Just like in season 1, season 2 delivered the best entertainment in the form of mydramalist comment section - full of bias, double standards, over exaggeration and villainization of normal mundane people, just with better than average bodies and faces.

Truth to be told, this season was nowhere near as fun to watch as season 1. It seemed like most people gave up halfway through and everyone was just chilling in a friendly manner. I mean, I felt the pain of the editors. The uneven screen time for all the cast, how some episodes literally showed close to nothing from what was happening in Inferno - I guess they truly struggled with finding a good footage to include in the final product.

While in season 1 I felt like almost no one was rejecting anyone because they were “playing the game” and doing what the dating show is supposed to be about, here everyone was obsessed with their initial pick, but also no one wanted to be the bad guy or rude so no rejections happened and it was just this awkward vague bubble that did not want to burst.

I honestly don’t have more to say about it. The only reason I still watched it after the halfway through point, were the fun discussions in the comment section and to know the context of some comments and replies.

Do I feel bad for any of them for not being picked by the people they liked? Or not going to paradise? No. They are all hot, young, with successful careers and even their stay in “Inferno” is a vacation many people could never afford… I think that’s why I enjoy shows like that. I can watch them with no negative emotions.

Ps. Se Jun was THE MVP. Best boy ever. Bless him. Wish him all the happiness.

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I've watched the last episode on 2x speed so I guess that says a lot about how much I enjoyed it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The worst part of the show was the investigation and overall police work. Why did all of the detectives act outside of the law? What's the point in catching the bad guy when none of the evidence will hold up in court because of how it was obtained? No one put any brain power to solve the case. Instead, we've got looooots of breaking and entering and arresting people left and right without a warrant.

Gray characters? Questionable moral decisions? Making mistakes? I love all that in characters, but still, they need to have SOME redeeming qualities. Here? They all sucked. Everyone was so painfully self-righteous and throwing themselves pity parties titled "who had it worse in life".

The production value was not bad? I'm just questioning why it was so dark for so many scenes. Creating a feeling of suspense and all that happens, when you play around with shadows and LIGHT. The light was not detected here.

The acting was good, I must admit. But I did expect a good performance from this cast.

Overall, nothing new, nothing fresh, dislikable characters, predictable plot.

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I’m here for pity fights and family drama.

Not many dramas can make a certified clown out of me, but this one did, and I kind of appreciate that. Countless rants in the first half, but at the end I became speechless - the twist did its thing.

What got me to start the show was the premise of the female spy assassins arc. What made me stay were the family drama and pity senseless fights when the focus should have been on the enemy. The dynamics between all the siblings were extremely entertaining to watch. While I still believe some of the motivations were… not the smartest, I don’t think it’s the case of characters being poorly written - it was intentional. Because the reasoning was flawed at times, it made the characters more relatable, even if the setting of the drama itself was something none of us could relate to.

Did I care about any of the romances? No. Funny, because that was also one of the things I actually wanted to watch this drama for. The puppy love was too puppy, the “toxic” romance did not get enough highlight to be well developed, the comedy crush was too much. Personally I would prefer if they switched the pairings around a bit - get the puppy with the cunning one, and the cold and heartless with the good natured one.

What the drama did perfectly though were all the visual aspects of the production - from set design, costumes, make up, accessories to the way it was all shot. The fighting scenes? Perfection. This is how you use slow motion to highlight the sequences and certain moves, instead of overusing it to hide bad choreography and lack of skills. Each fighting sequence deserves to be watched at least two or three times to fully appreciate it.

The acting was great. I was kind of traumatized by Yu Shu Xin in Love Between Fairy and Devil and her toddler character, and I’m glad to see how well she does in more mature roles. Personally, I think they fit her better. Zhang Ling He was fine. I do believe Gong Zi Yu’s character was the most boring, so I never truly focused so much on him… My favorite performance goes to Lu Yu Xiao - easy choice. Ad for Ryan Cheng, let’s say I get why everyone got so obsessed with him in that role.

On the bad side - I hated the line delivery of most of the main cast. Separately, they were great. The issue is: they all spoke with exactly the same whisper, slow mannerism, it became exhausting. Any dialogue heavy scenes between Yun Wei Shan and Shangguan Qian? Close your eyes and it’s impossible to tell which one is speaking - they sounded the same. I get it, they are all mysterious spies, but that does not mean they have to speak in the same way.

