The product placement in episode 8 is something special... it was essecially a compilation of ads with some good…
Lol.. One day maybe Thailand will learn to make more "subtle" product placements. I remember my first Thai Drama was actually a remake of the drama Full House years ago, it was SO jarring, the only thing I remember to this day is all the product placements for cleaning products... and a vaccum cleaner 🤣🤣🤣
This drama is Really Good. You shouldn't dwell on every detail, otherwise you'll forget that it's a series! Relax.
Oh I'm not complaining, I'm just thinking out loud. I'm actually REALLY enjoying a Lakorn for the first time... though I'm not really sure I should call it a lakorn given the length is way shorter than any that I've attempted to watch.
The ratings here on MDL is ridiculous. So far I'd rate this one a 9.
There's enough angst to keep things interesting but it doesn't drag to the point of becoming overly annoying. Also I really like the main pair. They have great chemistry.
I'm less in love with the second couple though I think their story is also interesting.
So... I was watching episode 4 and was asking myself....
Is abortion illegal in Thailand? Because WHY keep the baby of a man who is obviously not in love with you but with his best friend... So I ended up checking.
Turns out Abortion was illegal until 2021 in Thailand unless: 1// The life of the mother was threatened for health reasons. 2// The pregnancy was the result of rape.
Given in the drama, Mira gets pregnant in 2019... Well that explains that. Apparently it's still not something that is socially unacceptable in Thailand.
Well. Sorry for the baby here, but I'm glad the scenarists killed him off. There's nothing worse than a poor kid sandwiched between two parents who don't love each other. Mira was very obviously turning bitter and nasty... can't blame her though. You know Ran doesn't love you, he's only sticking for the baby. BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT at the same time, you knew his heart was never fully with you anyway, if he didn't want to use condoms, you could have been on pills or use other ways to prevent pregnancy... You didn't and then the poor dude got baby trapped. You're both guilty in this... but I've got to say, as far as I'm concerned you're guiltier than he is.
Also... as much as I understand her, he's already giving up on Dao and you can feel it's killing him WHY are you behaving like this? This is NOT gonna make it easier for him to like you girl! I know you're pregnant, and all these hormones are playing with your mood but frankly even before you were pregnant, you were already overly jealous.
You should have called it quits BEFORE you even slept with the dude. There's nothing worse than pursuing a guy who's looking elsewhere.
Lol.It's explained in more details later, but basically, Xu Feng is a Phoenix, so he's got several lives.I don't…
Err... please do put a spoiler tag for those who don't know the series.
I've finished the drama so I don't remember exactly in which episode she becomes colorblind... But it's after the marriage and just before Xu Feng is reborn so I'd say between episode 46 and 49... though not really sure.
I'm actually really liking that one. I love the "we pinned for each other for 20 years trope" to be honest, but I also enjoy this more realistic approach.
I think the reason why it works is because we the story is set over 9 years so things happen pretty quickly. We don't go through too much angst or get annoyed too much by the "rivals".
Btw, reminds me of a story I heard from a (male) colleague of mine ( I mention it because he was closer to the male guy in the story). There was this dude and this girl among their group of friends, pinning for each other for over 20 years, known each other since high school. Dunno the details but anyway, when FINALLY the dude got the courage to confess after he'd rejected the girl when they were around 20 years old... it was too late. She was already pregnant and had decided to keep the baby with a guy she had known for... 6 months. To be clear, it's not like that guy never had any other girlfriends.
Sad to say, but it's easier to go out with people you don't feel strongly about, when you really love a person, it becomes much more harder to put yourself out there. For the record, she was already 37 or 38, don't remember the number so I can't blame the girl for wanting to keep it given her age. Time flies and pregnancy over 40 is more current these days but not recommended if you can avoid it. I also don't know if the girl had any lingering feelings for that guy...
I wish I knew what happened after that, but I haven't kept in touch with that colleague for years.
