I did it! After having finished Empress Ki in 2014, now almost two years and 17 dramas later, I have finally finished another big Korean sageuk drama. Me, who sometimes can’t even finish a 16 or 24 episode drama. But this one was just awesome.

I had my doubts at first. The first episodes was a bit of a rocky start for me and I had never managed to finish a drama by these writers before, but boy did this drama prove me wrong. I do not regret setting out on this journey now.

It is very difficult for me to give anything 5 stars or 10 out of 10. No matter if it is a book, a tv series or a movie, because nothing can be perfect. Now, Six Flying Dragons is not a perfect drama, but in a way I would like to almost give it a perfect score. Because it was that good.

And one of the reasons why I want to give Six Flying Dragons 5 stars is because I can almost not find anything negative to say about it. It did almost exactly what I had expected and hoped that it would. Throughout these 50 episode. the story itself never seemed to disappoint me. And I can understand almost every decision the scriptwriters did.

Unlike Empress Ki, which was long, but entertaining drama I never thought that Six Flying Dragons felt that long. I was always as excited to get new episodes every week for over 6 months. It just always so consistently good and there was always something exciting happening. Even if the story is so political and has a lot of old men sitting at a table plotting something against each other. It is also so much more than that.

There was also not that much of any love-lines in the drama - though there is nothing wrong with romance - and there is some of it within the story. But it’s always pretty much in the background and not overwhelming the main story, which I appreciated. Because that wasn't what story was about.

Most of the episodes are very exciting and there is plenty of great fight-scenes and plotting to keep you engaged. All of the battle-scenes in this drama are pretty well executed and cool to watch. And the costumes were also very pretty. That is one of the things that I judge a good sageuk on and Six Flying Dragons has all of that.

Sometimes I feel like this type of dramas is only as good as it’s fight-scenes and Six Flying Dragons is totally awesome when it comes to that. But Six Flying Dragon is also so much more than just a drama with good-fight scenes.

Empress Ki for example was much more soapy than Six Flying Dragons - and no, that isn't a bad thing, because I love soaps - but Six Flying Dragons is more of a political drama, and, in a way a rather human drama. It is darker and grittier - and bloodier - and we just get more of that as we descend further into the drama and Lee Bang Won get’s more ambitious. And it is amazing to see that unfold.

I feel like ‘epic’ is a good way to describe Six Flying Dragons. What really stood out for me when it comes to Six Flying Dragons is the story itself. How it was executed. How well written it was - as well as directed and acted - and how the plot unravelled. It was kinda unpredictable, even if it is based in history. And the scale of it was amazing. You could tell that there was a lot of time and effort put into it.

It was not just absolutely stunning visual wise but scriptwriters seemed to know their setting well. They also seemed to know where the story was going. They never lost steam and there were no unnecessary fillers or anything like that.

The drama kept me constantly on my toes by what was happening, and they were usually always one step ahead of me. Which is incredibly fun as a viewer. It was nether too slow or too fast - which was something that I did worry about at first.

And most of the characters were sort of in the 'grey area’. None of them were that simple, or totally good or totally evil, which was great. They were just human, just like the drama is human. There might be some character that I wanted to be used and explored better, like Min Da Gyung, Lee Bang Won’s wife. But you can’t have everything, I guess.

The character start on one team and then change their allegiance. They work together and then work against each other and use each other for their own gain, ect. I was impressed with it, and how it gradually went darker because of it. It worked it’s way to it. It earned it’s darkness, and it paid off so well.

Leia Mais

It’s been a long time since I was this found of a Korean rom-com. Even if it follows some very standard rom-com elements I do think this it managed to shine all on it’s own. It was a very well made rom-com.

If you strip away all the fun, colorful characters and the cute and fun scenes that were sprinkled all over the drama the main story really isn’t that special, but the characters and the brilliant chemistry between the main leads make it work. And that is the reason why you are watching. They sell the show.

There might not be a whole lot of story there at times it never really fails to amsuse you or make you smile. I never felt bored watching these episode and most of the time they felt really light and fun. And I think that is what rom-com should do, in a way.

Recently Kdrama rom-coms haven’t really been working their magic on me, so finding one that did felt so nice. Very often I think these shows start of well - or in a way that interests me - but after a while I just get bored. But with Secretary Kim that didn’t happen. I sometimes watched these episodes again while I was waiting for new ones and that’s rare for me.

I said before that Why Secretary Kim did have elements of very standard Kdrama rom-com; with the rich CEO with too much ego and the hard-working yet poor heroine that takes most things with a smile and there is a tragic back story thrown in there as well for some drama.

But Why Secretary Kim tried to make that work to the best of their ability and for the most part they succeeded. I didn’t think the more dramatic storyline overshadowed the fun stuff and dragged the mooed down. And it didn’t drag on forever and ever. There were some that thought the story had ended after that got resolved, but since I thought that was the most boring part of the drama and I just enjoyed it for the characters and the main couple and all of that, I really enjoyed that part.

I never felt that was an awful lot on the way of the main couple. Not disapproving-family members or something that was too much of a road-block. Most things got resolved relatively quickly since the characters very often talked to each other or talked it out with someone else about the problems they were facing, so there were no misunderstandings that dragged on forever. The drama focused a lot on the dynamic between the characters and their relationships and I think that tributes to the drama just being really light and easy to watch.

The success of the drama is mainly because of the chemistry between the main couple and a lot of the drama was just about their relationship and them getting to know each other better (outside of work).

Also the main character of this drama was always Mi So. Park Min Young really shines in this role. We saw things through her eyes - sometimes the focus was on Young Joon, but that was mainly to highlight a certain point or something. But unlike so many shows her story was never put on the back-burner for the sake of the male character’s storyline. There was a nice balance there. And they both got a chance to grow.

