Maika

if AOL, TMOPB, and LBFAD combined together, it would be this drama. Not even finished but so many similarities. They just compiled the misunderstandings in all dramas and concepts into one lmao. TTEOTM is a nice drama but man the misunderstandings are so draggy

yes

They showed multiple variations of it. A lot of scenes where Cheol was just standing there with his arms out for a long time.
But yes my mistake. Kyungmin was in the assembly, but ran before it started then it showed Cheol reached the rooftop. Then Cheol was standing on the ledge, Park dog pointed it out and the others and teachers saw him. Cheol was thinking after standing there that perhaps everyone saw him & he didn't even need JS. Then JS pushed him and Kyungmin witnessed that. If Kyungmin was able to run that far all the way to the roof to witness that on time, then I assumed the kids would've been able to run to bottom of the fall just in time cause they don't need to run up the stairs to get to the roof.

I had to write down my thoughts for some episodes. Also, I can't help but nitpick at the writing.

ep 28 Lanxi's father just pisses me off. Why does FLX even have this soft spot for his father and the younger brother Ju? The father let off his younger brother and his mom so lightly. FLX never challenges his father either but accepts the harsh punishment on him. I rather him just go with bai fengxi and break in the dungeon free those people. He can take over his country when his brother tries to steal the throne anyways. Or why doesn't he ever seek help from the Emperor of Dadong since that's his uncle? Could just use the emperor to subdue his father no? I really hope the father suffers badly from Ju.

I'm so sick of the cat and mouse games. FLX hasn't even thought how Ju could corner him like that and should think yu wuyuan probably came up with this entire plan.

ep 32 BFX's master doesn't bother sharing what info he gathered so far... like didn't he expect that someone would end up killing him? He knew that the other token keeper got killed and the fact he made it out of Imperial City alive was questionable. He was giving BFX all that advice about not trusting people it's dangerous but he just trusted YWY for no reason too?! He knew that jade was from his family so he should've had some suspicions about him.
langhua also for no reason just went full crazy without thinking about investigating first before accusing? So it seems they're telling us Tianshuang sect lack thinking.


ep 38- so it takes this duo 38 eps to finally understand YWY's identity. Why do I feel like it's against their characters? They find out in the last 3 episodes. YWY got better intel than HFX's fountain abode & he was able to quickly figure out both their identities but our HFX & BFX weren't able to figure out his evilness till now.

At least im glad they didn't follow typical cdramas where enemies come crashing their weddings! they gave us a 5 year time skip instead.

ep 39- How does YWY have Han's family medicine. Pu's dad gave the book of meds to him & it was never stolen. The only thing they could've stolen is like the supply house with meds. But those meds would've been used over 6 years? Did YWY test those medicines & figure out the ingredients himself?? Also for 5 years they didn't prepare themselves? They knew YWY is culprit who acted as soultaker sect took all those sect's war specialties. Besides battling, they should've gathered info about how to counter it? or gain some info. The horse Ma guy was still alive they could've gotten his help?

Last ep- We see Master Tianji for the first time. I'm assuming Lanxi's mentor? I don't remember them mentioning Lanxi's relationship with him.

Final Thoughts- I have a lot of issues about this writing. (I rate drama 8.5/10)
- I wish they gave us a brief explanation in start. They threw in Dadong, 6 states, token with no context. Halfway through the drama I assumed 6 states are (Yong, Qing, Ji, You, Shang, Bei with zhou at end in all of them). We never got to see Bei. We only saw Shang once with YWY trying to stop war but HFX is the one who helps to stop it.
-Why the hell didn't that old tianjin tell them or have his disciple warn them about YWY once he passed away? I feel like it's unnecessary and dragging the drama. The old man may not know he's from locust+ cricket but he could've warned them that YWY caused earthquake and wanted to trap BFX. He doesn't care about people's lives. This could've at least made our HFX & BFX duo cautious. The last episode we see Tianji and he just summarizes the past about YWY's ancestor.
- I wished there was more explanation behind the Empreyan token & blood curse. All we knew is that his family got cursed, but it was from 100 years ago? So YWY's ancestor didn't have the curse? We don't know how the token works & in the end the token just disappeared I'm assuming? YWY said he had it and there's no mention of someone having the token in the end. The drama and whole conflict started with that token but they forgot about it in the end? How is the token so strong to lift a curse? What other functions does it have? Can it reverse the snow technique too?
- For characters as smart as HFX&BFX it's disappointing to make them "dumb" to who the villain is & have them discover YWY is the bad guy near the end.
- Ending was rushed. Last minute new character pops up with a Snow life transferring technique so FLX can use that to save BFX. Oh, but it reduces his life to 10 years?
- Pu's character dying was unnecessary. The writers loved killing off characters close to FXY (her master, brother, father, Pu). But they let a lot of people on FLX's side alive. Only person who died was Baili. Ju was alive as an insane person. His father was also alive and even abdicated the throne to FLX, when he could've just died too after all the bad things he did. But also after 10 years BFX gonna lose HFX. Pretty much everyone around her dying.
- Too much time was spent in Yongzhou & its politics. The scheming eventually got frustrating & could've been cut down to have a better ending. I wish they focused more on the martial arts than the scheming.
- During the 5 years, why didn't BFX&HFX warn Huang Chao about YWY to make him at least suspicious of YWY? Then, HC & FLX wouldn't need to fight an unnecessary battle...