Anyway, it perfectly illustrates Ran and Dao's relation in my opinion. Ran is too shy and keep on saying things that makes Dao feel like he's not interested when it's just his timidity acting up (and later his own circumstances)and it's actually very obvious since the time they met at school he was head over heels for her ( I mean as a boy he was hitting on her so bad) and she's definitely into him and wants to make the jump, but there's always that little sentence he said or his aloof attitude that makes her feel he doesn't like her the same way and the beginning of episode 2 confirmed it. So in this episode, she takes the reverse approach. She's being hyper jealous but wants to show that she doesn't care, she got over him and she's acting up. Basically pushing him away. Really 2 idiots.
Overall shitty timing + lack of courage Can't blame both as it is very realistic. Both trying to go out with other people to "get over it" but obviously this is not working. Gotta admit though, I'm glad for once it's the girl who's a serial dater and not the opposite.
Ep 48: Once again I am confused: So they say that Xu Feng's soul had been saved by the Emperor. Then why the rest…
Lol. It's explained in more details later, but basically, Xu Feng is a Phoenix, so he's got several lives. I don't remember the details BUT basically the Emperor used the true phoenix feather that initiallyXu Feng had given to Jin Mi, and that the Uncle used to protect himself and the Emperor during the marriage fight. Instead of keeping the feather protecting them, the Emperor, removed voluntarily the protection ( that couldn't be removed from an outside foe) and used it to contain the primordial soul ( the soul that is used for rebirth) in the true phoenix feather. From what I understood, as long as his "primordial soul" can be preserved, he still can be revived as long as they've got his body and some additional artefact.
That "primordial soul" is the phoenix you saw flying in the air and that got attacked in the first episode.
That was such a cute episode ^^ Really loved it. These two are so obvious ^^ All that awkwardness is SO relatable... And the end of the episode was like O_O Really?
Watched this because it was recommended to me. Absolutely loved it from start to finish. The ending was... completely WTF? I was like huh? And yet extremely satisfying.
I was bracing myself because I read some comments saying they didn't like the ending and... I have to say, it doesn't make a lot of sense but I don't care. I threw logic and common sense out the window, the premise was already ridiculous in the first place.
Removing 1 point, for some overly long scenes and Esther Yu overacting the cute with the Bamboo kid. I wasn't irritated enough to dislike the show because of them, but I though it turned the show overly childish at times which was a disservice to it.
I've seen many a shitty dramas lately and this one is soooooooooooooooo above the rest, that I still can't hold these little flaws against it.
Ep 45: Can somebody care to explain what Xu Feng and Run Yu did at the beginning of this episode? Run Yu and Kuang…
I'm sure it's better explained in the novel, but I personally didn't get either. The only important thing to take into account is that after this 'sequence', Run Yu has made clear his intentions to Xu Feng. Given how much time they spent on this particular scene, you would expect the Emperor to sort of know as well but whatev'.
You know...I've been mostly bored and annoyed to death during the second half but I wasn't expecting to get PISSED…
Like seriously all these assholes are still living the good life after everything that's happened。 That b*** of an assembly woman in spite of inciting murderS, hiding proofs of her disgusting son's murder and all the corruption still avoids prison... She even joins hand with Ji Hoon's murderer who got no punishment in spite of having eye-witness who saw what he did ( that's another last ditch finger thrown to viewers through one last sickening annoying nonsensical plottwist).
I've seen many a shitty drama, but as long as you give viewers a satisfying ending, I still wouldn't rate you harshly... But this? F*** this show. That's 4 for killing off the only character I cared about and letting his murderer and the one that instigated it living the good life.
You know... I've been mostly bored and annoyed to death during the second half but I wasn't expecting to get PISSED at the end as well!
Basically if you're expecting some proper pay-off at the end, let me tell you, you're gonna be thoroughly dissapointed. Thank you show for giving me the finger.
Do I need YOU to remind me that the world sucks and life is unfair? NO I DON'T! At least when I'm giving you MY FREE TIME, YOU should give me the ILLUSION that JUSTICE EXISTS AT LEAST IN THE REALM OF FICTION. Fudge it!
They're hinting at a second season that will probably never ever happen but even if they do make another one... I won't bother.
