt directionless up until the last episode, as there wasn’t much of a central conflict present to keep the show going. Yes, some things were slowly getting revealed and we were finding out what happened in the past and why the characters are the way they are (looking at you, Mr. Sexy Uncle. LJH made this show bearable), however at the end of the day I was left with the question “Why?” : “Why should I care? Why is this story being told at all? Why has it still not ended?” It was kind of hard to enjoy the drama because of this. The one episode long stories about the deceased became a bit repetitive, and I don’t really think one episode is long enough for me to start caring about them. Han Geu Ru’s self righteousness became annoying, Yoon Na Mu’s overprotectiveness did as well. The dramatic backstories of the characters were giving me an odd sense of deja vu (mild spoilers): from the sad separation between two brothers, to the festering anger over an unfortunate misunderstanding, to the depressing backstory of a coach suffering through the death of his pupil, it’s all been seen before and I don’t think this drama did a good enough job of making these plot points seem fresh and unique. The pacing was drawn out and seemed to move at a snail’s pace, and my interest in this show ebbed and flowed because of the inconsistencies in storytelling and inclusion of interesting plot points. The last episode was perhaps one of the only silver linings and did make me shed a tear or two… or twenty. I thought that while Geu Ru and his family’s backstory was a little out of place considering it took up the entire last episode (and CSG’s boxing thing got resolved in 10 minutes what?), it was very touching, especially toward the end of the episode where Geu Ru was interacting with his dad and coming to terms with his death. Needless to say, I will not be tuning in for the second season as there weren’t enough interesting things to keep me going even through this one (at least I think there is one? Since when would Netflix do something as scandalous as ending a kdrama after one season?), however I don’t regret watching Move to Heaven as the conclusion was quite wholesome although a bit dragged out (but so is the rest of this drama).

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Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh

So this was a very difficult drama to rate, because on one hand the storytelling was pretty decent, and on the other hand the romance was absolutely horrendous for a drama whose first and foremost genre is romance. There was just no romantic development for Woori with either bachelor (I’m just going to brush over the fact that they dragged on the love triangle for 14 episodes and I absolutely despise love triangles). I genuinely don’t really understand any of the Rafael shippers (of course most of them were shipping them because of the original) because, objectively speaking as someone who has never seen the OG version, Rafael was just not a very good option…? His romance with Woori made zero sense (she moved on so QUICK as well???!!!) and the actors just had no chemistry at all. Kang Jae was a much more believable option because supposedly they’ve been dating for 2 years prior. Which is why I’m even more confused about how a random dude who you met a few months ago and a boyfriend of 2 years could even be evaluated at the same level. The whole show was just soooo in Kang Jae’s favor that I’m surprised she liked Rafael at all by the end of the drama. Anyhow, I didn’t hate this drama as much as other people I don’t think, but I still would not recommend it. I watched it for Im Soo Hyang first and foremost, and I would’ve probably not bothered otherwise. To end it on a high note, I absolutely loved the storyline about the mom and the actor father of Woori. I don’t know if this was also in the original story but their romance was hands down the best one in the entire drama, although I would also go as far as to say their romance made the drama bearable for me.

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I can’t deny that I enjoyed this drama, it just didn’t really introduce anything spectacular or new, so I don’t really know what rating to give it. I went into this not even knowing it was about a kpop band, and as soon as I found out, it felt a little too meta for me. Kind of like that book “Carry On” by Rainbow Rowell where the book is a fanfiction of a character from her other book? Yeah that, but with TREASURE and with them acting like high school students but at the same time basically playing “self-inserts” (D&D word, sorry) of themselves. It was just kind of weird. I also admit that I literally COULD NOT for the life of me tell them apart even though I don’t usually struggle with this sort of thing in kdramas. I am absolutely horrible at recognizing faces in general, and these kpop boys all had the same clothes and the same haircuts. But I digress. I think you’d probably really enjoy this if you’re a treasure fan. I know I’d be rating this 10/10 if the same drama was filmed with BTS. As an outsider and a critic of the actual drama’s value, though, I have to give this a 6/10. On a positive note, I really loved how beautifully this drama was filmed. It felt really clean and crisp, and the special effects and set design were *chef’s kiss*.

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There was a lot of confused crying, especially at the end.

