Kannadin

If frustration had a name, it would be "Motel California"

This was a one-woman show, all other characters are pretty irrelevant. Lee Se Young was stellar as the cinematography was, too bad her character was an understandable frustrating mess not helped by a shitty script.
Pace is draggy and all over the place. Drama sucked my energy dry.

#I've_got_melo_trauma
#Not_watching_ANY_melo_for_6_months
#Gimme_Back_My_HOURS

I was wondering how they were going to wrap up this thing up given how everything remained messy up to the middle of episode 11...

Turns out, THEY DIDN'T DO SH***

They didnt' resolve anything, they just used a magic wand and all the shitty villagers and classmates did a 180 in the last ep and everything is ok and let's laugh under the (grey) sky after years of bullying? ARE. YOU.KIDDING.ME ? ? ? As somebody who has had experience with some of the issues faced by Kang Hee I can tell you this :

1. Racists gonna remain racists, it's not because they do good things on the side that it changes the fact that they're filthy racists.

2. Even if they did a turnaround, I won't forget and I won't forgive, but in this drama, all these prejudices are treated like it's nothing.

3. It takes a lot of courage to apologize to your former victims. Most bullies would rather die than admit their wrongs that leaves (most of) them with two options: 1. Make up excuses to justify their past behaviors, usually by victim blaming 2. Just ignore the victim and act like they don't exist since these bullies are cowards who can't even look their victims in the eye.
And we're not going to have a "party" together UNLESS they PAY the whole bill!

Didn't care about the Esther story line. From the moment they showed the cheating it was either she aborts or she gets with glass-guy : they also swept under the rug that he's filthy rich hence it's very likely Esther and him are being pressured to abort the baby by their respective families. They have the same background so it makes sense they're allowed to be together, but even if glass-guy's family is ok with him getting with Esther the divorcee they definitely are not for her to keep the baby. BUT this show is doing a Love Next Door thingy so screw these issues I guess. She's gonna keep the baby and get her first love and not be outed by her family because they're not living in South Korea, they're living in Lalaland where genealogy and tracing one's ancestors have no importance whatsover.

Yeon Soo's mother got a new beau... but I haven't forgotten what two women said about him loosing most of his money gambling BUT the show sure did. Another Problem Non-Problem.

Ah Reum left her house and that was it. If it was THAT EASY why didn't you do it from the start? Another Non-Problem.

We never got to learn why Seung Eon didn't even get a Middle School degree given he's been raised by Jung Pil (Chung Pil whatever) since he was 7. But Whatever again I guess. He would have made an interesting character given his backstory but since this was a one woman show, he faded unfairly in the background.

Han U also faded in the background... But he also had an interesting story. It's not everyday you meet someone who gives up everything to restart from scratch in my home country, I can't even imagine what it is in South Korea... But I guess dragging Kang Hee's storyline was more important.

Kang Hee and her father's relationship problem has been solved by the power of his incoming death by the cancer of doom. I guess. Still she doesn't call her father "Father" by the end of the show and she says that "He raised her well"... When the show spent a whole lot of time to show she had to raise HERSELF since her father was always busy taking care of the villagers in particular Yeon Soo's mum but WHATEVER I guess.

And Yeon Soo... Well. Basically a doormat from start to finish. He did get some b*** by the end of the show but not that much. I get it, in recent months the faithful male lead with puppy love - Seon Jae in Lovely Runner, Sa Eon in When the Phone Rings, Ji Hyuk in Marry my Husband, Ji Hwan in My Sweet Mobster, Ji Uk in No Gain no Love and so on... - enamored with the ONE AND ONLY girl has made lots of women - me included - swoon. So it seems we're in for a lot of this type of male leads coming onto our screens...

HOWEVER, you do need to make your ML 3 dimensional if a guy is only defined by "I love Kang Hee", well that's not a person let alone a character. Your "character" is just and empty shell.

We never even got to know if Yeon Soo the doormat ends up going to Seoul to live with Kang Hee. BUT I guess he doesn't need to because from what we've seen, Seoul isn't that far from this village and "everything is forgotten and forgiven" by the power of K drama so Kang Hee doesn't mind coming to this shitty village by the end of the show.

Overall a happy ending that only works if you decide to play the amnesia card.

Well I'm sorry I CAN'T.

Suggested Rating based on the different criteria: 5

Personal rating: 3 Too must frustration, no satisfying conclusion... I loathe this drama even more than "Love Next Door" and that's saying something.

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Started great than fell into every single K Drama tropes

Very Short review here.

It's started fun and fresh. Very cute and funny with an interesting setup of following ex-cons and the challenges they encountered in trying to build a life in Korean society... all that with a fun and fresh romance...
Too bad this drama decided after a couple of episodes to veer away from what made this romance feel fresh and new and focus on basically what all k romances have done for the past 20+ years: the childhood connection, the ridiculous love triangle, the useless family drama (mafia style) in order to get a useless noble hero trope + separation trope and a couple of needless side stories to give some depth to some extra characters ( and I said extra not secondary).

Throw in a couple of side couples I never manage to care about - especially the baby couple... their love story just felt so forced it made me roll my eyes big time - in order to fill the minutes for the empty plot and you get My Sweet Mobster. Not a bad show, not a great show, a somewhat meh-good show that you'll probably forget in 2 months tops and is going to join the long list of shows you watch to pass the time and doesn't make you invested.

Not a show I would recommend... I struggled to finish it. The only reason I did was because I watched it as it aired... but it's definitely a show I would have dropped earlier if all episodes had been available as I would have checked where this series was going after I felt it was started to drag... which is something I started to feel about episode 8.
I'd say, the first 10 episodes are a delight... but after that the drama takes a very quick and steep deep dive into tropey territory and ultimately lost me.

As in most Romance K dramas, this show would have been great if it had only been 10 to 12 episodes at most. Ultimately its length ruined it. I was personally very tired by the end of it... But I do think you should watch it to make up your mind. Most characters are adorable and for some viewers, lots of the flaws can be overlooked, just because you love the characters that much.

It's usually my case... but not this time.
Dear My Sweet Mobster. Our relation was somewhat ok while it lasted... I don't hate you... but I won't remember you.

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Tropey with a great start, A VERY LONG DRAGGY MIDDLE, and a satisfying ending

Finally it's ended. Now that I've finished episode 16. Well.
I think it ended on a rather high note but I just can't forgive the draggy pace and the fact that this drama turned overly dramatic from episode 5 onwards.

The romance wasn't there and the leads had not 0 chemistry but -1000... And it's the second drama in a row with Kim Ji Eun where she literally has a good buddy vibe with her partner but SUCKS on the romance aspect (the kisses were terrible but fortunately there weren't a lot). The revelation of Deok Su being a girl came also too late for some character(s) I won't mention to save the show.

This drama's biggest crime in my opinion is that it never embraced fully what it promised in its teasers: fun, friendship and some inn shenanigans. We got that for 4 episodes and after that the revenge plot took over and the fun left the room and never came back. It started to get draggy for no reasons, and honestly I think it would have been better if they had condensed episode 5 to 12 in 4 episodes turning in a 12 episodes series.

By episode 8, the only reason I kept on watching was because I had passed the middle mark and I hate to drop shows when I've invested already that much time. But honestly it was a struggle. I kept hoping the frienship and fun would be back desperatly but it only made a small appearance at the end of the last episode with a weird post-credit scene on top.

The highlight were Kim Eui Sung who is just terrific in every single role I've seen him in but he plays the vilains so so well. I hated him as Lord Cheon but my GOD he was GOOD especially his descent into madness, that was terrific acting, thank you sir!

AND Jung Gun Joo as Cheon Jun Hwa . As much as I didn't like the trajectory his character took, he was just wonderful through all his phases, as the good friend, the jealous psychopath and the atoning son. For me, his character stole the show and I'm just SAD that there's still no news of him getting a proper lead role in a major drama. He definitely deserves it... and the fact that he's drop dead gorgeous doesn't hurt either ( yeah I appreciate ART when I see it)

The other actors did their jobs but honestly pretty forgettable in my book apart from these two, though Han Jae Suk playing the King did have some memorable moments.

Suggested rating: 6 based on the criterions given

Personal rating: 7 ==> Classic average good, nothing refreshing or new but overall well done BUT HORRENDOUS pace that sucked my energy dry and made the watch tedious for most of its run.