At the end of the day, it’s a great show. The middle part is the slowest and probably the reason why someone might drop it (I was close to dropping it too), but it picks up later when a lot of things get slowly revealed and explained.

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Would I be able to see the person behind the crime?

It took me 3 days to finish this movie, it simply made me uncomfortable - not because of the content presented, but rather my thoughts, ideas and values. It made me think about a lot of issues and reexamine some of my opinions.

Many of us like to pretend the rehabilitation of the criminals is the goal, that the justice system should strive to make sure they can reenter society and live normal lives. At the same time, we don’t really treat said people in the way that would support what we think. The punishment for their crimes does not really end with their release from prison - they only face obstacles after obstacles even after regaining even partial freedom. How can they start living like humans, when they are not treated as such?

And that’s what the movie focuses on. What is more important - punishment or rehabilitation? How long should criminals pay for their crimes? Agawa Kayo tries to see the best in people, she believes people deserve 2nd chances and that they need support to live an honest life. And that’s what she strives to do working as a probation officer - be that one person support system. We observe her interaction with different parolees, how these interactions change both her and the people around her.

Arimura Kasumi and Morita Go delivered amazing performances that could break one's heart. The amount of pain, fear, but also hope - all so natural and clearly visible through their acting.

Overall, it’s not an easy watch if you watch it while reflecting on your ideas and values.

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“I didn’t come to Love Village to find romance. I came to find the final partner of my life”

And that quote presents both the best and the worst aspect of the show.

I found it interesting how vastly different were the motivations of contestants in this show compared to all the dating shows with young people. Romance and thrills were almost never the priority. With how almost all dating shows are focused on the initial attraction, Love Village shines with something different.

At the same time, the production team was not quite on the same page. From participants' side we saw how they were looking for someone to be their partner, but not necessarily lover. Which is fine, but there was a disconnect on how the production team was presenting it. They kept making it seem as if these people had true romantic feelings for each other, when their interactions and conversations painted a different picture.

Some other flaws were how little interactions we actually saw - the real time progression completely did not match the episode's pacing, so when a couple started to have feelings for each other, I often questioned when they even got close to each other, when we saw them talk maybe three times. What’s more - adding contestants close to the end was questionable at best. It was obvious they won’t have a chance to even get to know others, not to mention find a partner, so what’s the point?

On the other hand, I loved Anchovy. This guy is an unintentional comedic genius. He lived in delulu land, misunderstanding every interaction he had with any women. Gold quality of content.

Also, Minane is such a kind and thoughtful woman. I do think she should start thinking about herself more, but I’m also truly impressed how she can see different situations from different perspectives. I have a lot of respect for her and how she presented herself in the show.

Overall, the show was a bit too condensed for my liking. I would love to see more meaningful interactions - slower pacing by either adding more episodes or making them longer.

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No one told me it was a boring comedy.

0.0MHz had neither the atmosphere, nor the scares, nor the visuals. It did not have interesting characters nor the plot…. So what did it have? Snapshot filters and killing hair. Even the 0.0MHz from the titles was barely relevant and the whole movie could do without it, changing more or less nothing.

It was honestly, simply boring. The kids had either zero personality or awful one - I did not care if anyone survived. All the conflicts were not set up in any proper way. Truth to be told, they were not set up in an awful way either - they just dropped it all in random dialogues at random times.

Best aspect of the movie? Eunji cursing the demon ghost - the whole final face off was so ridiculous I could not stop laughing.

I can’t even talk about the performances, because the writing and directing was so bad, I am not sure how much of the mediocre delivery really is on the actor, and how much on the other people involved in the production.

Overall, don’t waste your time.

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Fairytale quality with disappointing reveal.

I have to say, I enjoyed the whole movie quite a bit, up until the end. Love the mysterious aura the movie had, the complex and hard to grasp relationships and interactions between the ladies, the obvious ominous undertones. And yet, the ending was disappointing.

What started as an atmospheric drama with horror elements that could potentially evolve into a fantasy dread, ended up underwhelmingly cheap. It’s like eating in a fancy restaurant, but for dessert they give you plain bread.

