Obviously not a thriller
It started out promising with the serial killer mystery then it was poorly executed on so many levels.1. Plot was predictable and there was no mystery even before midway.
2. "Romance" Why bother with the romance if you are not even go build the connection . That "I like you" came out of left field
3. No stand out likeable characters .... well there was 1 and he was killed.
4. Excessive yelling - ML cop character's yelling didn't make the drama feel more intense but rather it was just noise.
5. Mounting evidence ..... That's how they wrapped the obvious crime.
Do you admit your crime? no? here is a recording
Do you admit your crime? no? here is a video
Do you admit your crime? no? here is a witness
Do you admit your crime? no? here is a video of you ... in the act .............................
Just watch "Children of Nobody" instead
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Highly enjoyable for the non traffic actors chasing fans
I think only fans that appreciate the backstory of LYN and got destroyed emotionally after watching the crash & burn of 2nd half of A Journey to Love will understand the comedy.All the things that make this drama special on multiple levels:
1. Casting of ML / FL. They don't have insane chemistry but enough to make the drama work. I think it's special that they are playing characters that has some similar characteristics to rl.
LYN - been unfairly treated in the beginning years irl similar to NanHeng. Maybe that's why I felt more emotional depth to his acting in this specific role. Overall, his acting is improving.
LiYiTong - Beautiful, actress that can deliver in her acting, but never in the top of the traffic actress list. This is similar to her character in modern world. I am happy to see her in this quirky role vs something like Bloody Romance (where I became a fan of hers). I also love it when they incorporate dance scenes to showcase her abilities.
2. Perfect casting of all supporting characters. Rarely do I see perfect casting but this one everyone did their characters justice. Highlights:
2nd ML Wang You Shuo. Convincing from ultra good to totally bad.
Riley Wang, Chang Long, Wang Cheng Si, these all-seasoned supporting actors that consistently delivers in the comedy dept.
3. Script gives supporting characters personalities. There are so many enjoyable characters even the minor ones like the maid or the guard of the 8th prince.
4. OTP comedy. 1st episode I could not stop laughing with the 3-way stabbing and the music. All the comedy mocking drama tropes I found it super enjoyable. Of course, I think this requires the viewer to be a seasoned C-Drama fan. Also helps to be at a certain level of Chinese language competency as not all jokes can be translated properly. I am at about 70% so I am sure there are jokes I missed as well.
5. 3 different endings. Ending 1 completely mocks the crappy endings of many C drama which I totally loved because let's face it, I had too many "WTF ending was that" kinda moments.
6. "A dream within a Dream" Perfect title to explain the ending.
7. Music: Interesting and different music choices from classic LYN drama OSTs to RAP? Very fitting with this kind of comedy
Overall, this is a clever script that delivered on all levels.
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Tragically Beautiful
Years later still one of my all time favorites!I rewatch this drama every other year. The story is tragically beautiful. The OST is one of the most hard hitting OSTs of all time.
FL is one of the most beautiful actresses ever and she can act! Even if you know this is going to be a tragic romance you can't help it but to watch it.
Gongzi the 2nd lead had equally chemistry with the FL. Both the ML characters make you don't know who you want the FL to be with ultimately.
For the happy ending loving drama goers, this isn't it. I can't say it's completely tragic, but ending is not satisfying.
I loved every good/bad characters.
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MaoBuYI OST elevated the series
Rewatched for S2 prepThere was a time I thought Deng Lung and Yangzi's chemistry in Ashes of Love was so good that nothing can top, but Yangzi played this character to perfection!
Her chemistry with Tan Jian Ci is next level. I never seen Tan Jian Ci so beautiful, not to mention the emotional level required for his character requires way beyond all his other roles. He can switch from loving eyes to pure hatred in a blink just using micro expressions.
Knowing how the book ended this is one drama adaption that I hope that it WON'T follow the book's ending. (I am in denial). In my head I am thinking can they make 3 different endings like how some Kdramas does it?
Yang Zi's chemistry with Zhang Wan Yi is not as captivating as Tan Jian Ci because Zhang Wan Yi's line delivery felt a bit too modern. Their chemistry does grow later on, and I am sure in S2 it will be fire!
