Dedra70

Simply Romantic

I really had no expectations as I started this drama. I read the overall review and thought, "why not." But I was surprised to find that this is really a hidden gem of a good, simple romantic story with a wonderful undertone of the craftsmanship that Ji Chen wanted to keep viable.

Si Qing and Jing Chen are by far polar opposite but as they say opposites do attract. Who would have imagined on a winter solstice night Si Qing would propose marriage to Jing Chen. That is how this romance started. I was blown away myself by her direct and "in your face" proposal. At first, Jing Chen is stunned but after he knew she had something of value that would make his grandfather happy, he agreed.

Like all romances love for these two came slowly but gracefully. It was Ji Chen who faced abandonment issues while Si Qing was seeking a "family" to call her own. This is what drew them to each other because each had what the other was seeking in their lives and was the catalyst that bound them together.

Ji Chen who was silent and held his emotions in, but knowing that his grandfather was going to pass, and Si Qing had what he needed he raced to her office only to knock over and see the winter solstice art that he created, and she had bought six years ago. This realization, and knowing who she was, gave him an added edge in wanting this marriage. As he got to know Si Qing,
he realized so much about how she had such a good heart, kind, generous but also how she was treated by her parents and co-workers, this further added to him falling in love with her, accepting her as his family and being her "one and only" who would protect and shield her from anything that would harm her.

Si Qing had parents that were never around, and work was her go too. Her father had remarried and had another family so when holidays or her birthday came, they were brushed aside. Basically, she was always alone, working late and working hard enough to have the money to buy that apartment that she always dreamed about was her goal. But when she met Ji Chen, and really seeing him with the gold dust when she inadvertently opens the window, everything stopped. He was the man that had moved her heart and wanted as her family.

They did go through several ups and downs but in the end love prevailed. The SFL who you would think would be dramatic was at first but when she realized that Ji Chen was willing to sacrifice and go back to a job that he never wanted to go too...she knew he loved her, and it was time for her to let her dream of being with him go. Si Qing and the SFL both met each other before she knew that she was married to Ji Chen so a bonding with Si Qing had started, so their friendship remained even after she gave up on Ji Chen.

Ji Chen who had an older brother with the same name put to rights all the misunderstandings that they had growing up. He admitted that he did bully him growing up because he didn't want his grandfather to replace him, and he felt that Ji Chen was his replacement. But doing an intervention was what finally help Ji Chen face his demons of his childhood and abandonment issues.

The director did beautifully intertwine the story of those who have a skillset and craftmanship that in this day and age is being forgotten. It was nice to see how they touch upon and let myself as a novice see those who do basket weaving, lanterns, umbrellas, craving wood, etc. It was such an eye opener to see that generations upon generations have handed down these skills but with modern day machinery the elegance of love that is put into each piece is lost. It makes me hope that younger people would want to carry and learn these crafts so we will get to enjoy them years from now.

The scenery was just breathtaking. The field of flowers, the fireworks, the temple of all those craftsmen, it was just a scenic tour which I felt that I was really in and enjoying. But you really will fall in love with the puppies. They are just too cute when you see them following Ji Chen around. I just wanted to keep one.

I can only say that I hope you would take the time to enjoy this drama. It is one that you can sit back enjoy and feel like you are going on vacation and seeing two individuals that you would not think they would ever find love, but they do, in such an unconventional way.

The fireworks for me not only were in the sky but bursting from my heart....

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A Beautiful Love Story

This amazing, well-executed drama has come to an end. What a journey we all had the privilege to enjoy.

Looking back over this drama it was one that grasp you from the very first episode and held you fast to every episode until the nicely wrapped up ending.

I can only say, myself as a woman, and maybe for other women out there, we all would love to have a Lu Chen in our lives. This man knew from the first moment he saw her that she was going to be his and his alone because it was love at first sight. To have that determination and decisiveness of mindset is rare indeed. He may have been silent but everything he did was well thought out of. In his own way, he had guided her, as well as her with him to be the couple that through anything could withstand time.

No matter what pressures they held both within their families, their own lives and their apparent separation, they held fast and firm to their beliefs. In their own way their love of each other healed their families and just made all that were around them see how much love can endure and it was never lost between them, but recaptured and reborn to a more exquisite love story.

This drama held us all in the palm of its hand giving us smiles, swooning, laughter, tears but most of all...love. A masterpiece of craftsmanship by a couple that made us enjoy what falling and being in love is all about.

As the saying goes, all paths lead home...we all have our own road home because that is where love is.

Until next time...love....

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Do You Wear a Mask?

This drama was led by four women: Do Jae Yi, Yoon Hae Mi, Go Yoo Na and Ju Yu Joeng. These women were not only beautiful, strong, influential but had a sense of bonding, friendship and loyalty. It was nice to see in this drama that no matter what twist, turns or malicious behavior befell each of them in the end they remained true to not only themselves but to each other.

We were dealt with two crimes in this drama which was the catalyst or driving force throughout. Who killed Gi Do Shik, son of the assemblyman Gi Yoon Chul and fiancée of Ju Yu Joeng and the rape of Do Jae Yi by a masked assailant in Suite 2401.

Another subplot was who was the mastermind of the Angel Club which was below an orphanage that belong to the Yeongun Cultural Foundation. The club's criteria consisted of each member wearing a mask to attend all events and they must be rich, powerful, political, and influential.

Of all the ladies that suffered the most it was Do Jae Yi. She never shared with any of the women what had happened that night in Suite 2401. She privately dealt with this matter, and it was horrible to see. She endlessly collected every type of mask to find the one that was worn the evening of her assault. Never allowed herself to become close to anyone especially the man who loved her silently, Choi Kang Hoo. But just when things were finally getting better (meaning she finally knew who her rapist was), we watch the happiness that they both waited for so long end as he dies in front of her. His death really tore me up. It was so sad to see his throat being slit just as he called her name for the last time. That death led to other surprises. Such as: Ju Yu Joeng marrying the rapist of Do Jae Yi and Do Jae Yi finding this information out the same day of her best friend's wedding.

There were many twists and turns throughout this drama that kept you guessing. Just when you thought you were on the right track something else would happen. But the thing that remain true were these women. They may have for a minute thought of being disloyal and thinking of only themselves, but they always knew there was a better way that they could survive without hurting each other.