Saying it gives a censored romance vibe would be correct. Whatever was going on between Joo Ran and Yeon Deok definitely was more than just friendship - be it romantic feelings or just codependency.

The moment they started to explain all the “behind the scenes” and the cause of all the unexplained events, the movie started to get worse. When the villain has to almost spell their motivation with the dialogue, it means you did a poor job with showing the viewers what they want in a natural and gradual way.

I still enjoyed it though. The performances were truly strong. Not the last time Park Bo Young played a timid character - she gets the roles for a reason, she aced them.

Overall - beautiful visuals, decent scares, though number could be higher, great performance and well built characters. Sadly - weak ending.

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Was it a nice romance show with bits of slice of life? Yes. It had some awesome characters, even pacing, good messages and fun moments - it was just not tight enough.

I have no idea why writers still like to pretend shows like that can be 40 episodes long and it makes sense - especially if the episodic elements of the plot ain’t that good to carry the show in-between the main plot moving forward.

I greatly liked the relationship between Mika and Ke Lei - before and after they got together. It’s rare to see a couple in a drama actually act like a couple, being silly, joking around, all the great and fun domestic business. The show did lose some spark after they officially started dating, but that’s because the writers kept keeping them apart. All the scenes they actually shared were great.

That said, do I think Mika and Ke Lei are good as individual characters? Not really. Mika is a saint - the good, moral, hard working, forgiving, flawless. I truly cannot think of one bad trait she had that would allow for some nice character development. She was truly boringly perfect.

Ke Lei was a bit better in that aspect. Still ridiculously good, but at least he showed lack of assertiveness when dealing with people he knew… a few times.

On the other hand, I had exactly the opposite issue with the second and third couple - they did not work that well together, but they were more interesting individually. Qing Xia was fun and a little bit spoiled, Wen Bo was an honest and reliable guy, also clueless af. Ke Yao and Dr. Shao felt the most realistic out of all the characters, but their interactions together were also the most boring.

Truth to be told 2 duos I like the best to watch were Ke Lei and Ke Yao, and Mika and Dr. Shao. Positive family relations and uplifting mentor-mentee pairs are some of my favorite aspects of the shows.

There were also some annoying side characters that deserve no redemption, and yet it was given.

For the plot, except for the romances blooming left and right and some nice slice of life elements, the show does not really offer that much. Majority of the work related plots and scenes were either boring, or poorly developed - sadly they took quite a bit of the screen time.

Everyone delivered in terms of acting. I did question some crying scenes from Ma Si Chun, but it was not bad enough to complain about. Wang Yang was my favorite - I am biased though, I love this man so much. He is just natural and he makes every role he plays a worthy performance.

Production value was nice - surprisingly many aesthetically pleasing shows. Editing was also nice. Liked the set design, even if at times it felt ridiculous how these people can afford the places they are staying at. For the soundtrack, I honestly do not remember one song from the show.

Overall, it’s a decent show. Nothing amazing, but serves as a good chill after work watch.

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Setting that was impossible to execute well.

I want to start with the disclaimer that it's a completely personal and subjective review. For some strange reason the first two episodes just made me feel extremely uncomfortable and I cannot even explain why, but I was barely able to finish them.

My biggest problem was the set up for the two main characters which led to a questionable power difference that needs good writing and enough screen time to execute well. We didn't have it here. With that, the dynamics between Shi On and Hong Seok felt off. Everything was rushed and I could not stop myself from saying: this would never ever happen in reality. This is just ridiculous.

Many actions done by the characters were there simply as a lead up for cute moments and interactions or for the plot to progress, but from a logical standpoint, they should not exist.

I would be lying if I said I didn't like anything about the show. Some scenes were truly adorable and I found the chemistry between the two main actors quite nice. Sadly, all of that was surrounded by too fast of a pace with not enough content to make it make sense. The plot wasn't even fast-forwarded to ridiculous speed. We literally jumped through time and space and plot points.

The character that made the least sense to me was Cha Soo Ryeon. She flip-flopped and did some massive 180s here and there, and nothing was organic, cohesive and fitting the story.

The acting was nice. Fanny enough, my favorite performance award goes to Lex, who played Jung Hoon - Shi On's dance classmate. The few scenes he had, he has done justice to. I also enjoyed Chu Young Woo's performance in the last episode.