I also felt like they managed to make some of the side-characters more deep and have them serve some kind of purpose by making them be there for the main character and talk about their issues with them and give them their own problems and the characters all supported each other, especially the ladies. They were not always just there for comic-relief, which also made the drama more fun. One of the few dull characters was Young Joon’s brother.

Like Young Joon’s friend, played by the brilliant Kang Ki Young (one of the best characters in the drama, aside from Mi So). I was genuinely excited whenever he or some of the other side-characters came on the screen. Sometimes I just think they take up space and time from the main couple, but not in this drama.

There was something really fun and nice to finally watch a rom-com like Why Secretary Kim after so much time had passed since I had genuinely liked a rom-com this much (the last time I wrote a review for a rom-com was 2014). It never had to grow on me and I didn’t get bored of it after few weeks. I didn’t have too high expectations but this show very quickly won me over and I am so happy about that. And while the story maybe wasn’t that grand or meaty, and some might say that not much happened, I never really got bored of this show. Not a single episode. I just had a lot of fun.

Leia Mais

I’ve often felt that one of the charms and appeals of kdramas is that there is only one season. There are emotions, there is plenty of quiet character moments, angst, and a beginning, a middle and an end all in one season that American show would stretch out over 5 seasons. It’s not really in the kdrama formula to have a season two. It just doesn’t seem to work all that well (although series like Kingdom or Age of Youth have managed it or series that are independent continuations of each other like the Reply series). And I think this second season of The Uncanny Counters sort of proves that. The story was over. It had a beginning, middle and end. It doesn’t need more.

The plot here is predictable and there is nothing there that adds to the narrative of the first one. There is a lot of room for character development, but the drama doesn’t use its time well at all instead giving us rather silly, fluffy moments between the characters and overall, it just feels rather poorly done. As if the people behind this didn’t really care or didn’t feel like it needed to bother with the plot all that much.

Instead of giving us more time to delve deeper into the characters they give us a cardboard cutout of them and a few romantic moments between some of the characters that are totally cute or sweet but add nothing to the story itself. Nothing that happens really matters. There are no puzzles to solve or mysteries to uncover, backstories to explore (like why the bad guys are bad) which pretty much takes away a lot of tension from the narrative. Everything is easy. There is no real desperation or intensity in the story. The struggles they had that made them interesting in the first season are no longer there. There is no battle going on here.

Many of the characters don’t work the same as before and neither do their superpowers. The character who struggled in the first season doesn’t struggle now. So Moon seems almost invincible and way too rugged and cold when he was the soft heart of the story last season. He doesn’t even feel like the main character here or the sensitive as the heart of the series and we are not following him learning more about his powers. But there was still no decent successor to him to fill that main character, fish-out-of-water role so the story has no anchor or focus.

Our characters have nothing much to do but try to fight some very dull and colorless bad guys. They are not being given time to grow organically so they will change with the narrative. They have changed, without us getting to see it as it all happened off screen between the two seasons, to serve the oh-so-generic, bare-bone plot that this new series has to offer.

While the plot of the first series felt like a story that has been retread a little too often, it also managed to find some fresh and exciting angles on the very common underdog superhero story with some good tension and humor along with a great lovable cast and characters. And although the actors and characters are still lovely, the story here doesn’t really nothing to say here. Not about human greed or corruption or humanity. At least not in an exciting new way. Everything is a little too simple or convenient to hit it’s mark properly.

On the surface, the series is cool, flashy, with funny moments and some really cool special effects and fight scenes, but that was never really what made The Uncanny Counters, or any sci-fi for the matter show fun to watch. People may start watching genre shows for the setting; dragons, swords, superpowers and all that but people keep watching for the plot and the characters. The character struggles, seeing those less fortunate stand up for something bigger than them, people coming together and working together using their powers makes for an exciting narrative and hopefully a good story. It’s so much more than just some superpowers. The previous series seemed to understand that, but this feels very much surface level to its approach to a story.

This series seems rather dull. The story is missing something and both the old characters and the new ones we are meeting do not have the same charm and depth as in the previous season. There isn’t really any story going on, very little momentum or character moments that move the story forward. It just sort of tugs along. Everything is too easy, too predictable and there is very little real conflict going on, apart from cool fight scenes, or characters growth which makes it really boring to watch because nothing really happens. Or matter. There is nothing about season two that stays with you after watching it. If you have nothing to add to a story, don’t make season two.

Leia Mais

I thought that after Vincenzo ended that it would take me a while to find another drama that I would enjoy as much, but it turns out that Bossam: Steal the Fate was exactly what I was looking for. It’s been a long time since I’ve been so into a sageuk. I have enjoyed many of these light, very polished and colorful period dramas that we have had lately, but Bossam feels a whole lot mature and more serious than many of the those. It felt so refreshing and something very up my alley.

The drama wastes no time and the plot starts immediately. It manages to introduce us to the characters and show us the dynamics between them as the plot moves along at a brisk pace, before slowing down a bit towards the middle. The first half of the drama focuses a lot on the characters and their relationships. You are drawn into the story through them. The characters are all rather well ingrained in the story and well-rounded.

I enjoyed seeing a story about the common people and people outside the palace. We don’t get a whole lot of that in sageuks. I could watch them just do the dishes and chat and do the housework for about twenty episodes I think. This small, quiet home life and everything that came with it was one of the strongest parts and the charm of this very character-driven drama.

The romance here so incredibly slow and full of yearning and longing. It’s not going to be for everyone, but for me it actually hit a really sweet spot. This is also such a well executed fake marriage and found family trope. Even though the drama is constantly separating the main couple, or they do not express their love very much and the wait for the kiss is very long, it never seems too forced and you can really feel the love between the main characters even though they do nothing but look at each other with mellow eyes.