In the end to find out who was the mastermind behind the Angel Club was the biggest surprise to me. You never really look his way because he seems so insignificant. He hovered in the background always looking smug. In listening to the reasons for him doing all that he did with killing Gi Do Shik, Song Je Hyeok and Choi Kang Hoo along with all the other tasteless things he did was shocking to say the least. His explanation to Do Jae Yi: "Power defeats the law" really didn't help him in the end. He tried to take everything away from Do Jae Yi and even tried to get her to run the "new" Angel Club which he envisioned for her, but the one thing power couldn't buy him was his own mortality. His own man that he trusted all along ended his life. So much for loyalty.

One final thought that was said: "To survive in this world people put on a mask either knowingly or unknowingly. You think you get credit for living without a mask? What do you see behind the mask? Truth? Look. What do you see right now? Truth is always ugly and dirty. Thats why you have a mask. Because the ugly truth gets hidden if you put on a mask. Are you wearing one now?"

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Destined for Predictability

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this drama. It really wasn't that bad. I mean lately some of the ones I have watching have been pretty lame.

The pairing of the ML and FL was nice. I liked the “push and pull” between them especially when she is finally back to being his consort.

The story unfolds with the FL (Hai Lu aka Shen Jiang Li) returning back home after five years of being at the ancestral tomb for reflection.

She has her reason for returning to which ML (Xu Hai Qiao aka Lu Jing Ming) takes Shen Jiang Li’s side after she explains to the entire family part of her reason for returning while exposing Wang Dan Ling. Her attitude towards Lu Jing Ming is hostile at best. She felt between him and her they never did have a chance to be a couple. When they did have what little bit of time together, they were a very loving and dedicated couple. But when he returned from the battlefield, and didn’t intervene to help her and let his mother throw her into the ancestral tomb; she felt he never did seek the truth and defend her.

Lu Jing Ming told her when he came home from the battlefield in Xizhou, his mother had evidence, but she refused to argue. She didn’t want to hear anymore she wanted to concentrate to the situation of her return...the Lei Pill.

Going back a day and half, Shen Jiang Li met up with Lu Jing Ming and proposed a deal with him. She informed him that she would help him be the next Prefect if he helped her get the Lei Pill. This pill she needed was for their son due to his heart condition. I did like the fact that they did not drag out that her son was his.

She felt by curing Lu Jing Ming’s father that he would reward her with the pill. Not. Shen Jiang Li felt certain that during her five years away and staying at the Wind Pavillion where she learned medicine, she could cure Lu Jing Ming's father. This was the place where she gave birth to her son Yan Yan. Shen Jiang Li ends up relying on Lu Jing Ming to get the pill which he does by making a newly refined crossbow. His father is pleased and gives the pill to him as a reward. Their son is cured.

Lu Jing Ming and Shen Jiang Li faced many situations throughout this drama with individuals endlessly trying to bring them both down.

The main culprits:

Wang Dan Ling, the daughter of General Wang, the prime suspect in everything that happened to Shen Jiang Li. She literally detested her. The issue was that she never really wanted to marry Lu Jing Xu the eldest brother of Lu Jing Ming. She was in love with him. The sad part was that even her husband knew that she loved him which made him not care for her. He in turn looked for love in the arms of Shen Jiang Li’s sister Shen Qi Lan.

Shen Qi Lan, the daughter of Shen Zhengshan and Zou Jiaoye, Shen’s concubine. She was in love with Lu Jing Xu. When it was decided who she was to marry, she went to Shen Jiang Li to help her marry Lu Jing Xu. Wang Dan Ling finds out about the two and pushes for her to marry Lu Jing Ming as a concubine.

This plan was stopped by Shen Jiang Li when she exposed their love token, which was a pendant that he gave her sister. The Prefect decides after Lu Jing Xu admits to giving her the pendant that they will marry. Wang Dan Ling was infuriated. Just as Shen Jiang Li predicted Wang Dan Ling made Shen Qi Lin's life miserable. Once she found out that Shen Qi Lan was pregnant, she gave her medicine that everyone believed made her lose the baby, but in fact she was never pregnant. Shen Qi Lan set up Wang Dan Ling. The truth of the matter, Shen Jiang Li found out that Lu Jing Xu had incense burning every night that caused Wang Dan Ling never to get pregnant because he didn’t want her to have a child. How about that!

Shen Jiang Li also finds out that Zou Jiaoye, Shen Qi Lan's mother killed her mother. She was ordered to be executed. Shen Qi Lan snaps. Her final attempt to get her sister is when she poisons Princess Chu Ya and blames Shen Jiang Li. Doesn't happen. She is exposed for being the one that poisoned the Princess and was placed in jail. Lu Jing Xu lets her out so she can take her revenge on Shen Jiang Li and prove to be of assistance to him one last time. She goes to the Rain Chamber and attempts to burn down the residence with both Shen Jiang Li and Lu Jing Ming in it. She then stabbed herself with her hairpin and dies on the spot.

Lu Jing Xu, the eldest son of the Prefect, killed all of Lu Jing Ming's men in the battle at Xizhou. Lu Jing Ming finds out with the help of Princess Chu Ya all that his brother has done. His father makes him a commoner and places him under house arrest where he sees Shen Qi Lan almost all the time.

Speaking of Princess Chu Ya, she was someone that you could not dislike. She understood the love between Lu Jing Ming and Shen Jiang Li. But a situation occurred regarding Lu Jing Xu having one of his servants put horse feed into the prescription that she had given to those exposed to the plague. In order to save and protect her, Lu Jing Ming agreed not only to marry the princess but to divorce Shen Jiang Li. This was all a plot to expose his brother and what he had done not only with keeping money but killing his men in the army.

In the end, Lu Jing Ming is stabbed by Lu Jing Xu. Shen Jiang Li comes to save him. The Princess tells Shen Jiang Li everything about her and Lu Jing Ming's plan. After recovering, Lu Jing Ming apologizes to Shen Jiang Li for everything. He does become the Prefect. Shen Jiang Li wanted to open a women's school in Dongzhou so that more women could learn medicine, read books, broaden their horizons, and have more to do with their lives instead of being trapped in the inner chambers. She leaves Lu Jing Ming to go back to the Wind Pavillion to help with the plague for six months. We see Lu Jing Ming standing as the snow falls and Shen Jiang Li comes up behind him and wraps a coat around him. They hug. The end.

