Reviews

Feeling cheated...

The series started out so fantastic in almost every way: the plot, the characters, the visuals, the pacing, the charisma. It was a strong 9 or 9.5 score for me for the majority of the series until the last 10 episodes or so, where it all went terribly wrong. The downfall was almost predicted as around episode 30, I was wondering how they can possibly wrap up the story in only eight more episodes.

However, not only did they completely rush through to its finale, the steady and beloved personalities of the characters declined in such a way that it made all of the prior episodes feel like a bad investment. The plot that was so carefully paced out and so well done... became mush. As just one small example, when the ML sacrificed his precious hand and was stabbed multiple times, apparently it ended up not being a sacrifice at all. His hand was merely wrapped, still usable, and the rest of him just miraculously recovered overnight. This type of nonsense didn't occur previously.

The FL and ML's relationship was developing quite naturally but then devolved into an abusive/victim/guilt-ridden one in the end. Both of their characters were almost unrecognizable from where they started. Let's not forget the scene where they slept together and the ML decides to propose after (as if this is a modern day setting with no consequences for the women). Or how he tripped his own kid multiple times because despite having settled down with the FL, his jealousy is still out of control. What in the world happened? Did a writer just get swapped out towards the end? It really is such a shame. If they hadn't ruined the ending arc with such nonsense, the series would have been on the top of my list.

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very literary depiction of powerful trust and desire

Cinematic gem. Jdrama BL. I love this show beyond reason. A tight focus on the interactions of two characters, like a stage play rather than a drama, but with sex as part of the character arc. Total concentration on a domestic relationship partially closeted in a real world setting -- subtle and super interesting . Great, great directing by the three women who also wrote the script. A good and very literary depiction of powerful trust and desire.
The classic "unreliable narrator" is the hook which draws us into the story, rooting for Yoh and fearing that he is being abused, a feeling which slowly slips away as we realize this long relationship is actually going through a quiet adjustment matching each other's needs as they change.
Non-verbal communication is important in this story. I advise taking the subtitles loosely as a key to meaning and to depend more on other meaning clues: body language, facial expressions and delivery, the cinematic frame of the dialogue's dramatic rhythmn, and the visual clues of the camera for emotion, especially color and light. 8eps at 25 mins ea.

first posted on Viki Dec 21st 2023

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The story and characters are terrible. The actors are great though and some scenes are good.

So basically the story centers around a narcistic female lead with a terrible personality and a pathetic ML who can't move on past his first love even though she did. There is not 1 redeeming quality that the FL has but all these guys are obsessed with her? I'm sorry but there is nothing romantic about a guy who can't get over his ex for 8 years even though she moved on. They make the ML this nice guy who helps everyone and is a genius weather forecaster, but ultimately he is just a pathetic guy that was hung up on his ex for 8 years which the entire town knows about. The story is very focused/centered on the FL and the ML is basically a side character.

Do not get me started on the ridiculous love triangle that makes the ML even more pathetic. I wish they made these love triangles more organic than forced. Like they always show these sad scenes of the 3rd wheel being sad that the leads are together. Cmon now. Do the writers think it's romantic that 2 guys stay single and hold onto love for their childhood friend for decades into their mid 30's? At least the ML and FL have history, but the 3rd wheel has always just had a platonic relationship with the FL. One pathetic character pining over the FL was not enough they had to add another side character that was even worse. The amount of screen time the SML got one-sideingly chasing after the FL was ridiculous. Like he sees them kiss and hug and everybody in the village knows they like each other and in his crazy head still thinks he has a chance? No matter how much sad background music you play, it will not be sad...it is just pathetic and weird. By episode 5, I could tell where this story was going and had to skim through the rest and the story goes exactly how you would expect.

I really enjoyed the first few episodes but man does the show go downhill. The actors are great though, their characters and the plot are just poorly done.

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Espionage done right, a balance of style, grit and gore.

