The revenge was meh.

I love revenge plots, especially in the hands of a highly intelligent and capable female protagonist but with the proper motivation, of course. And, there was no doubt that the people who made Moon Dong-eun's (Song Hye-kyo) life hell on earth were all more than deserving of the kind of old school, biblical vengeance reserved for the very wrathful God of the Old Testament.
And, actually, I thought that the series might have wanted to say something about the hot-button issue of school bullying and spousal abuse but opted instead (in typical K-Drama fashion) to focus on the obligatory fan service of a romantic pairing of the two leads with less than zero chemistry between them.
The level of gratuitous violence on display in both parts 1 & 2 felt unnecessary at times because the payback was nowhere equal to the damage inflicted on the victims.
Maybe if she would've exacted her revenge in the very gym where the majority of the bullying took place I would've felt more satisfied with the conclusion.

Leia Mais

Trolley Satisfies

The dilemma of the trolley--sacrifice the many for the one or vice versa. It is an appropriate metaphor for this politically charged K-Drama.
And it becomes more complicated when a beloved politician, husband, and father prioritizes his political ambitions over the safety and well-being of his own family with tragic results.
Trolley doesn't shy away from much-needed conversations surrounding universal issues such as abortion, rape, and the cursed blessing of social media. Nor is it too preachy but accurately depicts what many women experience on a global scale when reporting sexual assault.
How a society ripe with double standards continues to fail them time and again.

Leia Mais

It's Okay To Not Be Okay Is...Okay

I'm not a fan of romance whatsoever but I am a fan of great storytelling when it involves small doses of romance. That being said great storytelling also involves great screenwriting where the dialogue is clear and compelling and doesn't leave all the heavy lifting to the viewers. But what 'It's Okay To Not Be Okay' suffers from is its heavy reliance on flashbacks. It's okay when you're recapping episodes and if they are used sparingly for dramatic effect but if you have to continually remind viewers of certain plot points then it seems to indicate a lack of confidence in the story itself. The likelihood of a man with an autistic older brother falling in love with the daughter of the woman who murdered his mother is a hard sell. And even with some strong individual performances at times by the show's leads, I didn't buy it. I wasn't convinced of the motive that caused the mother to kill in the first place. I also thought the show did a very poor job of exploring the real-life stigma that people with mental health issues face.

Leia Mais

This show was trying to go in too many different directions at the same time but ended up being a heavy-handed romantic snooze fest with flashes of mostly bland humor and drama.
There never really seemed to be any sense of urgency to catch the bad guy.
How inept and pointless was that police force?
The real villains of this show are the writers by keeping the character of Do Bong Soon subordinate to the male lead whom she eventually marries, which shows a severe lack of imagination for a female character with super human strength.
I expected more "girl power" and female badassery from this show.
Other than being physically attractive, I saw no reason for the leads to be together.
I lost it when the bomb transformed into a fireworks display.

Leia Mais

I pretty much cringed, eye-rolled, and retched my way through every episode. The suspension of disbelief was too great. Megan Lai's character, Pi Ya Nuo, seemed to be more of a mockery than a genuine attempt at being "one of the boys". She came across more as a lesbian with a terrible sense of fashion. The chemistry between the romantic leads was nearly extinct, registering somewhere between zero and lame. Some of the fight scenes looked like they were choreographed by Richard Simmons and Baron Chen never convinced me that he was a mafia boss' son. He would be more believable as the leader of a Disney street gang comprised of a bunch of aging, disgruntled, former idol pop stars. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm completely in love with Mandy Tao I would've abandoned this show early on. Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy T-dramedies, but not this one.

Leia Mais

I would say this show was bad, but that would mean it was intended to be good.
I guess viewers were supposed to be educated as well as entertained, but they have to be interested first.
Eight episodes of Investigator Alice was 8 episodes too many.
K-pop stars are often used by the So Ko show biz industry to attract younger audiences to watch shows where the subject matter may be too complex or just plain boring. However, Kim Nam Joo's acting did nothing to make this show even boring (boring being a step up from the snoozefest it is).
This show had no pulse, as she flatlined through every episode.
The only take away from this train wreck is that Kim Nam Joo has set the bar pretty low for future K-pop stars to make the transition from singing to acting (or whatever it is she was doing).
***WARNING***
There is an Investigator Alice 2!