Considering how slow-paced the movie was, I didn't feel bored when I was watching it. You could really tell how much affection the FL had for the ML and I attribute most of that to Park Bo Young's amazing acting. Like seriously, this actress was MADE for crying scenes, she makes me tear up every time she cries on screen. I almost didn't recognize Song Joong Ki in this because it's a complete 180 from his other roles that I had seen. To be honest, though, I couldn't understand the motivations behind the main villain's actions. He didn't seem to be gaining anything from terrorizing ML besides just being an asshole and it kind of bothered me that there was no deeper meaning to his arc. If anybody reading this ever read the Webtoon "Days of Hana" this movie kind of reminds me of that webtoon except obviously less characters/gore/fleshed out storyline. In that way, the movie felt pretty predictable and pretty similar to other movies that go along the lines of "weird uncivilized male lead with nice and normal female lead." Despite that, I couldn't help but rate this movie so high because I absolutely adored Park Bo Young and Song Joong Ki's acting. I wholeheartedly admit my bias LOL. I genuinely loved the entire atmosphere of this movie (because sometimes I just want to have a good cry and watch a sad movie) and even the music felt extremely fitting (the song that played in the credits is definitely going on my Kdrama spotify playlist) to the entire mood. This movie was so calming and yet destroyed me from the inside out at the end, and I definitely recommend it, especially if you're a fan of PBY and SJK.

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Now that I’m thoroughly disturbed…

I went into this movie knowing full well that it was explicit as hell, but nobody warned me that it would be REALLY REALLY explicit. I haven’t seen a proper non-asian production in quite a while and was therefore very unaccustomed to seeing sex scenes left and right. While I knew that Korean movies weren’t subject to nearly as many restrictions as dramas, I am left feeling like I spent the past two and a half hours surfing a porn website instead of having just watched a mature movie. Setting all that aside, the storyline was quite enjoyable and I really liked the little plot twist at the end as I actually didn’t see it coming at all. Even though the storyline was very slow, the nostalgia I felt towards early 20th century Korea from watching Mr Sunshine a little while back kept me entertained and the movie was therefore not too dull. Overall, The Handmaiden was a decent watch, albeit extremely racy and at times rather disturbing.

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Most cliche thing I've ever watched

Cold-hearted ML? Check. Dirt poor but really cheerful FL? Check. "Don't go" wrist grab? Check. Clumsy girl falls multiple times and guy catches her? Check. Guy gets into deadly accident and nearly dies? Check. Relatives trying to keep the lovers apart? Check. Lying to the person you love so they don't get "hurt?" Check. Girl chases guy to airport to stop him from leaving? Check. Unnecessarily long time skip? Check. It's got it all, folks. I'm actually pretty impressed they managed to include literally EVERY SINGLE KDrama trope in this. Listen. If you have a sudden urge to watch the most cliche KDrama in existence, this one here is the one to watch. You're welcome. The only saving grace is the soundtrack.

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Fluffiest Romance Ever

Y'all have no idea how up my alley this drama is. The comedy was amazing and I laughed so hard throughout this whole drama no matter how immature some of the humor was. Lead actors were perfectly picked for the roles and can I just say that Yoo Seung Ho's smile is honestly everything. I took one star off the final rating only cause it kinda dragged at the end, but overall the whole journey was absolutely amazing and made me shed a lot of tears. The soundtrack was freaking amazing as well and made the drama just that much better. The two lead actors that were in this drama quickly became some of my favorite korean drama actors, and I've already watched several other dramas with them as leads. This drama is a paradise for rom com fanatics, I kid you not.

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My rating for this drama is extremely generous, let me just say, because if it wasn’t for my favorite actress, Shin Hye Sun, and a wonderful cast of other characters, this drama could have easily been 5 stars for me. I had high hopes for Mr Queen because of the cast and because of the compelling storyline, however I never expected to be so damn bored the entire time I was watching it. Each episode felt like a drag, and I found myself checking the time of each episode every 3 minutes. There wasn’t anything inherently wrong with this drama except for the ending, however I just never clicked with any of the characters. I didn’t care about what happened to Jang Bong Hwan and Cheoljong by the end, I just wanted it to be over so I could mark this drama as “Completed” and move on to the rest of my watchlist. As someone who watched and absolutely LOVED the drama Mr Sunshine, I feel as though I have forever been ruined and have set my expectations astronomically high for any period drama I watch after that. Mr Queen was completely predictable all the way until the end, and every character (except for one, but I’ll just attribute that to the obligatory second male lead death scene) got a flawless, happy ending. I so badly wanted angst, I wanted CONSEQUENCES, I wanted them to suffer because it’s so freaking unrealistic for them to get such a sappy conclusion. I wanted sacrifice (in the form of that palace child actually being poisoned to death) and I wanted Hong Yeon and the Court Lady to die in the forest fight because war isn’t pretty. Sure, that would have pissed some people off, but it would be a lot more on-brand with the Joseon period than every character turning into a superhero and defeating all the bad guys. The humor was great at first, sure, but holy crap did it get annoying toward the end. There’s only so many times a character being overly dramatic or Jang Bong Hwan saying something really aggressive and “cool” can make me laugh. The OST didn’t really impress me. The main theme was the only redeeming track in that whole playlist. The story itself just didn’t go in the direction I had hoped it would go. I was expecting some freaky supernatural shit to happen to Cheoljong, or for Kim So Yong to at least be there for more than the last 10 minutes of the drama. The romance was weird at best, and at the end it just didn’t seem to matter, because the person that Cheoljong fell in love with was not Kim So Yong but a very horny modern-day Korean chef. Overall, just pretty freaking disappointed. I have loved every single drama by Shin Hye Sun up until I watched this one, and the extremely high ratings honestly make no sense to me.

