This was a hard watch.

In this story, the MC goes through three unhealthy relationships.

In the first part of the story, we are introduced to her parents and get a glimpse into possibly why Luktan stays in unhealthy relationships. One reason possibly being that she's never known what a healthy relationship should look like in the first place. Her parents, the people who should love and want what's best for her? They think two people of the same gender being in love is wrong and disgusting. Most importantly, what would people say or think of them, if they find out their child was gay? They would rather their only child marry the guy who tried to rape her, because hey, at least he is a guy.

Never, not once, did they ask what made their child happy. What was more important to them was how others would perceive them. That is the "love" that Luktan grew up with. So is it any surprise that when someone shows Luktan kindness and affection that she's unable to leave them, when they repeatedly show her reasons why she shouldn't stay? No, not at all. It was even sadly predictable.

Luktan's only lifeline to any semblance of genuine love is her childhood friend. The person who is always there to support and catch her when she falls. And she falls a hell of a lot, too. The friendship is what made this story shine. They are the epitome of soulmates, albeit not in a romantic sense.

In the end, I wish the message was different. I might be wrong but to me, the message I got was "to not lose hope and the right person will come one day". I think it's far more important for Luktan to love herself first and not feel like a "jigsaw" puzzle with a missing piece. Because when she truly loves herself, she will be able to walk away from people who aren't good for her sooner. Because then, she would know that she deserves better.

Lire davantage

One of the best Thai dramas of the year, and the best suspense Thai drama of the decade. Bravo to GMM, the SNAP25 team and cast for taking Thai dramas to the next level. I finished this last night, and let me tell you, I’m still blown away.

Whether you like this drama is really gonna come down to what kind of stories and characters you like. If you are a fan of suspense, thriller, revenge and flawed characters, PS I Hate You is gonna be right up your alley and possibly the best ish you’re gonna watch.

First episode starts off strong. I was not a fan of the story arc that followed but once that was over, the rest of the series got a lot more interesting and intricate in ways that I did not anticipate. How various events, past and present, emotionally affected each of the characters, and ultimately their actions that unfortunately led to tragic unintended consequences going so much further than any of them could ever imagine.

Some stories drag towards the end, but this one only got better. I’m definitely going to watch this again in a couple days now with the lens of knowing what happened.

If you decide to watch this, do yourself a favor and avoid spoilers at all cost until you’re done watching. You really don’t want to deprive yourself of the experience of watching how things unfold with a blank slate.

Lire davantage

I thought this was ok. Not great. It’s your typical revenge drama with an ending that logically does not make sense, but you kinda have to go with it. This would have done a lot better had they gone with another ending or at least one that makes sense.

The GL is sweet at least. Probably one of the best from Thailand in 2021, but unfortunately, their story arc was much too short. This would have been the GOAT GL series, if they change the one thing that happens and made this a series instead.

There is one unexpected plot twist for me which kinda floundered, because the person playing that part can’t act to save their life. It’s pretty bad when there are a bunch of great veteran actors and then the one who I’m just like why did they cast this person in such a prominent role. Also the other plot twist that kept happening repeatedly to only stop when it was convenient for the story.

They had a really great premise here. Just the writing could have been better, and the ending more logical.

Lire davantage

Rollercoast Ride Of Emotions

Good watch and I would recommend it if you like psychological thrillers. The story unfolded in a way that you may feel one way to only feel another once more parts of the story is unraveled. The story becomes increasingly harder to watch emotionally as it gradually reaches its climax at the top of the rollercoaster and descends into a free fall.

This series reminds me a lot of “Promising Young Woman” with one defining difference. In Promising, you mostly see the bad side of those involved and so when their reckoning comes, there is no question in your mind as to whether they deserved it or not. Whereas in Remember, the involvement of most of the people on the island are indirect, and you are shown their good side as well as their bad. When their judgement day comes, you question whether the victim may be going too far. And for me, this is what I liked the most about Remember. Is that most of the characters aren’t black and white.

