not the way I expected
I haven’t finished the drama, I stopped it at 22 but still wanted to give it all the credits that it deservesnote : this is not enemies to lovers story
first, the story is interesting.., that “romeo and juliet” vibes
and the actors did great job in it
why I dropped it? because I lost interest too fast.., here’s the things that kept uninterested episodes after episodes
the series started promising with its political turbulent times especially with the wei and qiao families and how they were enemies for years
then the marriage alliance comes to pacify this tension between the families
just for us to see the growing romance between the leads.., even their tension didn’t last long only a couple of episodes
then what after all that? because I want to see a good political plot line but all i see is characters personal development and their lifes
even the villains wasn’t interesting enough to keep me going on
in my opinion the premise of this story and that shakespearan vibes of it would be good on historical kdrama.., i have seen historical kdramas with a closer plot and they were very good at focusing on the politics, romance, acting, action etc
but I definitely understand why people loved it tho
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“Shine or go crazy” indeed!!!
I will start this review by saying “I am shocked by the results”This historical kdrama is not like any historical kdrama nor does it have the “usual” atmosphere of what makes it a historical kdrama
it’s more similar to a historical “cdrama” to me which is why I find it interesting
then I discovered that the drama is based on a web novel then I knew why it looks similar to these cdramas since the web novel culture dominated by the Chinese writers.
now for the story, it’s about the wang family of goryeo and the aftermath of achieving their dream of uniting Korea under one nation,
here you have the wang geon children battling for the throne, and some political parties that against the wang children
which is their uncle who contributed to the unification and wanted his share of the throne
so it’s a family battlefield.., then you have shin yule who is a merchant from a fallen kingdom “balhae” …, she got involved in this fight of the throne
story wise it’s so interesting and beautiful to witness
the characters all played their roles right and made me both love and hate them
the acting was great by the mains
the music is a top tier.., arguably the best historical drama In music
I loved many historical observations in the drama
like how wang so loves another woman besides his Wife and queen
another one is shin yule and how is she a from a fallen kingdom.., balhae at that time was absorbed completely by goryeo so she’s being in the story as a balhae person not something off from historical standpoint view
the insane chemistry between the triangle Wang so , shin yule , hwangbo is just a chef’s kiss man
the only thing I don’t like is I think it’s short despite being 24 episodes.., I think the drama should’ve been 28-29 episodes but overall the writers did so well
the drama title “shine or go crazy” is the best title I’ve ever seen in any drama
because it represents the heart of the story overall
how the characters interact, fights, survive, love, hate etc
either it will shine or go completely crazy
no middle ground unfortunately and that’s why the story is so bitter
the shift in tone from the first 12 episodes into an emotional poetic one is something I didn’t realize I needed.., kdrama rarely has a poetic tone like cdrama has but this drama did a good job with it
the symbolism, parallels, characters destinies, the irony, and so on
“In love with it”
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sorry
How should I start? Since a long time and I heard about this Nirvana in fire and how “Great” it isI mean the rate itself being 9 out of 12k users says alot 🤷🏻♂️
so I started it .., and suddenly surprised that it was a revenge story disguised in political battles
The worst kind of any revenge stories in my opinion
because that’s will minimize the political weight and its moral impact over the nation
you don’t see a political battle or ideology
you see a man disguising himself just to revenge on his nation
this premise disappointed me
the other thing is the storyline of his revenge story and how it unfolds .., he will keep coming to the weakest to the strongest in order
so the story is already predictable from the start and you just wait and see how each character will die.., this is also what was bugging me so much about it
it reminds of a harem dramas where the main female character going against other females harem to defeat them until she wins
but here it’s a male version
the characters are okay .., the acting was not it sorry.., he gu character without any emotions so I couldn’t emphasize with him
the things I loved in the drama
the mind games between the characters.., it was fun ngl
the ending music
the females characters and their stories
“not that great”
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This review may contain spoilers
Great Journey for a Great Queen
This is not a simple drama.., it’s a journey full of emotionsanger , joy , sadness, satisfaction , tension
Can be your greatest historical drama depends on what you enjoy most.., for me I dont have problem call it my favorite historical drama since it contains all the elements I love in a single drama
great story with a sorrowful tone and them, top tier political thriller and power struggles.., great characters in an upheaval times that understands what they are doing
has one of the greatest villains ever “Misil” and its followers
facing the best character in the whole show “Deokman” we’ve seen her youth until her last breath
tho the drama has dramatic liberties for some characters but that doesn’t change how realistic the drama was
every episode carries emotion with it until you feel sad that you’re going to finish it one day
this kind of feeling tells you how great the drama to you was
my favorite characters :
1- Deokman
2- misil
3- kim yu sin
4- Bidam
there are also many good characters like misaeng , munno , chun chu and his mother
seolwan and all misil children , jukbang and all the hwarang
literally all the characters
if you love politics and wars with a touch of melodrama then this is it
“the best”
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Best Romantic-action Xianxia ever?