Wonderful show. Espionage done right, a balance of style, grit and gore. Murky office politics, alliances that break and are reformed and just enough of the lone wolf, Nam Koong Min, stubbornly struggling to understand himself and to find the perfect mole. Very nice plays on the genre. Lots of fights. I like them but you may not. My favorite things: 3 fully characterized female colleagues sharing the screen time, none of them all good or all bad. NM, as a stoic muscular handsome beast, both puzzled and pugnacious.
My warning, requires as much intellectual fortitude as much shorter novels or movies but for 12 hours. You Must Take Breaks, or you risk breaking your mind. Eps 13-14 are a prequel set in the 20teens.

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Good, but a challenging watch

I watched this because I like the main actress, and this drama does provide a vehicle for her to in effect play two characters, which I thought she did well. The cinematography and soundscape I thought might've been the most artistic I've seen in a K-drama. In short, the drama is about people having to deal with emotional trauma and poses the question "What makes a person happy?" I gave it a low rewatch rating because it's such a challenging watch. If you like shows that are real heavy for the vast majority of the show, then maybe you you'd like to watch it more than once. I'd rather rewatch something fun. I did like this drama, but it wasn't fun to watch.

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I hated this show and I wanted to love it

After watching "18 again" and loving it, I thought I would enjoy this too... but I hate that they kept the "cuck" vibes for the whole show. I was so perplexed by it that there was a point or I had to start skipping when the love interest of the FL appeared. For such a amazing concept, of a couple finding love again, to be completely ruined by almost having no feelings other than old feelings from the past relationship or feelings of ownership of the partner. Their relationship was cold for the whole show, the FL only starting to actually care for the ML on the second to last episode.

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This should be the standard

I generally don't write public reviews but frankly speaking this series is just too good and every drama enthusiast (both BL and not) should give it a try. With a mixture of horror, comedy, dramatic storylines and unpredictable plot twists, Peaceful Property is one of the best GMM productions, with great acting and writing, and overall solidifies Tay and New as one of their strongest actors. Both Mook and Jan were also incredible and I would love to see them work together in another series. With a plethora of underwhelming BL series produced by the same company, Peaceful Property honestly makes me think that GMM is just not that good at writing BLs, and they should put the same effort they put into making this series in all of their productions. Kudos.

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It may be the worst k-drama I've ever watched.

The first think that annoyed me was not understanding how mental illness works and how hard it is to recover from it.

At the same beggining of the episode we see people who wanted to commit suicide, begging for their life after the main character make them face a dangerous situation. Of course, some of them would rethink their choices, but not all of them. People while commiting suicides not always get emotional, they may be at peace, they may be angry, they may have other motives.

Another thing is how quickly things escalate from an emotional, tear-jerker scene into comedy. Don't get me wrong, I like when funny moments appear in dramas, but when it happens so quikly it just kills the mood.

Yeah, people need to hear calming words that may them help be in peace, but won't make them recover from depression, anorexia, loss etc. They need to get through a long process, and even after it they can get into their mental illness again and again, what doesn't happen in this k-drama.

I didn't like how unrealistic it was. In one scene a guy says "Some suicidal people don't look suicidal" or something like that, and it's completly true... but then they say that a man who talked about his future doesn't look like he wants to commit suicide.

But there was a few things I liked. First. Cinematography - it was just beautiful. Second - a few scenes that almost made me cry, like for example the dog scene. And the ending I thought I'll dislike, but ended up being quite nice.

I'm sorry for any misunderstanding of my review. English is not my native language. Thanks for reading it and have a nice day/night. ;-)

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ECCENTRIC SHOW FOR SURE

First of all let me just ask why title the series Eccentric Romance? The term eccentric literally means unusual, odd or strange. Do the makers hate same sex love stories that much to actually call whats happening odd and/or strange? Is it supporting BL genre or mocking it?

The series is actually not that bad but it isnt actually good as well. At least it was better than that last Thai-Korean show starring Mew.

