AuzuLa

Honestly from all the comments and reviews I've seen, it's pretty much guaranteed The Glory will be a great drama.
But I stopped watching dramas for quite a few years and just recently started watching again, so at the moment I only wanna watch easy dramas I guess.
I feel like The Glory will be a hard watch. If you get what I mean.
But I'm sure I'll watch it at some point.

I'd almost forgotten about that drama.
I haven't seen The Glory yet.
But, I've seen glimpses of it and she does seem to give an incredible performance in that.
It's not really my typa drama tho but I might check it out some day.

If that sentence applies to anyone.
It's this guy.
https://kisskh.at/people/11022-yu-alan
I've never seen more non existent acting in my life, and he's often the main lead lmao.
It's actually disgusting.
I've watched so many movies, tv shows, dramas, from many different regions, but this guy takes the crown for the worst acting.
I wouldn't mind too much if he was a side character or something.
But he's usually the main lead, and I feel like other actors deserve that role way more.
Just watch The Legend of White Snake...

Fair enough.
Tbh I wasn't trying to hate on her, although I guess it came across that way. I choose the wrong wording.
If anything, my intent was to defend her against assumptions like she chooses to work with younger actors because she's insecure or something.
But still, I don't take back what I said.
It's great for her that she's made it to where she is.
I truly have nothing against her.
I've enjoyed quite a few of her dramas and some of them are very iconic.
So it's not like I can't stand her acting or anything.
I just don't think she's among the best actors.

She's an average actress at best.
I mean there are far more talented actresses.
But I doubt she chooses exactly who she works with.
And it doesn't make much of a difference anyway.
These days everyone does some kind of surgery/work to look younger as they age.

The guy below kinda explains it.
Anyways you will understand yourself as you see more Master Lee scenes in season 2.
It's not really complicated.

yh it really is mind blowing
and it takes away from the story
theres a lot of nonsensical things like this and plot holes
the story is just a hot mess tbh
romance is the only thing that kept me going in both seasons
but i did prefer it in season 2

lol same
tbh i didnt even like both seasons overall
but ive watched the moments between the main couple in season 2 many times now
the romance is what holds the drama together
while a lot of people seemed to not like this version of naksu, and the new female lead, I loved the change
i felt like the actress did an incredible job of portraying a lovable, innocent, naive and cute naksu who had lost her memories
its unfortunate that they didnt develop her character as she started regaining her memories, but thats just poor writing and not much to do with the actress herself
the drama didnt do a good job of holding things consistent from season 1, but it is what it is
i just loved the main couple in this one
something just felt right

literally the very last episode of season 2 lmao
unfortunately wasn't a satisfying ending too
he deserved a bad death
and at the hands of naksu too
his actions and misdeeds are glossed over so much in this drama its unreal
anyway i would only stick with this drama for the romance
everything else is subpar at best

Honestly how good is the OST from this drama though?
I seriously can't stop listening to Blue Flower by Lia.
It's so beautiful.
It's even more meaningful after you watch the drama and read the lyrics.

Ohh I forgot to mention.
After watching Love and Redemption, watch Joy of Life 2nd instead of Legend of Yun Xi.
It was so bloody good.
I'm still pissed they haven't released a season 2 yet.

Yeah it's really that good.
But it's more so a drama that you appreciate because of its quality rather than loving it.
As I said before, it is a political drama. It focuses more on scheming, rather than genres like romance or action.
Personally, I like dramas that have a good mixture of romance and action, so it wasn't the perfect fit for me.
But, the quality of the writing/plot in Nirvana in Fire is something else man. You genuinely don't see it often. You actually can't even compare the writing between NIF and AOS. One is infinitely superior.
So it's not a drama you'll love to death, but you will appreciate it for what it is. At least that's how I see it.

Chinese dramas have too many episodes yeah.
They're starting to shorten them now tho I think, but a lot of historical dramas have like 60 episodes lol.
It's not necessarily a bad thing. You kinda get used to it. And, if you actually enjoy the drama then it's a huge bonus since it lasts way longer.
You just gotta watch what you think you'll enjoy and drop after like 5 episodes if you feel the drama isn't for you.

And about 'Love and Redemption', if you enjoy romance and historical/fantasy setting, then just watch it. You will not regret it. Trust me on that lol.

As for male characters looking too feminine, I usually don't notice that actually. I think they look fine.
Now that you mention it tho. One of the few times it bothered me was in Alchemy of Souls. The crown prince looks so feminine for no reason lmao. It looks like he's wearing lipstick 24/7. That plus the combination of his hair, he looked so outta place at times.

I think I also tried Love Between Fairy and Devil but I ended up dropping it very soon too. Tbh tho I didn't really give it a proper chance so I can't really judge it.

Just finished season 2.
Overall it's worse than season 1 imo.
Then again, I didn't think season 1 was that good either.
And by 'good', I talk in terms of plot, writing and overall quality of the drama.

However, I did really enjoy both seasons. They just had elements that I personally love to watch so I found joy in them.
I guess that is why the show has such high ratings. It suited people's taste.

I will say I feel like the romance in season 2 could have been far better.
It started of beautiful but it really fizzled out after like 5 episodes.
We needed more.
It's understandable that Naksu is more naive and innocent at the beginning because she's lost all her memories. It honestly created some lovely scenes with Jang Uk so I'm all for it.
But, as the drama went on and her memories started to return, she needed to change too.
Needed to be more like Naksu, if that makes sense.
I feel like Go Youn Jung wasn't really given much to work with script wise tbh so it's not really her fault.

