Rollercoaster ride of emotions.
The story: The surviving daughter of the Lin family comes back to seek revenge, after her parents death.When I set foot on this drama I was mesmerized by the cast, the cinematography, back ground music and the acting. I immediately understood that this drama would be great to watch. Although the story starts in a very simple way we often see. This drama turns the avenging FL's plot to another level.
The Chemistry is off the charts and the love scenes between ML and FL was breathtaking. I could just blush seeing them getting close. And then We had some violent scenes following those sweet moments, make it a rollercoaster ride to watch.
So you have to buckle up because, like a lot of Chinese republican dramas, the world is full of dangers and the characters a subjected to them.
This drama also made me cry and I have to give them a good point for that. I was so into the story that I actually felt very bad for the characters.
I really liked the story of this bullied ML, whose resillience lead him to finally get justice. He reminded me of "The Count of Monte Cristo". Like him, Zhang Han Yi's patience and perseverance underline the idea that justice, although delayed, ultimately triumphs.
This drama was really a treat to me and despite having to close my eyes before the graphic violence at time, I enjoyed every bit of it.
Pros :
- Amazing Strategist FL and amazing genius incense master ML.
- Great witty and intelligent leads.
- The chemistry is top notch between the leads and also between the genereral and his sister.
- Belivable kiss scene. Frankly I was very happy the actors could deliver.
- The acting is great.
- Top notch quality : great directing and cinematography, acting, costumes hair and makeup...
- Surprising twist and turns. Some characters actions are very unique. I so them cross taboos in this show. (*_*)
- Like in all Republican Era dramas. Anything can happen, I mean really anything.
- Strategies and mind games were great to watch to me.
- Morals are good.
Cons :
- Graphic violence .
- The ending was justified but I would have liked another one.
- Stunt accesories and special effects makeup could have been handled differently.
Overall:
If you like a drama with great chemistry, a story that has a lot of twist and turns, with top notch technical quality and you can beare with some graphic violent scenes. This drama is for you.
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Gorgeous Drama Bogged Down By "TorturePron"
If you've ever wanted to watch a show where you question if the sole purpose by the end was to see JUST what they could get away with without being censored.... this is possibly your drama.Positives... The acting was mostly good, the cinematography was constantly good and the sound design was phenomenal.
Where it begins to fail is that it loses narrative structure as it devolves further and further into shock and awe territory.
By the end you are LITERALLY no longer even going "WTF" because by that point you've honestly seen it all. And I do mean this "LITERALLY" as for example... there is a scene of one guy urinating on another.
There are multiple triggers in this show and many of them are again seemingly only played for shock value with very little narrative need.
So... who is this show FOR?
If you are looking for something different.
If you are curious about just WHAT can be shown in mini dramas now apparently.
If you can suspend almost ALL sense of reality.
If the emotion you want to feel most is rage at the injustice of the world.
If you don't require a lot of skinship or "traditional" romantic trappings.
Final Rating: 7.5/10
The narrative is bogged down TOO much by all the shock value. If there had been less the rating would probably be higher as again, the production qualities were quite good.
Spoiler comment for more wtfery.
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One Thought - Horrific
Well I have never written any reviews till now but this one needs it to just warn the future viewersTotally agree with the review by @Amarina word by word
This one starts as a typical revenge story with a powerless but talented ML and a focused FL for revenge
We are given trailers on horrific acts by the villains in the intial episodes by generic horror acts like beating someone to death, assault and abuse of women and then abosulte horror of bludgeoning someone to death so the revenge thought feels justified but those type of trigger scenes doesnt stop
Story proceeds by some schemes by ML and FL who join hands to win against the main villain they do win to some extent to advance in their revenge but absolute horror starts by mid of the series
You can name an horrific act and it is shown here and it has absolutely no relevance to the story
Like humiliating women in public, gang s@@ assault, arson, electrocution, head shot, japanese men horror acts etc it was like WTF....
In the end FL gets her revenge but at the cost of someone's life sacrifice and audience cannot feel happy about it
There are some dark cdramas out here but this one needs a HORROR tag literally
Overall rated 6.0 just for the Cat and ML , FL acting
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Underrated
I don't usually write reviews, but I'll do so this time because I completely disagree with this series' rating. It's undoubtedly among the best short C-drama series in terms of story, production quality, and acting talent. We have two short c-dramas regulars, Lin Ze Hui and Hu Bo Wen, who this time present characters with traits that allow them to stand out (blindness in LZH's case; an interesting and complex personality in HBW's case). Carmen Tong, the FL, whom I hadn't previously heard of, also gives an excellent performance.I won't say much about the story; it's a classic revenge story, and it benefits from having three strong main villains to keep it interesting. Also noteworthy are our blind ML's action scenes; the creators of this show must have been watching Zatoichi or Daredevil movies...