Lets discuss the biggest elephant in this show. This is not the first (or the worst) multi-lingual drama created, but for the love of the heavens above, could the producers just stop doing this now? It is not fun to watch series with leads speaking different languages and we as watchers should pretend that they understand each other. JUST STOP THIS INSANITY. Nothing about it is funny and watcheable. It just screams cheapness and the inability of the budget to actually afford bi-language actors.

My next gripe is this - i am so tired of watching BLs with girls objectifying the leads screaming "ohmygod hes so handsome" as if its their first time seeing a guy. Even worse, ive seen a few BLs doing this same shit and i am like who the f are they screaming at? They want us to believe that they cast the hottest actors in the world and maybe if they keep saying and doing it over and over we as watchers would believe it too. I mean the actors in this series are not bad looking but to be honest they dont look like someone who would stop people in their tracks. Stop doing this writers, this is just lazy lazy lazy writing.

Anyway, no need to recap, not worth retyping it, just read the synopsis here in MDL. I actually feel bad for this series. It is a show wanting to be different but isnt. The main story is quite unique in the BL world, conceptually, but the mediocre execution prevented it from actually being good. The acting is very amatuerish and the chemistry between the main couple is lacking. The sets are awful and screams low-budget. The main twist and ending felt so rushed. Its a slice-of-life drama with no backstories and no real depth.

I really really cant understand why this has to be 12 short episodes with almost nothing happening. Add the fact that the 15minute episode is actually just about 12min when you have more than 90sec recap/opening credits and another 90 sec end credits. It is so obvious that the material they have and shot is just enough for a full-length movie and just divided it into 12 episodes and that they intend to re-release it in a movie version later on to milk it as much as possible. Please Im begging you Korean producers, if you want to make a series, please MAKE A SERIES. How difficult is it to add maybe 5 or 10 minutes to each episodes to fully develop your stories and characters?

Would i reccommend it? Not particularly, but if you have time to waste binge it in 1.25 speed, that would certainly make the experience better. Would i rewatch? Not even if you put a gun in my mouth. im giving it a 6.5 out of 10.

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Ok I guess

Straight off the bat, it's an okay watch. It's like a calm stroll down a no name street where you observe no name people doing no name things. Where was the eccentric romance? It could have been a suspense drama with an electric romance, sadly it wasn't. I watched to the end just to see who the murderer was and the reason behind it. It was great until it wasn't.

I really don't like people who don't know if they like someone or not. Jay has know and been a friend to SH for far too long for him not to know if he has feelings for him or not. After the reveal, it was a bit disappointed by his response. Jay's behaviour is childish at times but you get through it. Leading up to this point the series was nice. After this the eccentric romance had no zing to it. I'm reminded of Dangerous Romance where the only danger was the script and 'someone's' inability to act like they were in a romance.

The plot of the murder was a nice addition. JU as the suspect and their mapping of his actions brought some humorous moments which added to the okayness of the story. This I liked. What was a deterrent, the music did nothing to enhance the suspence. Even at the end with the revelation, it really felt a little flat. Where was the shock factor.

JW was another good addition but with a limited script, she was not utilized more. SJ and his ally, made the series tags a reality. The unrealistic final end of their plot made the comedy part true. Filming it to put out for likes. Seriously? Yes, heavy on the comedy.

As I stated it was an okay watch and I will recommend it. Even if it's just to see Jay's lips and SH declaration to protect him. But who's going to protect him? Go watch. Re-watch, maybe.

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There's such a thing as trying too hard

I found out about this show from my mother who I got into Kdramas, she hadn't finished watching it. I watched from beginning to end....now I wish I could get my time back.

