Bubbletea Reviews
Australia
This review may contain spoilers
Watched on recommendation from a friend and I noticed this had great reviews. I immediately recognised the main lead from Zhang Yimou's movie and she is a popular choice for many serious movies. She playes the "good student." Jackson Yee is someone I am unfamiliar with - although he is a new-ish actor and an idol, he has that mature aura that does not feel out of place. This is a serious movie that has been explored many times - about the gravity of bullying has on a young person's life in China, while facing these school bullies, it explores the wider society issues, of education, relentless competition between students and exams, this all or nothing state of pressure students live through. And this movie is dramatised as the young pair try to fight for themselves in a world where the adults seem to promise to help but never seem to have much power or follow through with their promises.
As tragic events worsen, they find a will to take matters into their own hands, leading the second half of the events to escalate into uncontrollable circumstances. This movie is a rollercoaster - Zhong Dong Yu plays a similar character from "Under the Hawthorn Tree" as a weak, shy, pitiful, pure character which is not a personal liking from watching Western dramas full of bad-ass strong women which we are used to seeing nowadays, however I've learnt to appreciate the quiet strength from the two leads. A plus from these two having good chemistry, and the casting was good - you really learn to hate the bullies and champion our leads. However for the negatives, I felt it was tad too heavy handed. I wished they explored more about the bullies esp the main girl, we only get a glimpse of her back story however I felt that was the most interesting part. It left it a bit too Good vs Evil.
What I also loved was the conviction these two shared and their hopefulness and naviety of teenagers making their own decisions was portrayed here - when they both made the decision to tell the same story to the police - only showed to prove how much these two have gone through and their bond that is unshattering that was physically represented by that couple Les Mis scene. These people become closer and closer until they share the same fighting spirit that unfortunately, as adults, ultimately will lose. This movie is good as it forces them to face the reality of their situation while downplaying their romantic decisions (as if actions do not have consequences), which is fitting as they transition as teens to adults.
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This review may contain spoilers
A bizarre series of events with eccentric main leads (or acid trip)
Nam Joo Hyuk's character does say in the drama that "if its not bad, its better to be weird than ordinary" and while thats a cliche quote which contains truth, it ideally represents what the director had envisioned but lack execution for this drama. To be fair I am still not sure how to judge this drama because although this drama is not that fast paced, there are a lot of skipped explanation and the plot was bizarre, therefore this drama I felt sacrifice much needed extra explanation over wackiness. Each episode forms as a short adventure in a high school which our main leads have to solve (well, mainly the nurse with Nam Joo Hyuk kind of tagging along), with the broader mystery of the school's history and the school nurse' real responsibility slowly being revealed, and how that ties in with the random series of unfortunate events thats happen to the students.~Strengths~
Stylistic choices with this drama fit well with the strange-ness of the plot, the cute CGI effects was really well done, with the duo fighting squishy jellies (monsters?) looked like the highest quality animation live action I've seen. The plot, from what I can guess after 6 short episodes and without reading the book its based of on, feels like a monster catching story with the monsters as a reflection of emotional problems (however not 100% sure). There are many short and spotaneous and plain WTF moments, with a bit frentic energy like the anime Noragami. I also love the nurse's BB gun and little candy store like-sword, perfect representation of a comic book hero. Although the leads act well and the connection with "aura" is endearing yet not fully explained, I still don't understand their relationship, and with not much explained, don't exactly understand how they will fit in the story. The music was cute and really set my expectations for a wacky but cute drama, which delivered, however, this drama had a more serious and dark undertones too which I did not expect - "lighthearted" situations were confusing to intepret especially because they had serious implications that was just glossed over. At some point, I thought it was going to being a horror story, but even that I'm not 100% sure if it was meant to be.
~Weaknesses~
Maybe it was a stylistic choice to leave much of the plot hanging. Like why did the students steal the cushions? Whats the connection to the symptoms and the student's issues, how does everyone just accept the nurse can see things that doesnt exist, why does this school keep running after all of that - none is explained and that left me frustrated as the plot just moves on. The structure of this drama...doesnt follow traditional ones, and its left up to you to connect the dots after each ep. Some is explained later on (last ep) but even then I'm not sure if I should continue - being confused is ok, but they didnt leave enough clues for me to anticipate season 2. The ending was also adrupt and left the mystery hanging with many questions unanswered.
TLDR: Bizarre acid trip of a drama, watched for fighting cute squishy monsters but left a bit shocked at the somewhat dark implications, feeling lost about the tone and left confused about the plot. Unsure whether I will rewatch again.