Despite my praises, I am rating this a 7. I felt that there were potentially meaningful messages the creators could have gone with, but for some reason, they went with the “holier than thou” message in the end which is kinda surprising given the many social issues brought up in the series. Dysfunctional family, bullying, rape, mental illness, etc. Messages they could have gone with is not turning a blind eye against victims, schools and teachers recognizing signs of home abuse, school corruption, how some people shouldn’t have children, etc. But the message they ultimately chose honestly felt like a slap in the face to all those involved and viewers like me who sympathize with them. There are a couple of more reasons why I dinged this to a 7, but this is already an essay lol.

Anyway, watch it. Enjoy the mystery, the heartache and perhaps even learning and growing as a person as you evaluate where you stand on the issues brought up in the series.

Lire davantage

A hard look on social media wrapped in 5 episodes

Surprised by the low ratings. I’m not sure if it may be because of the English subs, because I didn’t watch this with subs. The reason I think the subs may be the culprit is because many international viewers seem to be confused by the ending.

This drama’s message is about the negative effects of social media and how people’s words can hurt an innocent person. The story kicks off after the suicide of a cheerful and kind girl, Best. A compromising clip of her is leaked, and social media does what they do best -- Condemn the girl in the clip they hardly know while the guy gets to brag.

Devastated by Best’s suicide, Q sets forward on a path for revenge against all the perpetrators who were involved. Because social media tormented Best, why not use social media to torment her perpetrators? Q sets up a page and one by one, offers up each perpetrator to the masses to let them vote on whose deepest secret gets exposed.

Q is quiet and is the loner type. Best is the only person to have ever reached out to him and treat him with kindness. Q has his own story that isn’t revealed until the very end. And once you find out, you’ll realize why Best’s suicide had such a huge impact on him.

The story is well done for the 5 episodes it had. The short length helps the creators focus on what needs to be told and not drag things out typical of a full length drama. The ending is probably one of the best parts of the story, because it really does come full circle from the beginning with the message it wants to tell viewers. If anything else, it should make you think about how you use social media and the words you’re about to comment.

Lire davantage

Great premise that failed to deliver

The kinds of stories that piss me off the most are the ones that had the potential for me to love the most. Great premise, not one but three female leads and great cast especially the veterans, Willy and David. Fun fact: Did you know they’ve both played BL characters before? Figure the GL/BL crowd will flock to here eventually, and y’all might be interested lol. Unfortunately, the execution fell flat. I’m not sure if it’s the directors, writers or the combination of the two just not being able to play on the level as Squid Game and Hunger Games which this story has elements of both.

I am giving this a 7, because it did interest me enough to finish it.

Strengths

Cast. As mentioned, they have an all-star cast who all did a really great job.

The Main Villain. There is one big baddie who is a mystery to the end. The reveal didn’t really surprise me. It made sense that it is this person, and I think most viewers would approve of it being them. Like the person didn’t totally come out of left field and not make sense for it to be that person.

Ending. The ending was satisfying to me. Some viewers may not like it. But given the story, I think it was the most appropriate ending for it to have.

Weaknesses

Camera work. My god it's terrible during the action scenes. Y'all complaining about the camera work in some of the KPop shows. Well, y'all haven't seen this level of bad. I couldn't see who was stabbing who.

Flow and editing. Before the games started, the flow of the story was all over the place for me. It felt like someone took clips from the actual story and slapped them together. I feel like a lot of things were missing in between scenes. We kinda know the girls are fighting to end corruption through 2-3m dialogues. There’s a scene of them fighting a lot of bad guys and it somehow ending. I mean how did they get there. Why are they there? When does the fight even end? It just goes on to the next scene.

Characters – Gonna go by the order they’re listed in the cast.

