Knavery

When she discovers who her master/teacher used to be... things get really dumb, really fast for the female lead.

I mean damn. At best the organization was involved in massacring innocent civilians. At best. Prince An coerced Liu Ru Yi into providing the materials to blow up the mountain. Ok fine, she was coerced. But she worked with Prince Cheng and corrupt officials for years. We're supposed to pretend nobody was hurt or killed as part of those deals? And after her 'I'm an idiot and my organization kills innocent people' moment Liu Ru Yi writes in multiple last testament letters "Fu Rong, you don't have to keep Ruyi Pavilion running".

And what's the take away for the female lead? "My husband is lying to me. The accounting books are lying to me. Everyone and everything I have seen is lying to me. My master is good. Ruyi Pavilion is good. I have to keep it running." What??

It's really too bad the male lead doesn't end up with the whiny Princess. At least she's not trying to get people killed in exchange for money like Ruyi Pavilion. Seriously. The way they gloss over this is absurd. A few Ruyi Pavilion members save Prince Su at the end of the show and all is forgiven... it's absurd. And then Prince Su becomes an idiot and decides to pressure the Emperor into forgiving Ruyi Pavilion. And I get it will be dismantled and turned into a ministry in the empire but still. What good was done at any point by them to justify not executing/jailing them all or disbanding them?

I understand the leads were in another drama together but I forget the details so I don't want to compare. I just feel like things kind of fell apart towards the end. If you can ignore Ruyi Pavilion being evil then you'll probably really like this. I just don't remember them doing anything 'good' or having a specific purpose that would make them useful to have exist. They traded secrets for money and that got people killed. That's it. That's the organization. There's a reason the female lead was kept out by her master. It's dirty work, evil work.

The female lead's character didn't match her actions with Ruyi Pavilion. She's not a ruthless achiever so I didn't understand her obsession. And Ruyi Pavilion should have been explained more. Maybe they did have some goals that weren't purely money for secrets/murder but it sure didn't seem like that. An 'innocent' female lead and a ruthless profiteering organization is not a convincing combination.

We all see the point you're trying to make. You were bullied for being mixed race and now random people are terrible and supposedly hate black people for not feeling the exact same way as you.

Got it.

Well damn. Hopefully season 2 comes out before the end of the year.

Ever since the male lead set out on his own this has started to drag.

I get there's an order that people have listed out here but super confusing and a ton of episodes. I liked some of the characters but I started watching out of order and I think I'll give up.

Not really a fan of the male lead character. It's not an actor thing but the character itself and how it is written/portrayed. Otherwise so far so good.

Edit: Yeah, the clash of styles is too much and the male lead looks out of place in the group so I'm done.

8 episodes, 22 minutes makes this something watchable for me. A bit raunchy/sexual so if you don't like that, I wouldn't watch.

And like a lot of Japanese TV often times the characters and scenes feel disconnected, disjointed and jarring which makes it hard to get as invested as you might get for characters in other shows from other regions.

That being said it was interesting and a different take on the whole 'body swap' situation.

Honestly, I like it. I love Nana and the fact they portray an elderly parent with dementia is huge. I've experienced something similar and it's heartbreaking to watch your loved one ask the same question every few minutes in a conversation and get basic things about your life wrong because they don't remember the last several years at minimum.

Sure there's no greater overarching plot yet and it's not a typical romantic comedy. I think it falls closer to a slice of life and it does a really good job at least a couple episodes in.

It gets crazy and a bit nonsensical at the end but overall I really enjoyed it.

I liked the female lead, she pulled off pretending to be a man better than most. It was a short simple story for the most part. Nothing too dramatic. I enjoyed it. Unlike others, I wasn't a fan of the second male lead, too mopey and clingy. The drama isn't great but it was an easy watch for me.

Jumbled meandering mess. Cast was fine, would like to see them all again in future in something else.

I'm not sure Baifern was the right choice here and/or the make-up department and special effects department failed.