OST ALL so good, but the best one is still MaoBuYi's OST "有你无你"
Most memorable scenes (for me):
ANYTHING with Tan Jian Ci (Xiang Liu)
Ep 14 34min The Discovery
Ep 17 33min Boat scene
Ep 19 31min Poison special (cute turnaround)
Ep 22 14min Xiao Yao protecting Cang Xuan with her life. Both actors were gut wrenching good!
Ep 25 Behind the mask
Ep 30 3min 1000 dagger scene
Ep 30 32min MaoBuYi's OST "有你无你" Most of the song was played & hit so hard
Ep 32 Full moon light
Ep 39 29min The parting
If it was so good then why the 9? Well, there was that blah:
Every scene with Mr. boring Tushan Jing. Yes, I know she's searching for Mr. safe stability, but the weakest chemistry is with this guy........................ since 4th guy came in the picture late and it's more of a drinking buddy than anything.
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The teacher that brings hope to the special 5
The end of ep 1 reminds me of this video I saw many years ago: Social Inequalities Explained in a $100 Race. Where you start in life may be out of your control but how hard you race in life is up to you.Since I don't particular like heavy content so I wouldn't have started this if weren't for the cast.
Zhang Ruo Yun is always a solid actor in all his roles. In recent years he took on more serious roles. Here he plays someone who looks a lot older than his actual age with a painful past he tried to escape from.
The students: played by actors Zhang Cheng and Wang Qiang did a great job in the drama "Cross Fire" (One of my unexpected favorites) Here they are part of that special 5 students and play completely different characters.
Story starts with Lei Ming (ML) returning to be a teacher. He wants to assemble a special class of 5 out to prove his unconventional teaching methods can help these kids make it to the top college.
The special 5 + the troubled Shen Yao:
1. Li Ran, an orphan living in the basement where his grandma works as a housekeeper. The son of the owner is the top student (Shen Yao) in the same grade but with a sick twisted mind. Li Ran fix electronics on the side to help with the bills.
2. Cheng Yu Shan, her mom remarries to a guy who only cares or his biological son. On the outside she's fearless and fends off all the unwanted boy's attention. One day she finds hidden cameras, she trembles in fear. She sits in her small room looking outside of her small window feeling completely trapped. The camera work was so well done for that scene.
3. Yu Yang, he's the bully target of many kids including the twisted top student.
4. Zeng You Zhen, she may not be living in poverty but she's constantly trying to please the girls pretending to be accepted. She has a secret she's trying to hide.
5. Jiang Qing Lang, he comes from successful parents in an unhealthy relationship, clearly not happy despite all that success. The overbearing mom character clearly that you'll want to skip through is his ultimate source of torment.
6. Shen Yao, he is not part of the 5 but he is such an interesting character. Outside he is the perfect student, but you see his anger brewing inside expressed in self-harm and doing bad things to others. His story finally unfolds in ep 23. This is the 1st time I've seen Li Ming De in a serious emotional scene, and he did a great job.
The content is not overly heavy but definitely meaningful. It touches upon self-harm, parental abuse, suicide, depression, teacher student dynamics & so on....
Only thing I don't like is ep 30 with the older version of the kids. Not relatable at all. They used the same actors for the teachers might as well use the same actors for the students. But they didn't and it was just not good.
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Incredible story telling
I couldn't help myself as I've already watch this title 10x. Currently all the dramas with big names are stuck in never ending drama trope. This short semi low budget drama outshines all of them (imo for those who care about storyline > big name eye candies)Short 14 episodes (30 min per ep) with no time to waste on filler scenes. Seamless narrative follows a love that transcends time. Outstanding character development of FL, ML & Li Yong.
FL (Zhang Ya Qin) I only saw her in Love in Between but this role Lu Yu An (Demon Queen) really showcased her acting. She's compelling at every age. The moment you meet her, you can see the love & pain in her eyes and later on the 18 year old her ever so cute & innocent.
ML took awhile to warm up. By the 3rd encounter is when I felt he was fully in character so overall he was pretty good.
Lesser known supporting cast: Lu Shi / Emperor / Li Yong were all good in their roles.
The unavoidable ending came to a full circle!
The story, script is refreshing & unique. It's even worth watching every recap in the beginning as the storytelling is so captivating. It's worth while watching this 2nd time in reverse order.
