Okay, this is what I'm talking about. I'm so stoked right now because if you've read my review of episode 1, you'll know that I had numerous criticisms about the premiere of The Good Bad Mother which I feared would toss it right into the dreaded "Dropped" pile -- but episode 2 comes out swinging... Continue Reading →
A Jarring Jumpstart: ‘The Good Bad Mother’ ep 1 review
The moment that CGI pig wriggled in glee while falling in slow-mo towards a gleaming puddle should have been my cue to obliterate my original expectations for this drama -- but I didn't take the hint, so I truly have no one to blame but myself for the utter astonishment I felt during the premiere... Continue Reading →
Na Chul: Icon of a generation
I'd like to take this post to express my deepest sorrow and utmost condolences to the family and friends of the late Na Chul. He passed away just yesterday, on January 21, 2023. He will be greatly missed by his fans; I can only imagine the pain those close to him are feeling at this... Continue Reading →
Building A Bully: How ‘Weak Hero’ set up Beom Seok’s downfall from the start
Those to whom evil is doneDo evil in return. W. H. Auden, September 1, 1939 Spoiler warning: This post contains spoilers for 'Weak Hero Class 1'. Rating warning: This drama is rated R and the content discussed in the following paragraphs reflect that rating. Trigger warning: child abuse, bullying The moment I realized what Beom... Continue Reading →
‘The Golden Spoon’ character vignette: Why we love a morally gray protagonist
Spoilers ahead for episodes 1-4 of The Golden Spoon. Lee Seung Cheon -- as one sharp Asianwiki commenter put it -- is a morally gray protagonist. By that, I mean that his actions are not always what one might consider noble or conventionally good. His motivations are sometimes flat-out questionable; for instance, a couple of... Continue Reading →
Second Lead Syndrome is back, people: How ‘The Golden Spoon’ is breathing fresh life into a stale archetype
Episodes 1 and 2 of The Golden Spoon are hands-down the best premiere episodes I've seen recently. Which says a lot because I watch a...perfectly healthy amount of dramas, I swear. Honestly, it's doing too many things right to talk about all of them, so I've picked only one element of the drama to talk... Continue Reading →
How ‘Today’s Webtoon’ invalidated trauma (and infuriated an audience) in one episode
TW: child abuse Contains spoilers for Ep. 14 of Today's Webtoon. Like many viewers, episode 14 of Today's Webtoon deeply upset me. I can't possibly be the only one who feels this way, I thought while checking online to see what the world had to say. Sure enough, dozens of comments had already flooded in... Continue Reading →
‘Wannabe’ sucks viewers into the lives of its young rappers (Ep. 1 Review)
My original plan for the night was to be fast asleep at this very moment. But I made the fateful decision to begin Wannabe, and now I'm way too excited to sleep. To say the brand new Thai drama starts off strong is a heinous understatement: this first episode slaughters most drama premieres I've seen... Continue Reading →
‘Bad Genius: The Series’ would have been perfect if not for this sequence
<<This post contains spoilers for Bad Genius: The Series.>> In my previous post, I heartily praised the Bad Genius franchise, specifically the series. At the end of the post, however, I did tease me writing another post explaining the one element of the series I hated. Well, ladies and gents, the nail-biting wait is over.... Continue Reading →
‘Bad Genius’: Why the popular cheating thriller works better as a series
The 2017 Thai film Bad Genius follows four teenagers who scheme up a cheating racket worth millions of baht. The movie was an international hit and -- unsurprisingly -- was remade as a series three years later in 2020. [1] I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I sure as all get-out was not... Continue Reading →