Ally

For those dying to see this and need eng sub, I can say that it's not that great. There are better shows out there. I've honestly spent most of my time watching this in the background because it's not interesting enough to keep my attention on it for the full episode.

BUT, if you've watched Bu Bu Jing Xin, then go watch ep 10 from around 25:50 on youtube. You don't need to understand Chinese to understand the humour.

This is where I read it - http://koalasplayground.com/2012/02/09/da-mo-yao-ballad-of-the-desert-chapter-1/

I won't say too much on here either, but I did check out the last 5 episodes to see how it would end. Honestly wasn't surprised - that particular character had been shady the whole time (for me anyway). Although, I thought I would at least feel something watching the ending, but unfortunately nope (although I felt Yang Mi's acting was a contributing factor :P).

It's ok, I understand why its popular, but just wasn't my cup of tea. Really wanted to like Ballad of the Desert as well, but I ended up skipping everything except Eddie Peng scenes, lol

You'll like it if you like angsty dramas and evil characters constantly hating on the main female lead for no apparent reason other than jealousy.

I recently came across the song translations (as I watch the drama raw) and I thought it might be interesting to point out that the the ost's for the drama were written with the characters in mind.
Hu Ge's Please live well is about Jiu Ye and Xin Yue: https://dramatictealeaves.wordpress.com/2014/09/21/song-translation-please-live-well-da-mo-yao-sound-of-the-desert/
Li Jian Qing's Pacifying the world for you (ie. the opening credits song) is about Wei Wu Ji and Xin Yue: https://dramatictealeaves.wordpress.com/2014/10/04/sound-of-the-desert-song-translation-the-world-ive-pacified-for-you/

Really disappointed in this :(
The first 2 eps was really good with lots of action and suspense. But the subsequent eps were really draggy. The main guy barely appears and there's no action or gun fight scenes. I felt a lot of screen time was dedicated to Tang Yan being annoying and not being a team player (I know it's kinda harsh since her job involves killing people, but hey, it's a drama) as well as focusing too much on the sub-characters. As a result, after 15 eps, I barely see any progress between the leads other than Tang Yan's one sided girly fantasies. Dropped this after giving it a decent chance - can't do another 25+ eps if the rest is going to be the same..

I got back on the drama attempting to give No Min Woo another chance - still nope (but at least there's no more romantic stuff happening). But I've stuck on this drama purely for Park Shi Yeon and Bae Su Bin. Talk about second lead syndrome!

This was my 3rd thai drama (my first 2 being rom-com), so I was completely horrified with the treatment of women in this show as well as the cavalier attitude to sexual assault. Having watched more thai dramas, now I realise that this is just the norm O_o

Anyway, the only reason I kept watching this was for the leading guy - smoking hot and his chemistry with the female lead - steaming! Otherwise, way over the top acting and over the top story line (again a norm with thai dramas). Oh, side note: this is the only thai drama where I have loved the opening song! Even looked it up on youtube, hehe

Definitely do not watch as a first thai drama - otherwise you would be as horrified as I was.

The first episode looked really good with a sound plot, actors I like and interesting social issues (with the exception of constant echo I could hear when they shot in the studios).

I would definitely recommend - that was until I saw No Min Woo and Park Shi Yeon starting to hit it off romantically. Yeah, I suppose I saw it coming, but seeing No Min Woo pull his moves just doesn't sit well with me. He's just too androgynous for me to feel any attraction towards him - and thus hard to digest this pairing.

Surprising though since I didn't have such a huge problem with Full House 2....though it maybe that an androgynous guy and tomboyish girl is visually more appealing (though the chemistry definitely helped) compared to an androgynous guy and a stunning beauty.

Unfortunately had to drop it - I couldn't watch No Min Woo for another second.

Omg, thank you so much!
I thought I had to abandon this after only 6 eps.

