Draagon

This is my nth rewatch of this magnificent makjang drama.

I still love it. It was the first k-drama I ever binge-watched more than ten years ago, and I still freshly remember that feeling of anticipation and not being able to look away. It's just such a well-made drama from start to finish, with an excellent mix of romance with character development and fully fleshed-out story arcs. I love how real all the characters feel, and there's not a flawless person to be found -- they're all wholly human and magnificent in their multi-layered portrayal of the small build-ups that lead to the foundation of our actions, whether those actions lead to a crumbling of the world as we know it or a restart to a great new one. While there is some late-2000s cringe to be found for sure, there's no denying the long-staying power of this drama imo. I can (and have) go back and rewatch it countless times over and still be just as entertained and engrossed as the first time.

It's also interesting how my feelings towards certain characters evolve over time. I was thoroughly on Joon-se's side when I first watched it, but especially upon this rewatch I find myself liking his character less and less. There are some subtle ways he phrases things and puts the responsibility of his feelings squarely on Eun-sung's shoulders that just doesn't sit right with me. I also find myself empathizing with Seung-Mi more and more. I really feel how stuck between and rock and a hard place she is, and as I've grown older I've also come to realize how hard it truly is to give up on something that means the world to you -- it really does feel like the sky is caving in and the world has suddenly become and strange and hostile place. I appreciate the relationship between Eun-sung and halmoni even more as well. It's truly a marvelous and miraculous thing when you come across someone not blood related to you that you just click with and it feels like you've found an essential part of your life you never knew was missing.

I could go on and on, but I just finished this rewatch, and the feels are unreal. I truly love all of the characters, all their mishaps and stumblings. This drama is an undeniable classic in my eyes and I will be forever grateful that it's one of the first ones I watched and fell in love with. Revisiting it revitalizes my love for the k-drama world as a whole, and I hope I can continue to find other dramas that live up even a modicum to the standard that this one has set in my heart.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this short drama. Though there were some parts I felt could have been composed better to leave a more lasting emotional effect, I felt the story had good balance and the main characters conflicts were laid out and explored nicely.

My favorite character from the get-go was Da-chi, and he just got better as the show progressed. I loved the actor's dynamic range.

I would say the only character who had me scratching my head by the end was Shuo Yi - he didn't really fit into the main dynamic very well and was very much sidelined with a strange conclusion to his story with Yong-ching's mom.

Anyway, I would recommend this drama. It's not quite as hard of a hitter as other PTS dramas, but it's an enjoyable watch nonetheless.

What an absolutely beautiful drama. I loved all the characters, and they really went hard with the storylines. I’m still shook by how my favorite character turned out >< This is definitely up there with The World Between Us in quality and resonance.

Thanks for your comment and input:) I’m glad you liked the drama, and obviously I’m in the minority as it does have such a high rating on this website.

I’ve watched “traditional” sageuks before and have enjoyed them, which is part of the reason I may have been so disappointed in this one. I know the drama isn’t necessarily made for “international viewers,” but I still feel like the drama could’ve done more to emphasize or clarify the historical events and people (for example, other dramas add placards or short descriptions on the bottom of the screen when showing new, important characters for the first time). Also, I didn’t realize Jun-Ho isn’t a hallyu actor! I’ve enjoyed his previous works and thought that because of the success of them and that he comes from a k-pop background, he’d be more well known and popular.

That being said, none of these things change my opinion of the drama. Weak storytelling is weak storytelling and cannot be compensated for through strong actors or cinematography. I stand by my complaints and rating of this drama. That rant was merely my attempt at catharsis to heal my disappointment; please just take it as the subjective grain of salt it is ^^

I'll preface this by saying Jun-Ho, the male lead, knocked this one out of the park. I was thoroughly impressed by his emotional range and acting prowess. He OWNED the role of the Crown Prince/King.

Unfortunately, that's about the only praise I have for this too-highly-rated drama. (An 8.9? Really?)

I think the biggest pet peeve I have with it is it seems to have suffered from an identity crisis. The writers couldn't decide if they wanted it to be political intrigue, societal commentary, or human/romance drama. And while, sure, some dramas are able to pull off being all three (or more), this drama fell flat in several ways.

