I've noticed that the Hong sisters specialise in interesting male characters. The men shone in their drama -through witty conversations, weird personalities and interactions with other characters. The drama's paranormal genre is a sure thing to attract viewers but I find that there is a certain lacking in depth and substance in the story after the initial excitement over the drama's paranormal premise had died down. Now, it seems to come back down to a back and forth dialogue between the main characters over the same issue.... a sort of cat and mouse game which is fast getting tiring unless something unexpected happens soon. Let's hope there will be a shift in the complacency of the back and forth dialogue -evil spirit busting formula soon.
The story idea is similar to the Korean movie Haunters (2010) which happens to be one of my most favourite movie! Instead of having two hot guys facing off, we get a guy and a lady facing off instead. The 2014 Japanese re-make of Haunters is Monsterz which didn't do as well as Haunters. I sure hope this one will live up to it's Korean predecessor's name!
Ep 5 & 6, we get a further look into the past and the developing friendships between our leads as palace politics start to play an important role in the story. Now that Muyun Sheng and Muru Han Jiang have met, it triggered a series of events that caused an astrological phenomenon leading towards the fulfillment of the prophesy of doom. According to the imperial astrologer, this phenomenon shouldn't happen so quickly but was fast forwarded because Muru Han Jiang survived and is now united with Muyun Sheng. Although Muru Han Jiang was prophesied to be the next emperor, defeating the current emperor - Muyun Sheng was prophesied to have caused the chaos that would lead to that future. According to the prophesy, Muyun Sheng will ascend to the throne but at the time of his ascension, he will cause chaos in the world. Muyun Sheng himself told Muru Han Jiang that the reason why he lived in a simple wooden abode was because the prophesy said - the moment he decide to hold a sword, the world will plunge into chaos. Hence, no metal was allowed in his abode.
We also got introduced to the other princes, with focus on Muyun Hege - the empress' son and the son the emperor disliked. Amongst the princes, Muyun Hege is the most ambitious and he hated Muyun Sheng because he's the emperor's favorite son despite being born of a demon mother. Muyun Hege conspires with his maternal uncle so he could be elected as crown prince. This is a classic example of like mother, like son.
We learned that Muyun Sheng's mother is actually still alive; though she now looks like a crumbled old lady. The empress kept her alive just so she could have the pleasure of seeing her old wrinkled look. Hell has no fury as a woman spurned!
My favorite character so far is Muru Han Jiang. He has an open and straight-forward personality, making friends left right and center! He's also a man of his word to the point that when Muyun Sheng's mother's maid asked him to swear he would accompany her everyday and to seal that promise by drinking tea spiked with "Broken Heart Grass" pill (it's a kind of poison that only react if you break your promise), he did it (though stopped halfway by the maid who was just testing him). Muru Han Jiang shared with the old maid how he felt a connection with Muyun Sheng because he's a child abandoned by his own parents. He understood Muyun Sheng better than anyone else and hence knew how cold and lonely he must have felt. That conversation spurred the maid to make a decision to reveal the truth about Muyun Sheng's mother.
According to the maid, the emperor had no choice but to stab Muyun Sheng's mother because he was facing a crisis with regards to the throne back when he first ascended. The emperor's elder brother, who was the previous emperor's favorite son, challenged him to chose between the throne or the beauty. Faced with such difficult choice, the emperor turned on his favorite concubine. Apparently, if one kills a demon, that person will also face death....but at the last moment as she pulled the sword out of her body, Muyun Sheng's mother used all of her effort to stop the power from seeping out of her body; hence stopping the retribution that would befall on the emperor. She did it out of love. In return, she's now the way she is - bedridden, unable to move and lost all of her youth and beauty. The maid handed over to Muyun Sheng a pouch containing things that would further explain his origins before returning to her mistress' abode to die.
As for our developing 'romance' - Muru Han Jiang saved Su Yuning from the other palace maids who were bullying her. He declared that he will protect her and he knew about the prophesy concerning her being the next empress (though he had no idea that he's supposed to be the next emperor - cute eh?). They became close friends.
Ep 6 ends with the empress informing the emperor that the maid taking care of Muyun Sheng's mother is suffering from the after-effects of the "Broken Heart Grass" pill. This is an indication that the maid had broken her promise to stay silent and that the secret is out.....
p.s: love all the young actors and actresses acting the role of our leads in their youth. they are doing such a good job!