I must admit that I have not been this enthralled by a romance in a drama as much for a long time. Most of the time I like, or enjoy the romance. But there is something about this longing and yearning and kindness that is between these characters that completely makes me melt. It does something for me. I just did not get enough of the main couple. Longing and yearning and this rather quiet love is something I really enjoy.

Jung Il Woo really suits sageuks and Yuri is really good in this role. This is her best acting performance to date. There is a really good spark and chemistry between them and I think the character they play feel sort of refreshing in this genre. Although there some side characters who feel like these typical sageuk characters the actors (as well as the script) managed to make them fun and interesting. Soo Kyung is really prim and proper in her demeanor who wishes everyone well but she was never put in the background or anything, like a lot of female character do in their sageuks. The story was just as much about her as it was about Ba Wu.

The romance is slow burn, but the story also feels a bit slow and has a habit of repeating itself a bit, or it goes back and forth a bit, but it’s also such a character-driven narrative so it feels like normal progression within the story. And I think it has something to do with how good the character are and that you understand the reason for their actions. The story seems to flow with them and their decisions rather than the character moving as the story wants them to.

Towards the middle the drama goes that traditional ‘we have to go to the capital’ route which does crop up all the time in sageuks that takes place in the countryside. It tends to dampen the story a bit and give the viewers something completely different than the story seemed to promise, but personally I found that change in Bossam rather natural and although the story focuses a little more on the palace politics in the second half of the drama I felt it never completely takes over the story or comes out of the blue.

I felt it was nice mix of the very slow-burn romance of the main characters, their home life and then the politics that is there to add a more more drama into the story. Personally, though, I’m rather fond of palace politics so it could have an effect on my enjoyment of that portion of the story.

Bossam could very well end up being my favorite drama this year. From the romance, to the cute found family and a really cool character-driven story that never went too far ahead of itself or was trying to be bigger or more impressive than it was, it managed to tick so many boxes from me. I really enjoyed following these characters. It seemed so mature and down to earth and there was something pretty classic-sageuk about it. This is a sageuk drama that I had been waiting for for a long time.

Leia Mais

A historical drama with a darker, serious and more dramatic tone and edge to it very much my cup of tea, if done right. They can get a little dry and a little difficult to get into because they play more on the political side of things, those strategic moves and backstabbing, which isn't everyone's cup of tea. Bloody Heart leaves more room for those reserved, quiet personal moments instead of big, sensational events that surprise the viewers. There are these snowball affects on the story, where every minor little thing has it's repercussion and the actions of the characters are gradually added on top of each other everything comes to and end and everyone meets there demise.

Due to the strong emphasis on the emotional weight that the palace has on people, slow-moving personal stories and politics within Bloody Heart, the drama isn't big or that epic in scope. It feels somber and sad, which fit's the vibe of th story it's trying to tell and even the romance is too ingrained in politics to seem like a sweeping love story in my opinion, but it works for this story. It feels like it has a strong identity within itself. The story isn't that big, but it doesn't need to be.

I often did not feel too emotionally attached to it, at least not in the beginning, but I still enjoyed the strategies of the plot and the way the characters' movement was woven into the palace's political and the power struggle. It was never very predictable, none of the plot elements came out of nowhere, because the story managed to set everything up really well. And I personally did not necessarily feel like a lack of emotional bond hurt my enjoyment of the story. I just felt like it fitted with this highly dramatic, tragic style of the drama in a way.

The character don't feel standard or bland. They have such an atmosphere around them that you do not want to connect with them too much emotionally, otherwise you will hurt yourself along with them. But still, I would not say that the drama is devoid of emotion. I think the drama has a certain emotional, cathartic effect on a person, as tragedy often has, and the story takes you along with it and won't let go, into a gloomy world. Although it might feel sometimes, especially at first, as you are watching this all from a distance. But still you hold your breath, gasp or smile over every little plot twist that comes your way and the well-executed political maneuverings of the characters.

Bloody Heart is subtly terrifying. Everything sort of lingers in the shadows and the drama does a wonderful job conveying that through imagery and not totally info dumping in on your or just feeding you backstory. It’s simply stunning. There is a certain darkness all around the story, the loneliness that comes with the palace life and the greed for power that is there. A life where you can never fully trust anyone.

It's bloody, as the title of the drama suggests, but it's never too rough or gritty just for the sake of driving the message of the darkness of the world to the viewer, or for shock factor. This is a true tragedy and that's what it feels like it's trying to be. There is no war, or particularly bloody battles. And even if there is one, it does not seem to be the center or the end of the story. Like a bloody heart, the conflict is just as much on the inside than it is outside, because so much of the story is just in the careful maneuverings of the characters, most of whom are complex and noble, in their own way.

So much of this drama is just people are walking very seriously up and down corridors of the palace, staring sadly into the distance, and sitting together in dark rooms plotting things. The obstacles that the characters face come just as much from within. And so the external story reflects the inner life of the characters. There is a slow rise to the drama doesn't feel the need to inflate the tension of the story to more than those elements; the life they want to lead and what they need to do to get there.

Everything in Bloody Heart feels like it was done with such purpose and intentionally. Every character moment, every plot twist. There is a good rhythm in the story. There is no frame or scene that seems to go to waste. It may feel as if some scenes are repeated too often, or many similar things happen as one character betrays another and so on, but each scene still seems to be to drive some specific point, which the story is trying to say, home. It is done for emphasis. And each frame of the drama is just masterfully well shot. Absolute eye-candy.

I can see why the story comes to that conclusion for every single character and their demise. Nothing is out of the blue. You can see why each character faces their fate as they did, because the story has set it up so, and shown you why. It all depends on the actions of the characters, every minor thing has a snowball effect on everything around them, even if it is justified, and it results in disaster. Everyone is stuck in a game of power that they can not stop playing, because then they would lose everything. Bloody Heart uses those elements of tragedy very well, in a elaborated story about a power struggle with flawed, morally-gray characters. And it was a pleasure to watch.