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13 years of no progress
The story line goes back and forth way too much that failed to deliver any kind of development. Everything happened in ep 22-24. As much as I am a fan of crime dramas this lacked the mystery and the progression that any good script requires. Burning Ice (2017) to me is still the gold standard for mystery with captivating characters.The only outstanding character to me was actually the wife of the young cop, a supporting character. The MLs:
1. The old cop's character was all around frustrating. He lacked any sensibility, discriminating against a suspect that should've clearly been ruled out ultimately indirectly caused the tragedy that followed.
2. The young cop (who I actually watched the drama for) was the only character that had any crime solving brains. He made connections where as the old cop to me made zero progress. I didn't even see the point why they needed the old cop other than he was on the case 13 years ago and provided flash back minutes. Still I felt the character was rather bland until last 2 ep.
If you think about the critical developments were:
1. (NOT a cop) that provided the origins of a painting
2. DNA technology improvement
3. Key Witness (memory coming back)
Not much to do with actual detective work.
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Even great for non math lovers!
Yes all that math goes over my head but the story is genuinely heart warming with so many likeable characters.Best part for me is the Dad in both worlds (with or with out that rock star hair) & if you love father daughter relationships this will definitely be a must watch.
Ep 1-9 were most people's favorite episodes because the kid actors are so good & darling, worth rewatching.
Ep 28-34 picked up at the end for a nice ending and a hint of romance
Few flaws:
After EP 10:
Adult Lin Zhao Xi didn't have the same tenacity other than a few scenes.
Cheese world Pei Zhi wasn't happy as his father described so definitely they should've matched the characters a bit better.
Overall a great drama out of the ordinary and might help you reflect on life & relationships.
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If you want to be reminded of classic cliches
This drama is definitely a good K drama classic cliche reminder. Once in a while I remines the dramas I grew up watching.The ones that you have to ignore all logic like:
Kid hits girl in rain. next scene:
Boy in court room over the incident. Girl runs into the courtroom soaking wet "from that rain"
Like did you NOT go to the hospital first? Did you just got dragged straight to the court room w/o any due process?
So just enjoy the classic cliches:
Poor orphan girl <-- check
Piggie back rides <-- a must
Accident losing memory <-- always
Everyone lies to you when you have no memory as if that's good for you <-- yup
Obsessive girl on the side wishing nothing but the worst <--- essential
Stalker Obsessive behaviors - Ok if you are a cute ML
First love = Fated eternal love <-- check. I mean who wants to watch the 98% failed first relationships anyhow like in real life.
Now whether you enjoy those or not, there are lovely things about this drama:
1. Young versions (which I thought should've lasted longer) are the most adorable parts of the drama
ML in the teens <-- I watched his later works first and wanted to watch his earlier works. He's definitely my favorite part of the drama
2. 20s ML - I watched his supporting roles and he's one of my favorite supporting actors.
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Enjoyable if you are into Ancient detective dramas
I think below are still better:The sleuth of the Ming Dynasty <-- still the best
Ancient Detective
The Imperial Coroner
But if you enjoy this kind of niche drama then you'll like the storyline of this as well despite being a low budget drama.
The story has multiple cases and gets solved pretty quick, but every case tied to a bigger mystery surrounding the ML.
Acting was ok, no one really stood out but at least none were terrible.
Chemistry wasn't strong between the ML and the FL, but the focus wasn't on the romance. I actually preferred that being the episodes were short and I wasn't looking for cheesy romance in this kind of the genre.
Each episode ended with some random rambling, some were quite silly and funny.
The ending suggested season 2 so I hope that it will happen!
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Questionable Casting
I was excited for this to air as I really enjoyed watching Lin Yu Shen in his many supportive roles in varies historical dramas. The first episode took off with a promising start. But overall story was average with mediocre dialogue at best. Nothing witty or memorable.Costumes: some of the best I've seen. I always appreciate the fine details of these elaborate costumes. The FL had almost daily outfits.
Fight scenes: great choreography and no shortage of them.
I wish the casting matched to the characters age.