It so sad because Shen Qi Lan wanted to escape her family by marriage but instead, she was dragged deeper into the mud because of it. Wang Dan Ling, she was born noble. She should've been carefree, but she was trapped by her own obsessions.

Again, the drama is not that hard to watch and overall predictable.

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One...Two...Three...Click

There is a saying that goes like this, “A tiger leaves its fur after death and humans leave photographs as evidence of their life.’

The Midnight Studio is now opened.

We have countless memories in our lives, but there is one we can’t photograph – it is the memory of the last breath.

If there were a studio that took photos of your last memories, the ones that you couldn’t take when you were alive, wouldn’t you want that? Somewhere between life and death. Somewhere on the treacherous and arduous path of death. It only allowed you to want it desperately. You cannot go back once you get lost on the path to death. You have to walk in the skin-cutting snowstorm, across the valley where the ground splits and fills with molten lava and go through endless mazes to finally reach this place. What place is that? A photo studio only for the dead – a photo studio that only opens at night.

The secret of this drama was based on the camera which could not only take photographs of the dead but also the miraculous power to bring them back to life. Many intruders tried to get the camera, but the Grim Reaper was the guardian and its protector.

One soul came to the Netherworld and stole the reaper’s belongings. His Excellency made it back to his child who was ready to die with the camera, but the Grim Reaper followed him. Chastising him for taking the camera and he wanted it back. His Excellency begged the reaper to let him have the camera to save his child and let him live until his age, 35. The reaper agreed telling him that his sons and all his descendants that follow will all end with the same fate. The dead would chase them during their very short lives. His Excellency agreed to the reaper’s demands. But with this agreement, little did he know that he created a curse that lasted thousands of generations.

The ML (Joo Won aka Seo Ki Joo) was the 7th photographer in his family that ran a photo studio that only ghosts frequent. The FL (Kwon Na Ra aka Han Bom) is a lawyer who unbeknownst to her would become involved with Seo Ki Joo due to their past history.

Seo Ki Joo has two ghosts who were earthly bound which were: Assistant Manager Go (Yoo In Soo aka Go Dae Ri) and a former police officer (Eum Moon Suk aka Baek Nam Gu) who were in charge of bringing in ghosts as customers as well as handling closure to cases to help the ghosts move on.

Assistant Manager Baek Num Gu was a violence crime unit detective who married his childhood sweetheart. On the night of their anniversary, he promised her he would be home on time. Chasing and cornering the perp they began to fight and in split second Baek Num Gu was stabbed and died. His partner came too late and found him dead. Staying bound and not leaving he wanted to help his partner find who killed him which eventually he did. Baek Num Gu had the ability to hold objects and move them.

Assistant Manager Go was earthly bound due to dying of a heart attack on the job from overwork. The day of his heart attack he was to go on a blind date. He thought that Han Bom was his blind date until he realized her roommate was the woman he was looking for. His ability was he was able to take possession of another person’s body for approximately 20 minutes. This allowed him to go on dates with Kim Ji Won. She did figure out that he was a ghost.

Han Bom was connected to Seo Ki Joo based off her car accident with her parents and also his uncle being at the scene at the time. He died trying to save Han Bom.

This drama gives us various poignant moments as we learn more about the studio and are given beautifully crafted stories of the "ghost" who will or are facing death.
.
- The Virgin Ghost Bride
- The child is Han Bom (she was in a coma)
- The husband who the police believed killed him in the hospital
- The priest
- Han Bom’s grandmother
- The CEO
- The high school senior
- The twin brothers
- The con
- Seo Ki Joo's uncle
- The evil stalker

There is one particularly funny part when all the "ghost priest" are dancing to Aespa. Hilarious. They do get out of character; you will definitely enjoy that.

Of course, everything cannot all be happy and light. We do have an evil spirit that possesses a stalker and finally takes full possession of Lieutenant Lee Seon Ho. His demise comes on the death of our favorite detective...Baek Num Gu.

Each moment with the “soon-to-be-departed” Seo Ki Joo would take a photograph. The camera would only allow him to take two shots. The first one of the living and dead to meet each other. These are such heart wrenching moments that you better have some tissues nearby. The second photo signifies – goodbye or their final departure. This is also so gut wrenching. The lovely part is as they watch them leave and fighting through their tears, the last photo of the desperate souls last moments falls down giving them that inner peace and memory of their final goodbye.

Seo Ki Joo did find out how his brother did die. He did have the opportunity to take the last photograph of his brother.

To lift the curse Seo Ki Joo had to take the camera back to the Netherworld and to the Grim Reaper. He was successful but unfortunately, he could not leave. It took him one year to come back with the help of the twin brother who he had helped cross over.

The ending -- we see them all sitting ready for a photograph together and as we know that Seo Ki Joo and Han Bom will be happily together but unfortunately for Kim Ji Won and Assistant Go, he was just a spirit who one day would have to cross over.

I can only say how much this drama touched me personally. Dealing with the loss of my mother and sister made me wish that I would be able to really afford to have such moments one last time. I believe we all would. You will feel so much during this drama as I said, have tissues ready because it just helps in its own way to help all of us seek closure when dealing with death. We never can get over the loss of a loved one but if watching this drama can help, then I say do so, it did in its own special way for me.

Final thoughts regarding the studio: That it helped people who’d only been chasing tomorrow, cherish the precious moments right now. And I’ll ask you to cherish them today.

One, two, three…click

The Midnight Studio is now permanently closed.

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What Do You Call Love?

I took my time writing this review because I wanted to digest such a wonderfully well executed drama.

We all have high expectations when watching these dramas. Why? Because we invest so many hours each week watching episodes. This drama is a hidden gem that you will definitely want to watch. The title, "Call It Love" you are drawn to it because we see these two beautiful people looking at each other and think what a great love story, I'm getting ready to watch. Which it is but, it isn't your "traditional" love story; we all think of as, Boy meets girl. They fall in love. Couple has issues with their families, an adversary to break up the couple, couple gets back together, and, in the end, true love prevails. In my opinion this isn't that type of love story.