Leia Mais

While Queen Woo draws you in with its scope and brutal epicenes in the beginning where it promises some good political intrigue as fierce battle between tribes that make up the ruling class of Goguryeo it never truly becomes anything more than a very paint-by-numbers historical spiel with some interesting characters and fantastic cast that never really lives up to it’s potential.

It certainly feels like a historical drama that is meant for the big screen and not necessarily a tv show where it both felt stretched out to fill up its eight episodes runtime but also not deep enough and a bit too rushed with endless number of flashbacks to explain to us how the characters had arrived at this point of the story. If it had twelve episodes with three distinct arcs (the rise to power, the fall and the fight) all told from the perspective of Queen Woo it might have worked out and felt more like a complete, fully fleshed out story.

There is enough action, and you can see that a lot of effort was put into the epic which makes it seem like a very long film and the scenes are well done, but I’m not sure if the drama works too much on the epic for the narrative itself. It’s never said anything more than that this team was brutal. Most of the nuances in the story are missing. The drama seems to let the actors, and the action and violence do a lot of the dramas heavy lifting. The narrative is too standard and nothing we haven’t necessarily seen before in historical palace politics.

The excessive sex and violence often feel quite perplexing or just straight up oddly presented within the story and really doesn’t convey much about the story, the society or the characters. Often it just seems to be forced in there just because they could and it would make the story more daring, but it just feels lazy way of telling us about the characters and some of their ruthlessness. There must be a point with the things you put in your story.

You can’t just endlessly give us characters acting unhinged and deranged if it has no value or adds any nuance to the story. It’s just there for the shock. The characters must be built up, little by little. You must work for the things that happen within the narrative for it to work properly. While it’s fun for a while, and shocking, and can be brainless mayhem that’s exciting to witness, it gets tiresome after a while if it leaves nothing more. No nuance or reason.

Queen Woo certainly was one of those interesting characters on paper, but she feels a bit too much like a puppet in this whole game at times, and I am sure that angle could be compelling as we see her slowly come into her own, but the drama spends a whole of time getting there and I am unsure if the payoff was worth it. She is clever, she is calm under pressure and has a lot of prospects as a character. But she also comes off as somewhat of a girlboss female character that was too much written for modern audience to really become more than a standard female character in a historical drama.

The drama seems aware of its own flaws, as it’s so intent on covering up its lack of proper narrative with shocking scenes, flashbacks and battles, but the story itself is something that’s been told so many times before in costume dramas like this, aside from the violence and the nudity when it comes to kdramas, so it never becomes anything grand or special. It forgets that it is supposed to tell you an interesting story. This drama certainly had an idea, but an idea is not a narrative. Impressive in scope and quite entertaining once you turn your brain off and just enjoy the cast, the battles and costumes but if you peel back any of the layers of the actually storytelling you see that there isn’t too much there.

Leia Mais

As I finished Squid Game last weekend I saw it was # 1 on Netflix. On my tiny little island of all places. Just a couple of years ago people scoffed at me when they found out I was watching kdramas. Squid Game is basically just a korean movie that has been extended to 9 episodes and in many ways I think it is a very typical gory and violent story that you often find in Korean movies. Something that has been slowly finding its way into Korean television in recent years, especially with shows produced by Netflix. And it is clear that a lot was put into this series from what it's visuals, to the choice of actors and the budget etc.

As I said Squid Game was a bit of a typical story from this type of entertainment that you often find in movies from countries like Japan and Korea (like Battle Royal) and for me it was not that original with them and neither did they do something new with this type of narrative. Which may be why there was very little to the story that actually surprised me. even if I really enjoyed watching it. I found it a bit typical and it mainly just reminded me of other such stories that have come before it.

The violence is not for everyone. I can stomach quite a bit of it without it bothering me. I often think the violence in this type of stories goes a little too far but there is a purpose to it in some ways and the story puts a lot of pressure on your endurance as a spectator, because that is the purpose of it. It's hard for the characters, it should be hard on you. You can hardly look away even if you want to and that is one of the traits of these types of stories. And in that Squid Game is very successful.

The story starts off with a bang, but after that is does take it's time to find it's footing but when it manages it toward the middle part the show becomes really binge-able, before taking a slight dip towards the end. The theme of the effects of late stage capitalism and it's grip on our society and the situation that has created among us is very interesting and the story does a good job underlining that.

Really good amount of suspense going on there and some good character moments in between them, although I thought the story never really took full advantage of it's characters as it spent more time on other aspects of the story. It was also a little too noticeable to me that this was written by a man based on how some of the characters were written and it bothered me a bit. I think the choice of actors, who are all great, made the character more interesting than they might be.

I felt the ending was a little too empty which slightly made the ride on this roller-coaster of a story slightly less thrilling. It didn't leave that much behind. I felt I was missing some emotional payoff from the story. I felt like the personal journey was a bit lacking in the end so it didn't stick the landing. And I didn't feel like enough questions were answered in the narrative. It was as if the story was relaying little too much getting another series. And I appreciate kdrams for giving me complete stories in one season.

This is a nine-part gory Korean film. It really felt like it was made with that sort of target audience in mind; those who really enjoy this genre of Korean and Japanese films (as this is one of the most popular genres of Asian films in the west, which I sometimes find a bit sad but I also understand the appeal). It's good gory entertainment and I can see why it is as popular as it is. It's thrilling, violent and addictive while it's going on but it didn't leave me with much in the end except maybe blood and gore.

Leia Mais

I wasn’t too positive in my review of the first season of Kingdom (but not overly negative ether) after that season aired on Netflix last year. I thought it was a fine sageuk, but it didn’t connect with me as much as I wanted or do much to separate itself for all the other sageuks, except have zombies running around.