I liked
- FLX and Prince Chang's relationship. Chang got his redemption but hopefully he finally recovered from viewing his epilepsy as a bad thing (they never showed him accepting his epilepsy as an illness & not evil. He only decided to make FLX his only family & forget baili is his birth mom)
- Friendship between Qiwu & BFX. No unnecessary jealousy.
- Relationship between HFX & BFX. I preferred their martial arts journey together. That's why I think FLX giving up his dream in the end to spend it with BFX was a good ending. But that 10 years?! and no cure?!

It's not really romance so the romance tag can be misleading to those who want romance. I care less about romance but I felt there were some inconsistencies in the story.
I find the mysteries engaging although it was quite easy to figure at some point. At the start all those notes shown being exchanged I knew it was the court ladies and the guard seemed like Tae gang. When they brought up how there were two of them at different times, it made sense his twin existed. At that point, I was just watching to see if the villains get what they deserve.
Inconsistencies-
- if sim yeong was hypnotized by monk, then his hair would've been gray earlier? I don't understand when they showed the Grand prince being hypnotized he was sleeping for like 2 days and then his hair turned gray and he woke up. But sim yeong must've been hypnotized twice or something? First he had to give Jae yi that bracelet and then be hypnotized again to open the bracelet and have poison in the food. Then they should've noticed gray hair at the first hypnosis??
it shouldn't have turned gray after the murder of her family.
Contrary to others, I felt they dragged stuff around ep 14, I think? The Princess told Jae yi about the previous CP being given the peach by grand prince. Jae yi didn't tell CP and still didn't tell CP the night when Queen lied to them. They could've been wary of the Queen since then and investigate? Another thing is that they did not suspect the tavern couple earlier nor did they suspect why the monk would've lied about peony petals. They didn't wonder why the tavern couple would clean the incense burner when they KNEW they were investigating the incense burner so it makes no sense for them not to suspect them a little? Also when Tae Gang's twin San went to her room she looked at her room and said nothing is missing. Why didn't she CHECK to see if the blade was missing then? Like she should've done a thorough check?? She only checked the bracelet? It felt like the characters constantly made these mistakes they shouldn't have.
Also they just left the turtle clue in start alone like it did not matter. I don't understand why it had to be brought up, investigated, and left alone.
we all find out it was jo with a missing turtle but the characters didn't care and I guess it wasn't enough evidence but they could've used it as some evidence that he plotted something earlier and got rid of him instead of dragging it out?
otherwise I liked the drama. I liked the FL's character. At times she was rash, but that's all.
It's better than having a complete damsel in distress who whines all the time, can't use her brain cells at all, & waiting for a prince to rescue her.
For romance, I guess that wasn't their focus. I feel at times you could see the couples liked each other but they didn't spend more time building it. There were like a few PHS intense gazes that you see in his other dramas that shows how much he loves someone. JSN wasn't bad either, my first time seeing her.
I wish we saw more of Myeong jin & Ga ram cause that duo was the comedic relief in the drama.
Yes this drama could've been easily wrapped up in 16 episodes. I didn't give it a low rating cause it does better than some other boring historical dramas I've watched. I wasn't bored with this drama or felt it too draggy.

maybe it's some of the noonas who fell for his saranghaeyo
it's cringe. I don't know why people find joy in making an under-aged kid keep on saying that?!

