CKDramaddicts

I enjoyed this more than I expected, like a slow burn revenge that also showed the destruction and collateral damage caused by greed, money, and power, how easily people can be controlled and manipulated because of those things, and the way it changes people for worse. We saw that slow destruction with PHS's character, with poor Taehyun, and we saw it with the mother and son duo. The son seemed so carefree before! The whole family, really. The only character I didn't fully understand was Yeom's wife. Did she not know what her husband was like? Was she just so traditional and timid that she accepted her role in life until she was free? I hated the ending....and yet, it made sense and was more realistic than had he been able to move on quickly and easily after everything Yeom did to him. But was I the only one getting suicidal vibes from that final scene? 😢 I wanted a happy ending for him, but that would have also been the most unrealistic ending.

It's available on iQiyi where I am. (Canada)

Thanks so much for the link!

Given the scenic shots, length, and premise or "messaging" about Luyuan Village Scenic Area, I will eat my socks if this wasn't some sort of low-key tourism promo for the place to showcase the area, lol. Either way, it was fun to watch Liu Xiaoxu doing something comedic and semi-historical. Hard to rate something like this, but it was a cute effort, especially if it was some kind of "local village" project.

Edit: Noting that the credits give special thanks to the actors at Luyuan Village Scenic Area.

Yes! I didn't fully realize until I was watching this how tired I was of the cold stoic ML trope in what feels like 90 pct of dramas, and how much I appreciated Jin'an's warmth and openness here.

I agree! I am surprised it is rated slightly lower than the other one, I think it's so much more interesting. This might be one of my favourite historical ML characters.

It's more Wuxia with some dark magic. Definitely not Xianxia or not even really Xuanhuan.

Song Yi is not the most convincing general physically speaking, but she makes up for it as a solid actress, so it still works for me overall. Legend of the Female General had the same issue with Zhou Ye as a General, despite being really excellent in the fight scenes. You can tell she worked hard and trained. I like her, but she is a weaker actress overall and had less chemistry with Ryan Cheng (same actor in both), so agree this is the better of the two dramas.

💯💯 I am about 3/4 done and like it much more than Legend of the Female General, the other Ryan Cheng drama that came out around the same time.

Half way through this wonderful gem. It feels more like a movie than a drama. The gorgeous cinematography really captures the pastoral beauty of the Altay region. I visited this part of Xinjiang around the same year this story was set and made core memories -- the warmth of the Kazakhs, riding the horses, and travelling through the sweeping grassland, mountainous, and desert landscapes...

This is being released in North American theatres on Jan 30th.

If you live in a big city or near one with a decent Asian population, there are usually select theatres that will carry these productions. It comes out in North America tomorrow (Jan 30).

Just letting everyone who accidentally visited this page like I did know that this is NOT the page for the film with Jang Ki Yong, since all the reviews and comments I'm seeing here are for that movie! This page is apparently for a 6 minute short film that came in in 2023, vs the 2021 full-length movie, which can be found here: https://kisskh.at/40743-sweet-and-sour

I liked the ending and didn't think it was too bad either overall, but given it's primarily about the unravelling of a relationship, I can't say I "enjoyed" it either....but this is actually the wrong listing/movie. 🤭 This one is for a 6 minute short film. The page you were looking for (and so was I) is here: https://kisskh.at/40743-sweet-and-sour 😊

But regarding your confusion, maybe this will help clarify what happened: It wasn't that Lee Jang Hyeok (chubby guy) looked like how the Jang Hyuk (Jang Ki Yong as the slim boyfriend) used to look. The movie starts with her meeting the new chubby guy, and then it actually flashes back to her first relationship for most of the movie. She met her first boyfriend a year and 7 months ago in the hospital as well and in that flashback scene, he's not chubby - it's still JKY. She only just met the chubby guy 3 months earlier. But yes, the timeline overlap in the storytelling happens around when she finds out she's pregnant, and she's always tired at the hospital and also keeps telling her first boyfriend that she has something to tell him. And sometime after Jang Hyuk mistakenly called her by the co-worker's name was when the new guy noticed she "lost" her "grad ring".

I'm totally with you! I felt like I watched a completely different drama from those who struggled. I didn't think it was any worse than other popular, trope-y romance/rom coms, and actually better than some of them.

My main nit pits about the ending:

I really wanted a scene between mother and son after he woke up from his amnesia where she tells him about all he had done to help her regain her freedom, and how in love he was with Da-Rim. There were some great mother/son moments scattered throughout the drama; to not show one at such a crucial juncture in his journey seemed like a missed opportunity.

I know they wanted to save the "Dynamite Kiss" for later in terms of when he regained his memory for storytelling purposes, but in terms of logic, it would have made the most sense to try the kiss earlier when they were doing everything else to jog his memory. Perhaps it's a propriety/consent thing that the characters didn't go there, but to not even mention it seemed like a glaring and awkward omission. I think the writers could have brain stormed harder to make it work.

I don't know, I feel like my friends and I watched a completely different show from those in the comments. 😅😅 We binged this one, really enjoyed it (even though I thought the OST was just meh), and thought there was a lot of very swoony romance, chemistry, and heart.

Ep 10 cracked me up even though I don't generally care for romcoms. I thought they did a great job portraying the struggles of being a mom and trying to juggle motherhood, daily life, and work (even though this is 2026 and I live in Canada). K-dramas are very good at portraying those struggles, as well as female friendship groups/communities (Welcome to Samdal-ri, CLOY, just to name a few) and it was no different here for the Mother TF team.

Sure, a few things could have been done better for the ending (as highlighted in the spoiler below), but I found it satisfying overall and the whole thing worked for me. Some of the complaints read like people haven't watched a K-drama, are unfamiliar with the tropes, motherhood, or working in an entrepreneurial or corporate environment. I wasn't expecting Shakespearean craftmanship -- I just wanted a solid, swoony romance, and this delivered.

I'm curious about the 7.6 rating (and 7.2 on IMDb) for this drama, given the overwhelmingly positive comments. Thoughts? (Looking for comments beyond criticisms about the ratings systems themselves.)

I loved it, but really needed to be in the right mood for it, since it's a "slice of life" romance. I put it off for a couple of years. In the wrong mood, I might have found it boring. In the right one, it was so lovely, moving, and heartwarming (even with a somewhat annoying FL; she was much better in the second half). But also, not everyone likes this type of drama regardless, so the 8.6 isn't for them, it's for those who do.

I didn't say she was hurt, just that it didn't seem believable she didn't want people to know. But even more reason because she *wasn't* hurt by him anyway.

Okay, and the FL is an internationally renown top medical doctor, internationally renown top hacker, mobile game developer, *and* an award winning fashion designer?? Can we please make it *less* believable? 😝🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