The journey of two brilliant enemies towards forgiveness, trust, peace and LOVE❣️❣️
This drama is not only bingeworthy and brilliant but also highly rewatchable. Its very hard for a drama to be both! Its going in my list of all time favorites.Plot -
The plot is your enemy families entering a truce via marriage alliance. So it involves two people highly suspicious of each other playing games to secure the position of their people. The male lead has an upper hand in this alliance in the beginning but the female lead is sharp enough to turn the tide many times. How they are able to preserve their loyalty and principles while moving forward to a new direction with their alliance is the most interesting part of the show that will have you DYING IN ANTICIPATION. To what extent will they side with each other ? How close will the new challenge end up making them? Will they be torn apart due to their duties? Who will outwit whom? Which allies will join them? This drama is an adrenaline adventure. Yet, it is beautifully paced to make it deep enough to leave you with some thought provoking LIFE LESSONS.
Humor -
The humor is an underrated and underappreciated part of the drama. They have done a brilliant 👏 job with balancing it with the political tension.
Romance -
Natural, slow paced, believable and magnetic 🧲 . Every smile, every touch, little act of kindness and development gives you butterflies 🦋 🦋 in the stomach. None of the characters have an "immediate" or unbelievable change of heart. None of them broke the consistency of their character during the romantic development phase which makes them the most detailed and well written main characters in cdramaland. You empathise with both and you end up rooting for both of them.
Acting and characters - 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Both characters are quite mature . Its refreshing!
The Male lead has beautifully expressed the ruthlessness of a general, traumas of a son, cynicism and hatred of an enemy and tenderness of a lover.
The female lead is just a treat to watch. She's the water that exhausts the fire and the sea that is calming but has the ability to bring a hurricane. She plays a peacemaker and a strategist that has been sent to the husband TO STOP WAR or at least create circumstances to make sure that the war doesn't immediately break out. Its pretty obvious to the ML's clan but not many of his advisors hate her for it because her untimate goal is peace and prosperity of people. She's very responsible and rational minded with her goals.👸
The actress effortlessly played this intelligent woman but also SHOWED HER VULNERABILITY with much grace and brilliance. Sometimes, they make characters like her too perfect taking away their "human" nature and making them Gods. That isn't the case with this drama. She's imperfect and vulnerable at many times
Both sides have troublemakers and peacemakers.
The villains are so realistic that they will remind you of actual historical characters or people in your own life. A lot of them are grey as well and you are able to see things from their perspective.
The bonds between the ML and his brothers has a special place in my heart. The same goes for the "sister alliance" of the FL.
THE ONLY DOWNSIDE IS THE LAST 4 EPISODES.. Hated the last 4 episodes.
All in all, its one of the most memorable dramas I have seen in my life if I exclude the last 4 episodes
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An undercover Agent in school, battling Corruption and Nepotism
The drama is mostly light and an easy watch. It didn't try hard to become extra complex and that works very well for it. I like the simplicity of this mystery.All the actors have good chemistry with each other and the lead couple is cute together.
The drama has the following -
1) undercover agent unraveling school mysteries
2) a cute love story
3) School relationships and teenage troubles
4) Very strong villains
5) Theme revolving around classism in Korea
Its basically the battle of righteous people against THE CORRUPT AND THE PRIVILEGED.
It was such an easy watch. Very clean and simple. Definitely a little unrealistic but it was a light comedy afterall. Loved it ❣️
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Fighting fate and prejudice. The great tale of discovering courage
Liu Yuning, you have done it Again!! 👏Plot - The FL enters a world which she thinks she knows very well until nothing makes sense anymore.
Comedy - The plot parodies all the intense and high voltage romances/romantic tragedies cdrama lovers have seen. The comedy has chaos and elements of slapstick humor. The satire is very enjoyable
Characters🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
The FL is represents pessimists. She is practical and is quite good self preservation. She doesn't believe that the rotten system will change but she strives hard to protect her own people.
The ML represents optimists. He believes that he can change the system but suffers a lot in the fight along with like minded people (the nightwalkers).