In spite of how tropey it was, the drama had its moments, but it's a one watch. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone... BUt if you're planning on watching it anyway... I'd say watch it if you're REALLY busy and you need to be disciplined in real life. Say, you're currently studying for your upcoming exams, or you are about to pass some special qualifications for your job. It's distracting enough but not to the point of making anyone obsessed so you'll be able to stop watching without any problem.

Also. I found the ending EXTREMELY SATISFYING, no loose ends (except for the stupid marvel-like ending - to quote another MDL member), and I got to say, at least they delivered on that, which is why I didn't go below 7.

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Disappointment of the year with awful kisses on top

[This was actually a pretty long rant, but I had to remove 2/3 of it because MDL limits reviews to 10 000 characters]

Started well, then turned into a crying fest, then went back to what it should have done from the beginning but in such an unearned, nonsensical and jarring way, that this supposed 'rom com' turned into a parody of its genre : Terribly formulaic, no satisfying closure to any of the conflicts raised and a final cop-out twist in episode 13 that definitely cemented this drama into the mediocre and forgettable category.

Final ratings 4.

My love for both leads saved me from giving less. The show was weak but the performances were strong but alas my frustration level got so HIGH and the over-the-top “fake sweetness” of the last episodes prevented me from giving this a passing grade. In fact given how annoyed I got… had it been other actors, I’d probably would have given less.

When a show is not consistent with itself, that’s were I draw the line.

But let’s start with the good... err 10 000 characters limit so let's forget it, there's plenty of other reviews for that.

Now..

On to the long rant (sigh...)

This show doesn’t know what it wants to do. Is it Melo, Slice of Life, Rom’ Com? Choose what you want to do and stick to it. You want realistic problems with realistic solutions ? Sure. Then follow through with all characters.
Every single problem these characters faced apart from Seok Ryu’s were magically resolved overnight.

Absentee parents ? No problem, let’s all hug, and over 30 years of neglect are swept under the rug. Estranged couple with NO COMMUNICATION whatsoever notably because of the assumption that one is cheating the other ? No problem ! The dude with whom she is supposed to have cheated is gay. So all of these years of not talking disappear overnight after some dramatic night in the forest !
Also the husband who has been shown to always be busy because of his work at the hospital, has now all the time in the world to get drunk literally everyday with Seok Ryu’s dad. Makes no sense, but since these two were the only ones that truly made me genuinely smile/laugh by the end of this drama, I’ll give them a pass.

Children are not stupid, if they see your careers are more important than they are in your eyes, they learn the hard way to become indifferent very early in life. Seung Hyo caring about your divorce?At 34? Seriously? As if! If he even cared about the both of you at that point that would be short of a miracle.

Ah… but it’s a rom com’, why so serious? Why? I don’t know, ask the show. They went into a full cancer nightmare, work harassment, blaming shit, crying fest and so on and so forth for more than 6 episodes, so I feel entitled to get the same amount of care for issues foreshadowed since episode 1. Is that too much to ask?

Wife gas-lighting her husband literally every day ? Let’s put some drama in so that she makes a grand declaration because even if she gaslights him, she’s got his back so everything is forgotten. She doesn’t need to change because « her heart is in the right place ». And I’m not even talking about her hitting literally everything that moves.

Little Brother is spoiled and want easy money. Got scammed one more time, made his parents loose some money AGAIN, but poor dude is crying because he’s just a victim of circumstances. Big sis is doing a small talk and we’re all back on good terms ?
NOPE. Doesn’t work show.

Journalist’s got a daughter so you can see how Mo Eum and him can’t be a couple because of South Korean’s society… BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT NOPE. Plot twist, his daughter is actually his niece so there’s no longer any real obstacle because this show HAS NO BALLS !!!

But we do need to have the mother opposed to it for I don’t know why, because there’s 3 episodes left, and by God do we need to fill the minutes… with these overly long-ass episodes.

As for the romance…. My God, let’s just forget how it started. I don’t even know were to start, and this review is already too long…

The good : Seung Hyo and his ex. That was actually a pretty satisfying and realistic part of the drama. Not overly dramatic just pretty natural and nice. Gotta give praise where it’s due.

The VERY bad: Seok Ryu, her ex and her present


The ex comes to visit South Korea and win Seok Ryu back. At that point, Seung Hyo is not yet going out with Seok Ryu. Yet, he feels entitled to act jealous, is extremely rude to her ex who HE DOESN’T KNOW, acts like he’s got dibs on her when she hasn’t even agreed to be with him.

WHAT.A.TURN.OFF

But it’s Jung Hae In, he’s the male lead so we’re supposed to give him a pass. So Ok. I’ll give a pass to this MAJOR RED FLAG.

Any man acting in such an overbearing way when you’re not even going out together yet is to be fled from immediately. You can be sure it’s gonna be worse once you get together. In fact, you can smell the wife’s beater from miles away.

He’s not like this because he likes you. He’s like this because you’re his thing, and you need to stay in line.

But it’s a K drama so don’t worry, once he gets the girl, he’s gonna turn all nice. And you bet he is going to get her because at some point after having declared his love, he tells her  « I don’t do friendship with you no more » meaning if the dude can’t be her boyfriend… he’s decided he’s going to put an end to their 30+ years of friendship.

Another Minus for the Emotional Blackmail.
Also, INCONSISTENCIES anyone ?

Wasn’t the reason why you didn’t want to say your feelings in the first place was because you were afraid of losing your FRIENDSHIP ??? Why are you so willing to flush it down the toilet now ? Are you 13 ? I don’t mind the childish banter but at some point a 34 years old do need to show the maturity of a 34 years-old WHEN IT COUNTS.

Ultimately Seok Ryu gives up Mister Green Flag for Mister Red Flag because of… K Drama. She cries at the airport and I wonder why.
Either you still have some feelings and you cry because you’re realizing what a gigantic mistake you’re making or you don’t.

It wouldn’t have been nice for the fiance to say : " I realize you never loved me as much as I did. I supported you through your darkest time, put my career on hold for a year, you threw me away for one dispute, I crossed a whole continent to win you back, only to realize your heart never truly belonged to me. It’s a good thing we broke up. I deserve better".

But it’s a K drama so, we can’t make the FL look like she acted terrible towards a man who’s only crime was to love her so he apologizes for "not helping her the right way" and "realizing she needed other people by her side". And I’m not saying he didn’t make mistakes, but it takes two to tango, and he was the only one who tried to dance.

The truth is, you never loved him enough, you didn’t want to live in the US, you hated your job, you missed a certain someone that wasn’t your fiance. You had plenty of reasons to go back to South Korea, but show decided to put the blame on the break-up YOU initiated instead of on all the elephants in the room.

As far as feelings go, I was never sold on her being with any of them.
It’s difficult to sell a couple when one party was, until recently, engaged with another man who supported her through her cancer ordeal, who she had a five-year intimate relationship with, and who cried crocodile tears when said man left. Obviously you need all these EXTRA SWEETER THAN SWEET scenes to make you believe this relationship is more solid than the one the FL left behind ( THE CRINGE is through the roof)

It was too melo before so by episode 11 it’s in sweet overdrive – to the point of turning the show utterly ridiculous, boring and cringe. As soon as our lead are together they sleep together. As soon as they sleep together, we’re speeding to the marriage proposal??? Girl got engaged after ¾ years of dating with Saint Ex, but not even half a year has passed since she broke off her marriage that she already has another dude’s bracelet around her wrist. .

It would have been good if all that sugar had been peppered throughout the whole show instead of drenching viewers in it for the last episodes... Also since they need to make us feel some empathy for the other characters we get all the conflicts I talked about above, resolved in speedy, unsatisfactory and ridiculous fashion. Even when there was supposed to be legitimate issues, the show treated it as a 'non problem' and I would have given an example if there was no 10 000 characters limit.
This writer needs some fake dramatic plot device such as: husband being scammed by V-tubers, Little bro being scammed by fake protein company, Mother who thinks she’s got Alzheimer and gets lost in forest, Seok Ryu breaking his arm and so on and so forth... in order to get some great empty declaration of love or other BS, so that the conflict is resolved.

The drama concludes with a very neat (and predictable) but dissatisfying little bow. I slugged my way to the end, only managing to finish because I cut each episodes in 4 to 5 parts alternating with more engaging shows or surfing online.


Last but not least… WHY do I have to commit to 3 HOURS EACH WEEK for a ROM COM’ ?!
A FUDGING ROM COM DOESN’T NEED 3 HOURS A WEEK!!!
ARE YOUR DRAMAS ANY BETTER ‘CUZ THEY’RE LONGER?