In preparation for season two however, I did re-watch season one about a week before the new season dropped on Netflix. I decided to take things slow this time, not binge watch it since I am not really a binge watcher.

Being able to watch that season one episode at a time made me like the more slow-paced story a lot more, and then immediately go into the next season the following day was incredibly satisfying.

Season two brought us straight back into the grim fate of the characters and the chaos that we were facing at the end of season two and it just kind of never slows down after that, as the story pulls us through some new and exciting parts of the story.

Although a lot more fast paced, with a lot more action and shorter episode, this season managed to still give itself time explore the characters a lot more, as well as the virus that is effecting the people and turning them into zombies. The story becomes deeper and richer with every passing episode.

Characters that I like become even more likable here, characters I didn’t like became more interesting as their action impacted the story more, and the motivations for all of them get explored a lot more, and the story just seems to expand a little and the storytelling felt a lot tighter.

People using the plague to further their political standing and seeing how greed and power impacted the whole thing was very fascinating to watch. Especially as you keep reading about the world news and the covid-19 outbreaks. Having that in the back of your mind as you were watching this was a bit surreal (at least for me).

For the first season I felt like I enjoyed the story more when I took things slow. It didn’t feel as fast paced as I said, or as grand as this one did. Here the stakes and the action is doubled as we go further and further into the series and I could not pull my eyes away from the screen until I had finished the whole thing (with breaks).

Also, the story there was not that complete, while this one did, while also serving us a cliffhanger. Heck, they even managed to end every episode with a mini cliffhanger, so you just wanted to keep going.

In the end the story feels like a well-crafted big action flick, no character is safe, people are betraying each other, and you can’t be sure of how it’s all going to end. Seeing the story and the action unfold before your eyes is just a joy It never stops, just like those zombies they are facing. To keep that up until the end is no easy feat.

There was a lot put into this show and it shows. The fight scenes are amazing, the costumes, the cinematography is amazing. Some of these shots were just so gorgeous to look at.

You can say that the second season of Kingdom blew all my expectations away. I was so enjoying myself. It was what I wanted season one to be, although I don’t think we could have had season two this good without the slow buildup of season one. Just a good zombie-period drama with some high stakes and actions, that still manages to make you feel things and just feel empty like some big action flick with no weight behind it.

Because when these characters slash those heads of those zombies, it feels like it matters. Not just because it’s gore and there is action and therefor it’s fun, but you feel for those characters. There is even more gore and horror in this season as there was in the previous season, but I felt like it fit with the scope of the story and where the story was at each given point. It’s just a really well made horror show. And I can’t wait to see what this show can bring us in season 3 (please, Netflix, don’t fail me now).

Leia Mais

While I did enjoy Kingdom for the most part and I though it was shot and acted really well and the production value was excellent, I did find myself struggling a bit with connecting to it emotionally. I don’t think it was the story line, I don’t mind zombies at all and I often enjoy stories that involve them. I think it was more to do with the length of the show and the fact that no matter what the drama seamed to throw at the characters they didn’t really change in any way. The righteous prince was still the righteous prince six episodes later.

And in a story about survival, like Kingdom (or just any story for the matter) I need to be emotionally connected to the characters in order to root for them. I did not feel like any of the characters stood out to me, no matter how well acted they were.

The story line itself was cool and quite interesting. It was, for the most part, a well put-together show. I had been excited about it since it was announced so in a way it was a letdown that I did not find it binge watchable enough. I did have my doubts about the six episode format and that it seemed to want to expand the story to two seasons before the first season aired, like the just cut the story in half. So I only got one half of the story, which annoyed me a little.

My annoyance might come out because that isn’t how I am used to consuming my kdramas. It was interesting to see kdrama with perhaps a little more Netflix style. There are a lot of dramas on Netflix, but most were not made for Netflix and maybe not quite this binge formula in mind - although a lot of dramas are very good for such a binge. It might be that I am more used to the sixteen to twenty four episode dramas, so I did not feel like six episodes were enough to develop the story. Sometimes dramas don’t find their groove until episode six.

These six episodes delivered a pretty tight, exciting, actionpacked plot - and the action scenes were often great, but would have been greater if I cared more what happened to the characters - and for a zombie show I didn’t feel like the same story line was repeated over and over again, even if good number of the episodes were devoted to fighting or running away from zombies.

The politics of the palace and that whole story line mashed well with the action and the two plot did work quite well together. They did not feel like two completely different stories, which can sometimes happen when you mix genres together. Although most of the time, I enjoyed the politics and the scheming inside the palace more than the stuff that was happening outside the palace.

But because season one only had six episodes there was a lot that needed to be done and set up and I didn’t feel that the characters were getting enough of the time for us to get to know them properly, or develop too much. But we also have not gotten the complete story and in some way it seamed to have just gotten started when it ended. And in a way I feel like I can’t really judge it (too much) before I have seen the second half of this story. But this was the good spin on the zombie story

Leia Mais

Started off super well. Then it started to decline in the end. Still, this franchise continues to do what it has been doing for years now. It is still all about the nostalgia of the youth - and the people - in Korea during the time-period that the drama is set it. It still manages to make me feel very sentimental and nostalgic for a period that I didn’t experience on my own - being an Icelandic girl born in 1991 - and the approach of the material is still very mundane and raw.

TvN know what works when it comes to this series, so changing that formula - as well as the who-is-the-husband-baiting-plot - isn’t probably that high on their list. Still, the Reply franchise is honestly not like any other drama series in terms of friendship and family-relationship. Or at least not out of all of the dramas that I have watched.

In some aspect I found I think this series - the third series of the Reply series - to be better than the second series. It is just as long as the second one - with 20 episode per series and about 90 minute to almost two hour long episodes, twice a week - but it didn’t feel like it dragged as much as the second one did. The episodes are all way to long, but then again TVN isn’t always about quality over quantity when it comes to this show. But I still found myself having fun watching them.

