Having completed the INTENSE yet wonderful BORN TO BE ALIVE, I needed something calming and gentle, focused on romance and not much else. I'm a third of the way thru the show and so far it's just what the Doctor ordered.
Nooooo we were at 8.8 what the hell happened? Whatever... Anyway this is still the best drama 2026 so far imo
I'm 10 episodes in and having fun. I'm recovering from BORN TO BE ALIVE, which respectfully is the best 2026 drama I'm aware of. It just won best series at the Golden Eagles. I've seen 40 C-dramas at this point and trust me it's in the top 5.
I always felt supporting roles doesn't carry much story but then after watching zhang zhe hua role of shao yun…
Why would I hate your opinion? I thought the entire supporting cast was world class. And I'm excited to watch zhang zhe hua in the series streaming now with Ma Yi Li!
This movie is a recommend. It's good. Not the best movie I've seen but worth seeing. However, and I'm serious here -- have someone cue the movie up for you to the point where the title is in BIG RED LETTERS on a black background. Why? The movie opens with a spoiler from deep in the movie, which spoils the spoiler. Trust me -- the movie will work better without it.
UPDATE -- Feel free to ignore the 7.Whatever MDL rating here because this thing just won BEST SERIES at the Golden Eagle awards. If you look at the written reviews most are 10s.
I'm almost finished. It's REALLY strange. The cast and idea is solid, but the execution is maddening. It's like you're watching a brilliant rough draft -- and I mean brilliant -- but nobody proof read the story and said, "Hey you forgot to explain X, Y, and Z." People do things that don't make sense at first, and maybe a little more later... but not enough.
It's kind of everywhere. This example won't ruin anything. A character is in a subway. She notices a boy with a guitar playing. Typically she's not interested in boys but this one she engages with snarky small talk. The problem is you feel she has read ahead in the script and knows this is her future boyfriend, so within seconds she finds him rather interesting.
But the writer forgot to make this interest believable. It just 'happens' because it's supposed to. (Oh yeah, we want her to have a boy before the show ends.) All sorts of stuff just sorta happens this way, which damages an otherwise great show.
The irony here is I think I'm going to end up recommending it anyway, because the four main leads are terrific and fresh and creative characters.
QUESTION -- What is the undeniable evidence that the rating system on this site distorts reality? ANSWER -- The very idea that the TALE OF ROSE is rated below DREAM OF SPLENDOR and especially MEET YOURSELF.
This series is doing something fascinating but also odd. It's creating mini Movies, but the movies typically seem to be about 40 minutes. So think an episode of a TV show. But --
-- if they had simply doubled the length again, you'd have a 'movie' almost 90 minutes long. And... so why not complete the idea and have movies?!?
I'm almost 2/3rds of the way thru and this 7.8 rating is ridiculous. Unless the series utterly collapses in the…
My biggest issue with the ending occurred in two places --
1. His standing the fields among the transmission power lines didn't work for me at all. I felt his departure from the series needed to be on that road, the way Wang left the series.
2. I just rewatched my favorite sequence of the series for the third time, the last sequence between Mr. Bao and Li Li that starts with the hot pot and ends at the staircase. This is the epicenter of my disappointment, despite loving the sequence intensely.
For in this sequence the Mr. Bao and Li Li say their goodbyes, revealing that each name is a 'costume' over their true selves. At the end, on the stairs, WKW did something 'artsy' that I felt didn't quite work.
I believe the subtext of this entire sequence is dealing with the fact these two 'friends' are actually very much in love with each other. To make their parting tolerable, Li Li advises Bao to not trust the likes of her. A lie she tells herself out loud to make her exit easier. He says, "You and I are not strangers." To me that translates as, "We're two of a kind and were it not for these circumstances we'd definitely be lovers."
What gets weird here is that he extends a hand of 'introduction' and says, "Ah Bao." This contradicts what he just said. Why introduce your 'true' self after having claimed you've already met. She hesitates but then introduces her 'fake' self as "Li Li" and then departs.
That's kind of a 'Huh?' for me. It's like she was saying, "I can't be Chen Zhen, but only Li Li, but Li Li no longer exists."
There's something there, but the ambiguity -- to me -- leaves me unsatisfied. I feel cheated from a goodbye kiss that the entire sequence sets up.
K-Drama 
1 
By the way -- it was such a drag that Part 3 of Footprints was just okay, but I really liked Parts 1 and 2.
Having completed the INTENSE yet wonderful BORN TO BE ALIVE, I needed something calming and gentle, focused on romance and not much else. I'm a third of the way thru the show and so far it's just what the Doctor ordered.
My nearly spoiler free review -- https://kisskh.at/profile/JohnHart/review/607292
UPDATE -- Feel free to ignore the 7.Whatever MDL rating here because this thing just won BEST SERIES at the Golden Eagle awards. If you look at the written reviews most are 10s.
It's kind of everywhere. This example won't ruin anything. A character is in a subway. She notices a boy with a guitar playing. Typically she's not interested in boys but this one she engages with snarky small talk. The problem is you feel she has read ahead in the script and knows this is her future boyfriend, so within seconds she finds him rather interesting.
But the writer forgot to make this interest believable. It just 'happens' because it's supposed to. (Oh yeah, we want her to have a boy before the show ends.) All sorts of stuff just sorta happens this way, which damages an otherwise great show.
The irony here is I think I'm going to end up recommending it anyway, because the four main leads are terrific and fresh and creative characters.
ANSWER -- The very idea that the TALE OF ROSE is rated below DREAM OF SPLENDOR and especially MEET YOURSELF.
-- if they had simply doubled the length again, you'd have a 'movie' almost 90 minutes long. And... so why not complete the idea and have movies?!?
1. His standing the fields among the transmission power lines didn't work for me at all. I felt his departure from the series needed to be on that road, the way Wang left the series.
2. I just rewatched my favorite sequence of the series for the third time, the last sequence between Mr. Bao and Li Li that starts with the hot pot and ends at the staircase. This is the epicenter of my disappointment, despite loving the sequence intensely.
For in this sequence the Mr. Bao and Li Li say their goodbyes, revealing that each name is a 'costume' over their true selves. At the end, on the stairs, WKW did something 'artsy' that I felt didn't quite work.
I believe the subtext of this entire sequence is dealing with the fact these two 'friends' are actually very much in love with each other. To make their parting tolerable, Li Li advises Bao to not trust the likes of her. A lie she tells herself out loud to make her exit easier. He says, "You and I are not strangers." To me that translates as, "We're two of a kind and were it not for these circumstances we'd definitely be lovers."
What gets weird here is that he extends a hand of 'introduction' and says, "Ah Bao." This contradicts what he just said. Why introduce your 'true' self after having claimed you've already met. She hesitates but then introduces her 'fake' self as "Li Li" and then departs.
That's kind of a 'Huh?' for me. It's like she was saying, "I can't be Chen Zhen, but only Li Li, but Li Li no longer exists."
There's something there, but the ambiguity -- to me -- leaves me unsatisfied. I feel cheated from a goodbye kiss that the entire sequence sets up.
Thanks for the tip! And what is WKW?