Perfection!

The Penthouse is a perfect example of my taste. I like thrillers, romance, and drama. This has all three and does it even better than some dramas that are dedicated to that genre. (Un)shamefully, I have to admit that I binged all 21 1-hour episodes in 2 and a half days.

Firstly, let's dive into the story. The only complaint I have is that it has way too many flashbacks. The audience are not oblivious; we can predict some of it. The story is so well written. Kim Soon Ok did a perfect job with the script! The pieces don't make sense at first, confusing the audience, but as time goes on, more pieces will get revealed.

Now, let's talk about the cast and acting. Just want to give a props to the staff for a casting well done!
We'll start with the character Shim Soo Ryun~ quiet, but deadly- caring, but revengeful. There is no better suit for this role than Lee Ji Ah. After watching it all, I don't think I could imagine another actress playing that role.
Then we have Cheon Seo Jin~ covetous and goal-oriented. Nothing can stop her. Not going to lie, at one point in time, I actually admired her. Same situation as the other mentioned character. Kim So Yeon fits the role to the tea. Also, her hoarse screams and rapid-fire rants complete the table!
Next, we have Oh Yoon Hee. I HATED THIS CHARACTER. I spent about 10 minutes ranting to my laptop about why the writers would have the audience see her point of view when she was just going to be evil. Same as the above~ Eugene was a great actress! She definitely made me cry (more than thrice)!
Moving on to Joo Dan Tae. He's just a perfect villain. The character was well developed. That's all there is to it. If I see Uhm Ki Joon act in another drama as the innocent protagonist, I'll probably throw hands. There is no way I can unsee his villainous acting here.
Ooooh--Dr. Ha. This is the one which lost the 0.5 in the acting and cast category. Character? Not badly developed. Don't know if it's the acting or that's just his character, but this guy really gets on my nerves. He literally argues like a two year-old. You know when you watch someone act and you can tell it's acting-- that's BAD acting. He literally sticks his frickin chin out when he's mad. He literally only knows how to communicated by smashing glass (even though all the characters have a fair amount of smashing of glass). Throughout the entire drama, I think the only facial expressions I've seen or at least, remembered, from him is "anger with the chin out."
As for Kang Ma Ri, Lee Gyu Jin and Go Sang Ah, I felt like they fit the role. Not as much as the previous characters other than Dr. Ha, but I mean, they're not really schemers. The comedic relief definitely did it's job. Same goes for the other "suck-ups" to the rich people. They weren't exceptional in both character and acting but not half bad. The maid, Yang Mi Ok/Kim Ro Sa, has pretty good acting as well. It lets the audience know that she is faking it, but it is still believable that the characters in the drama fell for it.
Last but not least, Anna. The staff really played with me. During the first two episodes, I literally thought that Bae Ro Na and Anna were the same person. They looked wayyyy too alike. Her acting was on point though. The staff also played with my damned heart! You can't just build up a character and then make her die. I literally sobbed when she died.
Finally for the cast, let's talk about the kids. Kim Young Dae is on a roll these days. I'm watching one of his other dramas (Cheat on Me if You Can) and have watched many others. Ok>ok. Let's just say: I FELL FOR HIM TT! It literally took me the first 8 episodes to get over Joo Seok Hoon and see him as a bully and then what does he backstab me with: *I like Ro Na*. Ugh. Seok Kyung? Han Ji Hyun was perfect for the role. Ha Eun Byul? Same. She definitely embodied the mental illness that they diagnosed her with. Yoo Jenny? This one was ok. It's just another one of those stuck-up girls. Lee Minhyuk? The character was just a side one. But, damn, this guy screams *third gen idol acting*. I just knew from his visuals that he was an idol! Finally, Bae Ro Na. Um God, how is Kim Hyun Soo 20 years old!?? Putting that aside, her acting was super impressive and stood out to me among all the "children."

Lastly, the music was meh. I just kept hearing the same classical piece again. I gave it a particularly high score just because this drama is very music-oriented, so it made me pay more attention. On a good note, I wasn't fond of this type of music, but this drama definitely changed my mind.

