I think they made a huge mistake in the first few episodes being too casual in introducing characters like everyone would remember Princess Agents in detail. It makes it difficult to care about any of these characters and why they do what they do. There should have been more effort to build characters and connections and not just slam conflict after conflict, what's real, what's not at us in the first few episodes like we'd be able to connect the dots using a character map & allegiance map of Princess Agents in our heads.
The female lead struggles to escape the blank stare. I've seen multiple other women in the show so far I would have preferred to be lead. The Chinese reviews seem to largely see the same thing I do with that facial expression/stare. The only reason it looks like she was cast is because she looks like she could be the daughter of Zhao Li Ying (actress who was the lead in Princess Agents). It was too early to cast her as a lead despite the resemblance.
Episode 1 was okay. It still has the stage style acting that is over-the-top exaggerated but it's not as bad as many other Japanese shows. And of course the acting isn't helped by the stilted abrupt dialogue and scene choices (again, not as bad here but a common problem in Japanese television)
It's very annoying that Jang Mi finally telling her grandfather what has been going on is being dragged out.
Jang Mi explicitly overheard him saying if she wasn't Seo Rin he wouldn't give a crap about her and insinuated he didn't care about Suk Hui and the kid(s) she may have had.
So it sort of makes sense from her naive perspective. The grandfather doesn't care about justice or doing the right thing so who knows what he might do. Maybe she's worried he might disown Seo Rin.
That being said I agree if your goal is revenge you might as well blow it up and tell him with Seo Rin in a coma, Hwa Yeong targeting your boyfriend and others for more murder plots.
I don't think there was anyone in this show I liked. They were all comically bad when they were jealous or angry. The male lead was bad. The female lead was bad. The supporting cast were all variations of bad.
It feels like years since I've heard that this remake was coming...
First credible rumors were 2022 with a show to be aired in 2024 but we haven't heard anything concrete since 2024 which makes me think they decided against the remake in the early stages.
At the very least it's on the backburner since it's now 2026 and we haven't heard anything.
It's too bad. The original was so rough which was pretty typical of a lot of Korean dramas in the 2000s before they started to get more consistent in the 2010s. It's a great opportunity for a remake that does much better than the original at telling a coherent story.
Hopefully it comes up as an idea again. I feel it's an easy opportunity.
I enjoyed it. It's definitely one of the better Chinese dramas in a modern setting in the last 5 years. Not realistic in the slightest but went from funny to heartwarming.
It seems way too early to kill Seo Rin off if that's the plan and they've been teasing it so hard the last 10 episodes I wonder if it's a fakeout.
For example maybe Seo Rin gets injured and goes into a coma and Jang Mi takes over while somehow hiding the fact Seo Rin is in the hospital. Or something like that.
Still feels like Seo Rin is way too selfish to agree to a swap. The show seems to be suggesting she's doing it because she'll know Hwa Yeon and her goons will be trying to kill her and she can avoid it. Whole thing seems a bit silly but hopefully the swap is interesting.
I hate 80s/90s Chinese dramas. I don’t know why China produces so many shows set in that period. Maybe it has…
It's because shows set in the 1970s typically involve the tail end of the cultural revolution. The culture revolution was from the mid 60s to the mid 70s.
At that time over 100 million people in China were investigated and assessed to be "enemies of the state". Tens of millions were detained and put into work camps and prisons. Reasonable death toll estimates suggest 1-2 million people killed. Who did they detain and kill? Teachers, principals, small business owners, artists, university professors, other CCP party members and officials.
The CCP would never approve a show that treated the 1960s or 1970s with any honesty.
It's a risky thing to write about if you're in show business in China. Even the summary for this show "they parted ways as children". Why? Was her family arrested and thrown in a work camp? Or was his family? How are they going to deal with that?
If your goal is to make a TV show and make money it's easier to avoid the 1970s entirely and focus on the 80s or 90s. Avoid the risk to your professional career.
You can still portray simple life in the 80s and 90s with a growing economy where ordinary people could succeed and provide a heartwarming story for people today where life is tough (because it's returning to that style of CCP from the 50s, 60s, 70s).
yeah little weird turn 16-17th ep, like if he didn't want anymore to lose money, could start supporting them,…
He talks about how making too much money also leads to him "failing the deal". So if the company is too successful maybe he is wondering if Mr. Sima will shut down the company?
