Great watch.

I managed to get away with only a sniffle while watching this (albeit with great effort not to bawl my eyes out). What pulled me into this drama is of course the supernatural theme of it. Honestly, the drama is full of twists and turns, and the central characters have an epic love story, but the ones that made me love this drama so much were the side characters and their familial love. Rang was a highlight of the drama for me, he’s a prickly character with so many layers, who turned out to have overwhelming love for his brother (who greatly cherished him) and his unintentional family and was actually a super sweet guy underneath (he would never admit it, of course).

The ending, however, didn’t make a lot of sense to me, in a typical K-drama fashion where they seem to leave a lot of the mechanics and rules of their universe unexplained, and they also showed things that didn’t make sense age/time gap wise. In the end I had to scour through the internet for Gumiho legends for some explanation. Eventually I found a post that includes the different versions of the legends that explained the last scene in the drama. I also found out that they cut a scene out from the ending, and I wonder if this was included it would have given better explanation to the ending. I may have felt a little frustrated by this, but what is satisfying though, was to see the individual characters achieve their goals in the end, because this drama had done this very well.

This is a very satisfying supernatural fantasy drama to watch, definitely worth a watch.

Leia Mais

Refreshing

I basically inhaled this series, it's so good. One of the things I love about this drama is that it's very cheerful and has plenty of hilarious moments while they tackle issues that are hard to talk about. Don't get me wrong though, there are plenty of tear jerking moments too. There are a lot of life lessons being taught, even towards the very end. The familial relationship between the main characters are very endearing and a very strong drive in the story. I also love that romance isn't the focus of the drama. In a way this reminds me of Hotel Del Luna with the supernatural and punishment elements. Overall, this is a very sweet series, and quite a short one too (12 episodes), so it's easy to fall in love with this. Would definitely recommend this.

The only thing that bugged me with this drama is that there were times when they jumped around and broke the 180 rule over and over again without any reason.

Leia Mais

Beautifully put together.

It took me a bit longer to finish watching this because this drama is so intense.

This was a beautifully shot psychological thriller. I have to mention that I love the soundtrack too. I truly feel the frustration while watching this drama, which brings out that helpless feeling from under pressure from society to meet certain expectations, and also from abuse of senior power, while feeling lonely, fighting the battle alone against the world. The series has done a superb job at bringing out that cramped and gritty feel and depressing mood of the main character, Jong-woo's living condition, as well as portraying his deteriorating mental condition and sanity as the drama progressed.

If you like psychological thriller, definitely give this a watch.

Rewatch value - I almost never rewatch anything, same goes with this one.

Leia Mais

A really fun watch!

I watched this earlier this year when it just came out on Netflix, after watching a lot of the darker dramas like Alice in Borderland, Sweet Home and Strangers from Hell, I wanted something lighter and “happier”, and The Uncanny Counter delivered just that.

To me, this is a light scifi/supernatural drama with a sprinkle of comedy and also those dramatic moments that make you reach for tissues. I like the unique take of the grim reapers / demon hunters, because they are ordinary humans who sell noodles at a popular local noodle house, who also acquired curly hair once they become a Counter. I love the characters in these series, and their relationships are adorable, I especially love So Mun’s relationship with his best friends Ung-min and Ju-yeon as they have a solid, unbreakable bond. Also, can I just mention how much Yeom Hye-ran kicks ass in this? It’s awesome to see more of her in this.

Overall this is a fun series to watch, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and the drama concluded nicely too.

Rewatch value: I almost never rewatch anything, and same goes with this one, but I do love some of the fight scenes, so I wouldn't mind rewatching some of the fight sequences.

Leia Mais

Amazing

It has been awhile since I last watched anything in the Xianxia genre (I was crazy about it back in my teenage years), but I decided to watch The Untamed during the lockdown in early 2020 (I'm in the process of moving my reviews to MDL). Though I wasn’t familiar with the original material, I quickly looked it up because to be honest, I got confused and overwhelmed by so many things going on and so many characters appearing all at once in the first couple of episodes. Once I got that sorted and we got into the long flashback, I was basically hooked on the series before I even got into episode 5. The Untamed is complicated, massive, hilarious, as well as sweet and tear jerking at times, not to mention I’m so in love with their costumes, swords, sets, the beautiful scenery, and the music.

I also have massive appreciation for this series for the clever way they adapted to stay true to the original materials, while still adhering to the strict Chinese censorship regulations.

I love this drama, however, there are some really glaring issues that stood out for me, some of them are pretty much what happens in c-dramas in general though, such as the audio, I understand that c-dramas are dubbed, but I do find it bothersome when a big scene sounds "empty", things like footsteps don't match (they have the same sound for footsteps on concrete and footsteps on wooden floor for example), etc. Slow mo shots are also jaggy, which indicates that they didn't shoot it on a higher frame rate and just slow it down in post. Then there is the jumping the 180 line back and forth, which is very jarring and doesn't make a lot of sense. The other thing that I didn't quite like also was the treatment of the female characters, I get that it's what happened in the novel, but still, most of the female characters were killed off. In saying that, this is one of the best historical c-dramas I've watched in a long time, so I'm still quite happy for having watched it.

This series definitely re-ignited my love for the Xianxia genre. If you’re looking for intense dramas, complex storylines, beautiful costumes, and strong bonds, I’d definitely recommend this series. Also, aside from the original novel, there is also the manhua, donghua (the artwork for this is insane!!), audio drama, the 20 episode special edition, as well as 2 spin off movies to date (I love them too btw).