Lee Sung Kyung as Shim Woo Joo is our main character that has decided to make things right by seeking revenge and getting justice in the loss of their family home. She does this by getting close and working at the same company as Han Dong Jin. Seeing Shim Woo Joo for the first time, you see a woman that has eyes that are expressionless, you can't read her due to the aloofness. She has a coldness that emulates her every fiber along with her no-filter type of personality which I believe is her mechanism to keep people at bay. But there is another side that she saves and hides which is a supportive, caring, loving individual that has such pain that you want to just want to wrap your arms around her. The first few minutes of just seeing her I could tell she would give us a performance to remember. And she did in spades!

Kim Young Kwang as Han Dong Jin was the male lead that was in some respects a man that had the "weight of the world" on him. He was reserved, quiet, thoughtful, and loved his mother unconditionally, which was his weakness and his downfall. When he found out everything that Shim Woo Joo had done, he felt more pain and sorrow for what his mother had done to Shim Woo Joo's family. So as the saying goes, "the sins of his mother" became the "sins of the son" which HE willingly accepted because of his love for his mother. But then after all was said and done, we got to see him go his journey of self-discovery and eventual happiness. Another poignant performance which held you.

Lee Sung Kyung and Kim Young Kwang in this drama were so well suited and cast. Each scene they were in together just held us all in the palm of their hands relishing such thought-provoking performances. We didn't even need them to speak because them not speaking made us get to see the emotions that their silence portrayed to us their every gesture, look, glance, smile, and we were so honored to be a part of those beautiful moments by this extraordinary couple.

There were so many nuances that touch you but two in particular for me.

The first was when Shim Woo Joo's mother was meeting Han Dong Jin's mother at the home which her husband had left to the children, and it was first time they were meeting. This to me was a pivotal moment for Shim Woo Joo's mother because she had the flashback to when she left the house and smashed the potted plant at the bottom of the stairs. Her remembering this, and seeing her expression, the sigh that she let out, meant she had finally left all those emotions of her husband leaving her with that smashed potted plant all those years ago. She now had the strength to confront this woman that no longer held any meaning to what had happened.

The second scene which I believe was so meaningful was when Shim Woo Joo and Han Dong Jin were standing in front of the house and Shim Woo Joo was telling him everything about the revenge that she wanted to take to get the house back. But as in usual fashion for Han Dong Jin he knew that Shim Woo Joo did not mean to hurt him per se, hence him saying to her, "Because you didn't. But in the end, you couldn't take your revenge on me. I wasn't ruined." He wasn't ruined. How profound is that? After everything that had transpired, his only thought was she didn't ruin me. He wasn't feeling any animosity towards her because he had fallen in love with her as she with him.

They both in some respect would have come out of this situation unscathed but there were still ramifications that did follow so they accepted their fate and broke up. But like all things it takes time for everyone to take a beat, step away and just let go of what no longer matters. Love in the end did go full circle bringing the happiness that everyone deserved.

This drama really had so many meanings that everyone of us can take as we see. I fully enjoyed every moment of it. There is so much more I could write but I feel you need to experience this drama for yourself. Take the time and watch it.

And keep in mind as you are watching it; What is your meaning of love? What do you call love? Think about it...

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There was No Future Here

This drama had great potential based off of the synopsis and also having one of my favorite male leads Luo Zheng. But it faded fast after just the first episode.

Luo Zheng again is playing the role of CEO. At this point of playing a CEO in his last three dramas, including this one, I feel it is time for him to start looking into other roles. He has mastered, in my opinion, how to truly be a CEO that he is being typecasted. It is time to refocus. Let him move onto other roles. But let me tell you about the drama.

Shen Jun Yao (Luo Zheng) is CEO of a tech company that he has put all of this scientific equipment into the home that Xia Mo (Ji Mei Han) is coming back to reclaim. After literally "falling" for him at the airport, the media cast her as the "new" woman that he is seeing. When Xia Mo comes to the house Shen Jun Yao is only willing to share the house and not give it to her. Due to his problem now with what the media misconstrued at the airport he devises a way to keep the house and have her be able to stay as well. How do we handle this? We create a "contractual" couple agreement. Meaning they would be a couple which killed two birds with one stone. Letting her stay in the home but also fixing his problem with the media by having them be a couple. We also have "Starlight" a robot which Shen Jun Yao created to ease his mother's mind after losing his brother in a fire and Danika an AI that is able to access and handle things as needed for Shen Jun Yao and his grandfather, who is the president.

All of that sounded good but this drama went downhill fast.

Xia Mo (Ji Mei Han) was so annoying, bratty, whiny and so miscast as his love interest. I have no idea why Shen Jun Yao, yet alone his brother Lin Heng were so enamored of her. To watch them fighting over her was just sad. Why Shen Jun Yao was even interested in her yet, fall in love with her was so beyond me. Even though these actors have appeared in at least three dramas together. In this one, there was no attraction. It felt so awkward and forced every time they kissed. I cannot tell you how many times I cringed just watching her, yet alone them as a couple. She does get a job at Candy which was a subsidiary to the tech company that Shen Jun Yao was CEO of. But the unbelievable part is she had no experience at all, yet they let her head up major projects. She dressed like she was 12 years old, even her mother mentioned how she was dressed. Watching her go to head up a presentation in front of executives in tennis shoes, suspender blue jeans was just so wrong. I could not stand her when she came on screen.

I was looking to find out "who" was from the future. I guess it was Starlight the robot. I could not think of anything else. There were not that many things I felt were that futuristic. Again, a title that served not purpose for this drama. Yang Ze (Starlight) was the saving grace of this drama. Playing a robot was so well done that I wanted him to have more screen time.