Some things really are just unnecessary fluff and fillers. It is just that I didn’t mind most of that unnecessary fluff and fillers. I got a lot faster frustrated with them in Reply 1994 than I did in Reply 1988. It didn’t go on and on and on about the love-triangle, since it focused more on the other relationships of the other characters.

Sure, both Reply 1994 and Reply 1997 focus on the friendship between the main characters and their friends and the family-bond that exists there, but Reply 1988 does a bit more of that. We get to explore all of the families on this one street that Reply 1988 takes place, which gives us more stuff to watch over the 90 minute episodes.

Much more than in Reply 1994 at least, where all we had was the family and friends of the main girl and guy. So more time went in baiting us with Chilbong and the love-triangle. Reply 1988 is the drama that feels most like a family drama in the Reply series and that is one of the best assets of Reply 1988. Seeing them all move away, after spending so much time together, at the end was very painful to watch.

There is a lot of baiting in Reply 1988 with the love-triangle. But it felt more similar to the baiting in Reply 1997 than in Reply 1994. Just a whole lot more mellow than in Reply 1997. There was a lot more happened in the love-triangle there. Here we just had two guys pinning after this one girl and never really doing anything about it. They really could have done a better job with it. Sometimes it felt like they were taking some time that they could use on that on some cute, fluffy, filler with the other characters. Like Jung Bong and Mi Ok’s relationship.

In the end I felt very indifferent toward the love-triangle. Which makes one of the main points of the drama - the husband-hunt aspect - kinda pointless to me. They should have made me care, but since no one really did anything, then I couldn't really care less about it.

That made the Reply 1988 drag a lot toward the end for me. Sure, I didn’t feel like they were milking the story as much as they did in Reply 1994 and I didn’t feel as soon frustrated with Reply 1988 as I did with Reply 1994 - but Reply 1988 didn’t have Chilbong - but it still left me a bit unsatisfied. She is in some way better than Reply 1994, but not nearly as good as Reply 1997 or as good as it could have been.

I also feel like I care more about Reply 1997 and Reply 1994 than I do with Reply 1988. It pulled more at my heartstrings, despite it all. Even if I felt like Reply 1994 dragged on for way to long and milked it’s story for it popularity - all of the Reply series do that to certain extent - and Reply 1988 told a better overall-story. I just cried more during the first two series.

Not to say that Reply 1988 didn’t make me cry, because it did. The Reply series is made for sentimental and nostalgic-loving people like me. Of course it is going to make me cry. All of the warm-family stuff tend to get me teary-eyed. It just didn’t make me bawl my eyes out as much as the other two did. Maybe because I started to feel a bit indifferent toward some of the stuff in it. And the episodes could be a bit - OK, a lot - shorter. Reply 1997 was the best, when it was just 45 minutes per episode.

Leia Mais

The palace is full of monsters and everyone is trying to bring you down, take your position is not a completely new concept for the genre or this type of story. But when it’s done right, when all the pieces of the puzzle come together in a cohesive way and the narratives is full of well-calculated, fun political moves and clever twists with some very interesting characters and tense moments is sure a recipe for a good time. But it’s not so easily done.

Under the Queens Umbrella seems to have got this mostly right with some lighthearted quirks thrown in there to keep the tone never too heavy or dark. The tension and emotional beat of the story is never too high or too low most of the time, but just moderate. I would have really liked to see more humor with maybe a bit of a darker side to it, but that’s just me.

Although I think the tone of Under the Queens Umbrella is fun and the un-seriousness that is present within the story works well there is still a good amount of dramatics and intensity there as well. There is a balance to it that the drama achieves really well. The tone is never too hasty or inappropriate, but flows well with the scenes each time.

I would personally not call this drama a satire or a comedy with a gloomy undertone, which is what I thought the drama advertised itself as, but more just a light-hearted approach to palace life and the world there as well as the status of the women in there. A theme that has come up in various historical kdramas in recent years. But it’s a take that I enjoy quite a lot.

The plot is a little predictable at time, especially if you are very familiar with these kind of historical dramas. It knocks a bit of a wind from the story, especially towards the middle, and there never seems to be any particular point that the story truly gets at, or leads us to. The plot doesn’t truly matter; its all about the characters and how are they handling these obstacles that the plot provides.

Many of the characters are well written and interesting and I’m talking especially about the female characters in the drama (because most of the princes blend into one for me) who pull you in so you don’t really think too much about the actual plot but just how interesting they are. The cast is awesome. It’s like one big empire of great female character and there’s a nice contrast between them all, with a few other interesting characters in between.

But the main and most interesting characters are the queen herself, the concubines that wants to be queen and the queen dowager for me. And sometimes when the story moves away from their story, the central story, it became less interesting. They are the ones who are playing the main game in the story after all and shine the most. I would liked to see a little more intensity and depth from the women who work under them. I don’t think this story gets me as well as e.g. The Red Sleeve when it comes to this power struggle within the male-dominated palace in a very male dominating society.

I really didn’t care about some of the side stories about who will be the crown prince and everything else that the narrative brought, but it almost didn’t matter that much because I was enjoying the characters and their moments so much. This was a slow-burn character study to me. The goal of the story was to allow the characters to shine and not be pulled by the story, but to control the flow.

I just liked seeing these actresses being great at what they do, in these kinds of roles and this kind of environment.

Some stories are really driven by plot twists and fast-paced narratives, while others let the characters just pace the story themselves and have their movements. The Queens Umbrella is very much the latter of those stories, to me at least, and for the most part it succeeds in that. Although in The Queens Umbrella has perhaps a little too many supporting characters that perhaps distract a bit from the storylines of some of the more interesting characters.