NOPE. THEY.ARE. NOT!!! WHY TVN WHY?

So please, for the love of all Drama gods Past , Present and Future, STOP THIS INSANITY!

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Not enough story to fill 16 episodes

Really enjoyable up to episode 9. After that it's just useless fillers with additional useless storylines to fill the minutes... which couldn't even last until episode 14. Yes. I'm not kiding. Even the filler plots were so weak and useless that it lasted only until the middle of episode 13 and after that... It's fillers after fillers. It's sweet and will give you cavities if you're craving sugar... But personally, I like sweetness that goes somewhere, not snippets of unrelated scenes stuck together. Also, I wasn't invested in any of these relationships by the end of the drama given how draggy it went... so that unfortunately made me also fall out of love with it.
When I started this show... I was sure to give it a strong 9 which when down to 8.5 which went down to 7 which went down to 5.

It doesn't help that I was watching this during the same period that Lovely Runner aired which stroke the perfect balance between lots of sweetness and humor tinged with a bit of sadness and thriller plots. The comparison was just unavoidable. This drama attempted the same for 7 episodes but failed poorly at everything.... and it felt poorly notably because it was not presented to us from the beginning. We were offered a love/hate relationship with two characters who secretly loved each other and that was IT. At each new plot they added (the secret mother, anti-fan number 1, number 2 and number 3), I was left with a feeling of "What was exactly the point of these storylines in the story?". It was poorly executed, pointless and so on and so forth. It didn't feel like they were organically weaved to the main story but rather that they were added just to feel the 7 remaining episodes i.e almost HALF of the series.

It terms of production... It's a K-drama... They do things well BUT there was no cinematic flair at all. I've seen enough Rom Com to know there's way better directing you can do on a rom com. This felt extremely generic and very lazy.

[And I didn't comment about the whole "Africa" debacle... But I COMPLETELY get why people were pissed since I also was. I didn't take it into account for my ratings. I've just decided to erase it from my memory since I think they had good intentions... but it seriously backfired]

Should have stopped at 10 episodes... 12, if I'm being generous. But 16? Gimme a break!

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Could have been way better as a 12 episodes show.

End was satisfying (in spite of one BIG inconsistency which I won't mention to maintain this review spoiler-free)... Don't regret watching... But not worth 16 episodes. Final rating dropped from a 9 to a 7 (Suggested rating 6). Not a bad watch per say but could have been way better.

Main issue was additional drama for the sake of drama and not either for plot progression or character development or both, which led to the story getting stuck at a stand still for a good chunk of episodes for no good reason except lengthening its episodes count.

There was absolutely no need to kill a certain character in episode 15... That removed all the empathy that I had for the main antagonist... and that's too bad... But again, they wanted 16 episodes no matter if it ended up ruining the show, so here.

In the end would not recommend. It's mid-good. Not bad enough for me to regret watching it, but not good enough to tune in if I had known beforehand what to expect.

The music was average... No unforgettable track anywhere... though the ending song for the first episodes was pretty horrendous in my opinion. Acting was great from the whole cast, especially Kim Ji Hoon, but I gladly admit I'm completely utterly biased.

From episode 8 and on, each week it felt like I was watching the show for the sake of completion and nothing else... a sure sign the show was getting nowhere. The romance was average good at the beginning... But then, instead of using all the extra unnecessary dramatic plot points that didn't make the plot progress anywhere as a good way of showing our main leads feelings getting deeper... the show didn't capitalize on it. Both leads had close to no chemistry... but it wasn't such a big deal since the romance was never given the time it deserved to properly develop ( Seriously SK... Look at what the Chinese do!).

Still waiting for Kim Ji Hoon to finally get a lead role.


Side note: They plastered the voice of a newborn baby on a 2/3 old boy... Got me confused the whole series because the voice was a baby, body looked small as a baby... but the face was that of a 2/3 year old which... was creepy. It's only at the end that you realize they smoke some weed and gave a baby's voice to an older kid hence why it felt so uncanny.

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Most beautiful and best couple of the year stuck in a shitty story

Note: This was actually a comment I edited

The Good:

Refreshing couple with en ML and an FL that are just made for each other with sizzling chemistry and lovely costumes on top. He's an introvert, she's a sassy, spicy, pampered girl who falls for his charm and goes for what she wants to his utter despair. He tries to resist, but nobody can resist Anong and her fancy charm especially with such a wardrobe, Audrey Hepburn style.

Anong is just plain fun, and seeing Wichai try to resist it is pure fun ^^

Yaya does a terrific job playing this FL who is ahead of her time and just a bit too avant-garde for her peers. Seeing her irritate the hell out of her future monster in law is one of the few highlight of this drama.

Now... On to the Bad.

The BAD:

Do you like misunderstandings?
Do you like people not communicating, assuming things and running with their ideas?
Do you like family tropes where an evil mother with a screeching voice ruins everything around her but still gets forgiven by the end because of.... Thai drama?
Do you like mental abuse?

Well, I'm glad to hear it because you get that in SPADES in this one. FRUSTRATION is the main feeling I felt watching this apart from Episode 12 to 15/16 which focused on our lovely couple.

For me, the main issue stems from the fact that in an effort to make people like Wichai more and create more drama, they had to make his mother utterly detestable. Wichai needs to be painted as somebody responsible so he gets a younger (or older) sister who is a widow, a little brother who is a man-child causing trouble everywhere and a mother that is so shitty I don't want to talk about. And the issue is, without resorting to these tropes, this drama would have been perfect. Some side characters are here to add some opposition or support to their love but in a mild way that isn't as ANNOYING as Wichai's family (apart from his niece and his sister).

They could have portrayed Wichai as a rightful introverted judge paying his family's debt, falling in love with a scandalous extraverted socialite he believed he had no chance with and who wouldn't fit his image and his mother hating her for generational reasons with both women learning from each other at some point. It could have been this simple and this drama would have been a delight from start to finish. Of course it wouldn't have been worth 19 episodes but at most 10 but since this is a lakhorn, I guess they needed to ruin it with useless FRUSTRATING drama.

As per many lakhorn I've tried to watch, there's lots of useless meandering and not getting to the point which made this series feel overly long. Again, this would have been easily resolved by removing all the extra useless plot points mostly there because of how awful the mother has been characterized. Which is just SAD because even without depicting the mother this way, there was plenty of reasons for a "normal" mother of that time to be opposed to Anong in the first place.

1. Status: Wichai comes from a modest family compared to Anong. The mother could have feared Wichai being mistreated by Anong's family especially since she has 4 brothers.
2. Anong working: Anong has her own shop, her own money and her own business. She had employees and so on... I don't have to remind you how rare it was in that time to have women have that much financial independence and more importantly to continue working after marriage.
3. Anong is a socialite. She's always on magazines and poses in "scandalous" outfits. All men are pursuing her, and she's known to be a flirt. Not the type of woman you want to see associated with your son.

By the same token, there were plenty of "normal" reasons", Anong's brothers could have opposed this relation:

1. Status: They're clearly not from the same world.
2. Money: Wichai is not there for their sister, he's here for the money. He wants to use Anong as a stepping stone to gain influence and power in his career as a judge.
3. Wichai is a widow.
4. Wichai is the eldest son. He is responsible for his siblings and his mother. Which means that Anong who has always been spoiled by her brothers is going to be his last priority.

There was lots of ways they could have created "natural drama" in the setting of this story. In fact, they could have used the setting to their advantage in that respect. This is an adaptation from a book I've yet to read so I guess they tried to stick to it but this is one instance where the adaptation should have done its work and adapt it to modern audience. Expecting viewers today to accept that parents can behave the way this mother did and still receive forgiveness is ridiculous. You've noticed I've not spoken about Chantorn or Chut or other side characters. Not that there's nothing to say but I consider them part of the "useless meandering" ... Actually Chantorn and Chut are relevant to the story of the main couple but once they got together, their relevance just dissapear. Another unexplored plot device that deserved more .

Final rating 5

I'll leave below the final rant/comment I wrote after finishing the last episode.


I just can't get past the mother. She deserves no forgiveness. Everyone acts like they forgot the years of mental abuse and the fact that she left Choi to live in poverty never visiting her and her niece until her husband died + forcing Wichai to marry a woman he didn't love and then mentally torturing said woman (who basically was only a tool to pay their debt) until she committed suicide.
And I'm not even talking about all the general slurs she used on a daily basis talking about Chantorn, Anong and Wichai's former wife. That is another form of abuse.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!!!