Ep. 3 & 4 introduced the background story for Muru Han Jiang which gives us a snapshot on how the 3 boys eventually became good friends. In Ep. 2, we saw how starvation and unequal treatment of the tribes caused Shuofeng Heye's father to attack another tribe so that his tribe can have a better place to thrive but Shoufeng's entire tribe was annihilated because they broke this rule about not attacking and taking over other tribe's land. This rule started centuries ago by the Muyun and Muru clans when they were victorious in a war where the tribes lost and Muyun clan became the emperial clan while the Muru clan holds all the military power in the land. It was supposed to keep the peace amongst the tribes and stop in-fighting, but from what Shoufeng Heye's father said about their ancestors' story, it seemed the Shoufeng tribe got the short end of the stick and ended up with a lousy piece of land while other tribes got nice lands and thrived. After his parents' death, Shuofeng Heye was captured and sold as a slave.
The story then shifted to Muru Han Jiang - a boy gifted in martial arts and military tactics; raised by his teacher and knew nothing of his origins. Since his birth, he was sent away by his father. This is because, at the time of his birth, the astrologers predicted that he will be the next emperor! This was very scandalous as everyone knows that although the Muyun clan holds the imperial power, it is the Muru clan who holds the real authority with the ultimate military power in their hands! In order to stop rumors of a revolt, Muru Han Jiang's father sent him away. However, the emperor got to know of this and Muru Han Jiang's father had no choice but to seek him out to kill him!
Back in the prison, Shoufeng Heye met the imperial princess who was there to bet on the winner for a gladiator-styled fighting. The princess issued him an ultimatum that if he is able to win fighting against the current winner, she would take him in as her slave so she could win wars.
In another scene, Muru Han Jiang found his teacher murdered. He fought the murderer and won. The fighting was witnessed by a young lady (Su Yuning) who was selected to be a palace maid. The lady fainted and he saved her only to be misunderstood as a thief. He was tossed into prison where he became prison mates with Shoufeng Heye. There, the boys swore to be brothers. At the day of the fight, Shoufeng Heye was losing badly to the winner when Muru Han Jiang struck a deal with the prison warden to allow him to fight the winner with Shoufeng Heye. Both boys won and at the final showdown when they had to fight each other, Muru Han Jiang allowed Shoufeng Heye to win, earning Shoufeng's eternal gratitude. This is where the brotherhood started.
An unconscious Muru Han Jiang was then brought to his father's where his birth origin was explained and the reason why he must not live. In an act to prove that he too can be an upright person by preventing a potential future revolt, he stabbed himself. When his father presented his body to the emperor to seek for the emperor's pardon, the emperor instead ordered that Muru Han Jiang be saved as he wished to curry the favor of the court who sees him as a ruthless emperor. The emperor issued an order for Muru Han Jiang to stay in the palace and to become the study partner to his 6th son, prince Muyun Sheng.
It was at this stage that our main lead finally appeared. Muyun Sheng is rumored to be half-human and half-demon. His mother was the favorite concubine of the emperor who to this day still mourned her death. I think there will be a background story about the emperor and the empress as the emperor totally ignored the empress while the empress was doing everything in her power to get the emperor's favor, including dressing up, putting makeup on and using Muyun Sheng's mother's favorite perfume - all to make herself more appealing to the emperor.
As for the young lady (Su Yuning) who fainted in Muru Han Jiang's arms - the astrologers predicted her to be the next empress. So if Muru Han Jiang's future is to be the next emperor.... I guess we are already introduced to his future romantic interest in the form of Su Yuning.
Ep. 4 ended nicely with all the pieces of the chess set ready for the drama to progress. Well done!
I watch it raw as it airs. Many chinese sites have it - iQiyi, Youku, Letv, QQ etc. It's everywhere but if you are asking where to watch Eng subbed ones, that is not yet available. Wait for the licensing before subbers can work on it.
First 2 eps tell the background story of Shuofeng Heye. So far so good. Love the pace - no dilly dallying. Hope they'll keep this pace throughout the drama.
I agree it's lame and toothless. More like a slap on the hand than actual punishment! Murder deserves death sentence.…
Opinions differ re. capital punishment. Personally, I think we should have death row but it should only be meted out when there is beyond reasonable doubt of the person's guilt and under strict guidelines, as per TeleriFerchNyfain's comment. For example: multiple homicide as in the case of serial killers involving psychopaths who cannot be rehabilitated into society. As a tax payer, I do not want my hard-earned tax to go to feeding and keeping such people alive in jail. I would rather it goes to helping the needy, improving education, infrastructure, health, safety etc.
I agree it's lame and toothless. More like a slap on the hand than actual punishment! Murder deserves death sentence. In some countries without death sentence, murder can lead to life imprisonment. A life for a life. You kill someone, you either forfeit your life to death or to spending it never being free again. Max 10 years or 7 years in the case of this drama is downright shameful and lame! It's laughable!
