Lee Chang Hoon

Review: Spooky In Love

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Spooky in Love is, for the most part, a pretty great homage to the Classic k-rom-com.

At its best, Show blithely serves up tropes and serves them up well – while occasionally also freshening things up by turning some of the tropes on their heads.

Beyond the fun and hijinks, our OTP is wonderfully wholesome while sharing a warm, endearing sort of vibe. Park Eun Bin and Yang Se Jong pair surprisingly well as our slightly awkward, dorky OTP.

I do think that Show ends on a comparatively weaker note than the one on which it started, but overall, I did have a good time and would consider this one worthwhile.

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Review: Typhoon Family

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

To my eyes, Show’s fatal flaw is that it worked hard — just not on the things that would’ve really made its story pop.

What we got: Show spending most of its time throwing obstacle after obstacle at our core underdogs (and those obstacles mostly coming from one single source — another fatal mistake, in my opinion), shoehorning in romantic beats so that the loveline often felt like some kind of non sequitur, and randomly showcasing Junho’s idol abilities.

What I would’ve liked: Show spending that time creating more meaningful character journeys, a deeper sense of found family, and giving the Typhoon team the chance to actually work together and grow together in the face of obstacles that felt organic to the times.

In the end, this was not the worst show ever — but it sure could’ve been better. SO, so much better. 😅

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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: Record Of Youth

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

The story feels kinda meandering, and Show’s tone vibes Scripted Hollywood Rom-com rather than earthy slice-of-life drama, which is a decidedly rather odd combination.

Overall, everything in this show comes together in a way that feels a touch uneven, but if you love Park Bo Gum, Show is a solid way to get a nice dose of Bogummy, because this is basically all a showcase for him and him alone.

Everything and everyone else just happens to be there as varying levels of set dressing.

With the right lens, Show is a pleasant enough watch, even though it never grabs me in the way that I want it to.

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Review: One Spring Night

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

A romance that manages to feel real and raw, yet sweet and aspirational, at the same time.

Even though our characters are flawed and sometimes even a little unlikable, Show manages to also make them brave enough, and sweet enough, and considerate enough, that our lead couple feels thoroughly worth rooting for, both separately and together.

While our story doesn’t ever achieve cracky levels of engagement, Show more than makes up for this, with its deft exploration of characters and relationships, while putting some very healthy relationship dynamics on display.

Despite feeling a touch slow in terms of its plot development, Show manages to feel thoughtfully satisfying all the way to the end.

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