Final ratings: 5

I know Asian forgiveness is a staple of these family dramas but I just can't forgive nor forget. I love the main couple but Anong forgiving this witch goes beyond my understanding. That's 3 points removed for how IRRITATING, ANNOYING and FRUSTRATING the mother was with her getting an undeserved redemption for crying a little by the end. That might work for some but not for me.
And another 2 point removed for all the misunderstandings. I just hate that trope.

I didn't drop this because of how lovable the main couple was... and all their gorgeous outfits, especially Yaya who was stunningly beautiful from start to finish.... but unfortunately I'm left with feeling mostly frustrated instead of happy by the end of this journey in spite of all the syrup we got in the last episode.

Best traditional lakhorn I've seen this year ( and I dropped MANY)... Still not one I would qualify as a good drama unfortunately.
Given how the ratings is currently at 8, I'm sure I'm not the only one who is deeply dissatisfied with how this drama played out.

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Not terrible just mediocre

So...
8 episodes to the end and the most accurate reviews go to people rating it 7 or below.

I was pretty invested when I started this show but ultimately the show fell flat.
It's a BL with a plot which is rare. But as a story, romance-wise, plot-wise, wuxia-wise, execution-wise, production-wise etc. it lacks on all fronts. Though I have to mention that given China's censorship, I wasn't expecting anything from the BL aspect no matter how much people lauded the BL aspect of this show. I'm glad I did because, the few flirtatious lines felt more like two friends teasing each other than anything else which is 100% ok btw, I don't see the problem. My problem is people advertising this show as one the greatest BL of all time when there's just two friends teasing each other.
On that front, I'm sure I'm part of the minority since everybody's saying the flirting is pretty explicit... which is true... But I don't know maybe its because I'm French. I personally consider such teasing pretty average. It's more a matter of interpretation than anything else. If you take them seriously it's flirting. If you don't, it's just teasing each other by pretending your relation is really really close... which I've seen many of my perfectly heterosexual male friends do. There's this mention of "soulmate"... But very early on, it's established that it doesn't necessarily mean in a romantic way so here.

Also I don't remember when the switch happened but at some point, there are so many characters and subplots and the supposed main leads take such a backseat that we spend more time with the villains plotting whatever convoluted plot has been written (which is very complicated... for something actually pretty simple) that I started to wonder if this show was really supposed to be about Ke Xing and Zi Shu since they are hardly featured in there. As mentioned by other reviewers, it feels like they're both literally watching the story from the sidelines instead of actively participating in it.

Anyway... I'm finishing Ep 28 as I'm typing these lines... but I've been struggling with this show for more 13 episodes now.

I'm still going to finish it since I'm too close to the end to give it up... But my advice for people who want to watch this show is...
Lower your expectations A LOT to avoid dissapointment. If you have a blast, good for you, but if you don't, just know that you're not an exception at all.

I'm usually not the type of person that screams "overrated" since lots of shows which are very loved on MDL are shows that I personally hated so I understand my taste doesn't necessarily always align with others ( though most of the time it does)...
This being said, here I'm forced to say overrated.

It's not terrible... But it's very very bland and again too much plotting, too much talking, not enough time with the leads, too many side characters. I haven't seen an immense amount of wuxia so far... But I'm getting really getting familiar with the genre, and out of all of them, this one is at the bottom of the bottom of the bottom of the barrel in terms of fighting scenes.
I don't particularly mind the low production value, but when low production value is combined with a mediocre story, it just ruins the experience even more. It just doesn't work as a story period. But as a BL from China... I guess you could say you'll have a hard time finding something that's better ( and no I haven't seen the Untamed yet... or rather I dropped it at episode 19 but I'm planning to give it another go... for the story not for the BL aspect as I've read the first 3 volumes of the novel).

At the time I'm writing these lines... I'm heading towards a rating of 6.5 at most... But I'm leaning more towards 6 or 5.5. It started ok but it quickly went downhill. Even if I did my outmost to be generous, this show would never get more than an 8 (and that would be being generous with generosity itself) , calling it a "masterpiece" is just ridiculous.

Also... Something I've noticed with a lot of Chinese shows I've seen so far. They drag things out A LOT and then the end is just rushed leaving you with a very unsatisfactory ending. Why not use time more efficiently instead of feeding the audience with boredom and useless scenes that do not contribute to the plot, featuring characters we don't care about? This unfortunately has also been done in Word of Honor.

Again, not terrible... just mediocre.

EDIT: Final Ratings 4.5. I Just can't give it even an average ratings. Don't even get me started on the bonus episode. All the final scenes that were supposed to be epic just didn't resonate because of the poor production value and very very average and bland filming. There was no cinematic flair and it was toped by some terrible acting.. Only sheer will helped me finish this as I just can' t use the fast-forward button for the life of me.

This drama has drained me so I'm going to stay away from Chinese productions for at least 2 months... and be sure to carefully really carefully choose my next Chinese drama because I just don't want to go through the same ordeal twice in a row.

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What a mess!!!

Note: The initial review covered my opinion from episode 1 to 10. This review was then edited once the series was completed. Additional comments after "FINAL EDIT".

I had such high hopes for this show... and yet another 2025 K drama disappointment。Not bad, not good just mid.

It's YET another K-drama slop that puts lots of familiar ingredients in, but fails to put some soul into their main characters. Both ML and FL are devoid of any personality and the main antagonist is cartoonishly evil but everybody gives her a pass because she "used to be kind" even if she's been offering living people to a ghost and literally tortured a kid for over 10 years for her selfish evil purposes.

Both ML and FL have some complicated family history that would have been interesting to explore, at least to make us feel something for them or understand their personalities ( or lack thereof) BUT this K drama makes the weird choice of giving LOTS of screentime to Yeom Hwa, the reason why everybody's in misery. Of course she has a backstory for her behavior (poorly explained might I add) but the drama fails to make us care about her. Instead it makes a very good job of making the good guys letting her get away with literally everything, putting everybody is jeopardy because of their laxity to the point of making viewers just fed up her and mourning the screen time wasted on her concocting plan A, B, C, D, E, F... etc.
Yeah, lots of episodes going round and round in circle, not moving forward except dragging the number of episodes for nothing.

The only characters that are bringing some fun and energy to this whole mess is Bong Su "the not so evil ghost" and all the side characters on the side. Bong Su who is a whole lot of fun and who everybody loves more than Gyeon U the ML... BUT is it surprising given Gyeon U has NO personality except loving Seong Ah and being depressed?

This being said since Seong Ah is as devoid of personality as he is... they do go well together.

Also Seong Ah apparently used to be bullied and managed to get a good looking guy-friend who is playing third-wheel in this whole mess. But I'm not pitying him too much... There's a "bully" girl who actually loves him and she's got more spunk than Seong Ah, so he's gonna end up on or off-screen with the best girl out of the two.

Anyway typical case of having a drama with lots of meandering nonsense that go nowhere but which lengthen the duration of it... and truly 12 episodes could have been the right length if more attention had been given to what we were really interested it instead of going round and round in circles: More details about Yeom Hwa's backstory instead of most of the time given to her planning evil stuffs, More details about Seong Ah, her family, her past, her life as a shaman etc. , MORE DETAILS about Gyeon U:

Why was he targeted by Yeom Hwa? Why is he rejected by his whole family when the drama hints that the family paid Yeom Hwa so that HE would carry all his family's misfortune on his back? If so WHY don't they treat him better? WHY doesn't he revolt? etc...
More high school shenanigans and MORE ROMANCE.

I hope we get a good backstory for Bong Su... but I'm not holding my breath given this drama's track record.

WHAT A LET DOWN.

Tropes have always been a staple in K dramas but the magic had always worked before because they knew how to make things feel fresh but now?
We're past the middle of the year and once again I regret investing time in a rince and repeat story. Not bad, not good just mid.

We'll see if the two final episodes will give me enough positive feelings to rate that one up... but honestly I'm not holding my breath.

FINAL EDIT:

And then the last 2 episodes happened。
I won't talk about episode 11 which was so horrendous I have no words...
Episode 12 throws this show's own logic out the window to wrap up its story with a somewhat satisfying bow that will only satisfy those who liked the show in the first place. The rest of us will just roll out eyes at the complete nonsense. Among the nonsensical elements:

1. Why is Yeom Hwa able to exorcise Bong Su when the show has told us repeatedly that she's turned evil to the point of losing her patron deity and has close to no if not ANY shamanic powers left?