I wouldn't commit again if I were you...60 episodes is a huge commitment and the FL is a brainless frustrating…
To be fair now that I've finished it... I actually think that apart from the part where they go to the human realm ... which is too long and pretty unnecessary to the main plot ( this is what led me to rate the show 7 and not more), this is actually a pretty good show... BUT ALSO... an extremely frustrating one. I've personally ranted a lot on that particular subject over the past few weeks here so I'm not gonna repeat myself. But in short, I'm glad I watched it, but I'm probably never going to watch this twice.
There are C dramas that have far less interesting stories but are way less frustrating and much more enjoyable than this one which I'll gladly rewatch and rated higher ( I wish MDL added an "enjoyment bar" because this should be the main criteria).
I think lots of people tend to forget the draggy overly long half of the drama because it's in the middle of the show.
It's like when you write an essay. You have to start with a good introduction and finish with a strong conclusion... if the middle is mid, it's not that much of a problem because overall, people tend to remember only their first and last impression.
And this drama has that. The beginning is strong, the end is great ( well apart from the unexplained reunion but this is nitpicking) and hence, you keep that strong impression that this drama was amazing... forgetting the weeks you just wanted to punch your screen because you were frustrated at either Jin Mi, the Emperess or the Emperor.
So I binged the first 6 episodes but after that it's a slugfest to the finish line BUT the opening is a banger.Long…
I don't know what exactly this show is missing... Probably a combination of several factors notably:
1. Becomes tropey and predictable.
2. Goes round and round without moving the plot forward. It's more of of the same all the time, bored out of my mind.
3. Characters, villains and heros both, being completely one-note. No complexity whatsoever. I particularly don't like Mu Chan and Ju Hyeon... BUT Jo Dan, Ju Hyeon's cyber colleage is at the top of my irritating list. He's too hyper for no reason, really annoying. Scratch that. ALL these characters are annoying except for team Gaetal's members... though they're still all one note.
4. Can't care for any of these characters apart maybe from Ji Hoon. Maybe instead of wasting all these minutes on a useless chase that always go back to its starting point, more time dedicated to these characters' personalities and personal struggles would have made me care more but ALAS!
5. Cinematography is B.A.S.I.C.
It's not bad... It's just bland.
Also 1h10 to 1h15mn per episode is too long. If it was 10 minutes shorter or more, this would have given a tighter script... This episode length is really hurting K dramas... Back in the early 2000s when I started to watch them, the average was 50 minutes and you'd get occasionally episodes that were 1h to 1h05 minutes at most... NOW? 1h is the shortest, and you also get series which average length per episode is 1h30 minutes with some episodes flirting with the 2h line. WTF South Korea? You're doing a disservice to your industry.
As a bookworm, I do have a long attention span but even I am complaining.
Anyway... Still 2 episodes left to watch... It's tough because at this point I'm just watching for the sake of completion and the boredom is KILLING ME. I won't rate this above 7. Jury's still out about how low the rating is gonna get. Above 5, sure but how much? Hmm....
Not terrible, but not good enough for me to recommend.
1
1
1
1
One day maybe Thailand will learn to make more "subtle" product placements. I remember my first Thai Drama was actually a remake of the drama Full House years ago, it was SO jarring, the only thing I remember to this day is all the product placements for cleaning products... and a vaccum cleaner 🤣🤣🤣
The ratings here on MDL is ridiculous.
So far I'd rate this one a 9.
There's enough angst to keep things interesting but it doesn't drag to the point of becoming overly annoying. Also I really like the main pair. They have great chemistry.
I'm less in love with the second couple though I think their story is also interesting.
So I ended up checking.
Turns out Abortion was illegal until 2021 in Thailand unless:
1// The life of the mother was threatened for health reasons.
2// The pregnancy was the result of rape.
Given in the drama, Mira gets pregnant in 2019... Well that explains that.
Apparently it's still not something that is socially unacceptable in Thailand.
Well. Sorry for the baby here, but I'm glad the scenarists killed him off. There's nothing worse than a poor kid sandwiched between two parents who don't love each other.
Mira was very obviously turning bitter and nasty... can't blame her though. You know Ran doesn't love you, he's only sticking for the baby.
BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT at the same time, you knew his heart was never fully with you anyway, if he didn't want to use condoms, you could have been on pills or use other ways to prevent pregnancy... You didn't and then the poor dude got baby trapped. You're both guilty in this... but I've got to say, as far as I'm concerned you're guiltier than he is.