I think, all in all, it did mostly succeed at being a human/romance drama, and based on the ending, that's the route it most wanted to go down, but that's the only area it even remotely succeeded in. It tried SO HARD to be a commentary drama on the limitations of being a woman in society and how impossible it is to extract yourself from what society insists are its norms, but... it just didn't hit the mark. There were too many characters not fully fleshed out, too many plot lines whose conclusions were dictated to a throwaway line that barely has any impact; characters just... disappearing off-screen, never to be talked about again. And what is with the wishy-washy-ness of the female lead? She about had me pulling my hair out.

An instance of what IRKED me about this drama that sticks out most in my mind is around episode 10-ish, when the royals are having a banquet put together by the Crown Prince. He's there, his mom is there, his aunt, the King, and the Queen are there, and... some random girl(?) who's apparently essential to what's about to happen is there!? (I found out who she was in a throw-away line later, don't worry.) I shouldn't be confused about who the central characters are (or their intentions, as is the case for the Crown Prince's friend who got exiled) TEN EPISODES into the drama! Especially when they're affecting the plot to that extent! And this happened too many times to count!

This drama tried too hard to meet the mark, and it did have wonderful acting (mostly by the male lead, but other supporting characters were good too. I wasn't too fond of the female lead myself), and exquisite directing, but I went "Huh?" and "Who ARE YOU??" too many times for this drama to get anything more than a middling score from me. (I also really disliked the last episode. I would have rather it ended at episode 16.)

Overall, the writing really brought down what could have been an amazing and memorable period piece.

**THE FOLLOWING IS A RANT. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.**

There's only one way I can think to describe this drama: empty. It's not trying to say anything or make any sort of point; no greater message to be had here. It's literally a string of scenes put together to make you believe these two people somehow fell in love despite neither of them really having any sort of personality or individuality outside of the "romance" story. Literally the only thing holding the story to any bearable watchability is the acting talent, especially the male lead. But not even that can save this boring desert of a drama in the end. Watch at your own risk - maybe as background noise preferably.

A cute movie, though I gotta say I enjoyed the source material manga a lot more. This movie left out some important parts and switched up the storyline a bit too much, I think. The best part of this movie was the two leads' acting, particularly Furukawa's - the scene with the dad character was very touching. I recommend anyone who likes this movie to go read the manga - especially its sequel, "Restart After Growing Hungry"!

As an adaptation, this series gets 10/10, full marks. This is how you do an adaptation! You can really tell the respect the screenwriter and director have for the original series by how much they paid homage not only to the original manga series, but also to various other adaptations. (I really loved Gorya's shirt that read "You are my Shancai" - such a nice touch! And the market that was named "Jun Pyun"!)

Examining the series on its own, though, I would probably give it 8/10, which is still admittedly (maybe biased-ly) high. Ignoring the fact that the source material is flawed in and of itself, what dragged this drama down the most were its overacting and reliance on the same overdramatic camera work when something surprising was about to happen (that whole drop-bass, zoom-in stuff). I think the weakest actor in the main cast was Bright, which is too bad seeing the essential role he played in the story. He nailed his angry scenes, and his emotional scenes were pretty well done, though the boy cannot really fake cry to save his life. It's the scenes that required a more nuanced emotional reaction where he fell flat. A lot of the time, it looked like he was about to smirk or break out into a smile when the scene didn't really seem to call for that, which really threw me off. The only other big complaint about the acting (and this may just be the director's fault in this case) is how Tu would yell so loudly in Bright's face during the fight scenes. It's like, you're standing two inches from his face, no need to yell like that. And also... delivering your lines... with so many... pauses. It just didn't feel very natural.

Other than those two points, I feel like the drama did a very good job of mixing up the original story to make it fresh for a more modern audience. I liked how every dramatic story plot contributed to the overarching character growth in a meaningful way, especially the very last one which I wasn't sure how they were going to handle in such a short time span. But it ended up not only being a good moment for the main characters, but also helped to flesh out some of the side characters who had been pretty one-note up until that point.