Towards the end, we see a lot of growth in both characters and the transformation is WORTH THE WAIT
1) Ep 1- 10 - You are introduced to the script world which doesn't match the initial impression of how the characters are supposed to act. The FL fully entertains you with her quirks and she's quite comedically SELF CENTERED
2) Ep 10 -20 - Unexpected new characters are introduced which give more depth to the shallow and cliché script of the scriptwriter. We are charmed by the alter ego of the ML and his real personality starts to unveil itself. The FL stops herself from fully immersing into the world and believes more in the reality/script she read herself than the events or changes in this "fake world". She is quite DETACHED HERE and I believe that's realistic for her character. She still sees the world from the lense of an "outsider"
3) ep 20 -30 - You are pulling your hair out as audience and your heart cries BECAUSE OF INJUSTICE. The best part of this tortorous phase is that the Nightwalkers fully shine here. They are the very soul of this drama.❣️❣️ If you enjoy friendships, you will be able to immerse yourself here despite the pain
4) 30 -40 - This is all about confrontation, romance ❣️❣️confessions, healing and THRILL. A new twist/character enters the world. The chaos that he brings with him will have you on the edge of your seats ...especially in the last 5-6 episodes.
Overall, this drama was worth it for me!! There were times when it slowed down and I believe 30 episodes woukd have been ideal for it but I don't regret watching it and I fully recommend it to others.
FATE CAN CHANGE...IF YOU HAVE COURAGE!!
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BINGEWORTHY General lovebirds ❣️❣️
The premise revolves around the female general and her struggles to achieve greatness. She meets a male general who wants to restore his father's honor and their lives get TANGLED beautifully .The ML is such a treat to watch. Its hard not to fall for him ❣️ He is a great general, very calm, composed and seasoned at playing politics.
The FL is a true match. She's brave, loyal and extremely resourcefull.
Both of them have a SIZZLING CHEMISTRY with each other. FIRE ON FIRE 🔥
The pacing of this drama is great. The episodes aren't too long and its probably one of the greatest strength. I must applaud the editors of this drama for making it bingeworthy...even though I think they could have made the episode transition a bit more seamless.
One thing I truly enjoyed about the drama was the fact that the female lead is FULL OF LIFE. They didn't suck out her charm and naughty attitude to make the character hypermasculine in the most boring way. They retained her feminine charm too...which makes her unrealistic but absolutely ENTERTAINING TO WATCH. I don't care about realism here because the actress has done such a good job with quirky attitude.
It also some elements of
1) enemies to lovers ...
2) Student mentor romance
3) Introvert extrovert romance
So I can confidently say that they have NAILED the romantic aspect of the drama.
As for action 🎬, I did enjoy the action choreography quite a lot. Even the sword dancing was beautifully choreographed. It leaves you in awe of the character.
The politics is not not packed heavily in the plot so you won't get bored with it but necessary sub plots are there and those are very important to keep people engaged in the ultimate battle of wits!
I enjoyed a drama this much AFTER A LONG TIME! Highly recommended
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COORNDINATED BOT ATTACK ON GENUINE AND NEGATIVE REVIEWS OF THIS DRAMA
Cringe acting, Unnecessary scenes of SA in a low quality script riding on BL dopamine and politics (this was the original title)Is there a way to somehow report harassment on MDL because I wrote this review long ago but have to update a lot because this is very different from other drama fandoms....there is constant harassment. Sometimes, one person replies twice or thrice under one comment and these are generally hostile. (There's also clever attempt to call people homophobic for saying that no means no ...even if its a man assaulting a man ans there's no need to whitewash or downplay or romanticise it)
The script has the quality of those 5 minute short dramas. Its pathetic. Its straight up rejected wattpad script.
I agree with Sarina's review here because this entire community is busy in BURYING AND DOWNPLAYING R*P* . The ML is actually orders gang rap* of a man in the first episode. This pretty much establishes his personality in the beginning and he has zero concept of consent for his partner.
Later on, he violates the consent and body of the ML many times and as pointed out by several people here, he does it many times after first episode.
The PR of this drama is busy in defending that by telling people that its actually like watching murder mysteries when its not! The script portrays him AS A ROMANTIC LEAD and not as a r@p*st. If this drama was about a r@p*st then, I would have agreed with them. Its quite shocking that people are being shamed for having basic respect for the character's dignity and autonomy.
