Posts in Romance
A Time Called You: A solid remake that honours the beloved original

A Time Called You is a Korean remake of the 2019 Taiwanese series, Someday or One Day. With a story this unique, making it as fresh and original the second time can be a challenge. The elements of suspense and surprise are gone, along with the initial magic of discovery. Any remake is already at a disadvantage right from the start; making comparisons somehow feels a bit unfair. Read my full review here.

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Destined: A beautiful saga of love, family, friendship, sacrifice, and hope

Destined (长风渡) was wonderful, entertaining, and had everything I love -- swoony romance, a perfect amount of angst and humour, slice of life, palace intrigue, bromance, great secondary couples, heartwarming family/in-law dynamics, excellent pacing, multi-genre, no annoying characters (except for maybe one...) and green flags everywhere. For me, it is the best drama of 2023, and also ranks among my all-time favourites.

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Quick Takes: Pealing back the mysteries in Out of Court and The Murder in Kairoutei

I wrote these reviews after I watched Out of Court and The Murder in Kairoutei last summer, but never got around to posting them here. Both involve mysteries and investigations, but are otherwise quite different in tone and quality. One is a well-crafted and underrated legal drama, while the other is a bingy romance murder mystery romp.

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Top Picks: My drama recommendations (Updated)

Not sure what to watch and looking for suggestions? Here are a few of my recommendations.

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No Rebirth for anyone, but a strong dose of delusion

Featuring a smart and savvy female protagonist, a healthy and supportive romantic relationship, strong supporting female characters, and an unrushed ending, this drama ended up exceeding my lackluster expectations. Delusional antagonists who took up a fair amount of screen time still made for an often frustrating watch, however.

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Quick Takes: Manage your expectations and you might enjoy Broker, Ni Chang

A couple of quick takes on two dramas I personally enjoyed — with lots of caveats. First is Broker, a very flawed and soapy corporate espionage drama for die-hard Luo Yunxi fans with a kick-ass Victoria Song. Second is Ni Chang, a historical costume drama that I ended up enjoying, perhaps because I went in with extremely low expectations and fully spoiled on who lived and who died.

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Counterpoint: I'm not quite Falling Into Your Smile

I wasn’t planning on writing anything about Falling Into Your Smile, but the particularly high rating it’s gotten on MyDramaList and Rakuten Viki by a statistically significant enough number viewers compelled me to offer a counterpoint.

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Wait, My Youth, infused with the bittersweet ache of nostalgia (Updated with A River Runs Through It)

This drama left a bittersweet ache in my heart other campus dramas never managed to pull off. Infused with a sense of nostalgia for the early 2000s where much of the story takes place, the drama centres around a group of five (later six) friends and their trials and tribulations from youth to adulthood over the course of a decade.

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Guys with Kids, a checklist of annoying tropes, frustrating characters

Have you ever watched a show so terrible you were compelled to actually write about it? This was that show for me. Guys with Kids was relentlessly, unmittigatingly, thoroughly frustrating from the get-go. The urge to share how ghastly it was, was so strong that I actually created a MyDramaList account just to pen this review.

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Luo Jin and Sun Li Will Find You A Better Home 安家 (卖房子的人)

I Will Find You A Better Home made it pretty high on my top 10 list. It turned out to be a surprising gem that I’m not sure will necessarily get much attention from viewers outside of China. If that’s the case, I am here to give it my whole-hearted endorsement.

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