Overall, I'd put this adaptation second to Hana Yori Dango 2009 (the Japanese adaptation) for its acting prowess (I don't think anyone can ever beat the chemistry that is Matsujun and Inoue), but above all the others for how incredible of an adaptation it was -- not strictly following the original series, but giving just enough spice to keep things interesting. I'm not sure I would watch it again, but I'm glad I gave this one a chance after being so horribly disappointed and dropping the Chinese adaptation from a few years back. Despite its flaws, this story/franchise has been part of my life since reading the manga way back when, and it jump-started my interest in dramas as a whole, so it just makes me happy to see it treated so lovingly.

The middle episodes were by far the strongest of this drama. That slow build of the main leads friendship was really beautiful and my favorite part of the ride. The relationship part was a bit overdramatized, especially due to the mom character.

I also really disliked Hsiao Fei's first love interest - I felt not only was his character extremely dislikable, but I didn't like the actor's acting and the fact he was voice dubbed by someone who's obviously not Taiwanese really threw my out of the drama everytime he was onscreen.

I felt like the ending wasn't as satisfying as it could've been, either. The main two leads were great though, and I basically stayed on for An Cing-Huei, I was rooting for him in all aspects of his life from the start.

How does one move on from a bittersweet past? One that hurt you as much as it embraced you in its sweet moments. That is the core question presented in this film, and the Chen family's quest to answer them is as moving as it is achingly realistic. This movie takes a moment to find it's footing, but it had me by the heart by the end and I found it really endearing and heartfelt. Solid performances all around.

An interesting movie that went differently than I expected. The fact they put COVID-19 in the summary made me think it'd be the focal point, when really it's just the catalyst, paralleling a huge societal shift with this family's inner struggles. This movie gave a lot of food for thought without being overly dramatic or preachy, which I liked. Basically it's up to the viewer's to interpret the message of this film. To me, I think it was conveying how we should pull together in times of need, and become more understanding of one another and the situations we find ourselves in, whether this situations arise from inside ourselves or are forced upon us from the outside. It's a movie I wouldn't mind watching again and seeing how everything plays out again for a fresh perspective.

Very interesting movie. It’s basically a glimpse into the life of a certain family living during a particular time period. It explores questions such as identity and family relationships as they are strained by illness, and portrays how one girl copes with all the changes thrown at her that are beyond her control. I felt the depiction of the school scenes in particular were spot on - as someone who has lived in Taiwan for a time, there are unfortunately teachers just like that whose sole mission in life seems to be demeaning children. Though there are also those like the speech teacher who try to bring out the best in their students. I liked the multi-facetedness presented in all the characters to be honest. It is without a doubt a collection of flawed individuals, very realistically portrayed.

Basically, if you’re looking for an exciting story with a build up and climax, this isn’t really that, but if you’re looking for an introspective movie that allows you to come to your own conclusions and provides an ending open for imagining how this family will move forward in the future, this one is for you. I was certainly engrossed while watching.

What a surprise sleeper hit! This was much better than expected, though I didn't really have any expectations going into it.

The most impressive part to me, besides the fact it told a coherent story from beginning to end, was the drama's devotion to showing people as gray. While there are technically "good guys" and "bad guys," the good guys have obvious flaws and the bad guys aren't bad just for the sake of it. Every character's motivations were developed and explored rather satisfactorily, and I was impressed at the depth to which the themes were explored. I found myself gasping at what happened several times throughout the drama, and the story's twists genuinely surprised me in a good way.

While I do think episode 16 is the weakest and the most cliché episode out of the bunch, the rest of the drama was strong enough for that last episode not to bring my enjoyment of the drama down by much. Basically, if you like Stranger-esque detective stories that focus on the aftermath and consequences of corruption at the most basic societal level, this one is for you.

This drama was whole-heartedly endearing... in a strangely unsatisfactory way. I think all the actors did a really good job of pulling out great performances from a sadly underdeveloped script. I just couldn't suss out what exactly the message of the drama was supposed to be by the end, though I did love the themes of friendship it ended up exploring.

Also, this rarely if ever happens to me, but I actually felt a surge of second-male-lead syndrome in this one, as by the end Je Hoon had become one of my favorite characters by far. I loved Kang So Ra's performance on its own (her character lacked meaningful growth, but that's hardly the actress's fault), but Gong Myung's acting plus the way his character developed had my heart soaring and rooting wholeheartedly for him by the end (which is funny, seeing as how much I disliked his seemingly one-note character for the first half of the drama). Byun Hyuk was endearing too in his own way, but Je Hoon stole the show for me by a long shot.