Fear. This girl is so dumb. You know how some male characters are portrayed to only think with their D. Well, this girl only thinks with her V. I’ll give her one thing though. Never in my life have I seen a female character only think with her V. Homegirl gets f*cked once by Irene and is totally whipped. Irene ignores her afterwards, but she remains smitten. Bear in mind that she’s only ever met Irene ONCE before while she sneers at the actual person who has genuine feelings for her and saved her life. I don’t want to ruin the story for those who haven’t seen this yet, but there is more dumb to her than I’ve already talked about.

Irene. Actually, she is the best character out of the three but unfortunately, they cheapened her like that other GL lead by making her have sex with anyone who wants to f*ck her regardless of gender. They don’t do this with their male leads (OldBoy) but why must every Asian male creator who has a female lead in this type of storyline gotta cheapen them by making them have sex with everyone? It’s like they will choose a female lead only for that purpose. Other than that, she’s the most complex character out of the three with a brain, and I actually like her. Smart and complex characters, whether they’re the heroes or villains, are my weakness.

Run. This girl is also dumb but not on the same level of dumb as Fear. I tend to like badass characters like Irene (sans the sex with everyone thing), but I think most GL viewers will like Run because she’s also “nice” and “sweet”. But for me, this girl risked her BEST FRIEND’S life to save the girl who she only met TWICE and didn’t care if she died. Had Fear’s friend not helped her, her friend would have been strangled to death by some kinda metal torture device and eventually decapitated. Later on, it kinda made sense why she did it but also not make sense. Because not hesitating to risk your BEST FRIEND being DECAPITATED over your guilt for some dumb girl just doesn’t sit well with me.

So there you go. 2 out of the 3 girls are dumb as a rock. But damn, their backstories were so good, and I wish they would have made the 2 girls more likeable and rational.

I think this would have been better as a Netflix series. Unless you have an exceptional director and writers on the project, it's hard to condense these kinds of storylines into 2 hours.

The premise and cast were both really good, but the execution just failed to deliver.

Lire davantage

"Let's die in the Spring"

OMG I bawllleed my eyes out. This is the best revenge drama. Anyone on the fence about either starting this or thinking about dropping it, you really need to watch this to the end. Out of all the revenge dramas I've seen, this one stands out from the usual preachy ones about not seeking revenge and forgiving the people. Usually from ass "holier than thou" characters who have lived happy lives and have never experienced what any of these victims have gone through.

The cast banged this one out. The characters are amazing, and each had a meaningful purpose in this story. The contrast between the moms. The stories of each of the victims. The reveal of that one character I was not expecting. I don't often see a story have this many characters, and yet flawlessly integrate their stories in. Wow. Just wow.

The last episode is the GOAT. It exceeded any theories and expectations I had.

I'm usually not a fan of romances and ended up loving this couple. Now I know that it's not the genre that I dislike. It's the usual type of storylines and characters that I'm not a fan of. If you are the same, then you know what I'm talking about.

My only regret here is that I didn't get to watch both parts straight through. I didn't know this was split into two parts, when I started the first. So I waited months for part two like many others. I understand it's marketing needed to generate hype, but I think it would have packed a bigger emotional punch had I gotten the opportunity to watch both parts all the way through. So anyone just finding about the drama now, you're lucky.

Lire davantage

I couldn’t stop myself from watching this after reading the synopsis. I’m due for a good revenge drama, and this did not disappoint. Only problem is I didn’t know this was split into two parts, and now I have to wait for the second half after that AMAZING first.

The torture that Dong Eun went through just because a couple of rich kids are bored. Yes. Bored. The usual reason we get is they’re either bullied at home, repressed of some sort but no. These entitled rich fucks were just bored.

There are two things that separate The Glory from other revenge dramas that I've watched.

1. I started this for the revenge but was not expecting the other characters coming into her life and caring about her the way they do. They all know her story, and no one is telling her that what she is doing is wrong. Instead, they understand, support and help her. The kindness they show her really are precious moments in the story. From the girl tip-toeing to her room while Dong Eun is studying to the abused mom, turned spy, who makes her break out in that ever so rare smile.