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A feminist story that needs to be told
This is a feminist story, there's no doubt about that. Its starts off easy enough, a mum who had ambitions, settling down as a stay at home mum. We all that person. But that's not all a person is, and she struggles to come to terms with her simple life, we catch glimpses of the different parts of her identity, growing up from a young girl to a careerist, then to a wife, now a mum. We see glimpses of her steps to womanhood and the stifling restrictions set up for what society a woman can be, especially in a conversative Korean environment.This story is relatable for women, seeing the stuggle to juggle many identities at once, to be a good mum, to be respected in the working worlds, to be a loving wife, to be approved by the in laws, these crazy standards and tireless efforts to please everyone, takes a heavy toll. Kim Ji Young is a young mum of young kid who has to put aside her career aspirations aside to care for her child and home. To do that successfully is hard enough, but on top of that, she feels trapped, as that is all her efforts in life can amount to. Her loving husband isn't to blame, who seeks to share the burden after hours of work, or all to her own family who care about her wellbeing, but who have no idea what is wrong with her . It's the never ending cycle of her life as a just a mum that scares her. She becomes unfulfilled by the routine and seeks out freedom by trying to see if she could get a job, to almost taking on a full time role, flipping the gender roles, almost, but to no avail. There is too much to lose. (She can never earn as much as her husband, especially she is the breadwinner)
The people who can't see she is struggling, only her husband, who eventually asks her to get professional help, who is the one who finally tells her mother. This coincides with her really letting out her repressed frustrations at the unfairness of it all, her anger, and coming into terms with her mental health issues and finally being able to say, yes, she is hurt, and she wants help. The men in her life, her father, her brother uncover the ignorance they didn't really notice until her mother, also, seeing Ji Young in pain, let out her pain. The blame can't be put into one person, after all, its society, and its a cycle, that the movie seems to ask, can we really break free from? In the end, this movie at least, allows Kim Ji Young finds her voice and decides to pursue her dream of writing a book, this book, as if giving her some form of control back in her life, and manifest an identity that isn't just tied to being her child's mother. It takes immense courage, loving understanding from others, and her letting go of her past happenings in her life that lets her to start anew.
TLDR: The cast is great, and its a simple story, that just needs to be simply told. I'll like to read the book to compare it with.
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The Untamed was a satifying watch but I can't help but think that I am biased, as a fan. Just seeing the two MCs step forward as Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo was enough for me to squeal. These two actors physically, do have the aura of the characters that play! The casting is good for the main characters, but not as great for the side ones. Nevertheless, Xiao Zhan is a good actor, bringing out the playful boyish charm while able to be commanding and badass when he needs to be, of our beloved Yiling Lao Zu. Wang Yi Bo struggles, particulary in the first two episodes but is able to show his cute protective side of Lan Zhan as the series progress and he grows more comfortable in his role. The two are super young into the acting thing, and it shows. Sometimes the actor of Jiang Cheng pulls some exaggerated faces which makes me laugh out loud. However, they play the characters with heart and as a fan, am grateful that even a live drama exists!
The story follows the original story with slight deviations and addins which makes for some weird pacing. It may be hard for those unfamilar with the story to catch on. Those who like action, adventure, sword-fighting with nasty things, and bromance will leave with exactly what it promises. This drama won't leave you surprised in terms of effects, cinematography, and all that technical stuff, but it will leave fans excited to see their favourtie scenes come to life.
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Crime mystery with the usual suspects
Short review this time.~Strengths~
This drama is OK, in terms of plot, characters and acting, everything falls in line, however do not expect anything to see something you have not seen before. The best part of this drama is Lee Joon Gi, damn his acting can make anything boring look interesting, and he made this somewhat ok plot feel more interesting than expected. He does well with psychopathic-ish roles, and emotes so well with his eyes. The love for their family and commitment to each other is warming.
~Neutral~
The plot was ok - not very logical jumps, but there are times where things seem farfetched. Other actor's acting, and directing, structure was not bad.
~Weaknesses~
The plot was ok but also a bit weird. Baek Hee Sung's family situation was odd but you went with it, yet question "so, ok why would they do this?" Again the plot was ok and I would have dropped this if it wasnt for Lee Joon Gi.
TLDR: Good drama to watch for chilling out at home but not if you want something more.
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Twists : The Murder Mystery
By far, this is my favourite murder mystery I've seen from Cdrama. Watched on recommendation from Zhang Ziyi (yes that famous actress), otherwise I wouldnt have given it a try (see AB)But Angelababy does not disappoint. I even think Mei Bao is modelled after her. Don't let that stop you from giving this a go!
