Son Byung Ho

Review: The Haunted Palace

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Less about a central romance and more about a supernaturally-inclined Scooby gang on a ghostly mission, The Haunted Palace is well-paced, generally well-plotted, and really quite entertaining; certainly more entertaining than I’d originally imagined or expected.

Yook Sung Jae and Bona are well cast as our leads, though I would say that Kim Ji Hoon steals very, very large chunks of the show, as our resident King, at least in my opinion. 🤩

Worth a look, even if you’re not typically into ghosts or shamans in your dramas.

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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: Fight My Way

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

A show that manages to showcase friendship, romance, family, and reaching for your dreams, all in one cozy, ragtag package.

Despite bits of heightened drama, Show manages to feel organic and relatable pretty much all the way through. A thoroughly believable & sparky OTP, a solid supporting cast, and a breezy OST all come together to make this a warm, cracky, comfort-food sort of watch.

Homey and heady, at the same time, in the best way.

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Review: Gaksital [Bridal Mask]

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

A show that’s really good right away, and – gasp! – actually stays that way throughout its 28 episodes. That’s a rare, rare feat in dramaland, as we know all too well.

Gaksital is a show that manages to take a political context and ground it in the personal experience and emotion of our characters, and then by extension, help us to care about that political context in a way more visceral that I expected.

I found Gaksital intense, gripping, and gut-wrenching in some of the best ways. And I don’t even usually like shows with political contexts.

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