2. The ML is such a sweet guy and has his own story. At first, it didn't make sense to me why he was drawn to Dong Eun, but once his story is revealed, it made perfect sense. Usually in these revenge dramas, the ML comes from this happy environment and is telling the FL to stop her revenge, but not THIS ML. Hopefully, we'll get to see more of him in the second season.

Song Hye Kyo is totally slaying as Dong Eun along with the rest of the cast. They’re all bringing their A-game to their characters.

This is SO GOOD. If you like revenge dramas, give this a try.

Can’t wait for season 2!

Lire davantage

I waited until this drama finished airing before I started watching it -- best decision of my life. I can't imagine waiting a week to watch each new episode. Anyone who watched this while it was airing has my respect - you are a stronger breed than I am lol.

This drama is pure perfection in terms of its story, characters, pacing, twists, acting, and music. If you haven't watched it yet, do yourself a favor and avoid spoilers. There are so many twists in this story that I was constantly surprised and amazed. I loved every minute of it. Check out the synopsis and trailer to see if this is the type of story you'd be interested in, and go into this with as blank a slate as possible.

The ending tied everything up beautifully, considering the number of characters and their significance to the story. I'm extremely happy with it. It's one of those endings that leaves you feeling completely satisfied and couldn't be happier.

Lire davantage

The story itself is actually really good, but I think they made a mistake in trying to make this a dark comedy with the issues involved – rape, prostitution, extortion, to name some. It creates a disconnect and takes away from the impact of the story. Without the comedy, this story could have been a lot better given each of the main characters’ backstories.

Sun and Kat’s story is heartbreaking and my favorite thing in the story. I wish we could have seen more of why and how Sun went from point A to point B. You could probably deduce why he ended up being the way he is from the backstories, but I still would have liked to see more of the in-between of what happened to him between when Kat left when they were kids to when they finally meet again as adults.

Mote has a touching backstory as well, but I couldn’t get into his character because of the comedy.

This is a good effort by GMMTV. I’m glad they continue to try different stories and genres.

Lire davantage

This story could have been better under a different director. Not that this director isn’t good. Club Friday stories just isn’t for him.

Other than how wrong it is to treat people like pieces in the MC’s “love game”, other important topics were left mostly untouched and unaddressed in any meaningful way. They were set up in episode 1 and never to be spoken of again for the rest of the story. This director has the same problem in a previous Club Friday story, Broken Anniversary. He’ll tackle one or two topics (usually the unsavory ones) and barely focuses on or completely disregards the meaningful ones.

From her first relationship, problems included self-fulfillment prophecy, lack of communication, lack of knowledge about what makes a healthy relationship and most of all, lack of self-awareness and responsibility. None of these topics were meaningfully addressed after they were presented in episode 1. Well, Japan does in a 5-10m dialogue, and boy, the director did the same thing in Broken Anniversary in that those meaningful topics are addressed in a ~5 minute dialogue by someone. That's it. Hours of story and those topics get a ~5m dialogue.

The MC went from going to an all-girls school to being in her first relationship that lasted 7 years. She essentially went from living in one bubble right into another one. One of the problems that was a major cause of that relationship not working out is a lack of open communication. If anyone knows anything about relationships, you know communication is important. She didn’t want to talk about any possible problems in the relationship, because she was afraid of the “7 year curse” (hello self-fulfillment prophecy) while the guy, most likely out of love and not wanting to be confrontational, just went along with it until the bubble burst. That is what happens when you don’t communicate in a relationship. You are okay with it in the beginning and can overlook things because you love the person, but after a while, no one is able to maintain that. Communication needs to start early on and maintained throughout the relationship for it to have any chance of surviving.

Then you have the MC’s lack of self-awareness and responsibility. Instead of being honest with herself and reflecting on what went wrong in her relationship, she blames it on this 7 year curse. And so in order to protect herself from it, she comes up with this mess of a love game.