My guess: Woo Tak is colour blind. If people know he's colour blind, he will lose his job as a police because policemen cannot be colour blind. His secret would not have been a big deal if he didn't provide testimony on the murder case involving the doctor who was wrongly accused by Lee Yu Beom. That testimony or evidence from Woo Tak required him to be able to discern colours correctly and Woo Tak probably testified what he thought or what the prosecutor then (Lee Yu Beom) led him to think. Hence, he's feeling nervous now that the accused doctor (father of Seung Won's classmate) had committed suicide in prison. If the prosecutors are opening the case again, Woo Tak might have to come clean with his colour blindness and admit that he gave false testimony in the past because he didn't want to expose the fact that he's colour blind. Woo Tak will definitely lose his job and become a disgrace for not being honest with his condition. But it will be a catch 22...because if Woo Tak comes clean that he probably lied in the past, that makes him an unreliable witness and therefore he cannot testify against Lee Yu Beom!
A pothole in the story appears - Hong Ju dreams of everyone's future, Jae Chan dreams of Hong Ju's future and Woo Tak dreams of Jae Chan's future. Jae Chan will try to change Hong Ju's dream and in the process if he gets hurt, Woo Tak is supposed to dream about it. They are supposed to form a trinity of sorts with Woo Tak taking care of the consequences while saving Jae Chan and Hong Ju. So why didn't Woo Tak dream of Jae Chan being shot? He should have seen in coming in his dream when Hong Ju's dream changed due to Jae Chan's actions. Did he dream of it but selected to ignore it? Or did he not dream of it? If so, why? Is the writer trying to reduce Woo Tak's character in the drama after introducing such an interesting character that may have secrets of his own? I hope they will address this 'lacking' in the drama later. If they sweep it under the carpet, it will only make the story go from mediocre to worst!
this drama is essentially a repetition of four steps:1. One of the MCs (HJ, JC, or WT) gets a dream in which one…
Agreed. Unless they up their game soon, I am getting bored with the storyline too. I'm more of a story/plot viewer. If a drama has a really good plot and storyline progression, I will watch it and rate it highly despite it not having famous actors or/and actresses. Story is top of my list. I don't think this drama deserves a 9.0 rating at this stage. It's more of a 7.5 to 8.0 rating. If it continues to follow this 'safe' cycle of dream, prevention and everyone ok, it will remain at this rating unless something interesting and unexpected happens. I do not mind if the writer kills off one or two of its mains if it helps to elevate the story telling. But this is KDrama....it's always happy endings even though happy endings in some cases kills the entire story altogether! Hence, I do not have very high expectations of KDramas in general.
FINALLY! Someone wrote about Bollywood movies! Thank you! I've watched Bollywood films since the 1970s, so my favourites will be what people would deem as classics such as Sangam, Mere Naam Joker, An Evening in Paris, Bobby......but I do have favourites from the 1990s to early 2000s such as Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Asoka (pretty much most of SRK's movies from the 1990s to early 2000s) etc etc.
I love Tamil films too. I was Sivaji Ganesan's fan until his death in 2001. Muthal Mariyathai (1985) remains my favourite of favourites of all times! This was the movie that challenged the culture and movie industry back when it was filmed. A tragic love story between a younger woman and a married older man. It was scandalous back then! And the songs were......beyond words magnificent!
In Time With You, Autumn's Concerto, Down With Love, Murphy's Law of Love, Smiling Pasta (cringey but surprisingly an easy watch!), Hi My Sweetheart (another cringey one but the story keeps you coming back for more), Hot Shot, What is Love and Someone Like You are among my favourite Tdramas.
TDramas reflect the culture of Taiwan which is a blend of Southern Chinese and Japanese cultures; hence you get acting that are similar to Japanese acting (with weird and exaggerated facial expressions) especially "manga-like" expressions but unlike the Japanese and their creativity & brevity, the Taiwanese have the tendency to prolong the drama with soapy long-winded storyline which is reminiscence of the Chinese style of drama. Combine what you would expect from a CDrama and JDorama, you'll pretty much get TDrama. It's rare to get a good TDrama but TDramas once it's good, it's very good and unforgettable to the point of being adapted into KDramas, CDramas and JDoramas. It's tough to balance Japanese style comedy and acting into extended Chinese-style story telling but once it's done right, you'll get the perfect product! Hence, it's rarity. Too much exaggerated comedy, you get a nonsense product; too long winded and repetitive, the audience nods off. It's all about getting the balance right!