I loved the plot in Secret so this Thai drama had a strong appeal to me plot-wise. I was prepared for a good, ok and even a bad drama, but I was not prepared by how f****d up this drama was.

Janie's character was way too passive to the point that it was really hard to stomach. She barely showed any emotion so I'm highly surprised she was liked by the other characters - like seriously, if anyone knows, do tell me! On top of that, Dome's character was obviously extremely creepy - there really is no excuse for Janie to fall into his trap. It's pretty much the equivalent of a giant neon sign pointing to Dome with 'Warning'.

Then came the rape scene, which I was totally unprepared for, and the subsequent pregnancy - Janie, omg, why didn't you do anything or tell anyone?! Or go to the doctors for birth control? Nothing! Why would Janie's character even fall for Dome's character?!

Revenge genre - sure, love it. Stockholm syndrome genre with rape - no no no.
I am very surprised that the networks even aired this. I kept on watching in the hopes that Janie would eventually do something, eg. revenge on Dome - which she did in the lamest way possible - getting him to admit he likes her...

This drama is the most wtf drama I have seen, even more than Le Jun Kai which also contains rapey and abusive content. Would I recommend this... yes because you'll probably never see another show like this - if you can stomach this kind of stuff.

Dropped this when I realised how much chemistry Sena and Shiwoo have but will never be since Rain is the lead. Let me know if my ship occurs so I can get back to it... or maybe I'll just watch the last ep :P

Tried really hard to sit through this even with the blades shooting out of his body, but it's really getting ridiculous. I don't see how the supernatural stuff fits into the story line, it would be exactly the same without it. I would actually enjoy this more if it was just a normal boy meets girl story. All the blades shooting out of his body scenes has really put me off this - dropped.

I was so looking forward to this since I'm on k-drama dry spell atm... but this was so disappointing. The j-drama version was much better. I even went back to the j-drama version to make sure it wasn't just me. The j-drama made all the characters quirky which neutralized the weirdness of nodame. Even Chiaki was a little quirky when he was supposed to be the most serious character. But the k-drama version had too many normal characters that the quirky ones just looked like weirdos. For the entire first 2 episodes, I was even wondering if Nodame was intellectually disabled before realising that was just her acting style. Dropped this like a hot potato!

Really love this drama with the pairing and since substitute bride is my favourite cliche story line! Only downside is that it obviously feels like one writer wrote the first half with all the comedic elements and bickering otp, then another wrote the second half with all the tragedy and angst. Quite a shock to go from one genre to another and left feeling annoyed. But still a good watch and definitely worth re-watching.

I liked how they tried to linked up scenes in the modern day to those in bu bu jing xin - history repeating itself type scenes, but overall this was a disappointment. I already didn't have high expectations when I found out it would not be written by the author of bu bu jin xin, but I didn't think it would be so boring and contrived. And airing 3 potential endings was just plain lazy in my opinion - they should at least have the guts to pick one and stick to it.

So glad Hu Ge's character is out the picture now so that Xin Yue and Wei Wu Ji can have more on-screen time together. Been waiting ages for this moment! Love Hu Ge, but his character is so boring and such a downer. Loving the Liu Shi Shi and Eddie Peng moments!

I really wanted to like this and I did to an extent, but 52 episodes is way too long! Honestly I dropped this when it started to feel like nothing was happening (ie. when there wasn't any fighting scenes). The pacing was slow and maybe it's just the characters or maybe it was the acting, but there wasn't a favorite couple* which drew me to their development when they weren't fighting enemies. The characters individually were fun to watch but there wasn't any thing which made me desire for a particular couple to get together. Without the incentive to watch it for a favourite couple, that only left the fight scenes and thus large gaps of what felt like nothing happening in between. And camaraderie/friendship development can only go so far before it just gets old, especially in a 52 episode drama.

*The closest thing to an otp for me in this drama is Baili Tusu and Ou Yang Shao Gong - so really not feeling any chemistry between the actors sadly.