It's not really either. I guess it's a fictional historical with some slight exaggerations of combat - so you…
Super helpful! I've been wondering this myself. So then, what genre do the pseudo historical films like this and LLTG fall under? Cause they're not claiming any kind of accurate historicity, right?
Everyone on this thread is so kind and helpful! So refreshing after visiting popular and/or currently airing Kdrama comment threads. 😅 It's like a breath of fresh air!
Idk how you can say that after story of kunning palace, legend of shen li, and hidden love. C-dramas have always…
Yes, it's the kind of tight writing and good pacing I miss! I didn't care for the episodes covering her stepmother nearer to the end and after a certain special character dies, but besides that I thought it was gripping from start to finish. Though Wanning is SO icky. *shivers*
Someone suggested I stop at minute 31ish of episode 40 and it was a good call. So glad I did. There is a 5 minute happy episode that overturns the open ending but it's only available on certain sites. @TaliaToo helped me find a link so I could watch it. She's active on the thread and she can probably find it for you if you want a safe link. :)
Oh, so it is a glitch with MDL? Ha, I thought it was just me.
But hey, I went out of the country for a few weeks, and stopped getting email notifications when someone would comment on one of my comments. No idea why it stopped (cause when I tried to change notifications it didn't work 😂). You can give that hack a shot? 🤣
Idk how you can say that after story of kunning palace, legend of shen li, and hidden love. C-dramas have always…
The Double was good, too! Cdramas are extremely stylized, way further from reality, and everyone looks too perfect (even more than Kdramas), which usually turns me off from the fantasy ones especially, but a few with super high ratings I have tried, and really enjoyed, to my surprise. They had much better pacing and writing than I anticipated. And some very good chemistry and acting at times, too (Zhao Lusi for the win! I now get why everyone adores her.).
Lovely Runner has spoiled folks. They seem to be comparing everything to it. I love Sunjae but damn...at some…
Yes, your P.S. is spot on. You don't watch Kdramas for "new" and "innovative." Those of us who like them just want a good variation on a theme that's been told dozens and dozens of times. ☺️
then why don't you guys find out a drama with a plot that's not basic and watch that one?
Have you tried Move To Heaven? And the dramas without romance (crime/action/slice of life) tend to be more innovative or feel more unique. You can try some of those, perhaps?
I guess you haven't seen a lot of Kdramas, my friend.
Well, in my experience the ML is always somewhat similar to the description you provided of the ML here (innocent and pure, and a novice in love). I can think of Weightlifting Fairy and Fight For My Way just off the top of my head that had MLs who dated before, but most are not written that way. That's all I meant. You seemed surprised that the ML was written that way, which gave me the impression you haven't seen many Kdrama rom-coms. I apologize if I misunderstood your comment. Looking back my response does sound dismissive.
There is more variety amongst types of FLs, but the way you described the ML is what you'll find in most Kdramas (in my experience).
They are just posting their opinions, and there's nothing wrong with criticizing bad tropes and practices that…
Also, cliches and tropes ARE Kdramas. If people want innovation and something different, then don't watch Kdramas. They just mix and match or give some spice to the already existing collection of tried and true tropes/cliches and recycle them or mix and match them in new ways. Complaining about tropes and cliches in Kdramas (especially rom-coms), is like complaining there's too much gore in a John Wick movie, or too many people dying in a Zombie movie. It's part and parcel with the genre, folks. 😏
People complaining about the Kdrama formula is even more baffling; they do realize that ALL romantic Kdramas have SMLs, and that these SMLs NEVER end up with the FL, right? It's just a rarely broken parameter of the Kdrama formula. 😂 It just drives me nuts that people come to a predictable genre and proceed to demand unpredictability. *sigh* 🤷♀️
Interesting. I've never seen a drama with a rating of 8.7 or above on MDL I didn't like. I guess that just means…
I ultimately still disagree that MDL ratings are useless, but I hear you. (I think it's nice that MDL offers a variety of ways for people to research whether they like something. For you, that's reviews and comments, for me, that's ratings and comments.) You made some excellent points!
I will just venture to say, from where I sit, in order for this rating to have been manipulated extensively by fans (unless there's something I'm not understanding about how creating accounts and rating drama works, which is totally possible), they would collectively have had to create tens of thousands of fake accounts (since it finished airing) to keep this score super high. That seems excessive, even for MDL fans to accomplish (since the number of viewers has probably increased by 30,000 viewers since I started watching this).
And I don't disagree with you that the score will most likely drop, but the high score is super common right after a popular drama on MDL finishes airing anyway. It will flatten out as time passes. It always does with every drama on here UNLESS it is stellar in every way.
K-Drama 
Someone suggested I stop at minute 31ish of episode 40 and it was a good call. So glad I did. There is a 5 minute happy episode that overturns the open ending but it's only available on certain sites. @TaliaToo helped me find a link so I could watch it. She's active on the thread and she can probably find it for you if you want a safe link. :)
But hey, I went out of the country for a few weeks, and stopped getting email notifications when someone would comment on one of my comments. No idea why it stopped (cause when I tried to change notifications it didn't work 😂). You can give that hack a shot? 🤣
And by the way, it's been glorious.
There is more variety amongst types of FLs, but the way you described the ML is what you'll find in most Kdramas (in my experience).
People complaining about the Kdrama formula is even more baffling; they do realize that ALL romantic Kdramas have SMLs, and that these SMLs NEVER end up with the FL, right? It's just a rarely broken parameter of the Kdrama formula. 😂 It just drives me nuts that people come to a predictable genre and proceed to demand unpredictability. *sigh* 🤷♀️
I will just venture to say, from where I sit, in order for this rating to have been manipulated extensively by fans (unless there's something I'm not understanding about how creating accounts and rating drama works, which is totally possible), they would collectively have had to create tens of thousands of fake accounts (since it finished airing) to keep this score super high. That seems excessive, even for MDL fans to accomplish (since the number of viewers has probably increased by 30,000 viewers since I started watching this).
And I don't disagree with you that the score will most likely drop, but the high score is super common right after a popular drama on MDL finishes airing anyway. It will flatten out as time passes. It always does with every drama on here UNLESS it is stellar in every way.