To make the drama even more interested we had Lin Zheng (the real brother of Shen Jun Yao) kidnap Xia Mo. For what? Who knows just added drama. We have Lin Zheng admit to Shen Jun Yao that he was the brother that he left in the burning building. They brothers fight and Starlight saves Xia Mo as she is hanging from the ceiling. But to have more added drama as Lin Zheng has a taser like instrument that he uses on Starlight which damages his core. Shen Jun Yao and Xia Mo have to decide if they save Starlight or let him go due to his core damage. Since Xia Mo is really the owner of Starlight when he saved her in a house fire, she is the one to make the decision on what to do. Of course, it is to save him no matter what the cost. Yeah! Starlight lived.

The brother come to terms with their estrangement over the years and make up. Shen Jun Yao proposes to Xia Mo in front of family and friends. But you would think the ending would consist of a wedding or the family all together, but they show his brother in a police car in handcuffs headed to jail to pay for his crimes. The End.

You notice there was no promotion for this drama. I can see why. It was so poorly thrown together that when it came to the ending you were happy to see it done. If you feel this drama has something futuristic in it, then you definitely have the wrong drama. Don't do it to yourself.

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There Was Nothing Lovely Here

In reading the synopsis for this drama, I had high expectations because it sounded so interesting. But I have to say that I was less than thrilled with this drama.

Han Zhen Zhen (mother), Zhuang Jun Jie (father) and Zhuang Ying Wen (daughter) all move as a family to a new home and community for a fresh start due to not only financial issues but for their daughter being bullied at school as well as being sexually assaulted.

In the first couple of episodes the parents completely ignored their daughter who was still struggling with not remembering what happened to her during her time at school. She is on medication and just runs every evening. My mind could not fathom why her parents didn't step in and question her more often on how she was getting along, how she was feeling, they pretty much left her on her own. She did meet one young man in the community, Fan Yan Zhi who was suffering with his own demons. His parents had such high hopes for him that left him putting on a facade everyday with them and everyone else. The only person who saw who he really was, was Zhuang Ying Wen.

The whole basis of this drama was how two young individuals struggled with things they have done and the domino effect and impact that it had on the lives of those they loved.

To see Fan Yan on the rooftop and confess to Zhuang Ying he was the one that had sexually assaulted her was an eye opener. But to add further to this confession was the fact that his mother was on the rooftop as well and heard. Fan's mother tried to convince him that she was to blame for all the hardships he had to endure by not listening to him. He was undeterred by her sentiments and jump off the roof. But his mother still managed to hold onto his hand and would not let go until he convinced her to let him finally make one decision for himself. She did. Releasing his hand from hers, she watched him fall to the ground.

The other eye-opening moment was to find out that Zhuang Ying was not the person who was bullied but the one who did the bullying. All these emotional build ups led her to shut down and cut off all her memories because of what she herself had done to her best friend as well as being sexually assaulted.

These two pieces were the catalyst that drove this drama. If they would have focused on these moments and expanded more in depth, this would have been much more interesting to me.

Even the last episode they tried to clean everything up by jumping one year and bringing closure where I still felt it was just thrown together to give us an ending all neatly tied together but it was not, it, to me was rushed.

In my opinion this did not need to be a nine-episode drama. The last two episodes were the most poignant pieces which would have made for a much better movie than dragging it out into nine episodes.

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A Friend Until the End

Wow! Talk about crazy. This is actually a drama that you can binge watch. You probably will want to with all the craziness that goes on. Hang on!

It starts out with Duan Ruo Nan doing a video proposing to her boyfriend Li Xiao. In the middle of the video, she gets a call from Fan Xiao Wei saying she is going to kill herself. Duan Ruo Nan then calls Li Xiao and they both go to Fan Xiao Wei's apartment and find her in the bathtub with her wrist slit. They take her to the hospital.

But Duan Ruo Nan finds out from Fan Xiao Wei's the reason why she slit her wrist and it is because her ex-boyfriend was getting married, and so Duan Ruo Nan decides to interrupt the proceedings. Now, Fan Xiao Wei did not ask her to do this, she did this of her own volition. Duo Ruan causes quite the scene at the wedding wielding a baseball bat. The girl he was going to marry breaks up with him. And so, begins the craziness.

Fan Xiao Wei's ex post pictures (because of what DRN did at his wedding) of her on the internet and that puts her in a downward spiral. Duan Ruo feels guilty about what she did to her ex but also, she feels sorry that she tries to kill herself over the situation, so she tells her to stay with her and Li Xiao place for a "few days."

Fan Xiao Wei does seductive stuff to gets Li Xiao's attention, but he is doing pretty good ignoring her, but he eventually caves in. Fan Xiao Wei does a pretty good job of always being "the victim" and appearing helpless and that is why everyone is always on her side.

Duan Ruo Nan tells Fan Xiao Wei that she is going to propose to Li Xiao when they go to the lake. But Fan tells Li Xiao about this. As Duan Ruo is pulling out the rings and goes to put Li Xiao's ring on his finger he jerks back, and the ring goes into the water. He apologizes but Duan Ruo is upset.

Duan Ruo does not understand why he rejected her because they have been together 4 years. (It also doesn't help that Duan Ruo's mother keeps calling her asking when she is getting married.) So, Duan Ruo and Fan go for drinks. She thinks if she shows that other men will want her that Li Xiao will accept the proposal. Duan Ruo gets drunk and Fan calls Li Xiao who comes to get them both. Duan Ruo throws up on Fan and when they get home she has to change. Li Xiao puts Duan Ruo into bed and hears Fan cry out in the bathroom. He asks her if she is alright and says she hurt her ankle. He tells her he is coming in and see her on the bathroom floor with just a towel wrapped around her. He helps her up only to have Fan's towel fall down. (Like we didn't know that was going to happen). Duan Ruo wakes up and starts calling for Li Xiao. They are both in the bathroom and so Fan tells her he went to get something to sober her up. They got out of that.

As Duan Ruo and Li Xiao both head to work they leave Fan there. She calls Li Xiao and tells him she is sick. Unbeknownst to Fan that Duan Ruo has to come back to pick up documents, she had called Li Xiao to tell him that she was sick and needed medicine. He jumps at the opportunity. Enter Duan Ruo who comes to get those documents she left and asks Fan why she just has a nightie on, she tells her she is sick. Then low and behold here comes Li Xiao in. Duan Ruo asks him why he is there, and he says he is sick. So, Duan Ruo stays home to take care of them both. No action there...oh, well!