Also... as much as I understand her, he's already giving up on Dao and you can feel it's killing him WHY are you behaving like this? This is NOT gonna make it easier for him to like you girl! I know you're pregnant, and all these hormones are playing with your mood but frankly even before you were pregnant, you were already overly jealous.
You should have called it quits BEFORE you even slept with the dude. There's nothing worse than pursuing a guy who's looking elsewhere.
I don't care show, you better be trolling me for episode 9 otherwise I'm gonna send One31 the bill for my therapy seasons.
Mira you're a good woman... if you know your own worth, stop sticking to a guy who obviously doesn't like you and leave before...
Ah... Too late.
By the way Ran. I get you the dude but he has no sense of timing. After what just happened, wait a bit before you know... Geez.
Glad I know they'll soon get together (episode wise not real time wise) otherwise I'd probably be REALLY frustrated right now.
That TWIST in episode 3!!!
That was... really unexpected... and pretty disgusting 🤢🤮
I've finished the drama so I don't remember exactly in which episode she becomes colorblind... But it's after the marriage and just before Xu Feng is reborn so I'd say between episode 46 and 49... though not really sure.
I'm actually really liking that one. I love the "we pinned for each other for 20 years trope" to be honest, but I also enjoy this more realistic approach.
I think the reason why it works is because we the story is set over 9 years so things happen pretty quickly. We don't go through too much angst or get annoyed too much by the "rivals".
Btw, reminds me of a story I heard from a (male) colleague of mine ( I mention it because he was closer to the male guy in the story). There was this dude and this girl among their group of friends, pinning for each other for over 20 years, known each other since high school. Dunno the details but anyway, when FINALLY the dude got the courage to confess after he'd rejected the girl when they were around 20 years old... it was too late. She was already pregnant and had decided to keep the baby with a guy she had known for... 6 months. To be clear, it's not like that guy never had any other girlfriends.
Sad to say, but it's easier to go out with people you don't feel strongly about, when you really love a person, it becomes much more harder to put yourself out there.
For the record, she was already 37 or 38, don't remember the number so I can't blame the girl for wanting to keep it given her age. Time flies and pregnancy over 40 is more current these days but not recommended if you can avoid it. I also don't know if the girl had any lingering feelings for that guy...
I wish I knew what happened after that, but I haven't kept in touch with that colleague for years.
Anyway, it perfectly illustrates Ran and Dao's relation in my opinion. Ran is too shy and keep on saying things that makes Dao feel like he's not interested when it's just his timidity acting up (and later his own circumstances)and it's actually very obvious since the time they met at school he was head over heels for her ( I mean as a boy he was hitting on her so bad) and she's definitely into him and wants to make the jump, but there's always that little sentence he said or his aloof attitude that makes her feel he doesn't like her the same way and the beginning of episode 2 confirmed it. So in this episode, she takes the reverse approach. She's being hyper jealous but wants to show that she doesn't care, she got over him and she's acting up. Basically pushing him away.
Really 2 idiots.
Overall shitty timing + lack of courage
Can't blame both as it is very realistic. Both trying to go out with other people to "get over it" but obviously this is not working. Gotta admit though, I'm glad for once it's the girl who's a serial dater and not the opposite.
It's explained in more details later, but basically, Xu Feng is a Phoenix, so he's got several lives.
I don't remember the details BUT basically the Emperor used the true phoenix feather that initiallyXu Feng had given to Jin Mi, and that the Uncle used to protect himself and the Emperor during the marriage fight. Instead of keeping the feather protecting them, the Emperor, removed voluntarily the protection ( that couldn't be removed from an outside foe) and used it to contain the primordial soul ( the soul that is used for rebirth) in the true phoenix feather. From what I understood, as long as his "primordial soul" can be preserved, he still can be revived as long as they've got his body and some additional artefact.
That "primordial soul" is the phoenix you saw flying in the air and that got attacked in the first episode.
That was such a cute episode ^^
Really loved it. These two are so obvious ^^
All that awkwardness is SO relatable...
And the end of the episode was like O_O
Really?
