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: 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: 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: Oh No! Here Comes Trouble [Taiwan]

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

This is a pretty unique and refreshing show – if you’re able to tune in to Show’s vibe.

Show is quirky and heartfelt, with equal amounts of poignance and deadpan humor; supernatural stuff and regular human relationship stuff.

It’s refreshingly balanced, and tightly written in a way where you can feel that our writers knew every narrative piece by name, and had prepared each narrative piece lovingly, for a particular purpose.

Some of our cast isn’t as strong with the delivery, but I found the most important roles to be delivered with nice amounts of nuance and heart. The standout for me was Tseng Jing Hua as our protagonist Pu Yi Yong; such a memorable character!

Also, even though some of the visuals might hint at horror, this isn’t horror at all.

Altogether very worthwhile – again, if you’re able to tune in to Show’s vibe (more on that after the jump).

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Review: True To Love [Bo Ra! Deborah]

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

On the upside, Show presents some really thoughtful reflections about love, relationships, breakups and healing. When Show is in this space, it’s pretty excellent.

On the downside, Show is clumsy at best, when it’s not in that thoughtful reflective space. In fact, some moments are downright bad, not gonna lie.

Yoo In Na and Yoon Hyun Min are both charming in their own right, and the entire cast does a valiant job of delivering on the material that they’re given, but this still works out to be a very mixed bag.

How well you take to this one really depends on how much you like the thoughtful reflections, stacked up against how awful you find the bad bits. Which means that your mileage will definitely vary.

Worth a try, with the right lens – especially if you’ve got a ready finger on the Fast Forward button to help you along. 😉

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Review: Silent [Japan]

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Silent is, to my eyes, a pretty special snowflake of a drama.

Compact at 11 episodes, Show manages to pack more meat on its bones than some longer shows.

It’s contemplative, thought-provoking and layered, and I often came away from an episode, chewing on the thoughtful nuggets of insight and wisdom that Show served up.

Our characters are likable, and sometimes their behavior might even lean on the aspirational, “goody” side of things, but the heartfelt writing and delivery somehow makes it all land as believable and organic. I found that quite remarkable.

As a bonus, the music in this is thoroughly enjoyable, and just brings the watch experience to another level.

Very much worth the drama hours, in my opinion.

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Review: Call It Love

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

I feel like the most effective, succinct way to describe this show, is a sentiment that I saw floating around the interwebs; that this show is very much My Mister – but with romance.

That’s high praise, because most drama fans agree that My Mister is a masterpiece of a drama – and I do think that this show deserves that praise.

To my eyes, this is as thoughtful and as carefully conceived, and as nuanced and faceted, and as illuminating, organic and visceral, in the watch experience, as My Mister.

Our entire cast is excellent, but Kim Young Kwang and Lee Sung Kyung truly stand out, as our leads.

As a bonus, the music is lilting and lovely, in a manner that amplifies Show’s sweet melancholy.

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Review: Our Blooming Youth

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Show has a reasonably interesting central story to tell, but unfortunately, tries to stretch it out to fill a longer time slot than it really needs, which makes for a rather uneven, meandering and frustrating watch experience.

We do have a reasonably solid cast, among whom there are some very nice bright spots, but sadly, our cast isn’t quite able to rise above the limitations in the writing.

Promising in concept, but quite underwhelming in execution, in my opinion.

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