Korean Fashion Drama :)
This is not your typical revenge drama. It aired roughly the same time as “Why Her?” which is way better than this one.The main plot and underlying storyline is quite interesting- young 15yo girl’s dad was murdered in front of her, she was sexually assaulted, her mother went missing; she lived abroad many years and came back with her ultimate revenge. First half had a really good build up. However after awhile it became more of a parade of who wears it better.. which brand clothing, who had the better body etc.. thus why I said Korean Fashion Drama! And at one point Seo Yea Ji was wearing hats as if she was going for a British Royal wedding! And all Han So Ra does is scream and vent and throw tantrums. It must have been so exhausting playing that role.
The ending was not your typical ending, sort of like an open ending. It is true the first few episodes are quite seductive and steamy, which is why apparently it was banned in Korea. Only watch this if you’re looking for a really angst drama. ;)
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Everyone hated Yin Nan ke ;)
A light, easy-to-watch romance office drama, from enemies to lovers theme. It’s good and short, so the pace was quite fast.I honestly did not really like the FL Song Qing Chun.. yes she has some moral principles of yes means yes and no means no. But how does she go for a business dealing to see a client, in short torn shorts, with two huge whole on her thighs, and wearing an off shoulder low cut top? Yes women are free to wear what they want, but there has to be some level or professionalism and decency when working. And how can you close a business deal if you beat your client in a snooker game? So shady... is this how they do business in China?
Also, she clearly liked the ML already, but still flirting with other men and insulting and being mean to ML. Their romance and love development does eventually get better towards the second half. ML has been in love with her for many years, so he’s consistent and does many many romantic things for her, including saving her life on a number of occasions.
Of course I’m sure everyone hated Qin Yin Nan, which was FL first love. He lies, two-times, does shady business to get ahead. Tang Yuan his gf (also FL best friend) was such a pity. No back bone, doesn’t stand up for her own dignity and pride. She clearly knew QYN liked SQC but still wanted to be his gf, and when all the lies came to light, still wanted to stay with him and not break off. PLEASE WOMAN... have some self worth!! Couldn’t take all their scenes.. gave me lots of angst haha.
The last episode was a bit of a confusion... [SPOILER]: They led us to believe he died- surgery failed. But the wife never claimed the body? No funeral? Already suspected he’s kept alive somewhere. Four years later true enough, he wakes up and she was expecting him finally.. I’m like what?? She knew he didn’t die? Sigh.. [END SPOILER]
Anyhow, it was quite emotional during the last 6 episodes... I cried here and there. All the usual tropes, very predictable, a little angst here and there, the good guys always win, and the romance and PDA are pretty good ;) A good watch for a romance Chinese drama.
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Defying logic ;)
First half of the drama did not sit well with me. There were many scenarios which did not make sense and there’s no logic to it. For example: how can a parent leave a 6-year old son at home alone?! And how can that 6-year old travel from his home to Dr Qin’s house all by himself when he’s only been there once?? And one parent scolding the other kid when her own son was the one who snatched the toy away? Yeeesh, and then the hospital fires Rouwei for accidentally spilling coffee?You can find all the typical tropes and cliches in this drama:
1) Break up for your own good✔️
2) Bitchy ex-bf new gf✔️
3) Nasty Aunt (replacing MIL)✔️
4) Contract Marriage✔️
5) Love rival ✔️
6) Ex- girlfriend enters the scene halfway ✔️
etc etc ....
Second half was better as it got more interesting. However, the love story development of ML and FL was excruciating to watch. It was push and pull, and again back & forth. Even after getting together (which was like at episode 17 or 18?) then break up... then together... then bye I’m leaving to pursue my dream. As I said... defying logic.
If you can ignore all these, plus how the other side couples got together(??) then you can enjoy the cuteness of the family and Xiao Bai, plus the visuals of Miles Wei :):):) I’ll admit- some of his suits are a bit outrageous, but damn he looks good!! :P
Check out my Instagram page (with the same profile name) for video clips and behind the scenes ;)
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Friendship and Growing up
This drama is quite refreshing, at least the voices are not dubbed and the acting is good! Kudos to all the young actors.The storyline is focused on senior high school students in their final year before entering college. It’s about their struggles on friendship, balancing studies with activities; relationships with teachers and parents; and exploring their options on their dreams, life choices and future careers. It’s a good drama that infuses good moral principles- excellent for those in their teens and young adults.