Then there is the necklace. Duan Ruo finds the necklace that she believes is for her but really Li Xiao bought it for Fan. Now, Duan Ruo is still clueless and still trying to propose to Li Xiao. They go to dinner only to have him tell her he has to go meet a client. But Fan had text him and told him that she was moving out. Of course, giving him the address. He leaves the restaurant only to have Duan Ruo following him to the hotel.

She catches them together and sees the necklace that she believes was hers around Fan's neck. Duan Ruo goes to pack to leave. (She has her own place because I was wondering why she was leaving giving them her place.) They argue and Li Xiao just tells her he never wanted to marry her, and she is suffocating him with wanting to get married. He fell in love with Fan at first sight. Duan Ruo is visibly upset and rightly so because here are two people she trusted, and they now dissed her.

It is funny how Fan bounced back like two days after her man left her, but you will know why. Li Xiao thought he had the perfect girl. Only to find out that Fan was clingy, obsessive, paranoid and a psychopath. She called and text him at work nonstop. He took 7 days off just to be with her. That still wasn't enough. She put an app on his phone, so she knew where he was and was getting all of his text messages because she felt he was still seeing Duan Ruo. Which he really wasn't but he realized he made a mistake in choosing Fan because of the behavior she was showing him once they got together. That is probably why her ex left her as well.

Duan Ruo on the other hand did so well at her job because of her performance, she was sent to another branch. This is where she meets the man she will eventually end up with Wu Ze. Her job is going well and of course there is always one that doesn't like you and that is Beija. She doesn't like Duan Ruo from day one and doesn't make her life easy.

Finally, Li Xiao can't take Fan anymore and breaks up with her. She agrees to him breaking up with her if he gives her 300,000 yuan because her father is in the hospital. He tells her he can't give her all of that but some and he wants her gone. She says she doesn't know where to get the rest of the money. He tells her to get a job. Ya think!

Fan sends out her resume and keeps getting rejected. She finally lands at the same company Duan Ruo is at. Beija sees that they went to the same college. Fan (I have to give her credit on this) told her that they were not really friends, and she didn't want to work there.) Beija insists and hires Fan. Beija hired her because she knew that Fan would be quite the nemesis for her with Duan Ruo.

Fan again always acted like the victim, and she wasn't. She took projects from her, locked her up, smashed a bottle that was exclusive to the marketing team (Li Xiao found a duplicate for her), took more projects away from her by lying that she did them, and pitted her against the other co-workers. I mean she just went totally nuclear. It also didn't help that Beija was aiding her as well. Duan Ruo's only ally was Wu Ze who fell in love with her and wanted her to be his gf. He was always supportive and helping her but at some points he couldn't because the evidence would always fall in Fan's favor.

We still have Li Xiao now wanting Duan Ruo back and she kept telling him they were done. Wu Ze stepped in and told him that she was his gf now.

Things reach the final breaking point when Beija got back the director who was basically molesting the female employees. Beija got booted out because Fan set her and Duan Ruo up. She got what she wanted which was a higher position than Duan Ruo, but the price was her.

At the end of all of this craziness, it was that Duan Ruo, Wu Ze, Fan and Li Xiao had to all band together to take down the boss who was not only molesting woman but illegally doing things at the company. Duan Ruo and Wu Ze decided that they were going to travel the world. She eventually forgave Fan and Li Xiao and Duan Ruo just were best friends.

All and all I did enjoy watching it. It is entertaining that is for sure. But it really makes you wonder, how far you will go to help out your best friend.

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Moments that Last Forever

From the first note of the music until the last, we are drawn into this captivating and mesmerizing drama…"What Comes After Love." When I first heard the title, it caught my attention but also the synopsis as well, which was quite simplistic – a Korean student is studying in Japan and falls in love with someone who is Japanese. Simple right. Nothing more. But it was that they fell in love. We all love a good love story and this by far lived up to my expectation and then some.

You always have to have the right couple and this pairing was exceptional. You have FL (Lee Se Young aka Cho Hong /Beni) and ML (Sakaguchi Kentaro aka Aoki Jungo/Sasae Hikari/Yun Oh) who made you feel in each scene, each frame their passion and longing desire of love for each other as all love stories begin. But life can intervene and what you thought was your “forever” lends itself to breaking up – a breakup that lasted for five years.

Life is funny. Fate can always play a part can’t it. That is what happened to Beni and Jungo. For those five years, while apart Jungo wrote “their” story in the novel, “What Comes After Love.” Coming to Korea to promote his novel, the interpreter he has is no other than the woman who has never left his heart, mind or soul…Beni. She too was shocked to see him. The play of emotion on her face, yet subtle, you could see when she first meets him. She is visibly shaken by the man she left without a word to come back to Korea, but she hid it well.

We feel the words, so many words not spoken between them, but each wanting to say but yet not say, for what, fear, more misunderstandings…neither would know until they were ready to take the step, leap of faith to find out but that was not to come…yet.

The tug of war throughout this drama was of their hearts and facing what had broken them up. The flashbacks of how they fell in love. The youthfulness of both of them. To see the beautiful smile of Beni, the illumination of light that radiated from her which drew Jungo to her. Her carefree nature and openness of love for him, you will see is a stark comparison of how we see her after those five years.

Jungo too was captivated by Beni. Love at first sight. She was just a shining beacon that he could see from afar that drew him to her no matter how far apart they were. Then life, misunderstanding, loneliness, and goodbye.

They both have others in their lives that wanted to get close to them but their always seem to be a barrier particularly for Jungo. Sung Ryung aka Manager Kong wanted Jungo in her life, but she knew once he saw Beni again. It was over, for her. The thoughts of what could be, we feel she had portrayed in her mind vanished. Her overall conclusion was to be his manager/friend. That is all his heart could give her. But being his friend, she gave him advice to take the steps towards Beni and look in her eyes without any more reservation and tell her his feelings that he could not do so before.

