Anoif

Kim So Yeon was the perfect cast for the role…. She made it so sexy, badass and occasionally evil…. 😏😏😍😍 I loved this season much to my surprise…. Smart move to condense it to 12 episodes, defo very engaging….

Same. I dropped S1 actually. We aren’t the only ones, the local S.Korean S2 viewership was significantly higher compared to S1…

I actually completed this one…. And really enjoyed it. I found the plot better amongst the other things you mentioned.

I dropped S1 actually. I like watching romance genres too…. But I found the romance in S1…. I don’t know… I still somewhat enjoyed the first half of it… but just lost interest as it progressed…. Partly due to the chemistry (which I’m not sure why…., they look great tog, and I watched BTS, they are really good friends), partly the plot, and probably other unidentified factors….

I literally thought he was Deng Lun when I watched the 1st episode of Desire Catcher… only realised he wasn’t when they shot a close-up….

lol. I think it’s a physical stereotype kinda thing in Mainland… so there are like certain…. ‘standards’….? Or blueprint….?

Coz…. Lol. I’m going to give another example… I TRULY thought Li Qin and Bai Lu was the same person for probably about a year…. 🤣 my bad. I’m like face-blind when it comes to many of the Mainland celebs…. It’s almost like there a set of ‘clusters’…..

Yeap. That’s the msg that all the more recent C-dramas in the past 5 years have explicitly highlighted….. like made it so damnnnn obvious, basically with a neon sign esp all the modern ones with family themes…. It becomes very extreme and also strange/abnormal…. Coz I mean the whole filial piety thing affects manyyyy Asian cultures… not only in Mainland… But to be fair, Mainland’s social issues are also very extreme (and will become more and more severe in the next 10-20 yrs) due to previous policies….

Yea, so there is a recent example of the scenario you quoted… I didn’t know about it until I came across the ‘Goo Hara act’ randomly…. Which is in S.Korea basically. It’s inspiring to see that they are progressing and they passed the act! Thank goodness. Felt sooooo unfair when reading about Goo Hara’s estate division. Some humans really have the audacity to do all sorts of crazy things. But yea, hence why I said…. I’m not so sure all these C-dramas should be sending such an extreme msg…. As society and mankind evolve and progress, anyone with half a brain will actually have a bigger retaliation towards an unreasonable and extreme msg… it just makes a person do the exact opposite when they probably wouldn’t normally have…

Oooo… thanks for the juicy news!

They are?? I never knew! Wow….

A year later and I’m still so mad + annoyed at the final episode that I vacillate between 8.5 and 9 every time I rewatch this…. I’ve just changed it to a 9 again because I realise the plot, screenwriting and production quality truly deserves it… but I’ve yet to arrive at the final episode…. I might turn into angry-bird again once I arrive at the cartoony ridiculous last fight scene in the final episode. 😠 Mind you it was meant to be an epic showdown…

This had so much potential to be a 10…. It had a really good balance of romance, wuxia, palace politics, camaraderie and art of war which is really rare…. Sighs, how unfortunate. But I still really enjoyed it…

Yea… it’s obvious that a lot of the C-dramas focus on this social issue the past couple of years (because it has come the time whereby the parents of the only-child generation is at/nearing old age)…. It is also significantly impacted by the one-child policy…. Because regardless of a son or a daughter…. The current generation is gravely affected by it and even the mentality of the younger generations still are although they’ve lifted the ban. So basically each child will have two parents which will make 4 parents once they get married. Under normal circumstances it would have been fine because the outcome would have been diluted, but because it is unnatural to have an entire nation of only-child… Nobody can escape it basically and it becomes an amplified problem.

Yes, also doesn’t help with the whole Confucianism/filial piety and patriarchy culture…. Which is different from the West whereby individualism and independence is core.

But if you think about it, it’s seriously crazy and the burden becomes unimaginable because it isn’t a one-off….. it’s a frequent day-to-day never ending slew of occurrences. 😳😳😳

I watched a S.Korea drama which was based on a true story in Japan… it basically is about this as well although they presented it differently and the focus was slightly different. But the general message is also about how the current generation of modern females in Asia have the short end of the stick regardless…. And I really liked that drama because they showed the ramifications of it (which I personally felt was heartbreaking, because I read the MDL comments and as usual a lot of the blame is on the female again 😢) from an Asian female perspective objectively instead of trying to send a msg/teach a lesson like ‘parents can do no wrong and you should never abandon them etc etc’…. Which I feel is actually the wrong msg to send though…. This isn’t really going to fix the social issue, it’s actually going to exacerbate it. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Yes. Sometimes like my brain just can’t stop thinking ‘dude…. Is everyone blind……? She’s obviously a girl….‘ And I keep looking at how small her face is and how feminine everything is……. And I lose track of the dialogue and the plot…. 🤣 and I’m like wth…. Epic fail.