Overall, it's just a nonsensical show. The performances were nice, the editing was ok, but the writing and directing just left a lot to be desired. If you watch it for the two main leads and their fluffy scenes you will most likely enjoy it, but if you look for anything that has a good structure of the story and characters - this will fail your expectations.

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That was an exciting and at times sad journey with talented trainees chasing their dreams.

⇢ Cast aka the contestants
Chuang 2021 is probably the most culturally diverse survival show I have seen so far. Not only were there trainees from many different counties, but they also were on the run for the place in the debut team - they weren't there just to fill the spot and get international attention.

There were quite a few professionals in their field, bringing many amazing performances that left me speechless. I could see many trainees grow, not only in terms of music related skills, but also maturity, perspective and personalities. I must say, this is my favorite part of these shows.

⇢ Music aka the the performances
Sadly, I have to say that not all performances were good. Some were even bad, but that's kind of how these shows go. Few I loved, one I am obsessed with and watch daily. The biggest disappointment were the vocal performances of Vocal Group A during the finale. Most of the solo stages were of questionable quality. Lucky, the dance stages that followed brought back the hype and good quality.

⇢ Story aka the production
I have my criticism on this part. Because the show was quite short (only 10 episodes), the production felt rushed and not polished. I feel like we never got enough time to watch the trainees actually practice the songs and interact with mentors.

As for the mentors, sad but true some of them were pretty useless, at least in terms of skill they were supposed to mentor trainees in. I love Amber and she is a GREAT performer, but she is not a professional dancer, dancing is not her specialty and she is not known for it. There were too many trainees far better than her in the field. It was evident she was not much of help in terms of dancing, when all her mentor classes were about the feels and emotional delivery and not actually dancing.

Then we have Vin Zhou, again, an extremely talented guy, but he does not have enough rapping experience to be mentoring other trainees.
I have no idea what Ning Jing's purpose in the show was. All she did was react to performances exactly like the normal audience did. None of her comments were insightful and it was stuff a random fangirl would say: "you looked so handsome on stage" or "you improved so much"... How about giving some helpful advice?

God bless Charlie Zhou, since he was the only person who truly tried to help the trainees improve. His vocal classes were full of useful tips and exercises. He was able to "diagnose" the problems contestants had and help fix them.
Overall, I feel like the trainees were left to figure out most things alone, and not much mentoring was going on.

Another small thing that could be improved and would make a huge difference for the international audience is adding in the subtitles the name of the person who is currently talking. They did that in editing for the Chinese subs, but not for English. It's harder for international fans to remember the names, so I see no logic in not adding the names to the subs.

There were some technical aspects during the finale that I was not impressed with: the backing tracks were way too loud, so at times it was hard to actually hear the trainees' singing and rapping. The audio quality overall was not the best.

One last thing I want to talk about was Lelush. Poor boy. People love to talk about how cruel these types of shows are, but then the same people pull a stunt like they did with Lelush up till finale. Many people who voted for him gave some ridiculous excuses, but at the end of the day they simply did not respect his wishes and treated him like a child who needed to have his life dictated by fans.

Overall, it was a fun watch. I am curious about some trainees and their future project, will be checking out INTO1 works. The best part of the show were trainees, the worst: fans and the production. I'm not completely happy with the top 11, but that's how the shows roll, it's impossible to make everyone happy.

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The cast did well, the characters were entertaining, villains not that bad, production value was obviously high... so why didn't it work out? Not enough brain power was used in writing the plot.

Fantasy set in modern times should explore the unexplained, but never go against what we actually know and contradict the reality. When they dropped the "I got resurrected in a new body, but my DNA stayed the same" I was extremely close to dropping it again. Honestly, I did not think it could go any more illogical.

Sadly, the lack of logic was a prominent part of the plot. Characters, depending on the given situation, turned either smart or dumb. The show used exactly the same plot lines over and over again. How many times can I watch Hee Jin's mom being kidnapped? Or Se Yun being in the same type of danger?

The ridiculousness of the script made it entertaining though. There is one secret child, and then there is another... and third. Cross-dressing Cha Min DEAD BODY and putting a wig on it, so the killer can bring him back to life... And the weird plot twist in the end with god (?) showing up, just to give us that sweet forced happy ending.