At first it was rather interesting for me, I was curious about Rael family, how she was going to get revenge and why that family specifically. This was a let down, we barely see anything about her past with her family, we are told that Rael's father was the next Bill Gate but aren't shown any proof of it, they just keep repeating the same scene of him getting beaten up, of him dead, one with her last birthday and toward the end, we see one where she asks about following her heart. Her mother is supposed to be this really beautiful woman but the actress looked rather plain and by that I mean they didn't bother dressing FL's mother nicely, they have her looking like some broke maid, when we find out what happens to her mother it feels like "Really, that's what you went for?" Overall, we aren't led to care or learn about Rael's family. Then we have the lawyer who is the second ML, he sends FL away to keep her safe but then suddenly when they meet 13 years later he's in love with her but we are not told how he fell in love with her or why, it feels honestly creepy. I will say that I love this quote of second ML "My love for her is sacrifice." Talking about how he was willing to sacrifice everything, including himself, for FL.

FL befriends So Ra who is supposed to be perfect and have everything, we quickly find out that she's rather unstable and that her life isn't as perfect as we thought with a psychotic father and uncle, we also find out her mother was locked away and beaten, why? No idea. I gotta admit I was more interested in So Ra than I was in Rael. She made me laugh sometimes and other time made me angry, I also felt pity realizing that there was no way So Ra could be anything less than unstable when she grew up with so many crazy people around her.

After befriending So Ra, FL is seducing ML who is much older and married with 2 daughters (we never see the eldest and I honestly wonder why she's even written because we get zero information on her), Rael and ML keep talking about tango and she keeps doing tango, honestly, I was freaking tired of the atrocious tango being shown with the screechy music, I forgot the name of the instrument.

After seducing ML, while being a married woman to some guy that was part of her revenge plot and had helped beat her up, and using his kid to get close to ML, she goes on to tell So Ra that she's sleeping with ML...okay, sure. We also get a bunch of psychotic breaks and self harm from FL which I thought was interesting along with how one moment she does a crazy smile and the next she has a flat face, it made her feel rather unstable and I was drawn to it, but then it just gets too chaotic.

There didn't seem to be any actual chemistry between the leads, whoever was doing the make up should be fired and whoever was dressing up FL and So Ra should get banned from the industry because it was so ugly. Da Bi who was ML young daughter, was honestly annoying, all they had the kid do was pee herself and cry like a toddler, it got old very quickly. Most of the scenes consisted of annoying Tango or some lame church that I am not even gonna get into since this review is already pretty long.

After suffering through a bunch of plot holes but hoping at least for a happy ending, we get some BS where ML finds out her secret room that's covered in camera which makes me wonder how he even made it there, every villain starts falling and I actually like what they got. One ends up disfigured, one ends up starving to death and one ends up getting killed by one of the main characters. What I was not okay with and what ruined this drama completely was this BS where ML decides he's gonna drive his car down a rather small hill with his crazy wife So Ra but somehow only ML dies and So Ra doesn't...okay, sure, why not? Its already bad.

I kept hoping until literally the last second that we were gonna get a "Just kidding, he's alive!" But nope, we didn't get to see the crash, we didn't see a death scene and they didn't really explore that too much, just FL wakes up after getting stab and be told by second ML that the first ML died in the car crash and got cremated, because I, as a viewer am just supposed to believe that. FL is such a crappy step mother that she just gives her daughter in law back once she's done using the kid, she's supposed to love ML so much but Da Bi is just left an orphan and FL goes back to Argentina to play more annoying Tango music, that's the end.

I like that they dub Rael voice when she spoke Spanish but to me it sounded Spaniard and not Argentinian, the other characters that were supposed to be native Argentinian spoke terrible, broken Spanish.

This was just a massive let down.

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You Are the April Day on Earth (2023) is a miniseries and can be found on YouTube under the captions: “After Two Years of Marriage, My Husband Seeks Divorce at First Sight | You're the Radiance of Night”. The leading couple, Si Yi Han (played by Zhang Ji Jun) and Ye Nan Sheng (played by Zuo Yi), have a cute chemistry but their intimate moments are just sweet interactions and they don’t have great romantic chemistry. There is a good amount of misunderstanding and the female lead is constantly imagining things and getting upset instead of asking the male lead directly. Still, the drama manages to end up with a happy and cute ending.

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