Overall, I HIGHLY RECCOMEND this drama.

Leia Mais

Short and sweet to kill some time

I would say this is one of the best Korean web-dramas I have watched. I think that the story is simple and sweet; it makes you smile even though it is predictable. One of the things that I hated is the fact that the editor and camera crew didn't even try to take shots with both of the main girls together (even if they were the same actress). Considering that they are both idol actors/actresses (Shin Jun Seop from MYTEEN and Seo Ji-soo from Lovelyz), I would look over the fact of their stiff acting. They did carry those visuals though! Sometimes, I thought the main female lead was stiff, but other than that, their acting was up to par for a webdrama. I expected more dancing and singing as part of the plot from these idols, but I guess they didn't want to focus on that. The main female lead kept dancing the same part of the same song whenever there WAS dancing though. Overall, I would recommend it!

Leia Mais

A huge serotonin boost

This was so cute. This made me smile (and cringe) the most of all the dramas I watched.

Please check out my bio for the standards of a 10/10 drama. And a disclaimer: just because it's a web drama and an idol actor, my mind already had prejudice against it.

This was such a happy feel-good drama. I literally had no negative and crying points in this drama. The story was problem-free, simple, and was carried mostly by comedy. There was little to no unnecessary drama. One thing I love is that all the characters had a happy ending, which not many web dramas or dramas can deliver. I know this was originally a Chinese drama, but I can say for sure that I enjoyed this one a lot more (no offense~).

The cast was amazing. I can say for a fact that the female lead carried this drama, though the other characters contributed their fair share. The cast was perfect for their role, but I still can't rave enough how perfect JuYeon was for the role. I actually came to support Yohan ex-X1 and WeI member, but I can say for sure I stayed for both the leads.

Lastly, this is the best thing about short dramas: the music. The OST sung by SinB was such a bop that I even added it to my daily playlist.

Overall, I would definitely RECCOMEND this especially for times when you are feeling down.

Leia Mais

Close to webdrama perfection

Please note that all the score is compared to full-length dramas. If it were just webdramas, I would give it an 8.5~

Let's start with the story. It had a fresh concept; I quite liked it because it was something never used before. As for the romance, the storyline there was typical. The one thing that pissed me off was the way they downplayed Jin Dal Ae's phobia; they have to learn that phobias aren't solved by exposure all at once.

Moving on to the cast, I most definitely watched it for Mina and Nayoung, and I most certainly stayed for them. Acting overall was meh; I felt like the casting director just casted whoever had the "looks." Mina didn't play her phobia exceptionally well or terrible. I have a love-hate relationship with Nayoung's rushed character development; I felt like Nayoung acted the best out of all the cast members though. As for Lee Jung Shin, his acting and character was probably the worst out of all. Every single second of screentime he had with the femae lead (which mind you, is a lot considering he's the male lead) was torture. As you can tell from the last sentence, I had HUGE second lead syndrome with Ma Tae Oh. He's much cuter, and his acting is a close second to Nayoung's. As for Viini, his role was like every other small role he played in other webdramas. I'm really glad that the writers decided to add a guest character near the end to satisfy both Tae Oh's and Viini character's love life though. P.S. Hyunjoo is the cutest :)

Overall, I would RECOMMEND as a webdrama!

Leia Mais

As expected from a webdrama.

It isn't the worst thing ever, but it also isn't particularly enjoyable. The storyline was pretty good, but I feel like the execution and the screenwriting of it wasn't so good. There wasn't a single bit of comedy to relieve the tension,

Firstly, I don't think any of the characters really had any substance to them. They all had the same bland personality, and I didn't feel like I could relate or sympathize with any of the characters. Usually visuals make up for the lack of acting but in this one, neither were present. The circumstances are not extremely unrealistic like other kdramas, but the way they reacted to the situation was out of the ordinary in neither a good or a bad way.

Overall, I do NOT recommend unless you are looking for a brainless quick binge.

Leia Mais

Failed Ending

I came for Lee Dahee and you're darned right if you think I stayed for her.