I'm sorry, but when Cha Min started disappearing Thanos style I laughed like crazy. How nice of the Abyss to start from the bottom to the top, so he had these few seconds to say goodbye. The rules of Abyss make no sense; that's the conclusion.

Also, at some point I wanted to (┛ಠ_ಠ)┛彡┻━┻ after hearing all the "Se Yun is not as pretty now, she looks average" jokes and comments. It was laughable with how beautiful Park Bo Young is.

So, did I like anything? Yes. I'd say the cast did an amazing job portraying the characters and the chemistry between the leads was truly great. The thing that caught my attention was how natural the skinship was.

Overall, I kind of enjoyed the experience of watching, simply because my expectations were as low as possible. My forehead hurts from facepalming.

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Preachy with questionable lessons and toddler love story.

Can’t believe I watched a whole show with a cloud of flies as the villain. Why did he do what he did? Because he is evil. Why was the war happening? No one knows, it just was. Why was the leader of fairies wanting to keep the war going? Why not I guess, they just hate each other.

Here’s the thing, if you take 10 random viewers of the show and ask them to describe in detail what was the plot of the show and motivations for all the characters, you would get a description of 10 completely different shows. Why? Because all this drama had was a framework of the plot, but no substance inside it. There was little to no world or character building, no proper set up, no proper conclusion, no details of the magic system and rules how it operates. The drama just lacked… writing.

I could potentially still enjoy it for the romance, if the romance was good. It was not. I just cannot get behind the weird toddler with grown up man romance. Here me out - I have exactly zero issues with childish female leads, there are quite a few dramas with them that I enjoyed, but I am completely against child-like female leads. There is a huge difference between a character behaving in an immature fashion, and a character behaving like a child, and sadly the Fairy was just an annoying toddler.

Possessive and toxic love story? Sign me up, but not when it feels like a romance between a father and his minor kid. I do not care if she matured in the last 6 episodes - too little too late. This whole pairing freaked me out for a good 30 episodes.

Orchid just ain’t it. Girl was dumb, loud, irresponsible, pretentiously good (sorry, but a guy colluding with evil for 30k years and getting so many people dead because of his delusional love was not just a small mistake). While Dongfang Qing Cang was truly hot during many scenes, I still could not enjoy the character to his full potential because of the context of his romance with the little flower. Out of all the characters, the two I truly enjoyed were Die Yi and Dear Daddy Devil’s little brother.

Yes, the performances were strong. Esther Yu was perfect for the role of the most annoying child female lead and delivered all the proper expressions and lines needed. The emotional scenes were great and I actually really liked her in the last 3 episodes. Dylan Wang ate the role. All the pain and suffering, all the confusion about the new emotions he was feeling, all the internal and external dilemmas he was facing. Not to mention both Esther and Dylan did a phenomenal job with the soul switching scenes (even if I did not enjoy them, I am not going to deny the acting skills needed to deliver them).

Production value was great, at least in terms of special effects and most of the set and costume designs. There were few extremely cheap looking additions to few dresses and war armors, but overall - for sure more beauty than trash. Truth to be told, it kind of felt as if they used 80% of the budget on the aesthetics.

As for the soundtrack, can we talk about that one song that sounds like an anime intro that felt painfully misplaced in the story? Too many tracks were completely mismatched, and while they sounded like nice tunes, they did not fit the scenes at all.

Overall, I am just happy I survived this watch. I hated the preachy narration at the end about how love can cure us all, when literally the whole villain story and all the wars happened because of one dude’s delusional love. The writers need to reread their material before they write dumb conclusions, really.

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I have not seen any of the previous dramas about Pete and Kao so I will be judging this as a solo act/drama - keep that in mind while reading my review.

I believe this drama shows in quite simple and realistic way what happens when someone openly gay dates a person who is still in the closet and not ready to come out. Most of the problems Pete and Kao faced were the result of Kao not admitting he is dating Pete to his friends and family.

That said, we cannot place all the blame on Kao only. We should take into consideration his situation too - the fear of his mom not accepting him, the possibility of losing his job because some parents might not want a gay person to tutor their children. Pete was in an extremely privileged situation - did not have to worry about money, his dad was as accepting as it was possible. Because of that, it was hard for him to understand Kao's struggle and how, for him, there was no good way out of this situation. No matter what choice he will make, there will be negative consequences.