I've watched 9 episodes of season 2 so far.
I think in terms of overall plot it isn't any better than season 1, if anything it's worse, but I've enjoyed it more.
Simply because of the romance.
I can see why people have complaints tho. There's a lot wrong with this season too.
It is what it is. Dramas are rarely perfect. I just try to enjoy the parts of them I find likeable, and forget the rest lol.

We have similar tastes it seems.
I love dramas based on a historical/fantasy setting, and if they have romance too then its a huge plus.
But for this kind of genre/preference, Chinese dramas have a lot more choice, and there are true gems out there as well.
For a starter, and one I feel like you really can't go wrong with, is Love and Redemption. That was incredible imo.
If you enjoy that, then try Legend of Yun Xi too.
The ones 'baby cheese' recommended also seem good, but I don't think I've seen them. I haven't watched many dramas in the recent years.
If you want something more political, rather than romance heavy, then check out Nirvana in Fire. It is hands down one of the best dramas ever created imo.

Yh there's just so many things in the plot that just don't make sense or add up in the end.
It's just poor writing.
Jin Mu is still walking around fine somehow. When in reality the royal family and Jin Ho Kyung should want to tear him to pieces. Literally.
It's so obvious he was involved with Shaman Choi, so he caused the Queen to suffer for 20 years and he caused the death/disappearance of Bu Yeon.
It's like the writer wants us to believe the characters have 5 IQ.

Anyway I've only watched 2 episodes of season 2, and I must say I'm enjoying it a bit more.
Mainly because of the new actress and her new personality.
Jung So Min can surely act really well, but a lot of times I felt like she didn't match the character of Naksu. I only saw Mu Deok. If that makes sense?
Go Youn Jung has been great so far. And I must say god damn, she is drop dead gorgeous.

Honestly I was just contemplating whether to write a massive rant or to just go straight to season 2, but I'm glad someone here shares similar views with me.
I went into this expecting it to be far better.
Like seriously, I expected it to be one of the best dramas I've seen.
It had a 9.1 rating. Everyone in the comments seems to love it. The reviews have very high scores. The actors seem great. The story seems interesting and it has the fantasy and romance genres that I love.
But I can't say this is one of the better dramas I've watched. It was average at best.
I still enjoyed it, but that felt more so due to the actors and some of the relationships they had rather than the overall story.
For a starter, the plot did not have the substance to last 20 episodes. It could have literally been cut in half.
The ending is such a shit show. There are so many plot holes I couldn't even keep count.
How does Jin Mu still get to walk around like nothing happened? Is everyone suddenly an idiot when necessary?
What the hell was the point of Jang Uk's father's existence? Like seriously, I expected him to have a little bit of impact when he showed up after like 18 episodes.
There were many other points too, like the lack of consistency in the personality of the Jang Uk. He changes his attitude every 5 seconds. One second he will be angry and upset, and right so at times, but then he'll just forget all about it in the next second and it'll be like that moment almost didn't happen. Idk. It just feels off and makes him come across as an idiot.
The crown prince starts as an arrogant dude but then develops as a person, but suddenly towards the end, he starts viewing Jang Uk in a negative light rather quickly without enough cause imo.
I guess my biggest complaint would be the ending. I know there's a season 2 but that was anti-climatic as hell. All that build up and then it kinda just leads nowhere it seemed.
Season 1 was really carried by the main couple and their friendships with those that surround them.

Anyway, it seems I wrote a lot of negatives.
But honestly, I quite enjoyed the drama.
And will definitely be watching season 2.
I just felt like this could have been so much better than it was.

I remember when I first watched this drama, I was so hooked, but suddenly I realised that the subs weren't complete.
That was a real bummer...
Unfortunately, I don't think it'll ever be fully subbed.
The only thing I can recommend to get some kind of closure is reading the novel this drama is based on.
This is the link to Bordertown Wanderer below.

https://www.spcnet.tv/forums/showthread.php/11732-Bordertown-Wanderer-Bian-Cheng-Lang-Zi-by-Gu-Long?p=356901#post356901

Personally tho, I think the drama was much better than the novel.

Honestly, this could be a much better drama, but it was average at its best.
I still enjoyed parts of it, but a lot of the time I was simply bored and hoping it would end.

A big issue was that this simply didn't have the plot or substance to maintain any kind of quality over 38 episodes. I don't know why Chinese dramas are so long. It really doesn't make sense, at least 70% of them don't need to be that long, especially modern-based dramas. This drama would immensely benefit from having an episode length similar to Korean dramas, e.g. 16 episodes.

Another big issue was the repetition of the MC's mental block/illness affecting his performance. This keeps being used over and over again. He has some kind of psychological issue leading to him losing matches. Then we see people giving him 100 pep talks/motivational speeches. He gets better. And then it pops up again. On repeat. It eventually got to the point where I just found it all stupid, the psychological issues and the motivational speeches.

I think in order to enjoy this drama you need to come into this drama knowing that it's not going to be anything extraordinary or unique.
You kinda get what you expect?
Personally, I think there's much better stuff out there, but the comments clearly show a lot of people enjoyed this, so it's worth giving it a shot if you're already interested.