She totally can pass off as a dude without makeup…. And I think a lot of people noticed this….. coz she was the one who played the Crown Prince in Joy of Life. I thought she looked so much like a dude then…. I was truly amazed, I actually had to check the cast to find out if she was an actor or actress.

But I also thought she did sucha good job in Douluo Continent…. It’s truly rare to be able to pull off both genders….. sorry to say that most female actresses disguising as a male really is too far fetched and laughable…. Makes it really distracting and difficult to focus on the drama.

Oh hello! Haha. Nice to meet you. ☺️

Of course it’s crucial! It basically is the core of the entire plot. She would have NEVER met him and fell for him forcefully if otherwise. There wouldn’t even be a story to begin with. It wasn’t that they met coincidentally through work… she intentionally went to work for him and got close to him etc etc.

Um….. I’ve watched up to the latest episode… so I am actually following it quite closely…. Did you watch All is Well? I took a peek at your Watchlist, doesn’t look like you did… I don’t want to simply provide an opinion without any context. Hence why I’m asking. 🙂

Ah, I saw that bit whereby the mother explained…. Ok… so they didn’t clarify on why QJ misunderstood… they should though, it’s actually pretty crucial to the plot. And the reason shouldn’t be a dumb one…. 🤣

Thanks!

Did the drama clarify on why there was a misunderstanding regarding the ML’s heart? Why did both the leads get it wrongly on who the heart came from……..?

Ending wasn’t disastrous but have to say that it was a tad disappointing. For some reason it tilted towards a cliched unrealistic ending…. Was super disappointed on how things turned out with her mentor (luckily this was not how it was in the original novel)…. That was the healthiest and most touching relationship in the entire drama…. It seems that all plots for these kinda C-dramas tend to have a similar ending…. ‘Parents can do no wrong’ , also aging parents is a major issue in Mainland, and it will only get worse…. So the ending basically revolves around that… on how the kids have to look after them regardless. I get the whole family values being the core of many Asian cultures and I respect that… but I don’t think the msg sent across should be that emotional blackmail, bullying and coercion is justifiable by filial piety and kinship…. That is just downright wrong….

The ending took the very extreme end and made everythinggggg all fine BUT yet Su Ming Yu has to sacrifice for the father…. Again…. I think reconciliation is fine and great…. But the ending in a way was rather heartbreaking when you view it from a child’s perspective, or even just a normal human being…. The novel didn’t end this way, so this was made to change in the TV drama by the screenwriters, it’s probably to pass censorship….

I love this drama (although I’m kinda late…..) Su Ming Yu is my heroine/idol…. Was a 9-9.5 for me…. Yao Chen and Tony Yang’s chemistry was 🔥🔥🔥, super natural…. I love the fact that they took the business plot/theme very seriously and it was technical/realistic. It would have been a waste if they only focused on the family theme, wouldn’t have been multi-dimensional as it is, with so much depth…

the editing towards the end was kinda bad…. esp the last few episodes. Was obviously rushed... the transition of things becoming better was rather abrupt, should have been more gradual. If otherwise it would have been a 10 for me.

Yeap. Same thinking. It was forced, but there was part of the plot towards the end that he literally asked her to leave…. And gave her all his money, he had a lot… coz he wanted to stay back and defend his country, she chose to stay with him….. for no reason… After I completed the novel….. I was like.. this not only feels sad. It feels jaded, empty… and like kinda “wth”….. coz I was kind of surprised that poor CWD just…. Was so abrupt… btw, I’m totally NOT a fan of toxic relationships… it totally wasn’t for this case..,

They have to change it seriously….

I read it… no, not exactly, she basically volunteered herself when he wanted to take her sister instead, so she exchanged herself. So I was say coerced which wasn’t a good feeling, but I wouldn’t exactly call it assault…. Which after that there wasn’t really a Stockholm syndrome thing (thank goodness). neither was there abuse or continuous rape, the language used in the novel was she always had a choice… she didn’t exactly dislike him from the start although she was coerced into it the first time.

And because of that…. Even if she wanted to dislike him… or hate him… fine… at least it was something. But they ended it with….. emptiness actually…. No confrontation or closure on both men…. It basically came and left like a gust of wind and she ended up with nothing…. Only realising that she loved CWD at the end when everything was over. Sad ending is fine, but the way it ended for her on the romance side was just…… empty, like a black hole. 😒

HOWEVER, looking at the closing OST credit rolls, it looks like they changed quite a bit of that plot in the drama…. The snippets given actually looked a lot better…. At least it wasn’t written with that tenacity in the novel….

Yea true that, but the way it ended for her was so wish-washy on both men…. A little like ‘it was there but never there…. Everything came and went like the wind ‘ for both WJG and CWD. That was the bit that was a let down.