This drama is twists: The murder mystery. Every episode is a twist in an unfurling classic whodunnit story and has been crafted well - down to its music, cinematography, acting, you can tell everything has been planned down for consistency and detail (unlike the majority of cdramas, I'm sad to say) and I suppose its because this only has 16 episodes! From a cdrama point of view, wheres dramas go up 70 and above, thank god. and it shows, this show has structure, it makes sense. So yes I finished 16 episodes within 2 days, because 1) it wasnt draggy and the story mystery is compelling i.e. how did she really die? 2)the story is dark, so I wanted to finish it asap bc I was a bit sick afterwards (but not the gory kind dont worry)
Plot: I won't spoil too many details but as you can tell, the overall genre is similar to Murder of the Orient Express, but in a tower, and things are not what they seem, the inhabitants all share secrets that unfold in sometimes inexplicable logic. As the story unfurls, I like how we slowly begin to question everyone's dictation of the events - like a proper mystery. Even at the premise, where the directors planted a seed of distrust to the older detective who are meant to the uber-trustworthy guy (he is). There are multiple ways a story can be twisted, and that is the greatest point of this drama! Sometimes truth is weirder than fiction, and this definitely applies here. I'll have to watch it again, because I'm not quite sure what was really were lies even after the dust has settled, and the drama does not provide a full explanation, but maybe that was the point? The best part of this show was the anime interlude, which was very well done and unique, albeit melodramatic, as a metaphor for Mei Bao's pain.
Weakness: The ending, aka ep 16. Look I like happy endings, but although ep 15 where it seemed like all hope was lost, the resolution was amazingly fast and although clued in before, it seemed a bit far fetched. Could it really happen this way? It seemed too good to be true. All the characters especially Mei Bai and her friends were particulry kooky, but I guess they'd have to be to make this drama inexplicable events work and the evil guy behind all this - was just EVIL in all sense of the world with absolutely no humanity left in him and extremely motivated and smart from the very beginning, you begin to get sick everytime he shows on screen. Everyone seem to have explicable motives - but was I looking for reality in this show? Im not sure. The show really succeeds in dividing the line between good guys and bad guys (despite how they say the line is blurred), but I like the line about doing the right thing vs the righteous thing. However this line felt contrived with the ending - yeah they could the righteous thing ONLY because it was also the "right" thing by the law. Police don't have a choice but to be the hero at the end of the day.
TLDR: This show is dark and mysterious in the right ways, and you leave with a happy ending, so thats a proper mystery - better than any mystery you've probably watched recently.
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A promising start that sunk in the end
Ever since the writers can't decide whether to cater to the mass of fans OR follow their own ending that is regrettably illogical, it has resulted in confusing plot development, a jumpscare revenge, an attempt of villanifying the heart of the show that is Han Ji Pyeong, whose main weakness is he's too good/is blunt (wtf), change a character's personality as they please to serve their plot therefore making inconsistent actions and nonsensical outbursts. This drama has problems figuring out if they want to stick to reality and fairytales by making up plots for both. As a result, Seo Dal Mi flies in between them without making much progress with either.Was this review helpful to you?
But even in the end of this drama, you cannot understand their decisions or feel any sympathy - in fact, you won't care. You can also skip ahead, this drama has been drawn out for only 16 episodes, this affair scandal is so complicated, when it's not meant to be. It makes the whole world they live in a toxic environment and although they want to dramatise the heck out of everything to suit how important they think the scandal is - it's suffocating.
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The drama finds it foothold on its ensemble cast. The characters and storyline already has easy backing from its predecessors, as there already is the Western version. I haven't watched that one to compare, however, I like this one.
The story follows and develops well, the characters, the acting is believeable. Yoon Kye Sang has so much charisma and is able to inject his cute charm into his role which is works well in constrast with his character's unemotional exterior. And Jeon Do Yeon is always in her element when her character requires both vulnerability and strength. Kim Seo Hyung is queen, in real life as well probably, and her presence cements the tough elegance of being the CEO, but also the tenderness of being a sister to Yoon Kye Sang, and the dynamic works. You see this immense character growth within the confused Seo Jung Won, as he begins to question himself and what it means to be vulnerable to someone he loves. All in all, their acting is what I'll give applause to. The side characters are great actors/actresses as well and this level of consistency means you won't be disappointed.
There are high stakes in this drama, and the music, direction, editing etc is great, it works well together and executes the complex story well. The actors/actresses have the charisma they need to portray the complex relationships they have - there is a romance, however the story isn't over-embellished over it. The -ahem- tension, in all sense of the word, through its romance, its court cases, the over arching political scandal is well thought out and makes sense. The pacing is well done, the tone is consistent, and the development makes sense. Overall, a well-done directing of this drama and I can't wait for Season 2!
