Review: Mr. Bad [China]

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Show isn’t going to win any awards for Best Drama, or Best OTP, but if you’re looking for a spot of silly, fluffy drama, this might just do the trick.

It took a while for me to warm to our male lead, but I found Shen Yue’s turn as our female lead delightfully charming, and that more than balanced things out for me.

On top of that, Show’s absurd premise and snappy pace kept things moving along in a pretty pleasing way, so that I didn’t even mind so much, when I didn’t find some of Show’s comic moments all that funny.

Add on a secondary loveline that I was genuinely interested in from early on in our story, and this worked out to be a pretty pleasant diversion, for a little while.

And sometimes, that’s just what you need in a drama, yes?

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Review: Shining For One Thing [China]

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Show might look like a typical high school story on the surface, but in reality, this works out to be a love story, and a pretty epic one, at that.

Less about time travel than its premise might suggest, Show is more about growing up, and learning to love both yourself and others.

And the epicness of the love story creeps up on you in the best way, so that one day, you’re just gobsmacked by how stirring that love story is, even though you didn’t see it coming.

Our leads Karlina Zhang and Qu Chu Xiao both do very well in their roles, but I have to confess that it was Qu Chu Xiao’s turn as shy steadfast boy Zhang Wansen, that really stole my heart in a big way.

More worthwhile than it might first appear.

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