You have the drama start off with ML at the age of 13. He's smart can save bunch of people with his quick thinking then he leaves. BOOM! 5 years later he should be (18 or at least under 20) but looking like a 35-40 year old. All his youthful smarts disappeared, and he got himself almost killed many times over. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Good thing FL came to the rescue! Now the FL has a lot of historical dramas under her belt, but there was 0 chemistry between her and this ML.
Mid way through FL left and came in FL2 the poison girl. Again, this character rescued ML a million time because she's smarter than him. Somewhere along the way ML's Kungfu improved 10x and in a flash ended with an anti-climatic finish. What I call an EASY way out with so many stereotypical C-dramas.
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Perfect balance of mystery, romance & comedy
Don't miss the Epilogues!I haven't seen the ML/FL in many dramas but my goodness the pairing is so good! The supporting cast are filled with veteran actors. Production quality, storytelling and pacing all so good. I find myself watching every episode 1x speed without skipping ANY scenes (which is hard to do these days with so many generic stories out there.) 8 ep in (where most K dramas fall apart) this drama is still going strong. Every episode I find myself laughing at something.
FL is so impressive with her acting skills and the scene where she dressed up as a man is one of the best I've seen.
ML is equally good. Their chemistry is so HAWTTT! despite the age gap in the actors.
I could've used another 10 ep of this series. So sad it's over!!!
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One giant Hot Mess
Veteran cast with great 1st episode and the script lost its way to nowhere land. I thought it focused on "Trolley Dilemma" instead it felt more like a woman's bad luck in choosing a husband.The only reason I continued is because I loved Kim Hyun Joo ever since she was in the 1999 drama "Into the Sunlight"
Park Hee Soon (ML) was powerful in My Name
Kim Mu Yeol so memorable in Bad Guys: City of Evil
All such great actors and I just kept hoping that this drama will take it somewhere eventually. But that didn't happen and partly with the twists felt out of place. Other part was the good to bad characters ratio is way off making this drama hard to watch.
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A Struggle to finish
Such big names cannot make this script work.First ep. was so enjoyable. The over the top comedy of Seo In Guk and his team operating cafe Minamdang got me laughing non stop.
Then came in the FL's grand entrance, taking down a van of bad guys, walking in slow motion with wind blowing up her hair on one side. WOW! SO Good I thought!
And then.....
FL went from super smart to can't connect the dots.
Somehow FL met ML are supposed to be at least a decade apart yet ML didn't age after so many years . Meanwhile she looks older than him. When casting doesn't match the characters, it's hard to make it believable.
FL & ML -- Zero chemistry. I enjoyed these actors in other dramas but this pairing was just terrible.
The last "twist" was not necessary.
Again same age characters as children (school age boys) ending up looking 10-15 years apart.
I finally finished it but definitely time wasted.
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Surprisingly I didn't hate this
I only watch these types of dramas for some noise on the side as most of the storylines falls into the typical drama tropes.Surprisingly its decent. Few interesting parts:
1. The topic of AI over human translator. AI language translator will continue to advance, and I believe it will close the gap between different nations.
2. The beauty of languages. "lost in translation" happens a lot. It's important to capture the essence of true meaning. I think it takes a lot to be a good translator so, it's a cool profession!
3. Some decent supporting cast: The single mom that became successful w/o needing a father for her child.
What's NOT working for me:
1. Beginning quotes in terrible Chinese accents. Honestly there are plenty of Chinese English speakers that can deliver the quotes better.
2. Over skin smoothing. Typical for modern dramas. What's wrong with texture of real skin? The anti ageism is overboard with K and C dramas.
3. Weak 2nd lead. the "spare tire" is childish and not even worthy of a 2nd Lead no fault to the acting but the actual character.
4. Typical drama tropes. Yeah ... there's a lot... if you hate these just don't watch.
5. Nonmatching dialogue. You can tell when the original dialogue changed for whatever reason so then it doesn't match the lip sync.
6. FL/ML mediocre chemistry. I don't find Victoria Song having strong chemistry with any male leads. Her acting is enough for these types of roles, but when there's an emotional breakdown scene that's when her acting cracks.
Is it a worthy watch? On the side yes..... If you love the main leads, then Yes.... If you expect unique story, then NO. Literally there is nothing new to this story line. It's very typical other than the topic of AI vs traditional translating service.
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