K-Drama 
1
1
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
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!
Was this review helpful to you?
Incredible cast!
Action packed with some expected twist and turns. I can't say the storyline is all that unique but I enjoyed it because so many other factors were perfect:1. Casting:
Han so Hee, I've seen her in many beautiful girl roles but here she's fierce, broken, angry, mysterious all at the same time. They had to use make up to tone down her beauty. Amazing acting and you can tell she trained hard for the role.
Park Hee Soon, ruthless gangster you'll just love. His expressions ever so captivating borderline psychotics
Anh BoHyun, I usually see him playing some jerk character so it was nice to see him in this role and he definitely pulled off the part.
Lee Hak Joo, Gangster's right hand man. Loved his character & a great supporting role
2. Production: action packed, great stunts and fight scenes. It wasn't a cheap production that's for sure but maybe that's why it was only 8 episodes.
3. Music, cinematography. Happy there was no super white light making actors pearl white. No shaky hand syndrome during fight scenes.
Sadly it could've been so much more:
There were some "ummm ok? that just happened moments"
Like how she got caught? what? How she walked away ? what? & how ML just what?
Only 8 episodes, could've used a lot more development. Dialogue between FL / ML to build that connection. They rushed through and that relationship really needed some more slow burn
Ending was less than desirable. Such a strong start then ended like that. I felt like they were trying to pull a Monster boy + Night in paradise style but didn't quite work
Was this review helpful to you?
It will make you sm:)e
The cast was memorable. Short 24 ep didn't drag on but it could've used a few more. Ending could've been better. The development of the real 2nd lead could've used some more time to simmer the attraction. It felt rather sudden when he confessed & it was like "for real when that happened?".Memorable moments:
Shu Zhan's solo performance on stage showcased his potential. Although overall I felt he did a decent job but that scene was the best of his acting in the whole drama.
Bella Du: Her dance solo & and her screen solo audition was very moving. I love her acting through out the entire drama.
Live streaming of the 3 girls : 1st one was the best but the whole concept was fun and unique.
What makes the drama good:
1st ep will hook you with her playing dead. "professional no script" actor.
Twist of the true 2nd lead. 2nd lead who you thought was the 2nd lead really wasn't.
I also liked that no character was written one sided good or bad. This is very hard to do as typical drama has the one sided antagonist.
It was a good mix of fun but will touch you emotionally.
Could've been better:
Development of other characters.
Story could've used more development. It felt like it abruptly ended without a real ending.
Later ep got a bit more melodramatic than fun. They could've kept some more fun scenes going
Was this review helpful to you?
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
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!!!
Was this review helpful to you?
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
Solid Casting Choices, hard story to watch
This drama is hard to watch but impossible to ignore—much like "Imperfect Victim" It highlights how blame often falls on the victim. The FL gave a powerful performance in an emotionally demanding role. Some scenes (like those with the mom) were too heavy for me, but the tension builds well toward the FL's breaking point.ML: Vin Zhang is solid as always—his character’s shifted from wanting a divorce to unwavering support. They are the type of couple you root for.
Highlight for me:
Ep 7 26 min in when she starts fighting back. I absolute love her fight back words!
Ep 17 ML's full back story.
In the end I can't say I loved the story
The setup of the mom was impossible for me to like. The whole miserable life that FL had to endure was because of her so regardless how great the acting was, I was unable to sympathize with the mom's character.
I do think its worth watching if you like the leads.
Semi Spoiler
*****************************************************************************************************************************
12 ep in: Not sure I get:
1. Why didn't the police do anything about the wife pouring sh*t?
2. Why can't they use the recording from the FL in the office?
Was this review helpful to you?
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
Easy watch, not a serious drama
Lately there's been a lot of this kind of stories: Free spirit strong FL. The story genre is not new but if you enjoy easy watch costume dramas with happy endings (assuming) then this is enjoyable.It's not as good as Romance of Tiger & Rose which I would say it's been the best so far but its got decent amount of humor.
Positives:
1. Supportive family for FL. The family scenes are quite enjoyable. Dad/Brother are especially funny
2. FL's character's got some sharp come backs. Quite witty
3. If there was a Chinese Ken doll the ML would be it for those who likes idol looks
4. Fun names "ran mian mian" "ying bang bang"
5. Creativity in costume design. I love the use of bright colors: orange, dark teal with some creative head pieces
Negatives:
2nd lead is not strong
The 2nd prince looks older than the king LOL
Was this review helpful to you?
Makes you never want to date again
This is how suspense should be written. ML Wu Kang Ren is next level!What I appreciate about this drama:
-Brilliant script
-Intense all the way through. There are no wasted scenes.
-Police is not dumb
-Characters are complex
-Great cast all around. No weak acting
Perfect 10 IMO although content is so dark that makes me want to stay away from all people
There's a scene with ML and FL a door separating them at end of ep 18 that continues to give me PTSD .....
Was this review helpful to you?