This drama was wonky. The beginning and character development was really good, but I just feel like everything after episode 6 was rushed. The six episodes and Lee Dahee are the only things that earned 6.5/10 with my rating. If you haven't seen my episode 6 review, this is what it says: "Spoiler Alert!So of course there was sexual tension between the two main characters since the beginning but I did not expect them to go from semi-enemies to kissing, sleeping together, getting married and having a kid together in one frickin' episode. [...] There's also a lot of miscommunication between the leads this episode, which could lead to problems in the future." This needs a second season to wrap things up but I'm not sure I even want it cause that ending was just that bad. I feel like they could have just added four more episodes to keep it one season and finish the story, but then again there might have been airing time conflicts. Actually, I'm sure there will be a second season because the title of this drama is "the Beginning." It's really hard to have the story make sense when you have a character with unnatural powers, and I think that this drama is a perfect example of a fail in this genre.

As for the cast, they were good. I felt no unnatural acting except for the male lead, Kim Rae Won's, acting. I feel like he only looks good when he frowns or looks angry. As for his character, Z-O was incredibly reckless and clueless. After the baby came into the earth, I just feel like he no longer cared about GuReum except for the fact that she was his baby's mother. They had really good character development for GuReum, making the audience feel like she was a very smart and good detective. The miscommunication between every bleepin' character just makes my blood boil. Again, they also 'dumbified' every character.

Overall, I would NOT RECCOMEND. The only reason I watched this was because I was waiting for Penthouse 2 to air. This show was only semi-good when it was airing.

Leia Mais

Another second-lead syndrome~

Yes, I did come for Miyeon but I definitely stayed for HwiYoung.

The story was basic but enjoyable. The screenplay could have definitely been better.

As for the cast, I have a lot to go about for this one. First of all, surprisingly I have seen all of them before: Kim Min Chul in "Single and Ready to Mingle," Miyeon from (G)idle, Choi Jisu from "Convenience Store Fling," HwiYoung from SF9 and Marco from the Unit. For her first webdrama, Miyeon didn't do half bad. Her visuals were stunning though. Min Chul was quite stiff; I think he's just visual material. As for Jisu and Marco, I think the acting came naturally. Their relationship was so cute, although I like them with the friend dynamic more. Finally for my favorite character, HwiYoung did a okay job as well--he just looked really tired throughout the whole thing. I highly doubt his character is like that so I'm just hoping he catches some rest.

Overall, I would NOT RECCOMEND unless you are a fan other either of the k-idols or k-actors or unless you have absolutely nothing to do.

Leia Mais

A decent but slightly disappointing sequel

If you are reading this, you probably have watched the first season of Girl from Nowhere --> same trigger warnings apply, if not more.

As I have written in a review of the first season, "the only and main problem I have with the entire drama is that after a certain episode, the supernatural things began to look more cruel than address the problem." Since this was a 'continuation' of the last season, I just felt like its gotten worse. I still loved every single one of the mini-sodes~ However, I didn't like the fact that there was an ongoing antagonist, consistent throughout the entire season. Our main antagonist was doing things that I, as a human being with morals, was against--even more against what our protagonist was doing. Since I binged both of the seasons back-to-back, I must've grown attached to the protagonist and the fact that no one could stop her; so when an antagonist appeared with a pretty good upper hand, I was obviously upset and uncomfortable.

Overall, I would only RECCOMEND if you were an extreme fan of the previous season.

Leia Mais

Completely Dreadful

As you can tell from the heading and overall score, you can probably tell that this is going to be a negative and critical review. Please bear with me~

Regarding the story, I felt like it was just a basic high school story of "the rich bad boy falls in love with the poor hard working girl" trope. The only thing that made me raise the score a teeny bit was the side romances, the soundtrack, the fact that it actually had a real plot (the X student) going on.