2. Why Bong Su can enter Gyeon U now without taking him over? Any explanation anyone?

3. What happened to the baby on Yeom Hwa's back?

4. Apparently when Bong Su escaped possessing Seong Ah, Yeom Hwa could never catch him because "he would get away committing something evil". Do you care to explain? Because apart from taking lives that YOU brought to him YOU MURDERER, I only saw a kid having the fun he never experienced in his youth. What exactly was evil in Bong Su, I really fail to see.

5. So I guess being an evil deity is no big deal since you can be exorcised just like any spirit? So what was all this fuss about huh? Basically once Yeom Hwa's spirit mother died and Yeom Hwa got back her senses, this drama could have ended (since this drama didn't care about its leads' family or school life)... But nope. We got some last ditch nonsensical separation TYPICAL of aaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll K dramas past, present and certainly future ( PULEAAAAAAAAAAZE STOP IT, this is SO overdone)

6. Why did Yeom Hwa hate Gyeon U's grandmother to the point of cursing her? Hey! You have forgotten that one I'm sure :D
Because ultimately did it matter? Gyeon U was supposed to be this special last sacrifice sure, but ultimately it didn't matter who was killed, what mattered was that we reached 100 so what was so special about the grandma? Btw as far as we know, the Grandma died for nothing, she wasn't even fed to Bong Su so err what the hell?

7. So err that's it? Yeom Hwa is cleared? Seriously. That b*** brought 100 human souls to Bong Su INCLUDING A CHILD we saw she KILLED with whatever ghost she used and she faces NO CONSEQUENCES whatsoever?
F*** this show.

8. Err I guess we're never going to have a proper confrontation or explanation from Gyeon U's family? I guess I should not care?

Well I'm sure the list can go on but I'm gonna stop here.

Every comparison with Lovely Runner I 've read tend to irk me. Sure the initial premise is similar but Lovely Runner is everything this show failed to be for the reasons already mentioned above.

Did Lovely Runner throw in some Deus Ex Machina at the end to wrap things up? Sure. This show was not flawless. But it didn't have THAT many incoherences and the show was charming enough that I could just shrug it off and be happy about its happy ending. Also the main pair had chemistry, this pair DOESN'T and their "kisses" or rather "pecks" sucked so that's another minus.


Suggested Ratings: 4.5

Personal Rating: 3.5

Because I'm pissed and it's the nth disappointing K drama in a row this year for me so its paying for all the others also Mr Third wheel doesn't even get with bully girl at the end who strangely is showing some interest into clown guy, the nerd's best friend and when did this happen? Why? F*** this show.

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Beautiful but draggy and frustrating

Hmmm... One of the rare case where I'm going to lower my initial ratings after a rewatch. I rated it 8.5 initially but I've decided to lower my ratings to 7.5. Not because I've changed my mind since I initially watched this 3 years ago... but rather because everything I felt back then, is still the same today. It's just that 3 years ago, I just couldn't bring myself to rate this show according to what I truly felt given the production value, how gorgeous this series is and how much people liked it. High production BLs is still a rarity in Thailand so whenever you come across one, we tend to forget to rate the show for its overall story and not for how good it looks. Not saying it shouldn't play a part in the overall ratings but it shouldn't overshadow the main criterion which is the story.

So what issue do I have with this show? Well, since I'm too lazy to write a long review and lots of people have extensively written about how magnificent this drama is yadayadayada, I'll go straight to the elephant in the room:

Struggle n°1: I feel the director loves their cinematography too much. Yes it's gorgeous, yes it's important to let the viewers be "in the moment" but every time I feel like each scene could have managed the same effect with less extra seconds. Each scene is always slightly too long to the point of feeling draggy and because it piles up and piles up repeatedly, it just makes watching the whole thing a struggle.

Struggle n°2: These teenagers are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO frustrating. Teh in particular. I'm not gonna go back on his case but I found these characters realistic but frustrating to watch. My God were they frustrating to the max. Is it because my teenage years are a far away memory now but there were many instances were I was just utterly fed up with the both of them. Both Teh and O-Ew were being ridiculous.... But Teh was on another level. No matter how beautiful the show was, at the end of the day, Teh made every scene a struggle. I'm not really sure why I got frustrated to that degree because I regularly watch shows featuring teenagers and no matter how unreasonable, I'm usually not as frustrated... But my guess is that Teh just has a very shitty personally. He's not a bad person, but the few flaws he has are HUGE. Most of his problems are struggles of his own making but the worst of it is how hurtful he turns out to be and repeatedly at that.

With almost 20 years of Asian dramas under my belt, I can count on the fingers of ONE hand, the number of times I wish the main pair didn't end up together. This one takes one finger and I hope I'm mistaken... But I think the follow-up series "I Promised You the Moon" which I've yet to watch, is probably going to take another... of the same hand.

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who felt that way though. When it first aired, it was difficult to find anybody who shared the same sentiment but time did its job, you see lots of people who are sharing their frustration.
People who loved it LOVED it though... So you should definitely check it out yourself.

I'm currently rewatching though... But with 2 episodes left on my rewatch, I'm now 100% sure my opinion is not gonna change. I felt the same back then and still feel the same today.

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A Light watch if you're in the mood for a good friends to lovers story.

This was a breezy watch. Way better than... well ALL lakorns I've seen so far.

PROS

1. I thought Aimm ( the ML) was great in this role and was surprised to see it was actually his FIRST role.

2. Chemistry was off the chart. I particularly liked the fact that once these two are together, they're very touchy feely unlike most dramas were actors barely touch each other unless when they're kissing. Here they cuddle, they naturally touch each other which is how a young couple behave when they get together.

3. No useless drama, no draggy plotlines.

4. Since basically 1 episode equals one year ( well not exactly per say but you get the drift) there is no lasting angst onscreen. We might know mentally time has passed and the angsty situation has lasted for a while... but we don't feel it because time is moving fast. Some might consider that it removes a bit of the emotional impact...which is true... but it also avoids any lasting annoyance with rival characters.

5. The "one true love" trope is more realistically portrayed. (See CONS for more details about this point).

6. Both leads are VERY EASY on the eyes so that does... err make it more enjoyable. (My God Aimm is just G.E.O.R.G.E.O.U.S.)

7. Great production value. Both visually and also in terms of sound. The sound is CLEAR ( a rarity in lakorns). The Opening is great.


Possible CONS:

1. Some viewers might be put off by the fact that this show takes a realistic approach to relationships. It's obvious these two have loved each other since they were very young ( and I'd say Ran was the first to fall, since it's obvious that boy is hitting on his crush like crazy) but both try to move on at some point... They meet and have relationships with other people ( and yes have sex as well) which is much more realistic than not kissing or meeting anybody else for 10 years.

Don't get me wrong, I personally love the trope of "keeping yourself for your true love"... but that doesn't mean this story is in any way less romantic than the usual "I never kissed nor had sex with anybody else" trope. Again, these two love each other, but they have terrible timing and hence TRY to move on. It's not that they don't have affection for their other partners... but it's obvious to us AND to them that these partners will never compare because they're just soulmates.

2. Character-wise, I'd say Ran is maybe a little bit too perfect, even his "mistakes" always come from a place of selflessness unlike Dao which appears to be more selfish. You still root for them to be clear, but Dao is a bit more layered and Ran a bit more one-note. It didn't bother me but it might some viewers.

3. The PPLs were terrible especially in episode 8. No subtlety whatsoever.

4. The "Mr Stone Face" Art was... terrible as well. It was very lazy art. Well better than using AI... This was obviously done by an artist... but err... I'm a bit puzzled over WHY they chose them. Sorry but that's not worth having a whole company backing you with dolls, products and I don't know how many fans ( also artists are rarely recognized in the street, the art is important not the person behind) and the success you got. It just doesn't make sense. I'm probably nitpicking here but as an artist myself... my eyes bled every time I saw that Stone Face character. It was always drawn with the same clothes in the same position. They only changed its position once or twice for a supposed art exposition but overall... If you're still drawing like that after that many years, you're just slacking off I'm sorry. Artists have to work at bettering their craft even when the style is cartoonish.
I don't know maybe a matter of cost... but this is one instance where I'd say, use AI to do it if you have not time nor money to pay a proper artist since it personally just took me out of the story every time I was supposed to think that a certain character had this huge success over... basically nothing of note. It was not believable in the slightest and broke the immersion in the drama.