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Clearly this was enjoyed by those who watched it, the story topic is controversial, which is what caught my attention. I hadn't seen the Japanese version but from what I hear, this in comparison is more hopeful and brighter tone than its previous remakes. The two leads are convincing in their roles: the innocent girl meets cute dorky guy. There is a easy chemistry between them, a lightheartness that complements the music choices, and the cinematography. Her friend, the elegant, more daring older lady serves a great purpose to catalyse the story into action. There isn't over the topness, or over-sentimentality in the love story - instead those sweet moments are peppered along as the story develops, and the pacing is just right: the story telling leaves enough room for surprises that makes you keep watching. The story is satisfying and not too cliche, it never underserves or overserves, it explores the theme of adultery carefully and thoughtfully, not dogmatically. It is clever in setting the right mood, and through each character, we see their struggles, their choices, we see them be slaves into their emotions and face the consequences of life before picking themselves up again.
TLDR: Highly recommend it! The drama is good for a weekly drama dose, it is not too heavy, the directing, cast, story is good and the topic in itself is interesting. I might watch the Japanese one in the not so distant future.
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This review may contain spoilers
When I saw the title, "Crash Landing On You", I was like, this HAS to be a rom-com. With a rom-com title like that, I set my expectations to every rom-com kdrama I have ever watched, and this didn't disappoint! I also thought, hey, is this a rom-com about a pilot and an air-stewardess, and don't worry it's not. (ahem) What caught my eye at first glance was the main leads! Son Ye Jin, and Hyun Bin. Omg, a match made in heaven! Age, looks, gentle looking yet strong personalities, great actors, this can only go well. (And it did!)If you came here for Rom-Com, this drama delivered! Yes a crash landing occurs, but that's not the important point, it's that - girl meets guy. Girl: a rich CEO of a beauty company; South Korean, meets Guy: a (secretly) rich and powerful son of military leader; North Korean. So through a probably (unbelieveable) fortunate or unfortunate accident, she lands right into the arms of this handsome, stoic guy, with a tragic past...This is your usual rom-com genre, but here with a twist...it's in North Korea.
Now I watched this for fun, and you shouldn't take this TOO seriously, I mean, North Korea? Although their love story goes through many ridiculous events, hold your disbelief, and just enjoy it. Look, I get that the producers tried their best to keep the setting to look realistic, it honestly did, but the stakes just didn't make it real enough. The village she gets lost in, where, very conveniently, Hyun Bin lives in, becomes a cute little place where our leads learn to trust each other and for whatever reason, the fear of being in North Korea never feels realistic there, since Hyun Bin with his muscled up physique is there with (us) and its Hyun Bin, who aces at playing the guy who always has it in control...not that Son Ye Jin plays a damsel in distress quite completely. No, we have a girl who although strong, is out of her depth in North Korea. Although the cinematography is beautiful and most of the time, it looks like they had a love story out in the countryside, it really did not make any sense of how dangerous it truly would have been in North Korea, nor did the story allow it to be. Here, we only really interact with the elites, who, with their connections, guns and money make her situation quite non-dynamic.
Nevertheless, there are some gun shots, some side stories with Seo Dan and her love story. I do love the four other soldiers antics, and the villager ladies as well, however they did not get much to do other than marvel at every South Korea with wide eyes, and we can appreciate all of the Hallyu stuff is, the main story is the love story, which has no complains here. It's beautiful, you can see how he slowly falls in love with her, how pure-hearted they both are, and similar values they have..and they are one heck of a good-looking couple, and the chemistry IS there, however a little too PG in here to go to an 8 for story. It's completely unbelievable that in their age, this is all it ends up to. But I digress. I didn't quite believe Seo Dan chemistry with the other lead, though I love the idea of their relationship. I skipped any parts to do with Son Ye Jin's nasty rich family, because, it was so tropey, I could have predicted all their lines in my head, and you get the gist - they suck. However a strength of this drama is how they manuever with Rom -Com tropes- it's there, but they call it out and make fun of some, to cut of the cringe before it can set in, and it is peppered throughout WITH caution, so don't worry too much.
This drama main strengths are its main love story, its cautious writing, its cinematography and its MUSIC. By God, the music is beautiful, and everything I love about folk or if you love IU, so that's why I gave an 8 overall. CLOY is easy-going, it won't waste episodes, you get what you are expecting, and you get Hyun Bin looking his very best (just watch this for his hair, and a guy in a uniform haha) and Son Ye Jin getting the perfect boyfriend you'd ever wished for.
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Life is marked by tribulations, but we must grow and mature.