Too many repetitions and unnecessary prolonged angst. The story line is too simplistic to warrant 16 episodes. Currently (by Ep. 13), my rating for this drama dropped to 7.0/10. If they had kept to 10 to 11 episodes, get rid of repetitions and unnecessary angst, this drama would have been rated 8.5 and above.
The second episodr was a bit all over the place however I liked it a lot. Like you guys pointed out below the…
My theory: Based on Buddhist beliefs (depending on which country though), the soul of a newly departed person will linger around for a few days after its death before it is reincarnated. Buddhists like to say 7x7 = 49 days....which is the time a soul takes to reincarnate; hence the KDrama 49 days. That's why traditional Buddhists usually stay in mourning (eg: wearing black or any sign of mourning, eating vegan only etc) for at least 49 days. In extreme cases, some even went for 100 days. For the first 3 days, the newly departed soul will linger near its body, which explains why most Buddhists will only cremate or bury the dead after 3 days of the body lying in state. Maybe this explains why Detective Han's soul went back to his home, not realising he's actually dead; in which case, he only has 49 days to resolve his problems before being reincarnated (if they still want to involve the original Detective Han in the story). I find the Buddhist belief regarding 3 days interesting. In Christianity, Jesus was risen on the 3rd day after death. Christians believe in the Trinity. Creation took 6 days and the 7th day declared a Sabbath. It would seem that the numbers 3 and 7 are important in many religions around the world.
My suspicion from Ep. 1 to Ep 2: Kang Ha Ram is half-grim reaper, hence her ability to see future deaths. One of her parents was a grim reaper (high possibility her father and NOT her mother) who probably fell from grace because s/he fell in love with a mortal. Her mother probably knew her hubby's a grim reaper. Her father's mortal death was probably engineered to ensure he died as a mortal, which probably has to do with the politics of the grim reaper world. Ha Ram will unwittingly get caught in the politics of the grim reaper society, played out in the mortal world.
Why do people think this is like goblin?? It isn't at all?!?
Agreed, it isn't at all. The only thing related to Goblin is the term 'Grim Reaper' but the grim reaper in Black is definitely different to the Grim Reaper in Goblin! In Black, the grim reapers have a darker side and seem to have a will of their own; forming factions and power struggles. It's like they are a different society (albeit a spiritual one) by itself. In Goblin, grim reapers were merely 'soldiers' (of departed souls) of the gods with no memories of their past and with only one job to do. By giving a more complex definition to the term 'grim reaper', this drama Black has greater possibilities and potential story lines. I just hope it will turn up good.
We also got introduced to the other princes, with focus on Muyun Hege - the empress' son and the son the emperor disliked. Amongst the princes, Muyun Hege is the most ambitious and he hated Muyun Sheng because he's the emperor's favorite son despite being born of a demon mother. Muyun Hege conspires with his maternal uncle so he could be elected as crown prince. This is a classic example of like mother, like son.
We learned that Muyun Sheng's mother is actually still alive; though she now looks like a crumbled old lady. The empress kept her alive just so she could have the pleasure of seeing her old wrinkled look. Hell has no fury as a woman spurned!
My favorite character so far is Muru Han Jiang. He has an open and straight-forward personality, making friends left right and center! He's also a man of his word to the point that when Muyun Sheng's mother's maid asked him to swear he would accompany her everyday and to seal that promise by drinking tea spiked with "Broken Heart Grass" pill (it's a kind of poison that only react if you break your promise), he did it (though stopped halfway by the maid who was just testing him). Muru Han Jiang shared with the old maid how he felt a connection with Muyun Sheng because he's a child abandoned by his own parents. He understood Muyun Sheng better than anyone else and hence knew how cold and lonely he must have felt. That conversation spurred the maid to make a decision to reveal the truth about Muyun Sheng's mother.
According to the maid, the emperor had no choice but to stab Muyun Sheng's mother because he was facing a crisis with regards to the throne back when he first ascended. The emperor's elder brother, who was the previous emperor's favorite son, challenged him to chose between the throne or the beauty. Faced with such difficult choice, the emperor turned on his favorite concubine. Apparently, if one kills a demon, that person will also face death....but at the last moment as she pulled the sword out of her body, Muyun Sheng's mother used all of her effort to stop the power from seeping out of her body; hence stopping the retribution that would befall on the emperor. She did it out of love. In return, she's now the way she is - bedridden, unable to move and lost all of her youth and beauty. The maid handed over to Muyun Sheng a pouch containing things that would further explain his origins before returning to her mistress' abode to die.