5. Cherprang's performance was at times awkward especially her crying scenes.

6. There's a second couple which have their own journey. Could have been as interesting as the main couple but there was really no time to really explore their relationship in depth.

7. Episode 9 was a bit of a letdown focusing on a character we honestly didn't give a sh*** about. The series was always about these two WHY spend a whole episode on some last ditch drama on a character that had NO ROLE in their relationship? It would have made more sense to do it with the grandma for instance... at least she had rooted for these 2.


CONCLUSION

In spite of my list of CONS, I honestly thoroughly enjoyed myself without ever being bored or overly annoyed (well apart from the art but that's a pet peeve of mine due to professional reasons... I can't help it) so I'm not gonna hold them against the show.

Recommended if you're in the mood for a light sweet romance with gorgeous leads and a limited amount of useless drama with overly meandering nonsensical plot twists that go nowhere。

Suggested rating: 8

Personal rating: 8.5

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A 2nd Season that doesn't stand well on its own... Unless there's a 3rd season

I feel conflicted...

The Romance aspect was better in this season imho.
I was never sold on the romance in the first season because it went too high too fast. These two people just didn't know enough of each other to fall in love. Yet on the other hand, here, we start the story knowing these two characters' pasts and hence can easily root for their reunion since we understand their longing for each other especially knowing how tragically their story ended.

However, it lacks the emotional punch of the first season, the sociopolitical context, the fight for liberation, the discrimination and mistreatment Koreans went through under Japanese rule, the tough choices, betrayals, the heartbreaking love of a mother for her daughter and the desperate quest of said daughter and her father to rebuild their family. Tae Seong also had a character trajectory that went full circle from a rich dandy who only cared about money to full fledged resistance fighter who stood by his fellow countrymen… and I’m mentioning him because he was one of the lead but other minor characters also had their own arcs.

But Here? There is absolutely NO character trajectory apart from the usual memory loss from one character. They end as they started except for one… Unfortunately not in the right direction.

Apart from the romance, the rest feels flat. Maeda is just evil for the sake of being evil... and honestly we had seen enough of her in the first season, I really didn’t want to see her character again… She hasn’t changed. She’s still the same crazy b*** Tae Song obsessed lunatic, no evolution whatsoever… WHY NOBODY had yet killed her is beyond me.
If there was time to spend with vilains, I’d have prefered more time with Captain Kuroko who was way more layered and interesting than her.
Tae Song had a special bond with Seung Jo but the drama never shows how this hyeong/dongsaeng relationship was ever built, how they met etc. We're not told what are the big company's villain's aim except in cryptic quotes that I forgot as soon as I heard them and in a fudging post-credit scenes that hints at a third season we see what they’re about to do in the next season that has yet to be announced BUT WHY OH WHY are they doing this is anyone’s guess.

There's a lot of action scenes so if you're a fan of that I guess, you'll be happy... IF you manage to see something because my GOD this was DARK AS HELL. Can't see sh*** for the life of me…
Who the hell directed the photography? I want to know so that I can avoid their dramas in the future, I’m not a fan of black screens. Sometimes I could tell the fighting scenes were probably well choreographed and looked awesome but since I couldn’t see anything, I’d just spend a couple of minutes trying to see something until I finally gave up and decided that I didn’t care anyway.

In short, I’d say this season was very much an American show filmed in South Korea. Removing every nuance, every quiet moments that make K-dramas so unique and pack in a lot of action and violence but without rooting it strongly in emotions and human connections.

With only 7 episodes it’s a quick watch that raises more questions than it answers leaving viewers thoroughly dissatisfied. Without a 3rd season, this season just cannot stand solidly on its own feet because everything is rushed and nothing is properly explained.
It’s action without substance and I’m sorry but I’ve been accustomed to MUCH MUCH MORE from South Korea.

I’m VERY tired on the Americanization of K dramas. And the worst offender is Netflix’s push towards creating franchises instead of giving us complete well-rounded series that ends in one season. I fled from US shows more than 20 years ago because of it and now my K dramas are being invaded by this shitty American custom and it is RUINING the genre.
And hence like many early K drama fans, I see myself year after year watching an increasing number of Chinese dramas because I find in them what South Korea is slowly stripping away their shows in order to appeal to a global audience instead of sticking to what made their shows so unique and charming in the first place and brought people like me watching them.
If you had decided to make the 2nd season that way, the LEAST you should have done is to announce a 3rd season but NOPE! As I’m typing these line, the second season has aired almost a year ago and yet still no news of a third season.

By the time they might decide to announce one, people who have watched this will probably have forgotten season 1 and 2 and won’t even want to bother...

Anyway, with only 7 episodes it’s a fast breezy watch but I find it difficult to rate. It feels incomplete. Is it good? On it’s own… no… But can I say it’s bad? Well… no.
It’s like you’re asked to give a grade to an essay which some pages are obviously missing.
It’s not terrible but quite frustrating.

So… Since I don’t know how to rate this… That’s a 6,5…
I initially was planning on a 7… but since they didn’t even bother to give me a satisfying ending on the romance aspect, here it is.

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Great Story bogged down by a VERY DRAGGY AND IRRITATING MIDDLE ( from ep 12/13 to 37/38)

I DID IT!
I swore to myself I would finish this show before the end of the month and I did.

As written in the title, this series would have been way better without that veryyyyyyyyyyyyy draggy middle which ruined the experience in my opinion. I struggled not to drop the show for more than a third of its run and that's saying something.

The last 20 episodes were way better especially the last 10/15 episodes which were fast paced in particular when you compare them to the rest of the series.

The end was pretty lackluster, a stapple of Chinese wuxia, and as much as I though both the FL and ML depicted pain and longing well, I honestly though they had little chemistry together. But since they weren't together for most of drama except when the FL was a brainless idiot, that didn't bother me that much.

Anyway, final personal rating 7. I can't get past the draggy pace. If they had kept the quality of the first 10 episodes and the last 20... That would have been a 9 ( 1 point for the lack of chemistry of the main pair + blood pressure running high) but they had to drag down the story with too much episodes that served nothing and the emperor and empress that were just hateful from start to finish. 30 to 40 episodes at most would have done wonders.

Visually... the CGIs were uneven. The budget just wasn't there. It was particularly obvious for all the backgrounds that were mostly matt painted. Matt painting ( the process of using real pictures joined together and then painting on top to blend these pictures together into a single coherent image) is something I've seen a lot in C dramas and when done well can really create enchanting universe... But here, it was cheap, often several images were not blended well especially in terms of saturation and tones... colors not matching together etc. I could even tell when the resolution of the images they used in the background was just too small and they had to resize them big and didn't bother to add some detail to hide the process.

Sometimes the atmospheric perspective was put on the wrong elements i.e when you superpose elements on top of a background, the farthest these element are from the front, the more their colors are closer to the desaturated background. Most of the time, the farther the object is from the front, the more its color is light and desaturated ( that depends obviously of the background and light but you get the drift)... They were many times when characters were placed in front of a background, but they put some atmospheric perspective on them ( i.e a desaturated filter or whatever) when in fact they shouldn't have had any additional filters. That gave an uncanny look in some scenes. Anyway that's pretty technical talk, and English is not my first language, but the bottom line is... as an artist myself who does use that process on a daily basis... My eyes BLED quite often watching that messed up artistic work.... A little bit more time given to the artists to do their work properly would have done wonders.

Still the main story was brilliant. I'll never forget the confrontation scene between Jin Mi and Run Yu at the end of episode 55... That was painful to watch and hurt in all the right places.

Run Yu had the best arc and in a better world, would have been the main character. I'm sorry for how we was pushed to become the way he turned out.... but he's not completely innocent in his demise.

Getting rid of the Heavenly Empress and Emperor ?
I’m glad he did, they were both scum anyway. As a Heavenly Emperor, he’s way more fair than both and is certainly way better than Xu Feng. The latter was too soft-hearted and straight forward. You need a cunning mind to deal with scheming people and Xu Feng just isn’t that man.
That doesn’t mean Run Yu was a bad man, just that he understood how the game is played and acted accordingly unlike Xu Feng whose mindset was too rigid for his own good.