This drama give me thrills. Its not your average drama and the characters are interesting. Look - there's people here who complain about the "wooden" characters and don't realise that the acting is a reflection of the writing. This is based of webtoon and Park Seo Joon stoicness IS a defining character trait that his character has to work around and he does try despite how uncomfortable and messy it was (as how growing up is in real life). People forget there was a a total of 10 years time skip and the character did not just did a 180 per se, I've gathered a character analysis of mine and other thoughts of their developement below. You need to think about it that way, they had to fit a webtoon into 16 episodes. And believe me, I know they could have gone to at least 30 episodes with the amount of character growth, but they did the best with what they have and made the series drama length. The writing, acting, story was good, and worth the watch.Here both the main leads are opposite in personality yet bonded with one thing in common, and their choices in own journey is what brings them together. This is a drama about the underdog and the usual heroic traits that is emodied by Park Sae Ro Yi through his usual determination and stoicness and his unbending to his principles despite the tragedies he face. The main story is about how he will accomplish the hard task of beating down Jangga Co, headed by Chairman Jang. However he is not an infallible hero and soon, encountering many life lessons, from people in his past and present, the Dan Bam crew, Yi Seo, Soo Ah, the brothers, through pursuing his revenge, they come to understand what is most important in their life and how much you can change your life with just the choices you make.
No character here is perfect. And this is its main strengths. There are so many themes explored: what being true to yourself costs, is it worth doing it if it hurts others (no matter how you try not to get others involved), how parents shape their child, what life is all about, and what is important in the end. This drama allows you to experience many emotions and its this that make the crew stronger and wiser. Here, a hero becomes a real human, that needs to be grounded in life and be shrewder to actually accomplish his objectives. And to navigate all of the traps set by his enemies requires planning, strategy and patience. Our hero may have patience but the writers are honest in showing that he needs others to be his second set of eyes and to teach him his on what he is lacking, and the fact is, he can't do it alone. They need each other to be successful and only after that, is he able to defeat his enemies, and the for him, closure over his own tragedies in what he calls, "his endless nights".
The acting was good, casting was great, and writing, pacing, direction was well done and music represents their struggle well, I love V's theme.
Some of the weaknesses of this drama: The main evil person is SO evil, that his character never for once causes us to takes his words seriously even IF there an element of truth because we all think "oh, he is manipulating us again" The writers don't give him a real chance to show us his inner thoughts other that this character really is beyond salvation. We all dislike him because that make him easy to hate. Despite that he has a story of how he was poor and wanted to feed his family to make the business, we don't understand WHY he became such a ugly character. And then the show hints that aw, he started from the bottom like Sae Ro Yi, but doesn't go on to show anything else. So he serves as just a shadow of maliciousness waiting for SRY to meet him at the final boss battle. His premise leaves a lot of questions to be explored.
Also some of the themes did NOT have time to be expressed well. Like the transgender issue, racial issue, bullying issue. There was many themes just jampacked in a show of only 16 episodes which could have fit more. I understand maybe the main story wasn't enough to also fit in the new themes while avoiding filler episodes so there's that. It would have been better to leave it out then because stories like Tony and the grandma side story and also his time in prison and the gangster history was also left to dust. Similarily, the love story and IC's growth also had potential to do more instead of the 10 year time skip which is a lot, but still I felt they knew to prioritise those two stories the most and it showed. The 2 main stories they did choose to develop, developed well despite the rush and was a fresh take that Kdrama land needed.
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On Yiseo and Saeroyi relationship:
I like the dynamic between Sae Ro Yi and Yi Seo. They are similar in personalities, but one distinct difference is that he stands by his conviction even when he gets punished for it, while YiSeo reminds me of Ying Luo from Story of Yanxi Palace; cunning, intuitive, resourceful, intelligent but with a heart of gold.
Where SRY's philosophies and kindness puts him in a position where he ends up being the 'suffer in silence' type, YiSeo has no such qualms in striking back AND gets away with it, even if her audacity [or recklessness] gets her into trouble.
I like that she chose him; to support and protect him from that particular weakness [helplessness against injustice] that he has, how they balance each other's outlook in life literally like Yin and Yang; her rash, apathetic attitude with his wisdom, his destructive temper with her cool-headed shrewdness. The fact that this time it was a female lead that was the rock in the relationship, the one pursuing the guy and staying by his side.
I'm not really sure why people expect PSY to make a total 180. He has never been good at expressing his emotions and showing his affection towards others. We've seen how much he loves Yiseo by how much he shares with her, how honest he is with her. It may not be the most exciting way to show it but it's realistic to his character.
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