Mature love story with big-city ambitions
"Fake It Till You Make It" is series about corporate people, who try to find balance between work and personal life. Realistic work backround make me feel like I was watching normal people in their daily life.Main thread is romance between main leads, who are ambitious and hard-working, but lonely people. Their story is slow and uncontrived (it could happen in real life). They are resonable and don't act like children. They know their values and don't manipulate each other. Tang Ying is strong and independent woman, she wouldn't drop out her real-life accomplishements for a man. It'so cool, I hope in the future we would see more FL like her.
It is mature story with slow pace, it's stable and doesn't jump to conclusions. Every character have backstory and reasons for their bahaviour and action. This procedure shows viewesr that we don't know what other person is going throw and our judgement may be wrong.
Great script and directing. Good acting from whole cast. Enjoyable music. On point number of episodes, they don't drag out or rush too fast. Story not for everyone (slow and mature romance, lack of childish behaviour). I like this drama and recommend it, if you're looking for plot like this.
Was this review helpful to you?
What did it cost? Everything
Gangnam in 1990s in neo-noir story about love, power and struggle with our own demons."Exceptional drama" - there are words that come to my mind, when I think about this series. Interesting idea for plot with many plot twists, hints and slowly developing story. You can fell aura of the last decade of 20th century in Korean criminal underworld.
Brilliant acting... Ji Chang Wook in action drama again is so satisfying. Fighting scenes are well-played and you can't take eyes on him in them. You can see emotions in his eyes, how he struggle and trying to keep his sanity. Complex character and I think one of the best in last years. Wi Ha Joon didn't disappoint as well, I could see that he shown something different in this role. I could understand his reasons and emotions, everything was perfect... and heartbreaking. Im Se Mi meets my expectations with her character and her struggles, her little facial expressions were brilliant. I can't niggle over supporting characters acting. they all do well. Also I was suprised by BIBI, I didn't know that she can act and be an eyecatcher in the screen.
I truly like music in this drama , it makes matching vibes with the story. Especially in the ending... it made me so emotional.
Filmmakers did amazing job with making characters. They are sophisticated, not obvious, not bad, not good. All I see is grey. Viewers may see that circumstances can made us do many things, terrible things. Things we do for love. Things we do for power. Things we do, because of our ambitious. Things we do, because of our greed. What make us going crazy, even if we try keep our beliefs. What we have to sacrifice for our work. And lasty if it is worthy to do it all...
In the end we all can see broken people, who lost everything. Whose world view was shattered . They know nothing. They don't believe in anything... they are shadows of who they were before
Highly recommended drama for neo-noir fans and ganster drama watchers. Great position for everyone interested in: morally-grey characters, undercover cop, difficult circumstances and what they can make us, psychological struggle and heartbeaking plot. I will come back in future to see one more time bromance and romance, action sequences and difficulties to stay true to yourself beliefs . Moreover I will think if it was worthy... after all it cost everything
Was this review helpful to you?
Original idea for story, but superficially made
Idea of love story includes father-in-law and his daughter-in-law sounds intriguing. Action takes place in Tang dynasty and it's based on true events in history. However story is loosely made on facts and it is mostly fiction.Creation of Yang Gui Fei is little riduculous for me. She is young and stupid girl, who doesn't know how to behave. Her actions look randomly and often don't make any sense. It looks like she has only one purpose - looks beutiful on screen.
Other characters don't have any depth. We can't understand their decisions, because we don't know what their thinking. Their psychological portrait shouls be elaborate, which would make their motives more clear.
Concept of Byzantine envoy narration is fascinating, but I'm not sure if it suits this story.
Ending is messy and little strange. I understand that authors wanted show us characters great love, but I don't think it was good way to do it.
The best aspects of this film are for sure visuals. They look brilliant and far-fetched. Every footage is piece of art. They are breathtaking and make this film worth watching. Costumes and hairstyle are also mesmerizing.
Music is also very good. I think it suits scene well. It makes them more intense.
Overall "Lady of the Dynasty" is so so movie. Idea is fascinating, but unconvincingly made. Script doesn't give justice to story. On a good note visuals are compellig and look expensive. Moreover Fan Bing Bing is definitively beautiful and pleasing to the eyes.
Authors could offer audience much more. Historically Yang Gui Fei is shown as vicious and powerful woman not as lost girl. I would love to see interpretation like this in future.
However I have to give props to scriptwriter for knowledge that lychee was Yang Gui Fei favourite fruit.
Was this review helpful to you?
Class 2 Never Reached the Heights of Class 1
I’m not sure exactly where, but it just doesn’t evoke the same feelings or excitement that viewers experienced while watching Class 1. We got amazing fight scenes, but it could be much more...The biggest issue is the fact that the story no longer centers around a WEAK hero. Yeon Si Eun is no longer that brilliant, underestimated student. He’s become just another fighter. I had been waiting for years to see clever, strategic fight scenes where he came up with creative and original ways to outsmart physically stronger opponents. The scientific explanations behind his moves gave us a unique perspective on his character and made the whole drama feel different (and we didn't get that in Class 2). So why did the creators abandon that storytelling approach and turn him into… just another typical action lead? I think it’s truly unfortunate that this intelligent angle was lost.
In addition, the pacing and storytelling felt a bit off. I had the impression that character development wasn’t given enough space, and relationships between characters progressed a bit too quickly. I would’ve loved to see more emotional depth there.
Si Eun is supposed to be the main character, but at times it doesn’t feel that way. Also, I think it would’ve been meaningful to show something about his father — even if he disappeared from Si Eun’s life, I still wish we could have seen that. Family aspects aren’t always the most important part, but they do give us much-needed background.
The cameos we got were, in my opinion, really well done — especially Oh Beom Seok. It was an interesting and meaningful way to bring him back, full of weight and raw emotion. The relationship between the characters is built on deep regret and overwhelming sadness. I know many people hate him, but it’s hard to feel just one emotion — especially hate — when you’ve once known someone so well and loved them like a close friend. Those scenes gave the story incredible emotional depth, while actually revealing very little on the surface. That subtlety made it even more powerful.
We got to see many fantastic performances from a truly talented cast. They all have a bright future ahead of them, and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for their upcoming projects. In my opinion, they really did justice to the characters they played, whether it was the protagonists, the villains, or even the supporting roles. And Park Ji Hoon is absolutely brilliant. There’s something in his eyes — a visible sadness, something broken — and through them, you can almost see his character’s entire soul. He’s one of the best actors of his age group, no doubt about it.
As for the flaws, I think the main issue lies with the creators — especially the screenwriter. Something clearly went wrong in the development process, and now we’re seeing the consequences. Maybe it was the pressure from producers or the studio’s vision, but it’s truly regrettable, because the series had the potential to be so much more.
Finally, I have to say a few words about the music — it was genuinely great. I mean it. I loved the choice of songs, and the way the sound design added even more emotions and meaning to the story (I also found them quite unique for a k-drama )
Overall, it’s a great drama — especially if you enjoy intense fight sequences and well-crafted action scenes. We got plenty of those, and most of them were quite well executed. I wouldn’t call it just another “school bullying” drama, because to me, it’s not. It’s a story about complicated friendships, the choices we make in life, the values we have and the strength it takes to stay true to them. I would definitely recommend this drama — you won’t regret watching it.
But for me, it wasn’t the story I had been waiting for. And probably not the one many of us had hoped for. It was really good… but Class 1 was simply perfect. And let’s be honest how many times you can get perfect score?
Was this review helpful to you?
`