As for me (who is older and working;)) I found it a little slow. There isn’t any romance going on, but the development of friendship to a budding romance between the leads was certain but slow ;) I’m just wondering why he didn’t tell her he liked her when he had so many opportunities :P
Anyhow, a good watch but won’t be rewatching.
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Neo Huo is dreamy ;)
I’ll admit- I skipped a lot cos some parts were boring. 2nd half was definitely much better if you can sit through the first half. Just watching Neo Huo got me through it :)Quite slow moving, lots of political fight for power, some funny scenes but not much romance 😂 except for that one kiss you see here and there! But his love for her is very sincere and real, all the way till the end. I’m not particularly fond of Chinese dramas that are dubbed like this one.
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Watch with an open mind- It’s SOO GOOD!
Some ppl are criticising the Africa storyline, where the ML went to Africa for one year to help the poor communities get clean water etc.. honestly ppl in general nowadays love to overreact. So many dramas / tv/ movies are criticised over the smallest little issue. How are writers able to tell a story then if they are so limited? It didn’t bother me, yes they depicted the poorer part of Africa (which is a continent, shld they have said Nigeria or Botswana?) so let’s just leave it at that.I loved the chemistry between Gong Tae Sung and Oh Han Byeol ;) From the very start it was evident that he liked her.. A LOT! But he just couldn’t express himself properly and instead teased and mocked her constantly, which I found childish and immature. And this went on for almost ten years :3 sigh... Thus the first half was a little dry, back and forth, push and pull. There were some very funny moments, jealousy moments, and in epi7-9 some screaming (happy) moments! Lol.. The ML and FL are very very cute together :)
The second half is more interesting with some darker plots and characters being revealed. The romance development between GTS and OHB is a very good one- they communicated very well with each other whenever they had questions or uncertainties. Very cute antics and some passionate skinship :):):) There are a total of 5 couples in this drama ;) which makes the storyline quite unique.
The OST is the best!! Three of its songs are in my current liked songs playlist;) The cute music background effects were well matched with the flow of the storyline which really enhances the mood. Some parts were quite hilarious!
The ending was extremely satisfactory !! A very good open ending with a feeling of hope and positive vibes. (I only wished Business Proposal had a better final episode in comparison) It also had a beautiful montage of the actors and behind the scenes. I literally teared watching it.
Follow me on Instagram (Cykodramaqueen) to see video clips of this drama. Well worth the watch :)
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Contrary to popular opinion
Yep I dropped it. Why? Well, it became kind of dull, same ol same ol concept of greed, betrayal, lies and murder.The concept of playing games for money, being manipulated by a bunch of rich dudes with nothing better to do is nothing new. Sort of like a rich man’s sport. Some reviewers found the background stories of each character interesting, but I was just skipping through to get to the good stuff :)
I liked the Tug Of War game, at least it had a good strategy and concept instead of the normal thinking of Big and Strong is better. The deaths, killing and piles of bodies were just a bit too disturbing for me. Just a tad lol.
At least it’s not your typical Kdrama with crying and slapstick humour. :) Quite similar to Hunger Games if you can stomach it.
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SO BORING :(
I was shocked to see so many good reviews. Did we watch the same show??The romance wasn’t that romantic. The first half was more interesting with them having underlying feelings for one another but their status would be questionable because of her background. After that, yeesh. The kisses were terrible and to be honest, GXF was like two different people. He’s the “Living Devil”- ruthless and merciless. But with her he’s like a puppy and trying to be comical... doesn’t quite match.
All the politics and power struggle - I did not even bother to watch. It was ff all the way. The other couples- boring. The comedy- boring. Music- boring. Sure yes- three women speaking up, fending for themselves, being successful in their careers etc... maybe it could have been better with 20 episodes? ;)
From Epi 21 I skipped to 26-27.. then to 40. Haha... just wanted to see the end. Even skipping that many episodes, I can still understand the final episode. Goes to show how much they dragged out the storyline. If you’re looking for a good historical drama, I would recommend Who Rules The World. That was really good:)
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Too slowww and draggy
I know many reviewers are loving this drama. The whole setting and storyline is great. The acting is fantastic. The delivery.. uhm, this is where it gets draggy. Walking in slow motion like 0.5x speed, 3 different angles of sitting on the bench, or in the kitchen… sigh. Typical kdrama style.I’m glad Lee Sung Kyung is diversifying her roles, away from the usual romcoms, but I didn’t really like her in this role. Did she pull it off? Yes! Kim Young Kwang also delivered his role well. Maybe 12 episodes would have been better? The general mood was just depressing. I was fast forwarding too much the last few episodes. The ending was realistic, but a happy one ;) No real memorable song in the OST, which is a shame.