Leia Mais

Something big has to happen if I get excited about a crime drama of any kind. That is not the type of shows that I gravitate towards. On the other hand I do find it hard to resist Lee Jun Ki and Moon Chae Won being together on screen. Those two were just excellent in these roles and just hook you in right away.

The story is dramatic and a bit of a tragedy at times (it's a melodrama after tell) and sometimes that does tire me out and after a while I tune out a a show like that towards the end and there are certain clichés like memory loss and evil rich parents and so on within the story that would a lot of times make me sigh. But Flower of Evil did somewhat manage to use those types of things to their advantage or do something interested with it that I didn't initially groan whenever those type of things happened.

The only real criticism I could sort of think of was that their child was almost just used as a plot device at times and if not the is conveniently with her grandma so her parents can run around doing whatever they need to do at night.

The story is very well layered and I could not predict non of the actions of the characters or what was going to happen for most of the story. Especially Baek Hee Sung, and Lee Jun Ki is really pulling one of his best performances here. I could not agree with every decision he did (he is a bit of a noble idiot at times) I could always understand where he was coming from and could see his reasons behind everything that he did. He, just like every other character, was just very well realized and well crafted. Non of the things that happened just felt like they were being done to drag the story.

The way the story talked about and explored his trauma and how it effected him as a child and as an adult and just his whole personal journey was really well done. They never really brushed over anything, they never slowed down or dumb down anything or any action that any of the characters did. The drama always felt very smart and well thought out.

The story was filled with suspense and mystery so you never really could tell where it was going. There were so many times I thought the drama was running out of story and it would start dragging it's feet a bit. But no, it just threw another cliff-hanger at you.

The romance worked surprisingly well within the story. I thought it might feel out of place or clash with the more thriller side of the story. But it and just the characters quest to feel love and belong somewhere and the tenderness of it all really was the heart of that story.

The story is dramatic, and emotional and packs a punch in all the right ways. It's not going to be for everyone and some kdramas definitely go over the top with it. But Flower of Evil does not feel like one of those dramas despite how dramatic it can be. Because it's used to well, it's never predictable, it fits with the story the drama is telling and it feels so earned.

I got a lot of enjoyment and emotions out of watching the show. Much more than I ever thought that I would. I had my worries about it being very predictable and just a bit boring but just like I could never really predict where the story was going to take me I could not predict how much I ended up liking this show. I was at the edge of my seat pretty much the whole time.

Leia Mais

I feel like Rebel managed to tick a lot of the boxes that I like in these sageuk dramas. Really gorgeous hanboks, great fight-scenes, scenery, and a really good soundtrack that I can add to my writing playlist. But that alone doesn’t make a good show worth the while.

Often there is also a very specific atmosphere surrounding sageuks and other period shows. For me they tend to much more about heroism than modern shows, which I enjoy. But I felt like Rebel did manage to do much more than that.

The drama talks a lot about the ideology of the Joseon era, about these different social classes and some have even pointed out that it was critiquing some things that are happening in politics today. But while I did appreciate and enjoy that, that wasn’t really what I took, liked the most about the drama. I was more intrigued by these character-journeys that the drama took us on.

I really enjoyed how almost all of these characters got to be very layered individuals. They were not just the hero, or just the evil gisaeng, or the old lady that is just there to cause the hero some trouble. They got to be more than that. And Hong Gil Dong didn’t just wake up one day and decide to be the hero of the people.

Sure, a lot of the side-characters didn’t go through much personal development and kinda just went with the flow of the story, but all of the main characters, who the story revolves around, get to have some say in the story and have some meat on their bones.

Even the women, which usually get the short end of the stick in these shows, got to be ambitions and not always nice, but the drama did a very good job in explaining why they were doing the things that they did. As well as what had led to that. And they weren’t just good or just evil.

Having the bad guys in these shows sort off simple really works, sometimes. Like in Marvel movies, where the story really isn’t about them. But that wasn’t the case with Rebel. Like I mentioned before; these people have ambitions and flaws, and all sorts of things, and I feel like the shows does a good job explaining that and not really shame them for it.

Some of the characters show up and you think that they are rather nice, but then it turns out that they aren’t as nice as they seem. I really liked that in Six Flying Dragons, and I really liked that here.

Since Rebel is a very character-driven story, it can get a bit slow at times. Since the characters are moving the story along, appose to the story moving the characters along.

The first part of the story is more about Hong Gil Dong’s father and it setting up a lot of things. He was a very interesting, gray-like, character. And when the narrative shifts to the main hero, Hong Gil Dong, the show changed a bit. It became a little slow at first, before picking up the pace again.

I would say that the middle part of the drama was probably the weakest part of the show, for me. I felt like it was a bit too slow. It lost me a bit, or I wasn’t as invested as I was at the beginning. But around ep. 20 (I want to say) the story really hooked me again.

And looking back, I can appreciate the slow-build of the middle a lot more. There was a lot of great buildup going on there that just exploded in the most exciting way toward the end. It constantly kept me on my toes. It was great.

Leia Mais

It is always fun when any form of media completely surprises you and sweeps you of your feet, and just exceeds all your expectations. With Vincenzo I was expecting something very melodramatic, boring and quite typical legal drama that I would stop watching for a few episodes because I was dying of boredom but what I got was the exact opposite of that. It was so off-kilter.

The drama actually sounds as crazy as it sounds on paper and yet I don’t think the description does it justice. Usually, I do not like such makjang type dramas or over the top soap opera style shows, but here it is done with so much humor and skill so instead of getting on my nerves I got this weird mix of soap opera, thriller, and comedy and then a group of weird, flawed and morally gray characters. It is a weird mix, but it works surprisingly well together. There is a good balance between all these different factors, and it makes quite a cohesive story.