I feel so bad for keita, park hanbin, & jay. It's true the debuted group doesn't have strong rappers, they will have average rappers instead which is fine, I guess. I just felt like 2 members weren't ready to debut. Hoping I won't see Han yu jin spend his time telling older women he loves them while he is under aged. At least most of the people I wanted to debut, debuted. I hope the talented people who got eliminated get chances somewhere else.
I also find it ironic that in Girls Planet / Kep1er, they have 3 foreign members & Boys planet ZB1 has 3 foreign "g group" members lmao.

I felt the same way with girl's planet. So many talented people who're ready to debut get eliminated meanwhile people who require more work & training are debuting.
I'll get hate for it but idc, I personally think kim gyu vin & han yu jin should nowhere be near top 9 and should've been eliminated. I'm glad Takuto got eliminated this episode, but he should've been eliminated earlier. Gyu vin & Yu jin get so much screen time, but I don't think they're at that level yet. Yu jin may be a good dancer but that's it. I haven't seen good vocals or rap either. I'm not saying he should be like a "main vocalist" in terms of vocals, but if you look at any debuted group with good dancers, they can also sing decently as a sub vocalist or rap well. Also the yujin thing is too much he's under-aged telling all of them"noona i love you" & mnet is promoting that stuff. It feels weird.

Supercharger team got robbed indeed. There's no point in winning those missions when those benefits didn't even help Haruto. I feel bad for him being eliminated and not getting a chance in the finals. Woongki getting eliminated was kinda sad too. As for Zi hao I feel bad. He got almost no screen time or like less than a minute of screen time each episode. We only got to see his dancing, so I feel bad we can't see his singing or rapping (except in supercharger performance, he did so well). Hopefully, Lay will help him so he's able to show his skills.

I hope they don't pull the same thing as Girl's planet's last episode. I remember Xiao ting used to be in a higher rank but the poor girl barely made it as 9. They pushed majority of the foreigners away who were in top 9.
hopefully zhang hao keita matthew will make it. I also hope for park hanbin & taerae.

This was a crazy ride! The bullying here was definitely infuriating to watch that sometimes couldn't help but understand why kyung min would get revenge (& it's the best revenge ever, he gave each of them a taste of what they did as bullies in the most cruelest way. It's morally wrong & leaves you with guilty satisfaction.
I like how this drama showed bullies, bystanders, victims. Most bullies never changed as they grew up. Few regretted their actions & changed (like the reporter). It also showed the trauma of the victims. And how extreme bullying can turn others into bullies/monsters/aggressive people. I'm not defending Jong suk's behavior. But that can be a consequence of bullying. What he did was wrong & it sucks that till the end he was in denial and thought him killing Cheol was the right thing to do. But yes, most people forget that some bullies were previously bullies too or victims of abuse. Everyone has different ways of coping with it. In Jong suk's case, I don't know what was wrong I wished they'd elaborate. I really wished he got psychotherapy so we'd know. They made it seem like JS suddenly created a religion and put Cheol on a pedestal. Because Cheol saved them each time and preached about dogs, pigs, curses, turning into monsters/evil, suiciding is way to save everyone..., JS idolized him and forgot that Cheol is a human being. Even though Cheol corrected him, he wasn't able to snap out of it. The trauma of bullying messed up his mind so much that he got easily brainwashed or something?
I think the suspense of Jong suk killing cheol was predictable. It felt like there was a reason why Kyung min wrote jong suk's name right from the start. At some point, I felt jong suk had to do something with cheol's death cause he suppressed his memories, meaning something bad was hidden there.
What I didn't like:
- We only saw one teacher & the class. It's like no other teachers existed. I don't want to compare this to the glory (where the nurse was on the victims side). But I feel like there should've been at least a principal in a scene, or another teacher or someone. It's crazy how they made it look like there was only one adult involved.
- If KM was listening to Cheols & JS convo and knew something was wrong, why didn't he go to rooftop sooner. He heard the absurd things JS blurted out and didn't have an ounce of suspicion? He should've been there on the rooftop too.
- What was Jin Ah's character's purpose? Half of the drama, I just found her character to be useless. Near the end she was useful to use to spill the beans about the truth.
- Why is that teacher still alive?
- When jong suk threatened park with his niece, what were the doctors, nurses doing? there's an alarm that goes off usually when patient's vitals changes or the nurse's station usually sees something is off.
Also im sure he could've reattached it cause he's an ex cop, im sure he knows how to fight in that situation. jong suk is out of his mind but he could tell him if he shoots, then there's no way he'd find kyung min in time and say that jong suk cant delay or he gonna get exposed...