It’s a melodrama, real slowwww; so just be prepared before starting this. I will say it’s better than The Interest of Love ;);)
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Was hopeful, but instead sorely disappointed
I hope Chinese drama writers and producers read our reviews- 40 episodes is way toooooo long!! Nothing more than 30 please! This one had too many side plots/ characters, too much information and too draggy.First few episodes already I skipped a lot. After episode 5 it got better and more interesting. I enjoyed the storyline between Liang Muze and Xia Chu- bickering acquaintances, to housemates to a romance relationship. They only had their first kiss in Epi 22, and officially got together in Epi 30. So you can imagine how long drawn the storyline is. He is a special brigade officer, she is a military cardiac resident doctor. (You might be also thinking it’s very similar to You Are My Hero). After Epi 23 i skipped a lot a lot, so by the time I got to 30, I just gave up.
I normally enjoy crime/ investigation/ conspiracy theory kind of tv series. The American series 24 is my favourite. So this one fell short to deliver any sort of interest in that area.
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CRAZYYYY GOOOD!!
The realistic thing is.. our “good” cop Ryu Soo Yeol is not thaaat upright or honest. He’s also a little corrupted and accepts kickbacks, but he has morals and a good heart. He’s somewhat of a coward and does (and says) whatever it takes to survive in that situation, but he feels remorse and tries to make up for it... which makes him lovable and human.The entire drama is very fast paced.. there are layers of villains as the story unfolds, and if you like crime-solving mysteries this is a good one. I would say it’s fairly predictable although my predicted plot for the end was not quite accurate ;) It’s hilarious and many outright LOL scenes; one kissing scene (which was a steamy one;)) and the bromance was one of a kind haha. Plenty of kung-fu style fight scenes, but also many punch-in-the-face/ beat up/ kick-in-the-ribs scenes which were too disturbing for me. A lot of swearing also;)
I haven’t seen any of Lee Dong Wook dramas- I dropped both Goblin and Tale of the Nine Tailed. So I enjoyed watching him in this one! I was happy to see Wi Ha Joon in a comic/ out of character role, other than the love rival roles he has played and that in Squid Game.
All in all it was a very good watch! Have fun with this one ;)
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A slow melodrama... not romance
It may seem like a teacher-student scandal relationship based romance drama, but it’s really not. In fact there is hardly any romance until the last 2mins of the final episode ;) So that was a let down for me.The main storyline focused on the corruption and ugliness of the high society parents and ministers/ CEOs etc... and what lengths they would go to to get ahead and receive preferential treatment. Even pay to get answer sheets for their kids.
I would say the first 6 episodes is SLOW... really slow. A lot of Math talk and build up of character. I did skip and FF quite a bit. The good thing was that I watched this simultaneously with Happiness (so that was a good contrast haha). I put this one on hold and finished up Happiness first. Episodes 7-14 got really really interesting. The last two were ... just getting annoying. Like time to end this drama.
[SPOILER: I don’t think the villains would have been caught if they had not been betrayed by the ppl closest to them. If they kept their mouths shut, they would have been able to get away with it... again and again. END]
I’m a fan of LDH... and his acting didn’t disappoint. Im Soo Jung was dull... similar to her acting in Search WWW. Lacking contrast and any sort of highlight. Her acting in The whole drama was just one monotonous rhythm. Music also was dull... I would classify this drama as a melodrama. The principal was overly dramatic lol.
I would suggest you watch this together with something else, so you won’t get bored easily ;)
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PDA and sweetness off the charts!!
First of all, I don’t agree with most of the other earlier reviews. This is a very sweet drama, no-frills, yes a little typical, but it’s genuine and very touching. I didn’t like Forever and Ever or You are my glory- those two dramas were too hyped up and too fake.The story, character and relationship development were all very good. It seems rather long with 41 episodes, I wasn’t bored until probably the last 10 episodes. It then got a bit repetitive. 41 episodes is too long for a rom-com, cos you can’t go any further with the comedy or the storyline. It would have been better to finish it off by 30. There were however many touching scenes which surprisingly made me cry!