Beni had Hong Jong Hyn aka Kim Min Jun as the man that loved her, but which was not reciprocated in kind. I feel Beni never felt anything more for him but friendship as well. We all like to live in an illusion that a person has feeling for you and the misunderstanding of love is what was between her and Kim Min Jun. I feel he knew she was never “all in” but he was willing to overlook it because he loved her. He was the anchor that she did need in some respects when she came back from Japan. I felt like no one really ask her about what she thought but she just went along with the program. But once Jungo came back emotions that were hidden deep within her came rushing back so much so until she told Kim Min Jun, she couldn’t accept his proposal.

You probably are wondering what broke them up. It boiled down to me -- communication, misunderstanding, complaining and learning to say, “I’m sorry.” Loneliness for Beni was a big factor and Jungo after years of self-examination understood that he was the catalyst that pushed Beni even further to want to leave because he always left her alone. For Beni’s part it was her arguing and constant complaining wanting him to be with her.

Taking the first step towards rekindling the love was Beni. Going to him on his birthday and bringing flowers only to see he was with Manager Kong. Departs without a word. I thought Manager Hong wouldn’t tell Jungo that Beni was there. But to my surprise she did, leaving him to chase after her.

You see the utter defeat as Jungo sees Beni is gone.

Beni has never read Jungo’s novel, which she does after we find that Jungo has come to the office because he was leaving to go back home, leaves the keychain which symbolizes never begin apart but together. Jungo makes one last attempt to get Beni's information which he does from the interpreter. Getting ready to call, Beni calls and they meet. Sadness, no communication, words still left unspoken. goodbyes once again.

This is our first glimpse of seeing Beni’s rawness when she realizes how deep her love is for Jungo. You see the resilience of holding strong, the armor that she worn just fall fast and hard, exposing her to the harsh reality that he might finally be lost to her. Her crying uncontrollably makes your heart go out to her. And just wish if only….

At last, love does prevail...

Jungo is getting ready to depart for the airport when one of the concierges approaches him. Apologizes for not giving him the flowers that were to be his. He takes them and sees the card in the flowers as he is riding to the airport which simply states: "I'm sorry about earlier. Happy Birthday - Hong." Beni took her step towards him to let him know she was wrong; all of their misunderstandings were not only on his part but hers as well. The tears and sadness in Jungo's eyes make you scream at him to go back and get your girl.

Now it is Jungo's turn. Take his step to Beni but it wasn't steps it was running. He found her and ran alongside her every step of the way. Until they stopped and looked at each other, really looked at each other and talked.

Jungo: "Ever since we broke up, I wanted to be closer to your heart. So, I just kept running. I ran around Inokashira Park...and I thought about you. At first, it was because I missed you. But as I kept running...I started to understand.... how you must've felt back then. You were running to get over your loneliness. I thought...that I knew everything about you. But now I know...that I didn't understand the most important part."

Beni: "You know what? After we broke up...I couldn't even run for a while. It's just like you said in your novel. I was the same. I regret everything I did, too. When we were together...all I did was complain and didn't even try to understand how you felt. I was just the same. I didn't see what was actually important. I didn't see it until it was too late. I made you feel...lonely and miserable too."

Jungo: "No. It was my fault. I made you lonely. I'm sorry."

Beni: "No. It wasn't just your fault. I'm sorry too."

The simplest words to say, "I'm sorry" yet at times we cannot say them, can we. But through the tears and laughter, we see our couple clasping hands as they walk together hand and hand as the first snowfall of the year comes bringing a new beginning of the changing of season as well as new moments for them to share in their next chapter of.... forever,

The beautiful thing to me about this drama is we all have moments in our lives, particularly that all-encompassing love. The love that sets itself above all other loves. The one that made you smile to yourself when you thought of them, your youthfulness, your carefree spirit, a glance from someone who resembles them, all these things will bring you back to that "moment' that moment in time that has stayed etched in your heart and mind forever. Oh, we will love someone again, but we all have that "one" that you will never forget. So, we remember them and embrace them, hold onto them because even though they are moments they are ones we always will love and remember.... forever.

As a side note: The OST to this drama is so beautifully composed. You will definitely keep it on your playlist. Each track is better than the last.

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Till Death Do Us Part

This drama caught me by surprise. The twist and turns of how everything unfolds is interesting to say the least. It holds your attention and makes you think did Ran Shu need to go as far as she did with escaping her marriage. Was the ending what she expected.

When we first meet Ran Shu (Lu Yan Qi) she is in the bathroom cutting her hair, hiding a facial bruise that she has received once again from her husband. As she is staring at her reflection, she begins to think about the reoccurring dream that she is having more frequently. It is about her and her husband Zhang Zeyi (Chu Peng Xu), a glamorous photographer who she realizes is totally different in the dream than in reality.

In reality he is a violent, gloomy, cruel, horrific and an abusive husband. Ran Shu is feeling that this dream is starting to become real. In the dream, Zhang Zeyi wants them both to die on his 30th birthday by preparing a poisonous rose for her. The purpose for this is he wants to freeze love with death so that it will never wither. To complete this final photo, he grabs the poisonous flower as well and dies along with her, this is his last photograph--Ran Shu and Zhang Zeyi dying together side by side. Death will witness their eternal love.

This dream sets the stage for why Ran Shu decides to fight back against the life she was living.

You see Ran Shu grew up in an orphanage with her sister Gu Ru Ye (Wang Xing Chen). There was no love lost between these two sisters due to what Gu Ru Ye had done to her in the orphanage. Ran Shu was originally going to be adopted by a rich woman. Gu Ru Ye was bitter that her sister was going to leave her after she swore, they would be together forever. She disabled her sister and locked her up the day the rich woman came hence Gu Rue Ye was chosen. Leaving Ran Shu alone in the orphanage until she was of age to leave.

Meanwhile, Gu Ru Ye had become a big celebrity. You would think she was happy, but she still wanted to wreck and disassemble the life of Ran Shu. And that meant, taking her husband Zhang Zeyi whom she eventually seduces.

To escape this premonition of impending death, Ran Shu started a counterattack by enlisting the help of the famous writer Gu Yi Bai (Jin Jia Yu) by having an interview with him to discuss his upcoming book. During their first interview at Gu Yi Bai's house Ran Shu ask him if Gu Ru Ye, the famous movie star was his sister. He says she is. This is Ran Shu's sister unbeknownst to Gu Yi Bai.