Episode 21 goes off the rails a bit but I really liked how it went from funny to heartwarming over Episodes 1-20. Maybe it can find itself again over the last 5 episodes.
Ha-ha Seo Rin is the smarter twin and actually piecing her birth secret much faster than her naive twin Jang Mi.Although…
I think she's a reasonably good character representing a spoiled young adult.
She is not motivated about important things like work, family so that makes her seem like a lightweight party girl who just wants to have fun.
But with the Chef and now with this mystery you can see when she's interested in something she can be very, very persistent at trying to get what she wants.
The story isn't that interesting to me because it looks like it will be almost entirely character growth. It would be fun to have some sort of non-personal angle to it as well but haven't really seen it yet.
I'll keep watching though because I do like Hye Yoon's acting. Been a huge fan since Extraordinary You.
So what are we thinking here in terms of betting: Amnesia? Dies in the next couple of episodes naturally? Murdered in the hospital? Becomes like the female lead's mom? Full recovery but for some reason says nothing?
There's definitely a ton of tropes but I like the underlying cast and the dynamic isn't too bad outside of the spoiled twin (and her immediate relationships).
We'll see how it shakes out over the remaining 90 episodes though.
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The female lead struggles to escape the blank stare. I've seen multiple other women in the show so far I would have preferred to be lead. The Chinese reviews seem to largely see the same thing I do with that facial expression/stare. The only reason it looks like she was cast is because she looks like she could be the daughter of Zhao Li Ying (actress who was the lead in Princess Agents). It was too early to cast her as a lead despite the resemblance.
It's enough for me to give Episode 2 a chance.
So it sort of makes sense from her naive perspective. The grandfather doesn't care about justice or doing the right thing so who knows what he might do. Maybe she's worried he might disown Seo Rin.
That being said I agree if your goal is revenge you might as well blow it up and tell him with Seo Rin in a coma, Hwa Yeong targeting your boyfriend and others for more murder plots.
At the very least it's on the backburner since it's now 2026 and we haven't heard anything.
It's too bad. The original was so rough which was pretty typical of a lot of Korean dramas in the 2000s before they started to get more consistent in the 2010s. It's a great opportunity for a remake that does much better than the original at telling a coherent story.
Hopefully it comes up as an idea again. I feel it's an easy opportunity.
For example maybe Seo Rin gets injured and goes into a coma and Jang Mi takes over while somehow hiding the fact Seo Rin is in the hospital. Or something like that.
The culture revolution was from the mid 60s to the mid 70s.
At that time over 100 million people in China were investigated and assessed to be "enemies of the state". Tens of millions were detained and put into work camps and prisons. Reasonable death toll estimates suggest 1-2 million people killed. Who did they detain and kill? Teachers, principals, small business owners, artists, university professors, other CCP party members and officials.
The CCP would never approve a show that treated the 1960s or 1970s with any honesty.
It's a risky thing to write about if you're in show business in China. Even the summary for this show "they parted ways as children". Why? Was her family arrested and thrown in a work camp? Or was his family? How are they going to deal with that?
If your goal is to make a TV show and make money it's easier to avoid the 1970s entirely and focus on the 80s or 90s. Avoid the risk to your professional career.
You can still portray simple life in the 80s and 90s with a growing economy where ordinary people could succeed and provide a heartwarming story for people today where life is tough (because it's returning to that style of CCP from the 50s, 60s, 70s).
She is not motivated about important things like work, family so that makes her seem like a lightweight party girl who just wants to have fun.
But with the Chef and now with this mystery you can see when she's interested in something she can be very, very persistent at trying to get what she wants.
I'll keep watching though because I do like Hye Yoon's acting. Been a huge fan since Extraordinary You.
Amnesia?
Dies in the next couple of episodes naturally?
Murdered in the hospital?
Becomes like the female lead's mom?
Full recovery but for some reason says nothing?
We'll see how it shakes out over the remaining 90 episodes though.