Just one thought keeps bothering me. Cheol was up on that roof for a few minutes. Kyung min was in assembly with rest of students and ran to the roof. I'm sure it took a few minutes. All the adults there just watched a kid stand on the roof without calling cops or firefighters to cushion him if he falls? No adult thought,"let's run to the bottom of where he's standing and form a circle and try to catch him ourselves"?? They only ran when they saw him dead.

I loved the ending. I honestly think given how the story played out where jong suk killed cheol, the best thing was for them to suicide together (it sounds wrong I know). But it was beautiful in a way. It was hinted right from the start that KM intended to suicide together with him and how JS agreed when he said "let's see cheolie"
I also like how they included the field trip in the end since we never knew the origin of the class photo.

I doubt he died. In the first episode, they show him in jail & how he broke out and reunited with the gang. Then it went to a flashback of "2 years ago" and started off with the Cotaya fake job case and how the gang got together. We still need to know why he was jailed in that scene so I think the last episode will lead us to that first scene?

Now if only the burning sun culprits got the same amount of punishment the black sun people did in the drama
Hopefully they don't rush the last two episodes. It seems like a lot will need to be covered. They need to wrap up this whole organization story & connect it to the scene of the first episode.

what is up with the repeated assaults in this drama? It's hard to watch and gotta skip through
Tor likes Min and she does too but in the beginning his actions towards her is basically sexual assault..that is not the healthiest relationship.

I liked this. Although this had a better ending for the HYX and LZW couple, they just made CYR married to another man before time traveling happened & then in ending credit scene she's reunited with MJJ??
At least here we get to see more of CYR & WQS roles?

depends on what you define as happy.
If you want a happy couple in the end, then let me say this isn't a romantic drama. No couples in the end. But yes the characters got a satisfying ending. It's open ended, up to your interpretation.

Yeah this drama seemed to focus more on the FL's revenge rather than his story. So his character would be unnecessary. He only did a few things for the FL.

It's ironic. I know a bully who became a therapist. They live their lives normally without reflecting back & apologizing to those they caused trauma to. It's amazing how the perpetrator usually forgets, but the victim still remembers. Even if the victim tries to forget, they can't. Something triggers those painful memories from time to time.

It was okay. I just think some scenes were unnecessary. They could've just had the pedophile caught with pictures. It's disturbing that they made young girls climb up in the playground & actually have the male actor behind them with a dialogue telling them to climb so he can see their underpants? Just cause it happens in real life, I don't think it was necessary to have young girls have an actual scene of it.
Also rather than wasting time on replaying sex scenes or showing half nudity, they could've fit more useful scenes in or shown a better revenge story for JYJ.
Romance of the main leads was okay. Also feels off that she claims to like Joo YJ but forgot he's suffering & went off to commit suicide. His mom had to randomly appear to stop her & remind her to help him.

My impression was Ning ZQ used Ruan LZ as a rebound. There's no way he got over his ex that he wanted to marry that quickly. Where was Ruan LZ brain? She was warned by the ex. RLZ even overheard the workers saying how Ning ZQ doesn't care for her the same way he did with his ex during wedding photoshoot. Her naivety was too much. I hate to be harsh, but can't blame the ML entirely. She's her own enemy too.
Yes, he slowly started developing feelings for her throughout the marriage, but they could've taken it slowly before rushing things (like her waiting till he's fully over his ex)? I'm glad he didn't cheat on her during their marriage (cause of the text from ex) otherwise I would've dropped drama right there. There shouldn't be a "second chance" to cheaters.
They tried to justify his coldness with his childhood experience. I understand kids with single parent who neglect their child & don't give them enough love can turn out that way. What's confusing is that we didn't get to see his "coldness" towards his ex. She only complained about him loving his work. But he seemed to still show his affection towards her. Then in the end they tried to randomly throw in that he was affectionate towards Ruan LZ & bought her a necklace abroad before they divorced.
Frustrating part #1 - COMMUNICATION!
You would THINK after 7 YEARS of their divorce, they would LEARN SOMETHING from it.
but nope. After 7 years, they didn't learn how to communicate. They just fought again.
Ep 21 was annoying because to me Ning ZQ didn't change & I thought the FL changed. But she accepted his proposal. She didn't even tell him why she divorced him so that he could work on those changes. Then she sees his computer & breaks up with him again without communicating. He never bothered to explain that he was about to tell her on the proposal day about how he bought a package but she cut him off.
The rinse & repeat of using Xue WL to make Ning ZQ jealous was overused. Amusing.
Ning Xiang's tumor relapsing was expected. They just needed to have that happen for the biological mom to realize to just co-parent the kid &live in the same city as Ning ZQ.
I don't know why they couldn't come to that solution before when deciding child custody.