The thing that made this drama really bad was the cast and characters. Let's talk about character first. I've never seen so many characters with such bad development. Literally every person in this show is a jerk. Starting with Eun Ho--she is literally the worst friend I have ever seen. I am a strong believer that one should pick best friends over boyfriends, and she did the exact opposite. In the first few episodes, she was always seen talking with her best friend, but once she got a boyfriend, there was 0 seconds of screen time showing their interaction anymore. It's like she forgot she even had a best friend. She never even tried to understand her friend a tiny bit. Second, Hyun Tae Woon was the worst of them all. He was obsessive, abusive, selfish and the biggest jerk with a hero syndrome. Everyone else was either too funny or not funny at all, but they are not as bad as the main leads so I won't mention them. Moving on to the cast, I came for Sejeong but stayed for Han Sun Hwa and Seorina. The acting wasn't bad on anyone's part, but it wasn't enjoyable either. Whoever casted them did a really bad job with the leads but okay with the side characters. Casting Kim Jung Hyun was a big mistake because he looks 20 years older than the average 18-year old student. Lee Jong Won (Taewoon's dad) also looks too young and too indifferent; he doesn't quite get the "bad" character concept past. Sejeong was alright - as in this wasn't her best work as she was just a rookie at this time. I also don't get the point of adding Rowoon; I feel like they just did that to attract more attention to the drama because his character had absolutely no value to the story. The rest of the cast was either acceptable or great (Sun Hwa and Seorina).

Overall, I would NOT recommend this drama.

Leia Mais

A Horror Staple

As you can see from the headline, Sweet Home was a horror staple. The first thing I noticed in it was the editing of the monsters and the costumes. The team did really well with that. They deserve the highest compliments for that. It was really realistic to the point where I got scared. I am usually unfazed by watching horror shows or movies at 2 in the morning, but this was done so well that I could only watch one episode a day because it left me quite unsettled.

Moving on to the story, I would say that it is not predictable at all. It was actually a tad bit hard to understand but after 7 episodes I finally got it. It was fairly well written, but the cliffhanger was one of the worsts (or should I say best) ever. I'm still waiting for a season two but there was and has been no activity about that announced yet.

As for the cast, I can't express how much I love each and every single one of the members. Let's start with Song Kang. His versatility is just beyond words~ from high school popular boy (in Love Alarm) to demonic and monstrous teen. Secondly, Lee Jin Wook really had that raw feeling to him. He portrayed the role really well and I can't see anyone else doing that role at the moment. Lee Shi Young just represents were character so well; she really brings emotions like desperation and characteristics from her character's firefighter experience to life. Lee Do Hyun (damn, he's hot) started climbing up my favorite actors list after this drama; at first, I thought he would be one of those actors that could only play funny roles but his duality was shown well here. Finally, Go Min Si portrayed my hero Lee Eun Yoo so well; she's such a badass naive teen and that's something I can only dream to be. Her acting, as always, is top-tier; I didn't expect any less. Honestly, whoever casted did a really great job *insert clapping soundtrack*!

Overall, I would RECCOMEND this drama if you like the zombie and horror concept.

Leia Mais

Thank you, Dingo!

Such a cute drama! This doesn't even apply on my 10/10 drama scale because of its reasons (mainly because it's a webdrama).

Storywise, it lacked a lot. I think they had really good character development for such a short webdrama. However, the thing is they cut out a lot of relational development, especially for the final couple. Since they had fans vote which one they wanted the female lead to end up with, they rushed it a tad too much. Also realistically, that isn't going to happen. Like there is no way you're going to have four respectful, personality-filled, handsome boys fall in love with you. It *is* a webdrama though so I'll cut it some slack.

As for the cast, I think they were all so cute and 100% in terms of visuals. The female lead was so cute; I was uwu-ing at her for most of the time. As for the boys, I'm sure most of us stayed for them. For idol actors (DongHyun from AB6IX, Jaehyun from Golden Child, Subin from Victon, and Wooseok from Pentagon [the one I rooted for]), they did really well. The acting was really good in terms of webdramas.

Overall, I would RECCOMEND for a quick binge, awesome visuals, and some uwu-ness!