Long story short, I felt the drama spent far too long in its build-up/set-up episodes, puttering around in the middle ones, then tried to quick shoot through what should have been the meat of the story at the end. It left me feeling like I'd eaten nothing but cake for sixteen hours - tasty, sure, but a short-lived fulfillment.

To have a drama captivate you every week despite not being one of those flashy total makjang or revenge dramas, and also one that can make you go from crying your eyes out to smiling like crazy in the span of one episode without it feeling forced or done for the sake of drama rather than fitting into the canon, that’s when you know you’ve watched a good drama.

The only real nitpick I have is in regards to the rather in your face product placements, especially one of the last ones which literally just felt like a commercial in the middle of the drama. But hey, gotta get that bank someway or another, right?

Other than that, this one’s up there with “Run On” for me in terms of realistic storylines made wholesome with splotches of relatable slice of life moments and endearing messages and themes that stay with you long after the drama’s ended. Just a good, comfy watch that thankfully doesn’t dwell too deeply on the negative, but rather leaves you with the hope that, as it does for these characters by the end, perhaps it is possible to find contentment with your place in life.

I really liked the atmosphere of this drama. I love dramas that are set in the winter, as they can give off a warm and cozy feeling that's in direct contrast with the harshness lifelessness of winter. That being said, I enjoyed the story a lot more in the first half compared to the second.

For a drama that was supposedly being a proponent of communication, these characters sure had a hard time being forthright with how they felt. From the time the two leads got together, I was expecting more of an exploration of what had transpired before that, for them to come to an understanding as to why they had taken the attitudes they did before (especially the male lead), but instead, what we got was just two people being the faux model for "love heals all wounds." It doesn't, and it takes a lot of work to not let small resentments build-up, which they will inevitably do if you don't talk out what led to those frustrations.

Then, in the second half, it was the female lead's turn to be all uncommunicative and expect the ML to just be able to read her mind or something. Lucky for her, he's a piner, or else she'd sure be outta luck, eh? And don't even let me get into that mess between the FL family. The way they parted ways at the end says everything about how little this story actually valued the message it was supposedly imparting.

All in all, it was a drama that sucked me in and held on with great ferocity for basically its entire run time, thanks to its great atmosphere, wonderful use of flashbacks that were built into the scenes in a unique way, its fabulous OST with very few lyrical songs, and voice-overs, but the story lost me in the end, and I can't help lamenting what a shame that is.

This is a TW-drama, but I totally agree. Why make her the "mother martyr" when she could just be simply a mom put in a hard position who made her life better through her own decisions? It was very off-putting, that whole last resolution, and I hated the added Director character.

Plus, even though they regressed on this, I hated how the grandpa became instantly distant towards Holly once he found out. Like, I know it's a shock, but it was like they took away all of his character growth in that single instance. Then him running away like a child? Totally out of character in my opinion.

The way I figure, based on the final line of the drama ("The story's finished, but life continues on"), it seems like they wanted to drive the idea home that despite this drama being fictional, these types of stories can/do happen, and to think of these characters as not just existing within the drama, but as real people with real lives who shared part of their story with you (the viewer).

Another guess is perhaps the writer went to Hualien and heard some of the local stories, then based the script on that.

Finally completed this one, took about three months. Overall, I'd say it's watchable, but nothing to write home about. There were a few storylines I enjoyed that helped me keep watching, but there were also a few filler episodes, and a few episodes where it was obvious how desperately they wanted to make you cry - not organically, more like forced ("Look at me, I'm such a sad scene! I'm layering on the flashbacks! Playing the sad music! Now cry!"). The resolution's a bit rushed, too, despite the rest of the drama feeling so draggy.

My favorite character was Angsty Mo Zhi Bin, though I was less interested in him after he resolved his conflict. I did like how supportive he became.

All in all, I suggest watching the first episode, and if it seems like your cup of tea - have at it. If it doesn't, I wouldn't really recommend this one, because what you see from the get-go is basically all that's there.