Checked out this drama because I've literally ran out of things to watch lol and went in with pretty low expectations because of so many negative reviews. Tbh, it was not that bad. It wasn't an exceptional drama, but it wasn't terrible either. It was your average costume drama about the multiple realms with the familiar formula, that we've seen a thousand times, and will probably see again, including: - mandatory life and death tribulations that our leads have to go through; - clueless and overly naive and gullible leads; - repetitive misunderstandings over the dumbest things and when given a chance to explain the dang explanations get stuck in the throat or someone interrupts grrr; - infinite dragging filler scenes and flashbacks to explain the things we literally saw a few episodes back, yet for some reason the writers think we suffer from memory loss; - the famous ''I'm gonna hurt you to protect you, and I'll explain it later, but oops, I ended up killing you, and when you reincarnated again I still decided to act by myself and not tell you sh*t'' trope; - the ''righteous'' individuals with the superiority complex being the true villains of the story; - and many others that I don't recall at the moment.
Of course it had its good parts, I LOVED the friendship of the main crew and sisterhood of the FL & SFL, as well as the powerful comeback of our FL with a no nonsense attitude and low-key pettiness, especially for the ML, very satisfying to watch. I felt bad for the ML tbh, but still, part of me was glad she acted the way she acted, call me petty 😁
What surprised me more than anything though is the unified hate towards the ML, lmao I think it's the first time everyone bashes the ML, usually the FL always gets all the hate, bruh, that was unexpected. I had to turn off the timed comments on Viki from time to time because I got tired of people complaining about his looks, his costumes, about his acting every 5 minutes literally the whole 40 episodes, the level of toxicity is ridiculous! I understand that this probably comes from Lusi's fanbase - that were expecting another project similar to LLTG maybe, or they just got mad she wasn't paired with another famous actor of their liking, idk...everyone has their opinion which I'm cool with, but when things get outright disrespectful, it's not cool anymore...like why watch something you clearly have a problem with and feel the need to complain about it the whole length of the drama? THAT is something I'll never understand. While I do consider that this is quite a repetitive role for ZLS, oh well, no one is allergic to money I guess, and it's not like this is a tantalising or disgraceful project so y'all haters need to relax. It is my first time seeing the actor who plays the ML, but I wouldn't say he is a bad choice, I think he, along with the majority of the cast, gave very good performances and embodied their roles perfectly. I have no problem with the actor at all, but I wasn't a fan of his character, kind of spineless imo, but it's not the worst out there, I've seen way more toxic MLs (which did not get even the tenth part of this hate btw lol). Granted I enjoyed the stories of other supporting characters way more, like the Nether World and Ghost King dudes, the SML and the Eagle bestie etc, but all in all, it did not take away from the story, but made it better by giving more dimension and personality to the supporting characters. Will I watch it again? Nope. Did it need to be 40 ep long? Hell no!
So, in conclusion, definitely not the series of my first choice, but I watched it as background no brainer while doing other things, which was perfect, and maybe that is why I did not get so aggravated and negative about it. Pretty settings and beautiful costumes, good performance from the cast and a happy ending, cool with me.
Well, let's hope even if the trailer isn't very striking, the drama would be otherwise.I've been fooled by trailers…
Yep same here, I've also seen way too many misleading trailers, that is why I'm still pretty excited about it, plus we got to see a sneak peek after all 😁
Personally, as much as I love romance, the moment they made the leads' relationship and romance the focal point…
Sure, I understand your point and it is a good point. However, personally I'll always take into account the ending of the drama when rating it, because of my own time spent and emotional investment while watching it as well as money spent on the subscription + VIP package for early access and + Express package, but it's usually from 0.5 to 1 star difference, it should not go from 10 stars to 4 stars just because of the ending, I agree with you here. Of course the cast & crew deserve a lot of recognition for the amount of work they've put, that is why I rated this one 8.5 ⭐ for a various of reasons. I consider it a good rating. I don't think anyone here questions the performance of the main cast, but that being said, of course any drama will be criticised and dissected by the viewers, especially the ending, cause it's literally the culmination of the show and the ''result of the exam'' in a way. The problem is that some viewers are a bit extreme in their positions, spreading hate and misinformation, and that is perhaps the problem...idk
The romance focused audience is the most blind audience that doesn’t focus on detail, a destroyer of good ratings…
Personally, as much as I love romance, the moment they made the leads' relationship and romance the focal point of the story, it kind of lost the charm for me. I thought their love will be a parallel/subtle thing, and the focus will be on revenge and redeeming, but we got another dramatic torturous story, the ML was so very intriguing at first, it's a pity it went in the direction it went. As for the happy or sad ending, I think it's only in human nature to seek HE, as we get emotionally attached to the characters and naturally wish them to have a happy ending. Real life does not have happy ending most of the time, that is why we are watching dramas as a distraction from everyday problems. But of course, everyone's opinions are subjective as it should be, that's my take on things
Well, what can I say? After production of "The Double" turned novel's HE into drama's BE, than did last minute…
Yup, from now on I'll just stay away from ongoing dramas and start them after they finish it and it has a decent ending. Thank my days that it was 32 episodes only...I shutter to think what 40 would do to us...