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Cheesiest kdrama I’ve ever watched to date

King the land and I have had quite the interesting journey together. I started off really disliking the drama because it felt shallow and extremely overrated. The romance was boring and nothing new, and the story of poor woman and hot chaebol has been beaten to death at this point. I put down the drama for maybe 3ish months because of college and ended up coming back and finishing off the second half in about 3 days during a family road trip. After coming back to the drama, I learned to appreciate how cheesy and cliche king the land is, and as the episodes went on, I began to see it for its own merits and uniqueness. I ended up falling in love with the main couple and the side characters, and I will honestly say I will miss king the land since it was a heck of a ride. There's not much of a plot and they do end up hitting on every cliche under the sun, but my goodness was it fun and cute and made me tear up many a time. If this genre is your cup of tea, you can't miss king the land!

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I- *sigh*

Listen. This drama was really bad. Besides the obvious *cough* attempted rape *cough* I just absolutely couldn’t get into this drama at all. It was a blast early on because it was so nonsensical and endearing. Until the nonsensical parts pretty much overpowered the entire drama and the entire story ended up a giant, twisted heap of nonsense. I couldn’t begin to tell you when the leads fell in love, I couldn’t tell you what anyone’s motivations were, and I genuinely can’t tell you what the entire point of the story was. I know people are saying that this is the entire point since the FL is a bad scriptwriter, but how is that in any way, shape, or form an excuse for the real scriptwriters to write such a messy and lazy plot? I’m so baffled by how bad this was that I can’t even tell you what exactly I didn’t like about the drama because the WHOLE thing was bad. I just.. I genuinely don’t know what to say besides RUN. The only reason this is even 5 stars is because I’m a sucker for a cheesy ending and the one in the drama made me really happy. Otherwise this would be dead at the bottom of my watchlist in terms of ratings.

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Sigh… where to begin. Strongest Deliveryman was a drama I never expected to watch because I could not find it online anywhere. I am absolutely in love with Chae Soo Bin and had seen countless of her dramas, so Strongest Deliveryman was definitely one I had also wanted to watch. When it appeared on Netflix, I got incredibly excited and began watching it the day I added it to my list. I didn’t come in with high expectations since MyDramaList tends to be pretty spot on with ratings, so I knew that the drama was not going to be anything super great. However, I was still pretty disappointed and here’s why. Strongest Deliveryman is a drama cheesier than Zach Choi’s mozzarella corn dogs, and I personally was willing to let it go since it was a comedy and wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. However, at some point I was just craving even the slightest bit of realism to this whole mess of a story, since it just got less and less realistic as the episodes went on. Let me make a quick list: Devoted deliveryman squad who was willing to do anything for our ML, chasing criminals, the entire cheesy plot that involved “brave” young adults fighting against and defeating a chain of restaurants, some weird side storyline with the owners of the noodle shop, and honestly a lot more stuff I already don’t remember because I watched this two weeks ago. While I adore Chae Soo Bin, I absolutely LOATHED Dan Ah in this drama. This gal is constantly finding something to complain about and get angry at, and she misuses her knowledge of martial arts to essentially beat people up if they make her irritated. I am a big believer that violence is not okay even if it comes from a woman. Imagine if Dan Ah was a guy who put people in headlocks and hit and slapped them whenever he felt like it. Not okay, is it? So WHY is it okay for Dan Ah to do it only for the producers to write it up as silly humor? I cringed every time she got physically abusive with someone… Lastly, I would just like to quickly complain that this entire drama is incredibly overdramatized, especially toward the end. Kang Soo’s reactions are honestly incredibly extreme when he interacts with his mother. He is legit ready to scream like a little child every time he interacts with his mother, while he instead could be a bit more adult about it and talk to her calmly about why she abandoned him as a child. I could never relate to a parent abandoning me so what do I know, but I feel like half of his crying scenes were very dramatic for absolutely no reason.
I suppose the cast of this drama was quite acceptable, however I have to say I expected a little more from the second leads, given how their romance was so raved about on some of the reviews I read. Oh well. Anyhow, probably don’t waste your time on this drama, however it wasn’t that long anyway, so I guess watch it if you REALLY want to?