I know a lot of people have re-watched this so many times, but I'm really not someone who like to re-watch stuff, I couldn't even finish watching the special edition, because it was basically re-watching the drama to me.

Leia Mais

Love it!

I really wished that I didn't start watching this until it has finished airing, because I would've binged this! I looked forward to new episodes every week. I love the characters (yes, some of those residents are just downright frustrating, but that's the point). Great chemistry between the leads, and I like the strong characteristics they posses, they're one of those incorruptible and sensible characters, and they care for the people around them, even when those people have done bad things, some even did it over and over again.

I appreciate that this drama didn't go deep into the politics because it could easily become one of those, and instead it concentrated on the apartment complex and what was happening within it. I found the story to be a bit slow somewhere in the middle, especially with the usual residents acting up over and over again, but it was still very enjoyable.

Overall, I really enjoyed watching this, and I love the soundtrack too.

Rewatch value: I don't rewatch dramas, but MDL doesn't allow me to just leave it blank.

Leia Mais

Great watch

I enjoyed my time watching this. It has good story, great characters, and I enjoyed the funny moments. I like seeing a female character who was an equal to her male counterpart, however, for a drama where the female character was supposed to be an equal, it does feel like the drama focused more on the male lead a lot more. I've seen a lot of comments about the female character having to be saved many times, but this wasn't a problem for me, as she did a lot of saving and protecting herself too. The villains were... to be honest, boring, there's not much to say about them unfortunately.

I feel it dragged on in the middle, and I wished that they tighten things up in the middle and expand towards the end because that ending... it's just rushed.

Overall, I had a great time watching this drama and it has a lot of entertaining moments, so I'd still happily recommend this to people.

Leia Mais

Unexpected

I truly appreciate the humor in this otherwise dark drama. I have to say that I was a bit worried seeing the total number of episodes and how each episodes average around 80 mins, that it would drag in the middle. Happy to say that I didn't find myself being bored with this drama. Overall, it was a fun watch, and I'd happily recommend this to people who would enjoy such humor and wasn't looking for anything too serious (it's almost cartoon-ish, which I don't mind every now and then).

There are a few things that bug me while watching this drama. Story wise, they're ok, some plot holes, but I can brush it off. I think I'm more annoyed with the little details. One of them being the believability that Vincenzo was basically an Italian local by the time he came back to Korea in the drama. Coming from someone who speaks English as a second language and have spent more than half of my life in an English speaking country, but still speak my native tongue every now and then with friends and family, I speak more English than I do my native tongue, I even think and have my inner monologue in English. When I go home for holidays, it would take me about a week or two to be fully acclimatised to my native language and local dialects, as well as catching up with the new slangs, etc, and I even speak a hybrid of English with my own language. So to find Vincenzo was fluent in Korean like a local right off the bat was not that believable, considering that he spent time in Italy since he was a young kid, and assuming that he retained his ability to speak Korean somehow, he would have needed time to get used to it again. However, I just want to say, kudos for Song Joong-ki, as it's very hard to perform with a foreign language. Then also with the instant coffee.... I get that it was product placements, but for a character who has such a refined taste and was basically raised in Italy, a country with long history of coffee and strong coffee culture, I very much doubt he'd touch instant coffee even if it means risking migraines from the lack of caffeine intake (I live in a city with a very strong coffee culture, and I know so many people who would not touch instant coffee). I also didn't know what the point was to have Luca came to Korea, it didn't make sense since what he did while he was in the country could have been done via a phone or video call. Then there is the "indestructible" Vincenzo.... I'm not sure I like how almost god-like the drama made him seem, because it's always that everything has been planned, like nothing could go wrong, and no matter what situation he ended up in and how dire it is, he gets out of it somehow (seriously, a flock of pigeons?).... and speaking of pigeons, what ever happen to Inzhagi? I love that bird and would have loved to see more of it at the end. Also worth mentioning, how many zippos does Vincenzo actually have? Seems like he's throwing them away like they're nothing, but considering how much he fiddles with it throughout the drama, I find it doesn't make sense for him to have a collection of them and throw one away every time he wants to turn up the heat.

I LOVE the Geumga Plaza crew, they're so colorful and quirky, and they're always exciting. I also appreciate that the romance isn't at the fore front of this drama, but instead, bubbling in the background and occasionally comes forward. I did, however, find that Vincenzo had stronger chemistry with other male characters than he did with Cha-young. Then there is the duo that is Han-seok & Myung-hee... WHAT A PAIR!! They're ruthless, and I just love the contrast between these two and Han-seo & Seung-hyuk. However, I have to say that the villains were shallow and one dimensional, perhaps it's to do with Han-seok's mental state, but still, it would have been great to see more layers to Myung-hee. In saying that, I absolutely loved Han-seo, he was a character that captured my attention somewhere near the middle of the story and I ended up rooting for him as much as I did for the Geumga crew.

The drama itself is actually quite dark, and the comedic elements of this seems to mask the degradation of the Geumga Cassano Family's moral compass, from being the one being walked over to the people delivering these "punishments". Granted, ultimately it was still Vincenzo himself delivering these punishments with help from the crew, but the fact that Cha-young was okay with going through with their plan knowing the ultimate outcome, as well as everyone else who seems to be fully aware what Vincenzo's intentions and still went ahead, kinda didn't put them in a better place than the "bad guys".

So anyway, yes, it was an enjoyable watch, just don't take it too seriously :)

PS: MDL didn't let me not have any ratings for the rewatch rating so I put it at 1- just fyi, I almost never rewatch anything.

Leia Mais