🌟The PR is even comparing it some of the most well written things you have seen on TV and cinema.. for example, game of thrones, Godfather and other genres which AREN'T ROMANCE genre at all and even the writer might feel ashamed of a rejected wattpad script being compared to it by the PR. GOT shows incest,grooming of minors in times in fake land and nobody romanticises it "ships" them together unless they are in the same relationship in alabama and need some coping. This drama romanticises lack of consent and abuse. People want to see them "together happy forever" . They also have the audacity to compare ancient barbarians with MODERN ROMANCE which is a testament to the fact thar the ML has acted like a barbarians in matters of consent. This is early onset of complete madness. The denial of romanticisation of rapist and abuse is very real🌟
To add to this, every valid criticism of reinforcement of the most toxic and mysogynistic themes and romanticisation of it has been hit with the most immature "bl vs non bl" argument. Of course, sinophobia (quite obvious even for a non chinese like me) and political drama between west and east is also a part of this discourse which adds to the popularity of this drama. There's a lot of people who believe that they are fighting Chinese govt and its okay to support the abuse and mysogyny in this fight against the chinese govt. They have been using "China will ban it" 🚫 as a marketing campaign for this drama to create hype. Romanticisation of abusers while pretending to be allies is nasty. This is not it. That's counterproductive and anti progress. Genuine reviewers are being harassed for not liking this drama because
🌟1) they found the acting to be loud an cringy
🌟2) the script romanticises abuser and the direction tries to whitewash his character which is a valid criticism of both writing as well as direction
🌟3) It was marketed as a funny drama but honestly, other than being cringy, its very disturbing as well.Its hard to laugh at at an abusive relationship or an abuser. So, a lot of people didn't find it funny.
(You can see that almost all negative reviews of this drama which give relevant points about why they were put off by it, are harassed)
Otherwise, its nowhere close to the the BLs that have come out this year...let alone being called the best BL of all times ☠️
The discourse that romanticises all problems and boring part of this drama has been dominated by non cdrama or non asian audience on western social media and that's where I recieved my recommendation from. I excitedly DIVED INTO IT WITH CHILDLIKE HAPPINESS UNTIL THIS DRAMA GOT BORING, CRINGE AND PROBLEMATIC (which started from the very first episode). PR has been asking for support by exploiting the sentiments of a lot of folks which is why you will see that not only the drama but the horrendous original work of the author also has widespread support among international audience.
It has terribly high rating because international fans consider it "China's BL comeback"
when in reality, its just a comeback of mysogyny, abuse,age old concept of patriarchy but most importantly (for drama audience) hostile marketing of LOW QUALITY PRODUCTS😔The women defending all of this are laughable.
If you are one of those women who get excited by two men being all over each other and your entire pull depends on sexual chemistry.. ..or you are a teen, you might enjoy it. That too, isn't as great as some Thai BLs to be honest.
This should also have some tags like 🚫 "Ra***t romanticisation". I know that would be quite bold but if they can show it, why not say it?
This drama definitely doesn't deserve a rating of 8.9 ....the rating at best should be at 4 at best though I don't even consider it worth watching !! If you like some quality in scripts, stay away from it.
Its highly disappointing!
I dropped this in the first half.
There's a lot of overrated chinese dramas here and I have called them out but this one takes the cake for being the most overrated if we consider its rating and quality
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Extremely satisfying . This is therapy!
This drama is like one of those incredibly memorable older kdramas...when the stories used to be refreshing and every episode had some new tale to tell. This is what I was missing 😭The little stories have my heart ❤️
The plot is engaging and the female character is incredibly gripping.
The FL is very direct, business minded and a complex mixture of good and evil like human beings. She is sadistic and I LOVE THAT. Its almost therapeutic to see her doing her job.
The ML, He is nice but for how long? His patience is repeatedly tested and you wonder how that will affect his thinking.
Together, they make a unique and interesting duo. Man, I totally want them to end up together happily but I don't know if that's possible.
I can't wait for upcoming episodes. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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Shaman to the rescue of her first love. Beware of second lead syndrome
Plot - I am not a teen and this is targeted towards young audience but the reason I liked it is because I LOVE GHOST COMEDIES. The plot revolves around a young shaman who wishes to protect people from evil,especially her high school crush.Characters
FL - The FL is cute and your usual chirpy FL.
ML - He's ...as usual a ML with a sad past who has some specific thing that can only be cured by the FL 🤣 .
Okayy....Wow! That twist...his character gets an interesting twist around ep 6. It gives the ML more charm and makes his character shine fully.
2nd ML - I love his personality. He's a great friend and a man with 💪 strong chi. So, he can give you a major 2nd lead syndrome.
Overall, the drama has-
1) family bond/family troubles
2) ghosts
3) Good shamans and evil shamans
4) High school friendhips and love
Its a decent drama. I am liking it a lot more than I expected. Its a pleasant surprise. It did give me some nostalgia as I used to love korean Ghost romantic comedies (that was a whole genre at some time). ❣️❣️
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CRINGE, MUSHY AND OVERRATED
There's so much that I didn't like about this drama BUT THE BROTHER ISN'T ONE OF THEM. LOVED the brother ❣️The relationship is creepy. He had seen her as a little girl and she had barely matured as a human when he started liking her.