I also like what they did with Non's character, no matter how annoying he was. The drama clearly showed how bad parenting can influence a kid. Giving us the glimpse of what Non has to put up with at home makes it easier to understand the character, but the drama makes sure to not use it as an excuse for his bad behavior. Being a victim does not mean you yourself can create more victims.

Overall, I believe this drama addresses the important topic of coming out and how it should always be decided by the person themselves, when and how they want to do it. It should not be forced on them, expected from them. It's not an easy decision and everyone's circumstances are different. To quote the drama: "It's my choice to tell or not tell anyone. I should get to decide.".

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Peak level of conflicting feelings about this show.

It all went so well, until it did not. It’s hard to just ignore the issue that happened with the 23:00 team, since they dealt with it in the worst way possible. For the show that was created to give groups a second chance, to publicly shame them in this way was just gross. They could have easily given a written statement and moved on. So even if I loved the premise and many great elements, I cannot stop myself from feeling conflicted…

I love a show that focuses on the idols that struggle to shine in the oversaturated market. So much talent and potential is being wasted simply because their companies might be too small to fight against the bigger ones, or they are not that good with marketing, or the team debuted at the wrong time, not being able to secure their place. This show gives them hope and chance to gain more fans, so even if they won’t win, they will still be in a better position than they were before they joined the competition.

Another aspect I for sure enjoyed were the mentors/judges. We’ve got solid feedback, words or encouragement and some funny jokes and interactions. They were not acting mean for the purpose of creating a drama and I could feel they truly cared about these idols. Ryan S. Juhn crying over shirtless men will be remembered as the most iconic moment in the kpop industry. Dude was truly sobbing.

The performances were great. It’s sad we did not get to see all the first round stages in the episode and could only check them on youtube channel, but I understand the time restrictions. I also appreciate that even the eliminated teams could keep the new songs produced for them, even if some of the songs were of questionable quality…

That said, the new songs and the round with them are actually the beginning of the issues I had. First of all, the way they decided which team gets what song was painfully ridiculous and unfair. The songs themselves were not that great either. Close to none of them was memorable.

Another issue with the production were the benefits - what a useless thing. In many occasions the benefits from different rounds had a different value - one time they had exactly zero impact on the ranking, next time they changed it completely.

The first elimination? A freaking joke - how many “fake” rankings can they show before we get to the one that actually matters? They could have used that screen time to show more behind the scene moments.

Overall, it was a nice show with a meaningful idea behind it, but I think they had too many budget restrictions. They did what they could to make it work and the efforts are obvious. Them having such a strong reaction to 23:00 team “scandal” might have also been a panic mode to make sure the program does not suffer any losses.

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Started for the romance, stayed for the friendship.

When I start any BL, I am in for romance. I am not expecting an amazing plot, complex characters and any meaningful, well built relations between all the characters. So imagine my surprise, when half way through the show, I cared more about all the friendships, than the main romance.

Does it mean the romance was bad? No. For me, it was just really basic. It got me with “aww, that’s cute” a few times, but overall, I was not that invested. Maybe because there were no real stakes, and all the problems and conflicts were similar to each other, but I barely felt anything.

On the other hand, I adored every scene between Aoki and Hashimoto. I wish the focus of the show was on them building their friendship that started from a misunderstanding, and the romance was more of a side plot. Watching them support each other was delightful. That duo is probably the best thing that happened in BLs in a long time.

I even cared more about Hashimoto and Aida more than the main couple, thanks to Hashimoto’s bubbly, but also brave personality, which made their scenes that much more interesting.

The cast did an amazing job portraying the characters. Michieda Shunsuke aced the over the top, but still somehow realistic reactions Aoki had. Meguro Ren portrayed the gradual change in Ida’s feelings, and initial unsureness in an excellent manner. Fukumoto Riko made Hashimoto the fun real life version of “looks like cinnamon roll, is a cinnamon roll, but could still kill you” character and Suzuki Jin made Aida fun, even if at times frustrating character to watch.

Overall, it was a fun watch. I do believe it would be more entertaining as a binge watch type of deal, since it did not have the plot that made me anticipate each new episode every week. It’s just a fun, cute high school romance that will make you feel happy, but might not amaze you.

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