Finally, her wanting to be in a relationship for the sake of being in a relationship. She was always pursuing it without giving herself the time to learn and heal from the previous one. I don’t feel like she genuinely loved either Leng or Japan. I think this is a big issue many people actually unknowingly go through. But unfortunately, this wasn’t addressed in any meaningful way either. Not even in the end quotes.

So many important topics here, but the director and or story writers chose to mainly focus on the love game. What a shame.

Lire davantage

Throughout the years since its release, this film periodically comes up in my recommendations. I tend to avoid films that look like they have an indie feel to them, because they’re usually too slow paced for my liking, and I’m not a fan of dull and subdued color palettes that are typical of such films. So I put off watching Better Days until now, because I thought it would be like those films.

On the third year of this movie, yet again being recommended to me, I finally gave in.

Thank you to all those who keep pushing this movie, and the AIs that serve it up lol. I honestly would have missed out on a gem. It definitely deserved all the awards it got.

I was totally hooked on the FL within the very first few minutes, and then the ML when he was introduced. How they’re both basically just kids, who are forced to grow up way too soon, with no adults or safety nets to help them. But luckily, they find each other and do their best to one day reach “Better Days”.

The emotional rollercoaster I went through watching this. The slow and steady rise in the first half, and then the twist and reveal in the second half of the film that broke my heart for both them, and had me dreading over what would happen next.

The ending is a marvelous work of art in storytelling. It’s after the credits. Don’t miss it, because I almost did.

Lire davantage

Could Change2561 finally be changing?

Promising first story to kick off the new season of Club Friday.

I stuck with this for the FL. She’s such a genuinely nice and selfless person who loves deeply. So when things happen in their life to the point that such a person closes their heart and puts up a wall, I couldn’t help but want to see them, hopefully, have a happy ending.

In the beginning, I thought the main antagonist was the petty woman who makes things hard for the FL over a man. She is an obstacle but a minor one. The actual main obstacle and theme of the story is people’s beliefs. As long as whatever someone believes in is helpful, makes them happy and doesn’t harm anyone, then that’s ok. But when a belief is actually damaging to the individual and or others, whether physically and or emotionally, then that belief should be re-evaluated. Love Tragedy tackles this theme in their own way and fairly well.

I was really happy with the way everything came together in the end. And coming from Club Friday, I was pleasantly surprised and hope they continue to tackle more meaningful themes instead of the usual sleeping around and cheating storylines.

Lire davantage

Extraordinary Attorney Woo Is Storytelling At Its Finest

From beginning to end, the story and execution was flawless.

It's very rare that a story has the amount of balance Woo achieves. It tackles important social issues in an approachable, light-hearted and at the same time, respectful manner. All the characters and stories had a purpose, were compelling and relatable. You couldn’t help but be absorbed and care about what happens to everyone next.

In the middle of watching this, I made the mistake of briefly reading the comments, because I was curious about what people were saying about it. You know how it is lol. The comments included the writers being lazy or something happening with the romance that people didn’t like. So as I got towards the later episodes, I was weary of the story declining especially with it having the amount of episodes it does. Let me tell you. That worry was unfounded. The story actually got better and with more depth that brought it all home at the end.

This is truly a story that everyone needs to watch at least once in your life.

Lire davantage

Yuri ฟินจิกหมอนสุดๆ

The person who wrote this story not messing around. They are on a mission to make us smile and warm our hearts. As someone who has been repeatedly disappointed and or underwhelmed with GL dramas, I was not ready for the amount of cute and sweet that this writer unleashed upon us. Like how dare lol.

I love everything about this web drama. The chemistry between the actresses is absolutely lovely. The execution is solid.

Ah wait. I do have one complaint. Why are the greatest GL stories always so short, but I’ll take what I can get.

Thank you, RedQ! They really be doing us right.

Lire davantage