In the original Korean drama:
1. Ha Ji Won came in known for her versatility in for example martial arts movies, for period dramas, for playing a beauty, for playing a tomboy, for all sorts of things.
2. Kang Sa Rang the supporting actress won a Miss Korea pageant and is a model as well as an actress.

Baifern has the background as a model and actress and is arguably prettier than the second female lead in the Thai remake whereas Ha Ji Won can contrast her physical appearance with a beauty queen winner in Kang Sa Rang. I know it's not everything but it certainly helps sell Ha Ji Won as the 'average' (stunt) woman whereas every time I look at Baifern she just seems to be well done with makeup and never really breaking a sweat (seriously, compare the stunt scenes and the post-injury scenes in episode 1 between the two dramas, it's night and day. The Thai drama she literally never breaks a sweat and never looks very sick despite needing a hospital bed in both versions).

I'm also not a huge fan of the line delivery and chemistry between the leads and how the comedy lacks relative to the original. Finally I do like how they played up the destiny angle but there are way too many flashbacks. I appreciate they want to show the male lead has an obsession but there has to be a better way to show it.

Definitely give it a chance, I know my comment is negative but the show could work for you. I didn't hate it... I'm just short on time recently and feel there are better shows out there that are suited better for me.

Same. The accent of the female lead is strong and makes me believe she's from Yanbian or whatever in Northern China and that was good but overall I feel like too many characters mope or wallow in their self pity and that caused me to lose interest. I get life is messy but it ended up being boring to put on screen.

You don't have to reveal the story if you come out and say "no, none of the pro-democracy people will be North Korean spies". It's not difficult to do.

Really hoping she gets something as well. She's got a memorable look to her and she's been good in every supporting role I've seen so far.

Normally I'm all for historical fiction that's set hundreds of years in the past so when I hear complaints about that... I kind of roll my eyes. They directly reference the "Joseon Exorcist" when complaining about this show. I do think something set in 1500 should be given leeway and people can separate fact from fiction.

That being said something set in 1987 where an authoritarian regime is crumbling but still destroying lives... that should be treated carefully. The majority of the population was born before 1987. So tens of millions will have memories of the time period. The democracy is still young.

The plot as written here and on the page of the show seems laughable at best and could easily be damaging.

I mean seriously. Think of China appointing the leader of Hong Kong. That's what it was like in Korea. The regime picked the 'democratically elected' candidate. It was a farce. And then they turned around and called pro-democracy Hong Kong residents, Chinese citizens 'foreign agents' or 'influenced by foreign agents' and have arrested, tortured, disappeared and likely killed others.

Now think about Hong Kong and think about how that is South Korea in 1987. And if the plot and script leaks are accurate... the show is picking a line of propaganda from a failed regime and giving it validation. Is that really ok in your eyes? It's certainly not in mine.

You can do shows about modern events, modern political events but when something is sensitive you have a duty to research and tell a somewhat accurate story. And an accurate story doesn't start with you having a plotline that is basically a dictatorship's propaganda.

As others have said... probably should have been a bit shorter. Too little going on, the same repetition. Thought it was ok but I found myself fastforwarding here and there.

Did this thing get full and proper subs? I seem to remember it went into machine translated at some point.

I did like the first 1/3 of the show before that dropoff, wondering if I should finish because the subs have gotten better or forget about it.

First 3 episodes felt ridiculous and contrived to me as opposed to a good story. The story was weak to set up scenes for the characters and that's not something I really enjoy. I mean seriously. The first 3 episodes can be summed up "CAN YOU SEE HOW COOL I AM? LOOK AT HOW COOL I AM" for Seo Hwi, Seon Ho and Hee Jae.

I think I'm out. The job of actors, writers and directors should be to tell a story and I don't think that was done.

I liked the cast but as with a lot of Japanese dramas it feels disjointed and disconnected moving between scenes and themes. That doesn't make for a very good story.

It was okay but nothing great as a result of how characters acted and reacted to create the story.

Worth a watch because the cast is good and the story on its face is interesting but I was not blown away.