Despite all the laughs and the absurdity that the drama throws at us, it never seems as if it is mocking the story or this soap opera world that is had crafted around it. It’s more playing with it and really take advantage of it. The show takes itself quite seriously with it tone, and yet it does not because it’s main goal seems to be making the most entertaining story, and achieving that is not easy. It’s shows a certain strength within the story and the vision the people behind it had. And that shines quite clearly within the story and makes Vincenzo quite stylish.

The story goes in circles a bit. Sometimes things just seem to happen just because the story needs them to happen just for it to move forward. Some things feel too convenient but the show seems to be very aware of it that you kinda don’t question it too much. It feels wonderfully self-aware of it’s genre, which also helps you suspend your disbelief and keeps you thoroughly entertained while even the most convenient plot points are happening. The story sort of manages to be logical within this small world it has created.

It plays with the soap opera formula and the clichés that comes with those stories and tales of the mafia, to take the story and comedy to another level, making things more exciting, crazier, without making fun of it. It has all done to entertain us or to provoke sort of reaction out of the audience.

But I think it is the characters that really make this show what it is. They are just so fun or interesting! Every single character, whether they are supporting characters or not, have their own quirks and darker sides, although to varying degrees. They are all quite ridiculous and complex in their own way.

Our hero Vincenzo is more of an anti-hero and even the antagonist gets some nuances and quirks that even if you sort of hated them you also enjoyed watching them. I have personally not enjoyed a villain in a kdrama this much for quite some time. They brought so much tension, drama, and comedy into the show that I was almost more excited to see what they would do more than our protagonist.

The same goes with the supporting cast. I enjoyed every scene, every little side-plot that they had going on, which does not always happen. Sometimes they feel like fillers to extend the story for no good reason, but here the supporting characters get to control both the humor of the episodes but also the heart of the show. They all felt important, flawed, and interesting in their own way. They are not just comic-relief,

The romance in Vincenzo is slow and never takes over much of the story itself, although it is very often lingering in the background and the drama is always alluding to it. However, it is never the center of the drama. It is not the main story or focus, and I have to say for my part I am usually fonder of a slow-burning romance and that really worked well here with everything else going on. I love some good pining and longing because the character does not want to admit that they are in love or have not realized it. And there was more than enough of that in Vincenzo. Both are learning to trust others and become good people. Although no one is really a good person in this show.

Do I feel like the drama could gave allowed Chae Young to save herself a little more instead of always having Vincenzo come and save the day and the drama itself had a tendency to rely a little too much on the charm and the visuals of Song Joongki for my taste. It became a bit too repetitive after a while.

Vincenzo is a style of kdrama that I rarely see. And although it contains many basics of soap opera storytelling and other types of kdramas out there, I feel it does stand out because I have never quite seen this mixture before. No matter what the drama did it was always exciting to see what happened next and it always kept me surprised even though I thought the story went in some circles and brushed over certain things along the way. I never felt like they truly ran out of ideas to entertain me and entertain me it certainly did. It never really dealt all its cards.

Vincenzo is not flawless, but it is a hell of a good time. There is always this tension within it, you kept on wondering what would happen next, what these characters would do. You have no know what is going to happen. There is always a lot going on and so much high drama, such high stakes, yet still always so filled with humor. It was a real roller coaster ride from start to finish.

Vincenzo grabbed me completely and did not want to let me go until the very end. I have not enjoyed a kdrama and the discussions that took place around this much it for some time now. And that is what I will take from it; it was just pure fun. It was pure entertainment for me.

Leia Mais

I have to say that I am digging more and more these horror kdramas that have been coming out. Knowing that this drama was made by the man that directed one of the best horror movies from South-Korea in recent years, Train to Busan, made me really pay attention to this drama just before it started to air.

The Cursed use their story structure really well and everything flows together quite well, as well as having really interesting and likeable characters that you really root for. The story here is slower and more suspenseful, with a focus on the mystery of these curses and maybe not as action packed you might hope after hearing Train to Busan. But there is also a decent amount of horror there. Some gory, some more atmospheric.

Korea loves their evil spirits and ghosts in their horror I have noticed over the year, so a lot of the things that I saw in The Cursed was not necessarily new to me. But there is nothing wrong with using the genre and people’s expectations to your advantage and you do not always have to invent the wheel so to speak with every story. Sometimes you can just take a well-known path and do something interesting with it. Which The Cursed did, even if it became a bit repetitive towards the end.

I like horror so a lot of the gorier stuff doesn’t actually bother me, so The Cursed did not make me want to cover my eyes in any way. The gory bits were used for a specific purpose here and rather sparingly and maybe not only as shock value - although it's a bit shocking at first.

But what I liked the most about this drama was not the horror elements, but rather the characters and the dynamic between them. That is what really stood out to me.

The found family aspect of the story really tug at my heartstrings. I love the mother-daughter relationship that Im Jin Hee and Baek So Jin had and that was truly the heart of the show. Seeing these two ladies work together and care for each other while solving horror mystery together was the reason why I liked this show so much. It was just so sweet to see how much So Jin looked up to this older woman, which was probably the very first mother figure that she has had in her life in a long time.

I also liked that that Im Jin Hee did not have any love-lines, as that would not have worked in the drama. Well she has a love-line, but she is already married to the guy so that kind of relationship does not take the forefront of the show. Would I have liked to see more exploration of that relationship as the story progressed? Yes, I would have. But what we got was nice. It is nice to see a married couple work together in a kdrama.

Their main antagonist, the evil CEO, was not the most original or compelling character ever. But he still served his purpose. In a sea of complex and interesting characters, many of which get to be more than black and white, it is alright to have one that is just kind of evil for evils sake sort of.

The Cursed is a bit of a procedural drama, which is not really my cup of tea and those bits of the story were probably my least favorite. But they did tie into the story quite well and overall, the story became a bit repetitive towards the end. But it had a heart and some good character and enough horror to keep me happy.

Leia Mais