Noctis

Thanks for reading the review.. Honestly I haven’t found anything nearly as good as this since I finished it.. There were some with high expectations but were a disappointment.. I did like Love Between Lines though.. It aired a few months back but I only watched it recently.. And If you haven't watched Fated Hearts yet, it's a good watch too..

I finished Light to the Night few days ago, haven't started anything new after that..

In the novel it was Wei Yan's men who injured him in the beginning, but here is it is made to look like it was Wei Xuan's.. Well, however you see the cause is Wei Yan, directly or indirectly.. If I am not mistaken, I am pretty sure they made it clear gradually as to what led him to Lin'an..

The watchlist is never empty.. I too have plenty waiting in my watchlist.. Don't know if I will ever get to finish it though..

Got it.. Sadly there's not much I can suggest for you then..

I don’t know if these are your kind of genres but Bloodhounds, Can This Love Be Translated?, The Judge Returns, Beyond the Bar, Love Scout, The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call, The Manipulated are all pretty good dramas..

It's been close to 11 years now I guess..

There are definitely some good new actors.. But the problem is that they are not given enough opportunities.. I see that quite a lot of undeserving people are getting the spotlight these days instead of the good ones who can actually act..

Unfortunately you need several subscription services if you are a drama watcher these days.. Nothing can be done about that.. Even with several subscriptions some content are not available in certain regions..

Like you said it's good nonetheless..

The opposite happened for me.. I have actually started watching more CDramas these days because I feel like KDramas aren’t what they used to be anymore.. Casting issues, cringe repetitive storylines and overused tropes.. So honestly I dont think they make great romance dramas consistently anymore.. But yeah, other genres still get really good releases quite often.. I just think Korean writers need to go back to what originally made KDramas so good instead of trying too hard to cater to Western audiences..

The characters weren’t written properly.. This drama could have been saved but I guess it is what it is.. A mediocre drama..

She was harsh on him, but you can’t completely blame her.. His character was a bit unbearable at first too.. Which is understandable considering what he was going through.. But I think when he came back for her, her behavior was really bad.. Like, seriously bad..

They really did her dirty there.. That was so not needed.. And on top of that, it was supposed to be an emotional scene..

Those are fair points and I do think his moments of devotion were meaningful.. But I would separate character intention from execution you see.. My issue was never with what his character represented thematically.. It was with how the war arc was handled as a narrative.. The drama built up a conflict and didn't deliver on it.. And thats an execution problem regardless of theme.. His gentleness and his battlefield presence aren't mutually exclusive.. Both could have existed without taking away the FL's glory.. Anyway, I think we are just looking at it through different lenses like I mentioned.. But at the end of the day the drama clearly resonated with both of us in its own way and thats what matters..

The drama sort of gave each of them such distinct emotional cores while tying all of them back to the same tragedy..

That’s a good perspective and I agree that the drama was FCY’s story more than the Marquis's.. That part is pretty obvious.. But my issue is that the Marquis carried a certain presence in the novel that felt toned down in the adaptation and that felt obvious too.. No offence, I do get your point but I don’t think showing the Marquis in his full glory would take away FCY’s achievements or her spotlight.. If toning down the ML’s impact is how the FL is elevated then that itself feels a little less compelling to me.. Especially when her own character arc felt slightly rushed.. The drama built up the image of the Marquis as this legendary, feared figure but after a point it barely utilized that side of him in meaningful ways.. You could still preserve all the themes you mentioned while giving him stronger military scenes or better war sequences.. Because honestly that would have elevated the drama as a whole..

At the end of the day, I think we just connected with different aspects of the drama differently and that is completely fair.. Glad we could have a healthy discussion about it.. Cheers..

Yup.. It was beautiful, but painful..

Thanks for reading the review and I am glad you liked it..

Thank You for reading the review and I am glad you liked it..

I still can't believe that they had a great opportunity to give us some cool action scenes but they didn't bother to.. It would have been so much fun to watch them fight together.. Atleast at the end..

Lee Jung Ha is Kim Bong Seok.. He made the first season special.. Recasting him is not just a bad decision but feels wrong too.. And thats going to leave a scar on him too.. That kind of thing breaks people..