What's funny is that they wanted to portray her as "an adult" but the actress really acted like a 15-16 year in the romance scenes making it soo much uncomfortable for me to watch. What's with the BABYING?
Its for teens but I hope they don't learn anything from this drama. She git married a little too early as well.
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Its the Xianxia you wished for
1) The plot is well tied2) The romance is satisfying
3) The chemistry is electrifying.
4) The story is divided into 3 main phases - the pre love, the post love and post awakening ...All three phases are well cooked and you don't lose interest after phase one ends but my interest mostly disappeared after phase 2
5) I JUST LOVE THE FLIRTING and that's the biggest strength of this drama.
Cons - Its too long. It should have been 24 episodes.
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The Gold standard for mythology inspired dramas
I couldn't hold myself back from writing this review. I started watching this drama as a FILLER while I waited for some kdrama. I don't care about the kdrama anymore because this xianxia has exceeded my expectations in every way.My only problem with it is that ITS WAYY TOO LONG for my attention span.
1) Acting - if you have cringed at some highly marketed xianxia with actors selling eccentricism and loudness as "good acting", this drama is for you. Both the leads have made the characters extremely believable and have picked up the nuances so well. They are SEASONED actors ! By that, I simply mean, they know a lot more than screaming to show great pain, widening their eyes to show anger and staring into each other's eyes to show love. Its a treat to watch them. As for the side characters, many of them are exceptional actors while some are slightly weaker but serve their purpose (comical). IF FU RONG WANTS A LAWYER FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE...I am available!
2) Story - Its surpassed any mythology inspired chinese (and korean) dramas I have seen. Many dramas have used similar tropes but they failed to do justice to it like this drama does. They let the story breathe in the beginning and take time with character introduction of the FL but manage to not make it boring. The female lead is ferocious yet very level headed. As for the ML, his complex character is introduced a few episodes later and kept slightly simpler as we are focusing on the FL's journey in the beginning. This God needs to write a book called "HOW TO BECOME A GREAT GOD" and that is all I will say about him. The side characters also had interesting arcs but never overshadowed the main story. The politics between the realms (which is the boring part of xianxias in general) is surprisingly engaging here and serves as a perfect tool to move the story forward. The romance is THE SLOW BURN kind of romance but I wouldn't have preferred it in any other way.The writers did a great job.
3) Music : They have used elements of chinese folk music and that's my favorite. The flute music is quite beautiful as well. There's a perfect description of the flute music in the drama which I won't spoil for you. If the story is a bowl of ramen, the music is MSG.
4) SPECIAL EFFECTS - This is where I will give it a 5/10 but that's because I am comparing it to some movies and high budget shows. For a chinese wuxia, its pretty good. This would have reached a much larger global audience had the CGI been great.
overall, its a great drama and I highly recommend it. I wish to add a few more points but I shall have to wait for it to end which will be a bitter sweet experience regardless of the happy/sad ending.
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As BORING as it is hyped
This has to be one of the most anticipated and the most disappointing dramas for mePros -
1) Production - high production quality and the set design is very vibrant. The clothes the FL wears are high end luxury brands and she rocks all those styles pretty well.
2) Marketing- The marketing is very desperate and strong. Cameos are used well. Overall, this drama has a lot of money power behind it. Lol! I wish they used some of that to make the script less cringe and messy
Edit : I feel obligated to say that Gwak Dong Yeon is one actor with amazing potential along with the main villain. These two are deserving of good scripts and main roles.
Cons -
1) Acting- I felt like the actors were underutilized. There is little to no depth in their acting and I have liked some of their previous work quite a lot. Both seem to fair well in ONLY one kind of role (FL being feisty and quirky and the ML being cold on the outside and a puppy on the inside kind of roles). They were somewhat in their safe/ comfort zone in this drama but I am not particularly moved by their acting in this one.
THE SUPPORTING CAST OUTSHINES THE MAIN LEADS. The villains are great at expressing trauma, duality, disgust with the elite, hatred and lack of empathy.
The main villain is the best part of the show
2) story- BORING and all over the place ! They have tried very hard to give an obviously toxic relationship a romantic turn and I am not buying it. I am not too fond of the chemistry between the leads. I guess the intent was to show a "push and pull" or "love break and redemption " type of chemistry but they failed. The FL'S brother and his "wife" surprisingly managed to create more tension and that kind of anticipation even with very limited screentime so far and it is because there are too many unnecessary side stories going on. I do not care about the main leads divorcing or breaking up anymore.
3) Direction - as I mentioned above, the villains and side characters have faired well but even their acting potential wasn't fully utilised. Some scenes were quite well done while others seemed unnecessarily theatrical. Dear director, try to make it subtle.