Leia Mais

A renew agent of divorce? Really?
I found this T-dramedy to be too formulaic, stacking the deck with eye candy in order to compensate for a very dull story.
Oh man! Ji Jia Wei has mommy issues! Who cares? And Guan Xiao Tong got stood up. So how does that make her a love expert?
I'm sorry but Danson Tang had this creepy androgynous vibe going on like a #prettyboystalkerserialkiller. Of course, he was very convincing as an emotionally distant asshole, which is apparently a requirement for the role of romantic male lead in most Taiwanese television shows.
Ivelyn Lee is incredibly cute and adorable but she looked underage and the o-t-t pouting served only to emphasize that fact. She looked like she should've been carded in various scenes. I foolishly thought that maybe, just maybe the writers at some point would use her fake-id-middle-schooler-who-is-caught-out-after-curfew-look as a vehicle for some much needed entertainment mileage but I guess I was wrong.

Leia Mais

Is 'So Not Worth It' worth it?

It depends on who you ask. I can definitely see the appeal this show has to a younger, college-age audience but the show really didn't come across as a genuine effort at inclusion and diversity that it so desperately wants to be. Maybe it's because 'So Not Worth It' is an unoriginal sitcom, the jokes are predictable low-hanging fruit, and the show itself seems to constantly pat itself on the back for casting non-Koreans who speak fluent Korean--a novelty that wears off quick in the early episodes. And don't get me started on the ill-timed laugh track--an obvious attempt at masking the writers' severe lack of skills for writing comedy for such a diverse group of characters. What's also obvious is that the creators of SNWI didn't do their homework as far as racially diverse character development is concerned. This show is messy at best and there were so many missed opportunities to offer humorous takes on much more relevant topics happening in the world today. Instead, 'So Not Worth It' proves that it's not worth it.

Leia Mais

George Hu is one of the few romantic male leads I can tolerate in these T-dramedies because he exhibits more of a rugged handsomeness instead of the effeminate pretty boy image that seems to be more commonplace in these shows.
Maybe it's a cultural thing. I don't know.
Anywho, I was initially impressed with his character He Bu Fan, a marketing genius who brings much-needed structure and discipline to his brother's fledgling business, which requires him to be a dick at times when he's at work. But then I realized as I watched more episodes that he's no different than any other male lead, treading familiar territory as an emotionally distant asshole with mommy issues. Needless to say, I was disappointed watching him treat his love interest like a child.
Pheobe Yuan's character Xu Man Man started off independent and strong-willed after recovering from a painful breakup with her fiance Shi Bo Hai (Ken Hsieh). Then in later episodes, it all went to shit. I don't know why the writers felt the need to dumb her character down so much.
Oh yeah, Bo Zheng Chen's character was that of some sort of deity or god but his hearing aid was visible. Just Sayin'.

Leia Mais

Not Looking Forward To A Season 3

An entire episode during season 2 of 'Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce)' was dedicated to a husband making extremely weak attempts to justify his cheating on his wife to his wife which he ultimately failed to do. And I thought to myself, "What a waste of an episode" but it's to be expected from a Kdrama that dresses up the trauma and pain of adultery in the latest fashions and then tries to convince us that we should have some sort of empathy for the cheaters.

I would've liked to have seen during season 2 of 'L(fMaD)' how the wives would've been treated if they were the ones cheating. I'm sure they all would've been slut-shamed for starters and the radio show would've most definitely been canceled.

Season 2 like season 1 also misses opportunities to confront the false notion that women only have value as wives and mothers. Instead, 'L(fMaD)' season 2 reinforces it. But, then again, this is the same country where male netizens criticized a South Korean Olympic gold medalist An San for having short hair.

I wanted to punch the husband who impregnated the older woman in the throat. At no time was I convinced that he was a lawyer acting that childish. I'm glad his wife beat his ass. He was one of the most annoying characters in a Kdrama I've ever seen...and I've watched Strong Woman Do Bong Soon. And his parents cosigning his cheating was just irritating.

I almost threw up when one of the wives excuses her husband's infidelity by saying that she must have been a bad person in a past life. Huh?

And the season 2 finale did not make me want to stick around for a season 3 even though I know I will continue to hate-watch this Kdrama.

Leia Mais

The romantic leads were mismatched from the start with Puff having to do most of the romantic heavy lifting though her character was very antisocial.
I thought there was more chemistry between Hao Wei and Kai Qi.
Jasper Liu's character was too childish at times, which made it difficult for me to believe that he was this badass chef and that he possessed the know-how to run his father's company when he wasn't stalking Kai Qi.
It's never a good idea to rely on children too much in a supporting role because the cuteness factor quickly wears off and you find yourself wishing them bodily harm. At least, I did.
The entire kidnap/rescue scenes were laughable and not in a good way.
I absolutely loved the supporting cast because they made this show tolerable and fun to watch.
I think I'll take a break from watching Taiwanese television shows for a while thanks in large part to Jasper Liu's performance.

Leia Mais