BUT

Where Run Yu turned evil was regarding his obsession with Jin Mi. I was never convinced he loved her. But when I saw that despite how much she outwardly showed how much she loved Xu Feng, and still he wouldn’t let her go, it confirmed my opinion. He was obsessed with the idea of possessing Jin Mi. He didn’t truly love her. I’m sure there was some affection mixed in at some point… but at the end of the day, if he’d truly loved her he would have let her go… just like Xu Feng did when Jin Mi told him he brought her pain.

Regarding what he did to Jin Mi, he’s 100 % in the wrong and he knew it… which is why he kept making these huge sacrifices to inwardly justify that he deserved her love and she was being unfair to him. But love is not something you can buy with grand gestures and no amount of rights can correct the wrongs you've done if you don't resolve the problem at its root. He knew her heart never belonged to him and still, obsessed with being able to possess the only thing Xu Feng ever cared about, he hurt the person he supposedly loved the most.

Knowing that what he did to his half-brother was unforgivable.

Still unlike the former Empress and Emperor… As much as I hated his behavior regarding Xu Feng and Jin Mi… I couldn’t 100 % dislike him.
He was pushed to the edge by his father and adoptive mother who only dotted on his younger sibling. He was initially a kind soul. In a way, he made Xu Feng pay for the crimes of his parents.

Xu Feng didn’t deserve anything that happenned to him… But Xu Feng had it easy from birth. Who knows how he would have turned out faced with the same challenges as Run Yu ? Even Jin Mi ended up making a huge mistake when she thought Xu Feng had killed her father… And she didn’t suffer even a 3rd of what Run Yu had to go through.

Ultimately, he turned out pretty ok given the circumstances.
He deserved what he got... and I feel a bit sorry for him... probably because Jin Mi and Xu Feng got their happy ending in spite of his meddling, I'd have felt very differently otherwise... still in my imagination, after a couple of years, he'll be able to see that he's not that alone. He's just blind.

Anyway, that's one classic checked off my list. I'll never rewatch this one again due to its terrible pace but I can understand why people were raving about it. If I only rated this on all the feelings and the deep impression it left me during the last 10 episodes... I'd probably would have rated this a 10.

Suggested Rating: 6.5
Personal ratings: 7

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Intriguing story, horrendous pace and Censorship galore.

[NOTE: Some parts might feel disjointed, I had to remove some things]

Before I start, this drama is the adaptation of the first volume of a science-fiction trilogy I’ve yet to read, so although I’ll make some conjectures regarding said novels, this review is solely based on the drama.
I’ll try to be as concise as possible since there’s already a fair number of reviews written and MDL limits reviews to 10 000 characters (unless you’re a VIP member maybe, I don’t know).

I’ll be dividing this review in 3 parts : Spoiler Free, Thoughts with Spoiler and a a brief conclusion (spoiler free).

Now without further ado. Let’s dive in.

SPOILER FREE

The best way to watch this show is to avoid spoilers altogether and discover the story as it unravels, so I won’t talk about it, but it’s fair to say that it’s pretty confusing in the beginning. It’s intriguing, strange, you don’t know exactly where this is going but in spite of everything the story is fascinating enough that it keeps you hooked… until we get to around episode 10 and the past of one specific character is developed.

This is when, things start to get a bit more… tedious for watchers. Some viewers don’t seem to have been bothered by it, but I’ve seen a fair number of comments from people who either dropped or put this show on hold because of this draggy middle. I can’t make any comparison with the Netflix adaptation, but one comment mentioned that the Netflix version butchered the novel, while this version was a drag.

Now, I think there’s two main explanations for that draggy part one due to censorship and the other for plot-reason. BUT I can’t speak about those without spoiling so I’ll talk about this in the second part.

I can’t blame people for dropping the show at that point. It’s not that it’s not interesting, but honestly it’s such a drag that I myself had to pause with other shows on several occasions. If you’re patient enough though, by episode 18 things are back on track (though we still get some flashback for said character) and the story goes to its finale…. In a relatively good pace though leaving some inconsistencies and questions unanswered by the end.

I found the scientific explanations interesting, they tried to make them as understandable as possible for the non-initiated but let’s be honest, this is one instance where I feel books are better. I personally can’t wrap my head around complicated concepts unless I see them on paper.

Overall, it’s one of the most fascinating and intellectually challenging series I’ve seen in a while, but it needed some serious trimming in my opinion.
Censorship also removed some of the emotional impact of the story which I personally find extremely sad.

___________________________________________

THOUGHTS WITH SPOILERS

There’s lots of things worth discussing regarding Three Body and it’s just impossible to talk about them all, so I’ll be focusing on a couple of things here, those who marked me the most.

Ye Wen Jie’s Past, Censorship and thought on this character

There’s a fairly good chunk of the story that goes into explaining Ye Wen Jie’s past. Some of these explanations appeared pretty pointless to me until I started to wonder about some key events that are glossed over in the series. Upon looking it up online these “glossed over parts” that are talked about but never really showed in details in the story belong to a dark part of recent Chinese history. I haven’t read the novel, but it seems to be that there’s a probably a good chunk of it that talks in more details about what Wen Jie went through which explains why she ended up making the choices she made.

By not showing the full cruelty of what she and her father endured, it removed a lot of the emotional impact it should have had on the audience and made it difficult to empathize with her as a character.
All her talk and all the draggy episodes that ensued appear as needless meandering that breaks the show’s pace and play against its narration.

This being said, I do feel there’s a second reason why they’ve made that choice. We go through Wen Jie’s story as she’s telling it to our main character Wang Miao. It’s later revealed she’s a key member of a certain group she wants Wang Miao to join, hence all that storytelling felt in hindsight as a way of manipulating our main character to empathize with Wen Jie and make him understand her ideas…
The more we spend time with her past, the more it seems we were supposed to understand what she did…

But at the end of the day, that part was poorly executed and just didn’t have the desired effect on most viewers, me included.


Another small censorship comment


At the end of the drama, our good guys are supposed to get back some data on a boat. In order to get those, they cook up some complicated method to literally cut a whole boat in several slices, people onboard included. That plan of theirs came about 3 days BEFORE they had to execute it.
At some point Wang Miao who is behind the invention to slice the boat is raising concerns regarding the workers, he basically doesn’t want any harm to come to people who just don’t know who and what they’re working for. One US general ( or country Letter thing – no country is named in this drama… again for obvious censorship reasons) tells him not to worry since they’ve looked into it and all workers are the scum of the earth who have all committed atrocious crimes ( in 3 days?)…

This is blatant censorship playing again. China doesn’t want to show innocents being killed for the “greater good” and so the “enemy” has to be made “evil” for the sake of political propaganda (also no matter how shitty these people were supposed to be, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they would agree to doom humanity for money. Even the worst criminal on earth has a line they wouldn’t cross and I think dooming humanity fits the bill).

Again, this removes a strong emotional impact this could have had on the audience. Given the size of the threat, it would be understandable that if needs be, innocents are killed in the process of saving humanity from its impending doom, that would have highlighted the scale and moral dilemma of saving the world by killing the innocents… JUST LIKE the villains have doomed humanity, the guilty and the innocents alike, in the hope of saving LIFE on planet earth.

There was an interesting parallel to draw here, but the drama missed the mark due to censorship reasons. I have absolutely 0 doubt that the novel features a scene in which innocents are butchered on that boat in order to save humanity and I wish that parallel had been clearly shown here.


Ye Wen Jie and Mike Evans.

Coming back to Ye Wen Jie, her gesture of literally dooming humanity is explained by what she went through and what she saw which can be resumed as Humans lack of empathy and respect towards anything but themselves and endless greed that leads them to not only destroy their planet but also themselves. Mike Evans’ overall reasons for pursuing her agenda is the same, Humans are a lost cause…

And as much as I agree with the fact mentioned above ( and Trump’s reelection on top of the very alarming rise fascism, genocides happening in various countries without any coverage and those covered being basically “justified” by utter mass media manipulation, the fact that basically a billionaire made a nazi salute and is still able to parade everywhere without any politician or mass media saying anything and the environment going to shit without any major worldwide measure taken to save us and the upcoming generations from complete doom), I think the drama made it a point to show that these were just pretexts for them to vent their anger and resentment towards humanity as a whole.

Wen Jie can tell her story all she wants and try to pretend what she did was for LIFE, that it was for a greater cause, but at the end of day, she’s just a bitter old lady who took revenge on humanity as a whole for the wrongs she endured condemning the innocents and those who work behind the scenes to do good in spite of adversity. She’s never known warmth, neither from her mother and sister who betrayed her and her father, she went to some reeducation camp which from the few things I read were horrible places where lots of young people were sent, forced to work in poor conditions, with close to no pay, little medical care, little food and enduring physical abuse and torture, NONE of which were shown in the drama which only show people working as if it was “normal work”.