Leia Mais

Sichuan Airlines 3U-8633 Incident

I watched this movie with my family and forgot to add it to MyDramaList. Here I am writing the review a year later. As I said, it's been a while since I watched the movie so please cut me some slack because of my bad memory. The story was great. It had a great deal of panic, action, sadness, and tension. It was an eye-opening semi-fiction documentary of the Sichuan Airlines 3U-8633 Incident. The cast really fitted their character. The only thing that I didn't like was the fact that most of it was obviously green screen. They didn't do a great job producing the lightning and rain. Also, most of it was unrealistic as in they added some components that weren't there in real life to make it more dramatic. Thankfully, I DID expect it as it wasn't a straight documentary. Overall, I WOULD RECCOMEND IT.

Leia Mais

Valuable Lessons

I thought that the story of this drama was good. It wasn't the best but it sure had some valuable lessons. I would have liked it more if they spent more time developing the main leads' relationship rather than the side characters' own stories, but I guess that's how they would teach us lessons. As with the cast, I can say that the thumbnails really attracted me with those visuals. Though I wasn't really impressed with the acting, after I found out that the main female lead was an idol (Lee SuJi of Real Girls Project and The Ark) and the main male lead was a model, I was satisfied. My favorite character will forever be Joey because of his goofy nature. One thing that I was very disappointed about was the outfits. The whole show was centered on a tailor shop, so let's just say I expected WAY more from the costumes (or maybe I just appreciate fashion as a form of art). Since I watched it as it aired, I would say that I kept VERY up to date with the coming episodes. Overall, I would recommend it as a quick mini-drama binge.

Leia Mais

It's a No-No from me! Cringe-fest

I heard there was a webtoon, but I didn't read it, so this is completely based on (with no comparison) the webdrama. For the story, let's just say the build-up was amazing. I was more interested in the side characters' love story more than the main leads though. The main couple was cringe to the highest level. I don't support toxic masculinity but the way Gong Ju-yeong acts really pisses me off. I loved the friendships but I think the love relationships were just out-of-hand or unnecessary. I feel like they just added that because they knew no one was just going to watch if there were no love interests. Now let's talk about the cast. I watched the first episode and I stayed completely for YoungHoon from the Boyz. I know... I know... Park Jihoon from Wanna One is also there. But his acting just wasn't it for me. Also the female lead, Lee Ruby, had such stiff acting. I mean... she's pretty for sure but the acting just wasn't it. However, for both of the above since I didn't read the webtoon, maybe it's just how the author described the characters Wang Jarim and Gong Juyoung as. I feel like the side characters other than Yang MinJi had pretty good acting. Their characters were hilarious and they fit the role well. Overall, don't recommend unless you can handle extreme cringe.

Leia Mais

Disappointing Ending

Don't watch this unless you have too much time on your hands. (I tried not to include spoilers.)

Let's first talk about the whole game. The rule that ruined the show, I would say, was the new one where one of the money catchers could lie completely about their identity. This caused the contestants to quickly determine who that money catcher was-- early in the game-- and therefore, eliminated one of the more interesting couple storylines (Inseong and Jungwoo).

Secondly, I lowkey felt like everyone was a money catcher while watching. No single contestant gave me good vibes except Inseong and Jungwoo. If I hadn't hung onto the hope that Jungwoo would perhaps visit the house after he was eliminated, I wouldn't have continued watching. As for the love catcher reveal at the end, I predicted all of them-- and I'm glad I did because they stole my heart (after I got over Jungwoo).

As for the reaction panel, Jang Do Yeon is really the MVP. Her experiences with this series as well as hosting other shows definitely plays a part in the flow of this show in general. I'm actually pleasantly surprised by Miyeon and Sunny. Although they didn't pose as important roles as Jang Do Yeon during the show-- they made it much more enjoyable and light-hearted. I especially enjoyed Miyeon's dissection of the contestants; I feel like she had worthwhile insight. As for Son Ho Jun, I barely noticed his presence. This goes the same for Loco (except that one scene with his shirt-- which I think Jang Do Yeon helped him with in setting up the scene).

Leia Mais