The best xianixa in a long time.., This drama delivered in all its aspects from Romance, action, politics, plot twists, fights and even musicThe acting is so refreshing especially The leads
ming Yi and Ji bozai are the best couple in 2025 Cdramas without a single doubt
it’s a great show that makes you want to watch the next episode every time
I honestly don’t have any negative things about it
perfect score for me
“entering my top list”
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enjoyable
I have a love/hate relationship with this drama but in a good way.., I don’t hate it because it’s bad or something.., but because it started so intimidating politically so I thought we are ahead with a great political dramathen boom the surprise, everything changed by episode 5-6 when Xu feng(protagonist) started his “journey to cultivate” where he will become a better version of himself and challenges the upheaval world
so the shift in tone from politics to journey caught me off guard
still didn’t change how entertaining the show was from the beginning until the end
I love the world and the characters so much
like literally all the characters are insanely good and lovable ,, how they interact, help love,hate each other was so good
the show has politics(tho little) , schemes and mind games, fighting scenes (so good) , power shifting and betrayal etc
it’s just unique, I haven’t watched something like it
and if anyone thinks it’s similar to joy of life then sorry you clearly haven’t watched both of them and don’t understand the difference between them
because they are not similar at all except for some characters and how they interact
both have that “witty” style
Anyway I am in love with “jiang ni” , she’s my favorite
way better than “lin wan” of joy of life
“waiting for season 2”
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No more injustices
Unbelievable truly unbelievable, what a great story and well written piece of work from the beginning to the middle until the endthis drama is almost like a novel or a narration of stories
it deals with different timelines of one big story that begins in 2006 and finishes at 2023
the villain is one of the best villains in kdrama history…, he’s the center and the hero who started everything then goes down the hill and slowly falling apart
the detective and the reporter dynamic and chemistry is just so good ..,
Watch it without hesitation
“underrated man”
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The definition of “Uniqueness”
Small cast, smart writing, witty, good charactersa drama about a college student that hates criminals with all her heart and tries to punishing them to satisfy that hatred and void her loneliness ,, facing a high profile inspector that tries to catch her
no mystery, no suspense, no flashy things
only wide open confrontation between the two leads
I loved how kyung only loves two people in the drama her auntie and the inspector
she really loved them and that’s where it creates the tension between the leads
and how she’s really lonely even in her crimes, she doesn’t have any team, system, plan to support her
only depends on herself
i wish there’s second season
“enjoyable”
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Suffocating political battle
This drama is insanely well-written and made, rarely you see a historical drama with the 12-16 number episodes that its main focus is the intense battle between the characters, because most of the time only the long ones that focus on all ends from politics, fights, power struggles, romance etc.but this drama has it all from political tensions to Power struggles with a passion and yearning love that being tested throughout the story
The writer park pil joo is what impresses me most because his only focus before writing bloody heart was only romance+family dramas with many melodrama elements in it
his comeback with a historical story that focuses on the intense back and forth between the characters away from his usual writing is really interesting
and I am looking forward to his future works
I think there are 4 main roles here not three as suggested up there
The King(lee joon) , Lady park(kang han na) ,minister park(jang hyuk) (Queen dowager(park ji yeon)
these four played their roles too well that sometimes I feel it’s too real to be considered acting especially park ji yeon
we urge korean writers to step up and write more historical 12-16 episodes like this one
“loved it”
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