It has its flaws, too: some cheap narrative tricks: twice, the viewer is led to believe the bad guys have caught up with the good guys' car, only to later be revealed that the good guys were actually in another car; and there's a rape scene that turns out to be a nightmare.
I suppose the low rating is due to the violence depicted, which is more graphic than usual in this type of series, and also to the somewhat sad ending. But for me, both elements contribute to, not detract from, the overall quality of the series.
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1A tale of fools' sacrifice
A smart person chooses strategy, not struggle .... but clearly the leads in this drama didn’t get the memo. Nothing about their situation was serious enough to justify the Olympic-level suffering they went through. Deaths, rapes, tragedies stacked like monthly EMI bills… all for what? It felt excessive, pointless, and honestly, badly written.And then there’s this old, haggard, wife beater who can't even erect his joystick . This impotent ( NOT IMPORTANT) man is literally unstoppable...nobody seems to be able to do anything about this disgusting pest. He’s out there burning houses, drowning kids, electrocuting women on stage, doing fraud, defaulting on business deals, shaking hands with national enemies , basically a walking crime buffet .... and what do the people fight him with? Punches and hairpins. Hairpins, babe. At this point it’s not a drama, it’s a comedy.
This man could’ve been deleted from the script in episode five with one well-aimed push down the stairs. But no~~~~~~ the production team dragged him all the way to the finale. Maybe they loved him too much. Maybe they owed him money. Who knows.
And then the ML… oh god.
Why is he reciting his tragic love story to the Japanese general? Was he trying to defeat him with boredom? “Here sir!! let me give you 30 minutes of emotional TED Talk so you leave the country voluntarily.”
Honestly… unimpressed. Severely.
Only the OST survived this disaster.
Spoiler: despite all this nonsense, the ML still dies in the end. The only thing he defeated was himself.
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Han Yi's stoic vulnerability is a paradox that made his character so attractive and well-written.
I admit that I only became interested in watching this show because of the blind male lead, but suprisingly, the characters played their role well enough. I just hoped there would have been more tenderness in their times together, especially in his vulnerable moments due to his blindness. The story didn't quite provide that because it became too fast and confusing all of a sudden. I also found the blatant disregard for drawing guns at each other very laughable.Although very little, those gentle scenes between Han Yi and Wanyue together were perfectly directed. Those small motions like their sweeping hand movements, touches, grips and sweet glances are so beautiful. Even without words, they embody their care for each other.
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The general plot is revenge, the romance doesn't have too much skin ship but the leads have an amazing chemistry. The 4 characters (main leads plus the siblings acted by Hu Bo Wen and Ma Qi Wen) gives different perspectives on how people have lived during their time. They have their own tragedies and sad endings. This is a tragic story but I like how they connected it to the harsh truth of the past.
It's one of the better mini historical c-dramas that at least makes some sense.
You should give it a try and not base your judgement on the low rating.
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Underrated masterpiece
I started this with low expectations because of the mixed reviews, but I was left utterly impressed and blown away!The directing and cinematography for this drama is top notch from start till finish. It was an emotional and cinematic experience that felt more like a movie rather than your typical short drama.
I liked that the ML and FL were equally matched in intelligence and maturity, they had complete trust in each other and supported each other throughout the series. The romance is slowburn and sensual, conveyed through tender words, sound, scent and touch since the ML can't see. The romance between the second leads was also very moving, I'm glad there was no annoying love triangle.
The sound direction is impeccable. Besides the nice OST, I love the very apt choice of soft music and some classical tunes that matched this era which saw a blend of western influence on traditional Chinese culture. The soft tinkling of bells, the pitter patter of raindrops, the munching of food -- little ASMR sounds like these are also amplified so you get to experience the world from the perspective of our blind male lead. I thought this was ingenious.
There's not a single bad actor in the cast, everyone gave a powerful performance. Lin Ze Hui has always been a good actor and he was convincing as a blind man here. This is my first time seeing the FL and I found her very charming.
In fact, one thing I noticed is the presence of several strong female characters in this drama. The women faced abuse and disrespect from men in that era, but they showed resilience and fought back in different ways. The ML was weak at the start, and he gradually becomes stronger with the support of these ladies.
I would have given this drama a 10/10 if not for the last 6 episodes where I felt the story started to become unbelievable. It wasn't nonsensical, I still get the logic but it needed more suspension of believe, and I felt the drama lost a bit of its original charm then. But otherwise, the story overall was very refreshing, meaningful and intelligently written with unexpected twists. This drama moved me to tears at several points, and this means it's really good since I'm not someone who cries easily when I watch shows.
Like other reviewers have mentioned, yes, this drama has a lot of explicit graphic violence, which is surprising. It was brutal, but I felt the violence was understandable considering the time period and the character setup. I got used to it after a while and as someone who can't watch gory stuff, I was able to watch this without having to skip or fast forward.
Will I watch this again? A big YES!
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