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It was good until the last couple episodes :///

I’m not gonna lie, it kind of breaks my heart to give this drama 9 stars instead of 10 stars, but I honestly think it was a TAD bit overrated. I do admit that in the very first episode of this drama, I was HOOKED by the female lead and especially the autistic brother of the male lead. I hadn’t seen those types of characters in Korean dramas before, and I was loving every minute of the drama. I think the characters were beautifully developed in this drama, and it is definitely a huge plus. I have to say that the author and the director both are artistic geniuses who managed to put together the most compelling storyline, beautiful soundtrack, and relatable characters. I was this close to declaring this drama as my #1 favorite drama ever… until we got to the last few episodes. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of violence (in a non weird way, lol. I’m a big fan of shows like the walking dead and the horror movie genre in general), but I cannot for the life of me watch a romance with violent themes without hating every minute of it. Let me say this once and hopefully never again: Romance and violence do not and should not mix. So you will now understand my incredible frustration when the drama I had grown to adore decided to out of nowhere drop a story arc with a psychotic murderous mother who showed up out of nowhere and started drugging everyone up. It took me a lot of self coaxing to get myself to finish the drama, but I was incredibly frustrated (for extremely personal reasons, I do admit) with the drama at that point. In my defense, the arc where the mother decided to set up this whole conspiracy to teach Ko Moon Yeong a lesson or whatever was incredibly unrealistic and very out of nowhere. Despite the terrible couple episodes, I have to say that the drama was beautifully concluded and got me to shed some tears at the end. The last few episodes did seem to lose their sense of direction a little bit, but they wrapped it up nicely. I hadn’t yet said anything about the soundtrack, which was freaking awesome, by the way. Some of the songs that were played in the drama fit the mood perfectly. I could use some sadder, more emotional tracks, though. I’d overall recommend this, since the beautiful storytelling and character development more than made up for everything else.

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I don’t remember when I actually watched this drama, because I’m writing this review about 5 months after watching the movie. However, this movie left me with an overall very good impression. Up until I watched Train to Busan, I had only watched The Walking Dead, so seeing how someone else interprets the zombie apocalypse was very interesting for me. The characters were all very lovable, especially the dad. The fact that the entire movie took place in a train was a very interesting choice, and frankly, being trapped in a packed train with a bunch of undead is probably scarier than being out in the open. This helped the movie build suspense and kept the engagement level high since everything was fast paced and in close quarters. I would overall highly recommend this movie, if not for the zombies, then for the amazing and caring characters.

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Too innocent for me

So this drama took me over a month to finish. I kind of had a bit of an Asian drama slump while watching this? Despite the controversy about the dark skin color of the actress in the first few episodes of the drama, I didn't really find anything else overly problematic about the drama. It was very...average. The acting of the female lead was passable, but the male lead's acting was absolutely stale and emotionless, which didn't do much in the way of making the watching process any easier for me. The storyline, and I do enjoy a good slow burning romance when done right, was extremely dragged out, to the point where I'd start watching the drama and stop almost immediately after because I'd get bored of the mundane plot that's driving the story. Now, with all that said, I DID think that the drama and romance was pretty cute, but I guess I'm just not part of the target audience anymore and no longer find pleasure in watching innocent, cute romance unfold in a school setting.

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Least memorable drama of all time

I haven't seen this drama on anyone else's list, but I started it cause I heard good things about chemistry between the leads. Despite the drama being fairly fast paced, which retained my interest, I think the plot itself is entirely forgettable. The ending wrapped things up really nicely and made me pretty emotional. I seriously wasn't a fan of some of the aspects of their relationship, however, such as the guy trying to control what the girl wears all the damn time and the girl thinking it's okay to hit the dude if she's mad. I don't condone physical violence in a relationship even if it comes from a woman rather than the man. No double standards please!

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