Watched this because it was recommended to me. Absolutely loved it from start to finish. The ending was... completely WTF? I was like huh? And yet extremely satisfying.
I was bracing myself because I read some comments saying they didn't like the ending and... I have to say, it doesn't make a lot of sense but I don't care. I threw logic and common sense out the window, the premise was already ridiculous in the first place.
Removing 1 point, for some overly long scenes and Esther Yu overacting the cute with the Bamboo kid. I wasn't irritated enough to dislike the show because of them, but I though it turned the show overly childish at times which was a disservice to it.
I've seen many a shitty dramas lately and this one is soooooooooooooooo above the rest, that I still can't hold these little flaws against it.
A solid 9.
I've seen many a shitty drama, but as long as you give viewers a satisfying ending, I still wouldn't rate you harshly... But this?
F*** this show. That's 4 for killing off the only character I cared about and letting his murderer and the one that instigated it living the good life.
What a waste of time seriously.
I've been mostly bored and annoyed to death during the second half but I wasn't expecting to get PISSED at the end as well!
Basically if you're expecting some proper pay-off at the end, let me tell you, you're gonna be thoroughly dissapointed.
Thank you show for giving me the finger.
Do I need YOU to remind me that the world sucks and life is unfair?
NO I DON'T! At least when I'm giving you MY FREE TIME, YOU should give me the ILLUSION that JUSTICE EXISTS AT LEAST IN THE REALM OF FICTION. Fudge it!
They're hinting at a second season that will probably never ever happen but even if they do make another one... I won't bother.
BUT ALSO...
an extremely frustrating one. I've personally ranted a lot on that particular subject over the past few weeks here so I'm not gonna repeat myself. But in short, I'm glad I watched it, but I'm probably never going to watch this twice.
There are C dramas that have far less interesting stories but are way less frustrating and much more enjoyable than this one which I'll gladly rewatch and rated higher ( I wish MDL added an "enjoyment bar" because this should be the main criteria).
I think lots of people tend to forget the draggy overly long half of the drama because it's in the middle of the show.
It's like when you write an essay. You have to start with a good introduction and finish with a strong conclusion... if the middle is mid, it's not that much of a problem because overall, people tend to remember only their first and last impression.
And this drama has that. The beginning is strong, the end is great ( well apart from the unexplained reunion but this is nitpicking) and hence, you keep that strong impression that this drama was amazing... forgetting the weeks you just wanted to punch your screen because you were frustrated at either Jin Mi, the Emperess or the Emperor.
60 episodes is a huge commitment and the FL is a brainless frustrating mess for most of its run.
Probably a combination of several factors notably:
1. Becomes tropey and predictable.
2. Goes round and round without moving the plot forward. It's more of of the same all the time, bored out of my mind.
3. Characters, villains and heros both, being completely one-note. No complexity whatsoever.
I particularly don't like Mu Chan and Ju Hyeon... BUT Jo Dan, Ju Hyeon's cyber colleage is at the top of my irritating list. He's too hyper for no reason, really annoying.
Scratch that. ALL these characters are annoying except for team Gaetal's members... though they're still all one note.
4. Can't care for any of these characters apart maybe from Ji Hoon. Maybe instead of wasting all these minutes on a useless chase that always go back to its starting point, more time dedicated to these characters' personalities and personal struggles would have made me care more but ALAS!
5. Cinematography is B.A.S.I.C.
It's not bad... It's just bland.
Also 1h10 to 1h15mn per episode is too long. If it was 10 minutes shorter or more, this would have given a tighter script... This episode length is really hurting K dramas... Back in the early 2000s when I started to watch them, the average was 50 minutes and you'd get occasionally episodes that were 1h to 1h05 minutes at most...
NOW?
1h is the shortest, and you also get series which average length per episode is 1h30 minutes with some episodes flirting with the 2h line. WTF South Korea?
You're doing a disservice to your industry.
As a bookworm, I do have a long attention span but even I am complaining.
Anyway... Still 2 episodes left to watch... It's tough because at this point I'm just watching for the sake of completion and the boredom is KILLING ME. I won't rate this above 7. Jury's still out about how low the rating is gonna get. Above 5, sure but how much? Hmm....
Not terrible, but not good enough for me to recommend.