Ep 30- his second & last proposal indeed.but the breakup between cheng & ding unnecessary.
they randomly threw covid in which I don't mind. Her dad's death is fine. That's part of life. Could it have been cut off? Yes.

Frustrating part #2- EP 33 , 35 &36
ep 33- why the hell did Ruan LZ follow bunch of guys who're abducting a kid in the middle of the night BY HERSELF (doesn't even matter if it's a foreign country)? She didn't ask for help. She just casually chased all these men & gets threatened. Amusing. Then after performing surgery on the kid, she tries to stop them with a gun pointed towards her head.

ep 35- Did he just run with a grenade? Why not leave it there & run? She was so shocked that she forgot that she shouldn't shake his body after an explosion like that. Why must they bring a grenade into this story? Him going to coma? Her being only neurosurgeon to operate on him? Him just disappearing? She turned all paranoid.

ep 36- Classical amnesia. Yes it can happen with surgeries. But why now on the last episode & why the ML. AND WHY use it to show he changed. He already changed before the grenade incident & treated her better. Unnecessary.

I find the obssession K & C dramas have by having their stories in the Middle East/Africa hilarious. I don't mind it as long as it doesn't show stereotypes. They tried to be careful by coming up with a nonexistent country named Dahl, but they still included Africa. I don't understand why they can't come up with other countries, though. There are a few that have them, but not all.
Anyways, while it's frustrating, I found myself eventually emotionally detached. Some frustrating parts became amusing instead.

Honestly, I find this drama funny cause of the mess it is. I saw all the warnings about the last 6 episodes but still watched it anyways. There was something about it that just made me keep watching in the start. (Although some scenes of episode 5 made me cringe)
I was annoyed with Ep 21 & 23 then it got somewhat better.
30-32 was tolerable for me. 33 was frustrating to watch. 34 things started to get better.
Ep 35 & 36 was frustrating. They just had to keep on adding more unnecessary things to the plot.
More clichés. I got used to them just adding unnecessary things throughout the drama. The writers just wanted to use every generic plot device in the world & they didn't spare the last two episodes either. Then in the last 5 minutes they tried to satisfy viewers with a "happy ending".

This took me awhile to finish, I couldn't binge this.
after ep 5 I took a break from this drama, watched other dramas & came back to this.
There's a lot of patience needed for it. We know from the start Pil joo wants revenge but it's a slow process. Most episodes end in an intense cliffhanger.
For me, I kept watching for Pil joo's revenge. Jang hyuk's performance made me watch till the end. Everything else becomes boring.
I didn't mind Na Mo Hyun initially, but later on I wished she wasn't a "damsel in distress" character. That seemed to be her purpose. They showed her trying to make progress near the end and that's it. There was nothing more to her character.
Yoon seo won's character equally irritated me. Seemed like she approached boo cheon for money. Then she clung onto him even though she was warned several times. She took it so lightly.

I feel the same about other characters. The entire Jang family & Jung Mal ran were bad people and that's it.
Boo cheon's character was slightly better.

I feel 24 episodes is too much. This revenge could easily be cut down into 16 episodes. They had same repetitiveness of killing someone or attempted murder or blackmailing (Pil joo blackmailing them over the same things over & over)

Also in these 24 episodes, they didn't bother to provide Secretary Ahn's reason to work for Pil joo. We got something about why Yong goo did but no idea how he & pil joo met (which I guess doesn't matter). But it felt unrealistic how Yong goo - One person, was doing all that work in a short amount of time.. unless he's a genius.
Judging by the end Ms. Han really cared about the grandfather. All this time I assumed she wanted money.. cause she divorced & ended up being his mistress & wasn't even acknowledged by the others. But she still stayed by his side in the end so she cared for him??