Review

Review: My Lovely Liar

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

On the upside, Show starts out really strong, with a fun premise that pops, and an OTP that works together really well.

Basically, Kim So Hyun and Minhyun are adorable together, and this was THE highlight of my watch.

Somewhere along the way, however, it does feel like Show loses its handle on things, somewhat, and the balance between fun, breezy rom-com and angsty murder backstory gets thrown out of whack, at least to my eyes.

Show does manage to tie everything together for the finish line, but I do still wish that Show could have managed to stay as strong, in its middle and finale stretch, as it had been in its opening episodes.

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Review: Heartbeat

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

I’d say that Show is a mixed bag, overall.

On the one hand, it’s a silly, funny show about mixed signals, wrong turns and burgeoning feelings, all within an overarching umbrella of fish-out-of-water hijinks, because our earnest vampire needs to get used to the modern world that he’s woken up in.

This is pretty great, I have to say.

On the other hand, Show isn’t a rom-com at heart, and has more poignant themes about love and purpose that it wants to focus on, in its second half. This requires some hefty lens adjustments, which I’ll talk about in my review.

Your mileage will absolutely vary, but I will say that with my lens adjusted, I’ve come away with a more appreciative attitude towards Show’s ending, and I’m not putting in a request to get my watch hours back.

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Review: When I Fly Towards You [China]

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

This is a little gem of a show – provided you do like low-key, slice-of-life things.

Show’s main focus is the central loveline, and it’s all very youthful, sweet and wholesome, in a way that feels at once nostalgic and aspirational.

I also liked that Show also takes time to focus on the friendships that our characters share. Feeling like the invisible sixth member of the friend group was definitely a highlight of my watch too, aside from the very cute and very sweet OTP stuff.

Warm, sweet, comforting, and perfect for a binge on a rainy day – or as a drama nightcap, to put you in the right mind space for warm, sweet, comforting dreams. 🥰

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Review: Hidden Love [China]

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Show’s got quite a few things going for it: it’s full of pretty polish, boasts a pair of good-looking leads who share a sparky chemistry, has a cast of likable characters (with the rare exception, for purposes of narrative tension), and has a very enjoyable soundtrack to score it all.

Show’s biggest strength, though, in my opinion, is its ability to serve up feels that feel at once real and relatable.

Our entire premise is the crush that our female lead Sang Zhi (Zhao Lu Si) has on Jiaxu (Chen Zhe Yuan), and Show’s ability to bring the feels to life, of all the nuances of how it feels to have a crush on someone, is so spot on.

A very easy, enjoyable, sometimes cracky watch, provided you get around some of the points of discomfort that some viewers experienced – which I’ll talk about later, in this review.

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Review: King The Land

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

On the upside, Show is very pretty to look at, has a great-looking OTP that shares excellent chemistry, and it isn’t shy about serving up lots of OTP squee moments.

On top of that, Show’s got a very enjoyable OST scoring it all, so that it all feels like a worry-free, very pretty escape from Real Life.

On the downside, Show is so low-angst that the narrative tension it serves up is very low-stakes and therefore not very gripping. While this is in keeping with Show wanting to be a happy place, unfortunately, this also means that for some viewers, this could become pretty boring, pretty fast. 😅

Ultimately, your mileage will vary, depending on just how much of an appetite you have, for light, cotton-candy, pretty fluff.

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Review: Dr. Romantic 3

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Season 3 is comparatively more dramatic, and perhaps more case-focused than our previous seasons, but I do think that we get enough of what makes us love this series, to make this worth the watch.

Alongside – and often, in the midst of – the bigger cases that Show serves up, we get to see our characters grow in themselves, and in their relationships with one another, as they wrestle with the various challenges that come their way.

And, along with all that, Show does give us the warm, hopeful feels, along with lashings of poignance, that we’ve come to know and love, from this series.

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Review: See You In My 19th Life

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Show is extremely pretty to look at, scored with a pretty fantastic soundtrack, and has an interesting central premise as well as a capable cast.

The tricky thing, I think, is that your mileage is likely to vary, with this one. Some folks love it all the way through, some can’t get into it, and there are so many permutations in between, as well.

I personally felt that Show started strong, but slowly became more uneven as it went. I’m also in the camp that felt that Show could have done better, with its ending.

A reasonably solid watch on balance, but on hindsight, I do feel like Show didn’t live up to its full potential.

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Review: My Perfect Stranger

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

A surprisingly engaging, heartfelt time travel mystery that stays nicely consistent, from start to finish.

Yes, Show’s production values lean basic, and yes, the 80’s characters can sometimes be a bit too loud and theatrical, but once you adjust your viewing lens and expectations around these, this turns into a pretty strong watch.

Show more than makes up for its shortcomings with how much heart it has, and, importantly, manages to finish strong, instead of petering out at the end, as some time travel stories have been known to do.

Would recommend.

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Review: Doctor Cha

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Show is a pretty engaging second-chance, underdog sort of story, where it’s easy to want to root for our protagonist to do well and flourish, as she sets out to rediscover herself and her mojo, despite her efforts being frowned upon by her husband and the world at large.

What Show lacks in terms of nuance and elegance, it more than makes up for, with heart.

That said, I found Show stronger and more naturally engaging in its first half than its second, which leaned a little too hard into family dramatics for my preference.

In the end, Show still brings it all together in a way that manages to land as satisfying, and overall, I’d say this worked out to be a solid watch.

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Review: Nothing But You [China]

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

A very feel-good, uplifting sort of story, once you are able to tune into Show’s vibe.

Our story world is on the simple, almost sanitary side of things, and our emotional arcs lean simple as well, which, together, makes it feel a little Hallmark-Disney, in terms of tone.

If you’re able to roll with that, the underdog story that Show serves up is accessible and engaging, and quite slurpable too.

Also, if you’re able to appreciate the idea of “romance in the small things,” instead of the more common big, sweeping romantic declarations that Dramaland tends to serve up, you’d have a good chance of loving the central romance in this too.

On balance, I found this one to be very enjoyable, and well worth the drama hours.

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