As for our developing 'romance' - Muru Han Jiang saved Su Yuning from the other palace maids who were bullying her. He declared that he will protect her and he knew about the prophesy concerning her being the next empress (though he had no idea that he's supposed to be the next emperor - cute eh?). They became close friends.
Ep 6 ends with the empress informing the emperor that the maid taking care of Muyun Sheng's mother is suffering from the after-effects of the "Broken Heart Grass" pill. This is an indication that the maid had broken her promise to stay silent and that the secret is out.....
p.s: love all the young actors and actresses acting the role of our leads in their youth. they are doing such a good job!
The story then shifted to Muru Han Jiang - a boy gifted in martial arts and military tactics; raised by his teacher and knew nothing of his origins. Since his birth, he was sent away by his father. This is because, at the time of his birth, the astrologers predicted that he will be the next emperor! This was very scandalous as everyone knows that although the Muyun clan holds the imperial power, it is the Muru clan who holds the real authority with the ultimate military power in their hands! In order to stop rumors of a revolt, Muru Han Jiang's father sent him away. However, the emperor got to know of this and Muru Han Jiang's father had no choice but to seek him out to kill him!
Back in the prison, Shoufeng Heye met the imperial princess who was there to bet on the winner for a gladiator-styled fighting. The princess issued him an ultimatum that if he is able to win fighting against the current winner, she would take him in as her slave so she could win wars.
In another scene, Muru Han Jiang found his teacher murdered. He fought the murderer and won. The fighting was witnessed by a young lady (Su Yuning) who was selected to be a palace maid. The lady fainted and he saved her only to be misunderstood as a thief. He was tossed into prison where he became prison mates with Shoufeng Heye. There, the boys swore to be brothers. At the day of the fight, Shoufeng Heye was losing badly to the winner when Muru Han Jiang struck a deal with the prison warden to allow him to fight the winner with Shoufeng Heye. Both boys won and at the final showdown when they had to fight each other, Muru Han Jiang allowed Shoufeng Heye to win, earning Shoufeng's eternal gratitude. This is where the brotherhood started.
An unconscious Muru Han Jiang was then brought to his father's where his birth origin was explained and the reason why he must not live. In an act to prove that he too can be an upright person by preventing a potential future revolt, he stabbed himself. When his father presented his body to the emperor to seek for the emperor's pardon, the emperor instead ordered that Muru Han Jiang be saved as he wished to curry the favor of the court who sees him as a ruthless emperor. The emperor issued an order for Muru Han Jiang to stay in the palace and to become the study partner to his 6th son, prince Muyun Sheng.
It was at this stage that our main lead finally appeared. Muyun Sheng is rumored to be half-human and half-demon. His mother was the favorite concubine of the emperor who to this day still mourned her death. I think there will be a background story about the emperor and the empress as the emperor totally ignored the empress while the empress was doing everything in her power to get the emperor's favor, including dressing up, putting makeup on and using Muyun Sheng's mother's favorite perfume - all to make herself more appealing to the emperor.
As for the young lady (Su Yuning) who fainted in Muru Han Jiang's arms - the astrologers predicted her to be the next empress. So if Muru Han Jiang's future is to be the next emperor.... I guess we are already introduced to his future romantic interest in the form of Su Yuning.
Ep. 4 ended nicely with all the pieces of the chess set ready for the drama to progress. Well done!
I love Tamil films too. I was Sivaji Ganesan's fan until his death in 2001. Muthal Mariyathai (1985) remains my favourite of favourites of all times! This was the movie that challenged the culture and movie industry back when it was filmed. A tragic love story between a younger woman and a married older man. It was scandalous back then! And the songs were......beyond words magnificent!
TDramas reflect the culture of Taiwan which is a blend of Southern Chinese and Japanese cultures; hence you get acting that are similar to Japanese acting (with weird and exaggerated facial expressions) especially "manga-like" expressions but unlike the Japanese and their creativity & brevity, the Taiwanese have the tendency to prolong the drama with soapy long-winded storyline which is reminiscence of the Chinese style of drama. Combine what you would expect from a CDrama and JDorama, you'll pretty much get TDrama. It's rare to get a good TDrama but TDramas once it's good, it's very good and unforgettable to the point of being adapted into KDramas, CDramas and JDoramas. It's tough to balance Japanese style comedy and acting into extended Chinese-style story telling but once it's done right, you'll get the perfect product! Hence, it's rarity. Too much exaggerated comedy, you get a nonsense product; too long winded and repetitive, the audience nods off. It's all about getting the balance right!