This is proven by Mike Evans who, clearly learned way more than Wen Jie, yet upon learning the aliens weren’t any better than humans, kept on going with his plan to ruin Humanity.

As far as I’m concerned they both should have their arms, legs, eyes, ears and tongue removed, put in a tiny space just tailored to their size and be fed through intravenous drip until they die. Sounds cruel? Well, when you’ve betrayed HUMANITY for your selfish reasons that pretty mild. Yet Wen Jie is having a nice walk in the park before going to prison for dooming us all.

Both Wen Jie and Mike Evans crossed a line that nobody has any right to cross. No amount of explanation can justify committing such a sin against humanity… and other species. Can they even guarantee these aliens will even respect other forms of life when their own world has always been shown as being barren in the first place?


I’m reaching the 10000 characters limit so I’ll be wrapping up things here.



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CONCLUSION:

There’s LOTS of things that are worth talking about this drama. It’s flawed and suffers from a serious pacing problem but its such an interesting story that it deserves its accolades. I initially rated it 9 but ended up giving a 8,5 though for its horrendous pacing issues.
Not bingeable though.

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The One and Only: A political LIFE-TRAUMA as the name doesn't implie.

Rave reviews and it was highly recommended by somebody on my friends list. I tried hard but this show is not making it for me. I don't dislike it but it's too heavy on politics and too light on the romance. For a 24 episodes show...We only get crumbs of torturous romance here and there... I understand that's the point of it but I can't with that pace...
I wish I liked it as much as everybody else but unfortunately no...

I have a tradition on making sure that any drama I watch should be finished under a month... except if the number of episodes exceeds 40. This show being 24 episodes, which is pretty short for a C drama, I thought it would be an easy feat but... not so much in the end. I put that drama on hold and ended deciding to binge the remaining 11 episodes just to finish the show because I knew I wouldn't be able to finish it if I didn't force myself ( and I couldn't even do that in the end since the last episodes were only politics, politics and more politics, and mental torture and no romance whatsoever except to provide you with additional emotional trauma). Bottom line, I almost didn't make it had it not been for force-watching alterning with a very gooey thai romance drama.

This is IN-SA-NE-LY S-L-O-W.

Like literally. When people say it's slow-burn romance is IS SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW-burn romance.

I also find the title pretty misleading. "One and Only" suggests a drama focused on romance but it is hardly the case. Yes, it's at the heart of the story but NO it's not the focus of the drama. The drama focuses not on the forbidden romance of the main leads but rather on all the political back-stabbings and plotting shenanigans that forced them ( and other couples for that matter) to not be able to love freely and choose their own lives.

It is a genuinely good show... but that's not what I signed up for. I was aware of its sad ending so I knew what to expect when I started this... But given how much people were raving about this show and the romance, I was expecting more romance as subtle as it is. There's a good chuck of the drama that focused on it but I'd argue that more than half of the drama focuses only on the political side... I'd say for the romance... It starts around episode 7 and ends around episode 16 so you get 9 episodes focused on the romance with a bit of politics but all the rest is just POLITICS (and the leads missing each other of course in a couple of scenes here and there) and I honestly didn't care even if I understand the background is important.

I've been spoiled by many C dramas that I felt managed to balance romantic angst with political context without focusing too much on the political story all the while making sure viewers are given enough information to understand the context in which the story happens ( Love Like the Galaxy is a perfect example) and it is actually the first time I feel things were just not balanced properly.

The show is gorgeous, the actors are excellent, the romance, as subtle as it is, is great... BUT I was watching for the romance not for all the backstabbing.
Also by the time I reached the end, this drama turned out to be extremely depressing. It reminded me of the K-Drama "My Dearest" which I didn't bother to watch the second part because of its pretty grim nature. I don't watch shows to get depressed, I watch shows to provide a bit of happiness in my life and this one didn't do it.

Now. I have no issue with sad endings. Let's be clear about that. As long as I'm provided with enough happiness on the journey, I'm ok with a sad ending... But I was fed crumbs of happiness and a depressing ending... Well actually not so depressing since, I've got to say - and I can't believe I'm writing this - I cheered when Shi Yi committed suicide. That was the best vengeance ever. The only thing Zi Xing truly ever wanted was her and he didn't get her at the end. Should have kept his greed in check. Zi Xing had the best "character trajectory" out of all the cast... Yes, it wasn't in the right direction but he turned from a character I truly empathized with at the beginning to one I truly loathed and wished death by way of an extremelly painful and s-l-o-w fire all the while being-alive. Too bad we didn't see him suffer more by the end. We know he remained alive for 3 years all the while seeing his kingdom falling apart ( well, you were greedy, jealous, stupid and detestable enough to kill the best and most faithful soldier of your shitty kingdom so, you deserved it you piece of sh***) but it would have been nice to see him SUFFER MORE in order to quench part of my ANGER and RAGE. Ahem. Sorry. Got too emotional. I have to remind myself that this is JUST a drama.

The young Emperor was completely useless. He was too young. As I was watching the show, I was thinking Sheng Chen, wanted to remain the faithful soldier, but he should have done what everybody expected of him: Rebel and take the throne. He was the only one who had the charisma, people's support and intelligence to endorse the role and yet he turned his back to it... Only to be rewarded by being framed as a traitor.

He literally sacrificed his life to defend a kingdom, didn't marry the woman he loved and all of that for NOTHING. In the end, he was betrayed, died injustly , the kingdom he defended fell apart once he was gone (because duh! you should have rebelled and take the emperor's position, being rightful at a time where nobody else is, is literally like planting a target on your back but I digress) and the only woman he ever loved and wanted to protect got (almost) married to the man who betrayed him, got heart-broken and committed suicide.

#real_life_is_not_depressing_enough_I_wanna_get_depressed_watching_dramas_now
#life_sucks_and_there's_no_hope_left_in_this_world
#marriage_sucks
#at_least_the_empress_lived_the_good_life_screwing_six_packed_soldiers_before_jumping_to_her_doom
#she_was_a_nasty_piece_of_work_for_sure_but_she_knew_she'd_get_ejected_at_some_point_so_she_went_YOLO
#most_useless_emperor_in_history
#Good_Never_Wins_Evil_Always_Triumph
#At_least_they_died_looking_good
#f**** escapism in your romance drama.

To be completely honest, by the time I'm typing this, I've finished 21 episodes, still 3 to go. Dunno if I'll have the courage to watch them now or if I cut with "lighter" dramas before the finish line... But since I've really spoiled myself the last episodes, I feel pretty confident I won't need to rewrite this review by the time I finish the show. And I'm going to finish it... since there's only 3 episodes left.

EDIT: In the end, I had to "cut" episode 22 in 3 parts... I knew what was coming. I had prepared myself mentally and STILL the BITTERNESS WAS OVER THE ROOF. No amount of preparation could help me get over the utter feeling of BETRAYAL I went through. This is NOT the type of feeling I want to experience in my free time UNLESS it ends on a good note... and if you've been reading this and have not watched this drama yet... You know it doesn't end well.

In short:

Is it a bad drama? NO

Did I enjoy myself? NO

Probable ratings by the end: 7.

Genuinely good show that I just didn't like for a variety of reasons , main ones being:

1. I avoid politics in real life, it's not to be force fed it in a drama that is supposed to be about ROMANCE.

2. Like most people, I don't have lots of money. Dramas are supposed to bring me happiness not making me need a therapist when I have no money left to pay for one. BECAUSE MY GOD DO I NEED THERAPY NOW. It's not even because of the doomed love story. NO. This, I knew before even starting it. What REALLY made me lose my marbles is the way Sheng Chen, Senior Sister, Conselor Xie and anybody with a good heart ended up dying miserable and UNFAIR deaths.
EVERYTHING WAS PAINFUL IN THIS F*** DRAMA. I'm NEVER WATCHING SAD ENDINGS EVER AGAIN!!!!
It's THE BETRAYAL. The "I gave my life for a great cause, and I was thanked by the most painful, unfair and cowardly BETRAYAL of all".

F*** that show! I gave you almost 24 hours of my life and you only gave be bitterness at the end. Good Job! I have LOTS of emotions, none of them positive.

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