The love story between Sheng Jing Chu and Cheng Liao was very sweet. The PDA and romance was off the charts :):):) Lots and lots of it! So unlike Forever and Ever which was SO HARD to come by, even though that couple was older and more matured? Yes the FL can be overly cute, but I didn’t find that annoying at all. The ML (he was one of the guys in Love O2O) yes he was stiff, but I believe that was the portrayal of his character.
I also particularly liked how the scenes from the GO competitions would change to virtual Kung-fu battle scenes! I enjoyed that very much! Good blend of comedy and some wrongdoings as well.
Ignore the other reviews. GO watch this for a lovely sweet drama :):)
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B-grade Romance drama lol
A likes B, and B likes A; but C likes A and D likes B; also E likes D and F likes C! Hahahaha what a mess!!! Yep- that’s what you get from this drama.Ok let’s break it down- what I liked was the pace. It was fast, not draggy as they covered a lot in 24 episodes. It did get rather repetitive after episode 14- esp with Gu Xin Er repeating herself again and again, so I skipped most of her scenes and with Ling Sheng. Last 2 episodes summed it up pretty well and a happy ending.
Main couple was cute, although I thought it was rather B-grade, and I’m surprised Zhao Lusi acted in this (I thought she would choose better scripts). Their love story development was too fast (they kiss in Episode 5!:)) which was fine but I would have liked to see more of the chase. They did have their ups and downs/ lack of communication/ 3rd and 4th party interference; the usual angst. Any problems they faced was very quickly overcome. I loved Ling Yue’s bodyguard Ai Li! Very cool;)
Worst characters- Gu Xin Er. Hung up on a guy for ten years, knows he’s already in a relationship, still want to repeat herself again and again. She kept blaming everyone else for all the problems she faced- whether personal or work related. For goodness sake, take responsibility for your own choices! Just felt like slapping her.
Another lousy character- the brother Gu Ansheng. Like sheesh... also blame Ling Yue for everything. What’s wrong with this brother and sister?!! And he liked his adopted sister growing up... errr creepy!
Ling sheng- what an idiot following the girl like a puppy. Spoiled brat- get a life! Be a man! Sigh... in my opinion these characters were written very poorly.
All the problems in this drama could be summed up in one word- jealousy. So jealous that you would go to great lengths to destroy that person, then claim it’s their fault. UGH! Plot twists- quite predictable. Nothing new there. Also why wasn’t Madam Ling at her son’s engagement party, or at the hospital with her husband? She was missing in the last few episodes.
Anyway, you will get a lot of angst watching this. There were some funny and light moments, but all in all it wasn’t that great. Music background was the best! I loved the piano tango accompaniment- so funny! And sometimes the music was so epic and dramatic, like something from LOTR hahaha.
OH! And the product placement RIO- in every single episode! You open the fridge and there are at least 30 cans in there :P face palm
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Matured and intense romance but dull after awhile
I like that this drama’s main focus is the relationship between Gu Xiao and Lu Chen (the two main leads) He is a Bomb expert who works in the SWAT team- so his character is cold, silent and not much of a conversationalist. She is a financial investor- while she is more warm and charming, her conversational skills were not that great either (with him) in this first half ish. I like his character- no nonsense kind of man, albeit a little stoic and stiff but that’s how it is. As for Seven Tan- she comes across too “puppy like” at times.. just following him around and watching him fix cars lol. Would have preferred the FL to be more … assured?The chemistry is very intense though. They had broken up for 10 years, and they meet each other again. Lots of quiet and intense gazes, which is fine because the ppl around them are noisy enough haha. The romance is for the matured audience, so don’t expect any cliches of accidental falls/kisses , well dressed looks… but rather an underlying connection and assured confidence in their relationship. The bros of Captain Lu are TOO CUTE! ;);)
I also like that the drama shows aspects of his work (more than hers) but doesn’t focus too much on the details. A little bit of the training, a little bit of the danger to keep the suspense going.
Definitely one of the better Cdramas currently. It’s 30 episodes, so I can expect something dangerous and bad happening to him in the later episodes, maybe he gets injured?? Have to watch to find out! :)
Update: After 20 episodes, just found the pace too slow, and the storyline no longer engaging. Rather boring after awhile ;) Have decided to drop this.
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