She continues her plan by allowing Gu Ru Ye to seduce Zhang Zeyi, using Gu Yi Bai by showing faded bruises, leaving her purse in his car so that he had to return it and see the domestic abuse firsthand by her husband. Yes, her plan went along swimmingly. So, much so until Zhang Zeyi got the divorce he wanted, and Gu Ru Ye married him.

Ran Su was excited and finally happy to live her life. But we still had the impending 30th birthday of Zhang Zeyi at the exhibit. Now, that Ran Su was no longer his wife this was not going to stop him fulfilling his last photo. The stage was set just as Ran Su had envisioned in her dream. She came and confessed everything to Zhang Zeyi as Gu Ru Ye was already dead. She told him that the letter that he had in his pocket was not from Gu Ru Ye but from her. Zhang Zeyi begins to realize that Ran Su set everything up.

We also have Gu Yi Bai who on the eve of the exhibit sees a lady janitor with a box of letters which contained all the letters to Zhang Zeyi from Gu Ru Ye. He begins to investigate what this is all about. Meetings, interviews, domestic violence were these all lies? He begins to question if everything was indeed a lie by Ran Su.

Ran Su would not have done what she did to Gu Ru Ye if she would not have been constantly pressuring her along with the abusive treatment from Zhang Zeyi. She began stalking her sisters, so she already knew that Gu Yi Bai was her brother. She deliberately shook hands with Gu Yi Bai when Zhang Zeyi arrived at their interview to create tension. She placed the love letter written by her in Gu Ru Ye’s style into the coat pocket of Zhang Zeyi. Infidelity, affair. She dragged them all down into the abyss she created.

Just as she thought everything was going her way, Gu Yi Bai was not done. He knew what Ran Su had done and he began his own investigation. He found out that Ran Su was Gu Ru Ye's sister and was actually supposed to be adopted but his mother. But due to being injured she was not adopted. Looking back, each time they met, he was cooperating with her. Whether it was intentionally letting Zhang Zeyi misunderstand them, deliberately leaving her purse in his car, leaving her shoes out so that he could find her or the letter that she deliberately left. He began to contemplate and wonder if he had not met her that day, how would the outcome be. At last, he finally came to the conclusion that she set everything up.

He meets Ran Su and tells her the ending of his new book, “Everyone is a villain. Controlling people in the name of love. Severing the new life with dreams.” Ran Su stares at Gu Yi Bai and knows he knows what she did. But he tells her that is not the ending he is giving her. He tells her to turn herself in to the police.

Gu Yi Bai does meet with Zhang Zeyi who is in prison. He asked Gu Yi Bai what else does he want to know because he does not feel that he has done anything wrong. The reason why is that he felt his marriage with Ran Su was perfect. The domestic violence and abuse he saw it as him being protective. At a young age, Zhang Zeyi saw his father murder his mother. He was having an affair with another woman and told him that he would always take care of him as he left him to go to the other woman. Leaving Zhang Zeyi to call the police and stay with his dead mother. This led to him never knowing if he was really loved by anyone. He thought Ran Su was the woman that truly loved him even though he married Gu Ru Ye. He just wanted eternal love. If only her heart wouldn’t have changed.

Zhang Zeyi got 20 years in prison. Ran Su turned herself in accompanied by Gu Yi Bai.

So much went on in this drama but there is no romance at all and if that what you are expecting, think again. This is totally based off a woman trying to get out of a marriage as well as serve her sister for being cruel to her and giving them both what she felt they deserved.

As Gu Yi Bai said in the end of his book, "Everyone is a villain." The End!

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Don't Waste Your Time!

I honestly thought after reading the synopsis that this was going to be a good drama. You have the whole story about the girl having a disease which affected her face and body and a merman. How can you not like this? After watching, I Don't Want to Fall in Love with Humans, I thought this would be another good one just like that drama, boy, was I wrong.

An Xin Er,'s disease was based off of Yu Sheng (merman). Both he and An Xin Er were singing/playing guitar on the beach one day and some boys started bullying him. An Xin Er defended him and thinking the boys were still attacking him, Yu Sheng scratched her and hence her getting ichthyosis.

Her parents were concerned for her because she was living a secluded life and had no friends. She always covered her face with a veil because she was self-conscious of how she looked from the disease. Enter Ling Zhi who her parents ask to be a companion of sorts for her. Both parents eventually die. An Xin Er's father asked Ling Zhi to take care of her and she eventually became his fiancée. Now, you know there is always some sinister plan. Ling Zhi wanted to have full control of the movie studio that the father left to her. He was given shares but in order for him to run it completely, he need her shares. Being all nice, An Xin Er gave him the shares and he had the control he needed. But we know she couldn't stay around, so while on a yacht celebrating their engagement she falls overboard. Yu Sheng saves her.

Follow all that. Sounds pretty good, right? It did until they both came out of the water into his half-sunk spaceship in the ocean. Talking about going downhill fast.

This drama felt like it was on a shoestring budget and cheaply done. CGI...horrible. The fake long and short wig that the ML wears are both horrible and do not become him. Sometimes I really had to listen to what the ML was saying because I felt like he had a mouth full of marbles. The FL (which I like in the General's Lady) I thought could bring this up a notch. No, she added nothing to it at all. Except wearing jackets over her clothes that were too big on her. The SML (which I liked in Fall in Love) was about the strongest in this drama and that not saying much.

Then when they were talking sometimes you felt like they were in a well of sorts. You NEVER see him be a merman again. Now, I'm only at episode 8 so, there is hope alive since there are 10 episodes left that he will again. But he has been on land for a year studying to be an actor and model. Say what? They were separated too for a year and when she finally sees him, she doesn't really ask him why he didn't go home or anything else.

Oh, there is an aunt that they got rid of pretty fast and sent her away to have surgery. Then a princess (who has been engaged to Yu Sheng since childhood) who comes to Earth but get this, leaves after she said that she doesn't like him, and he can get with An Xin Er since she knows he likes her. Wow!

Trust me, don't do it to yourself. Save the time to watch something other than this. I have tried up to 8 episodes to see some light at the end of the tunnel, but it keeps just staying dark.

So sad honestly for a drama that I felt had so much potential.

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