Phew, finally finished this freaking drama!! I kid you not y'all, it was like a dark cloud looming over me these days 🌧️. Now that it's out of my system I can move on (aka go cry in the corner again😭) Hope to see our leads reunite in another drama, preferably a romantic comedy🙏
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Tbh, it was not that bad. It wasn't an exceptional drama, but it wasn't terrible either.
It was your average costume drama about the multiple realms with the familiar formula, that we've seen a thousand times, and will probably see again, including:
- mandatory life and death tribulations that our leads have to go through;
- clueless and overly naive and gullible leads;
- repetitive misunderstandings over the dumbest things and when given a chance to explain the dang explanations get stuck in the throat or someone interrupts grrr;
- infinite dragging filler scenes and flashbacks to explain the things we literally saw a few episodes back, yet for some reason the writers think we suffer from memory loss;
- the famous ''I'm gonna hurt you to protect you, and I'll explain it later, but oops, I ended up killing you, and when you reincarnated again I still decided to act by myself and not tell you sh*t'' trope;
- the ''righteous'' individuals with the superiority complex being the true villains of the story;
- and many others that I don't recall at the moment.
Of course it had its good parts, I LOVED the friendship of the main crew and sisterhood of the FL & SFL, as well as the powerful comeback of our FL with a no nonsense attitude and low-key pettiness, especially for the ML, very satisfying to watch. I felt bad for the ML tbh, but still, part of me was glad she acted the way she acted, call me petty 😁
What surprised me more than anything though is the unified hate towards the ML, lmao I think it's the first time everyone bashes the ML, usually the FL always gets all the hate, bruh, that was unexpected. I had to turn off the timed comments on Viki from time to time because I got tired of people complaining about his looks, his costumes, about his acting every 5 minutes literally the whole 40 episodes, the level of toxicity is ridiculous!
I understand that this probably comes from Lusi's fanbase - that were expecting another project similar to LLTG maybe, or they just got mad she wasn't paired with another famous actor of their liking, idk...everyone has their opinion which I'm cool with, but when things get outright disrespectful, it's not cool anymore...like why watch something you clearly have a problem with and feel the need to complain about it the whole length of the drama? THAT is something I'll never understand. While I do consider that this is quite a repetitive role for ZLS, oh well, no one is allergic to money I guess, and it's not like this is a tantalising or disgraceful project so y'all haters need to relax.
It is my first time seeing the actor who plays the ML, but I wouldn't say he is a bad choice, I think he, along with the majority of the cast, gave very good performances and embodied their roles perfectly. I have no problem with the actor at all, but I wasn't a fan of his character, kind of spineless imo, but it's not the worst out there, I've seen way more toxic MLs (which did not get even the tenth part of this hate btw lol).
Granted I enjoyed the stories of other supporting characters way more, like the Nether World and Ghost King dudes, the SML and the Eagle bestie etc, but all in all, it did not take away from the story, but made it better by giving more dimension and personality to the supporting characters.
Will I watch it again? Nope. Did it need to be 40 ep long? Hell no!
So, in conclusion, definitely not the series of my first choice, but I watched it as background no brainer while doing other things, which was perfect, and maybe that is why I did not get so aggravated and negative about it. Pretty settings and beautiful costumes, good performance from the cast and a happy ending, cool with me.
However, personally I'll always take into account the ending of the drama when rating it, because of my own time spent and emotional investment while watching it as well as money spent on the subscription + VIP package for early access and + Express package, but it's usually from 0.5 to 1 star difference, it should not go from 10 stars to 4 stars just because of the ending, I agree with you here.
Of course the cast & crew deserve a lot of recognition for the amount of work they've put, that is why I rated this one 8.5 ⭐ for a various of reasons. I consider it a good rating. I don't think anyone here questions the performance of the main cast, but that being said, of course any drama will be criticised and dissected by the viewers, especially the ending, cause it's literally the culmination of the show and the ''result of the exam'' in a way. The problem is that some viewers are a bit extreme in their positions, spreading hate and misinformation, and that is perhaps the problem...idk
As for the happy or sad ending, I think it's only in human nature to seek HE, as we get emotionally attached to the characters and naturally wish them to have a happy ending. Real life does not have happy ending most of the time, that is why we are watching dramas as a distraction from everyday problems.
But of course, everyone's opinions are subjective as it should be, that's my take on things
Now that it's out of my system I can move on (aka go cry in the corner again😭)
Hope to see our leads reunite in another drama, preferably a romantic comedy🙏