Overall, its a 5/10 considering its budget and heavy marketing.
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A Great adventure story with a pinch of romance
Firstly, the viewers need to set their expectations right for this drama. This isn't a fully romance based drama. Its about the adventures of a demon hunter and the life of his partner Banxia. The romance forms a small but sweet part of this story. Much like Sugar in tea.🌟Plot -
1) The plot involves various cases and every case brings fresh demons, little stories and lessons
2) The relationship between the leads develop as they solve cases together and the romance brews extremely slowly but naturally.
3) The side characters also show a lot of growth and they aren't written carelessly. One of the my fav characters is the law enforcement officer.
4) The mystery of the past lives of the leads unravels slowly .
🌟Acting -
Allen Ren has an eye for good scripts. He acted quite naturally and effortlessly, as he does in every drama. The female lead cries so convincingly and she is good at emotional scenes. The only weakness of both leads is comedy but its hidden quite well in this drama. The constable and her "fiance" stood out to me a lot. Especially ❤Fan Shuai Qi ❤(officer Sima)!She has a very magnetic presence and managed to capture my interest in her character within 5 minutes. I hope to see her as a lead very soon ❣️
Why I ended up dropping this drama? ...its the same old reason for me. THIS IS WAYYY TOO LONG.The pacing is not bad though I believe, it could have been faster. 30 episodes would have worked amazingly for this drama.
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Watchable but badly executed
Boring investigation cases have ruined the plot.The drama needed to be only 24 episodes with 30 min per episode for it to be fabulous
The ML lacks personality.
The FL is slightly annoying with her cute acting but the actress has some charm
The most standout performance and show stealer is Yang Shi Ze. He's got a magnetic screen presence. Would love to see him in a main role
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First love, separation, trauma and undying devotion
Let me just start by saying that this drama absolutely bingeworthy but It doesn'thave much rewatch value for me. I liked A LOT better than hidden love which seemed like it was made for teens. This one is more mature than that. Is it funny and light? Yes! Its mostly light depsite heavy themes.Plot - The plot is about two individuals and their journey from school to being working professionals. Its also about class differences, social deprivation, orphaned children and frienship but most importantly, its about the OLD SCHOOL ROMANCE and EVERLASTING LOVE
My only complaint is, the ML is a fantasy. His objectives aren't convincing enough realistically. However, he is perfectly enjoyable if you see it as a fairytale.
Romantic chemistry- I can see BJT doing heavylifting for the first 14 episodes at least. So, its Slowburn but still very watchable because of the angst. The ML is like the sun 🌞 in a dark and cold forest for her...
Direction and editing - the Style of direction is the highlight of this drama. The colors used gives you a feeling of a cozy blanket on a cold night. The darkness in dingy rooms is used well to describe the horrors and darkness in the character's life. Still, the overall vibe is deliberately kept warm and light. There are certain scenes where violence is not explicitly shown but the director has cleverly used blood and aftermath for impact.
The placement of the past SCHOOL memories is also excellent.
Acting- BJT is good as usual. However, I have seen him performing better in other dramas. The ML is slightly one dimensional for him to fully shine. Will you fall in love with him all over again? Absolutely! He made his character VERY DIFFERENT FROM SANG YAN FROM HIDDEN LOVE but still close to the novel lead. After 16 eps, I can't imagine any other actor doing it. The Female lead is pretty but needs improvement in the acting department. She is perfectly watchable but her character had IMMENSE scope for a good actor. There's so much she could have done. The co actors are all decent but the ones that particularly shine in the acting department are the mom of the FL and the little sister of ML. The LITTLE GIRL has done a fantastic job.
The second lead couple is also cute and enough time has been given for their story to grow properly. I liked that.
Interestingly, i end up dropping many dramas that are slow paced or have 32 episodes, but I KEEP COMING BACK TO THIS ONE. It has that x factor
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Enjoyable drama with heart touching moments
Plot - the plot has teenage love, misunderstandings, separation and reunion.Actors - Both couples (the young and the older ones) have given their best. They have chemistry and the supporting cast has meaty roles. The negative character will make you want to rip your hair out. Basically, all of the actors have done a great job and it is the biggest strength of this drama. The choice of the director for the younger couple is especially worth praising.
This drama is not a thriller so there is obviously some level of guessing that a viewer can do. It still has the ability to surprise you with a new "point of view" of the characters. You get to unravel their emotions and that journey makes the show interesting.
Overall, I found it to be enjoyable and it delivered more than what I expected from it.
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