Never watched one before. I've always been a bit wary of Japanese dramas but maybe I'll give it a go at some point this year since I love all things historical/period and I've run out of Western options and quickly running out of Chinese/Korean options.
The sound is hilarious,. The guy voicing Su Xun Xian(?) sounds like he's way too close to the microphone when they recorded his lines. Like he was eating the mic.
This is a tough one for me for whatever reason. Maybe it's just because I don't like the obsession with her love life and the 2 guys...
I read spoilers to see who she would end up with. Maybe that will help and I'll get this done before the end of August. I just don't know why I keep stopping this drama after 1-2 episodes.
The problem with this show isn't the actors or Joy or anything like that.
The problem is this show is based on a book and it butchers it really badly. Now some people who don't really know or care about the book might love this drama... but I knew the book and I like the story and the tragedy.
The book is organized and the pressure slowly builds until it bursts at its climax. The show sputters constantly. Too many relationships, especially with the parents. Too many characters finding out too many secrets too quickly... which lead to fights, breakups and then they forgive each other until the next secret comes along.
And finally, the writers seemed to really want to deliver a happy ending but the book is a tragedy. Why not have the ending be tragic? Why even base this on the book or claim it's inspired from the book?
In conclusion, to me this felt more like a typical drama, especially soap operas... it didn't feel like a tragic tale the book and even the movies portray.
There's nothing wrong with soap operas, there's nothing wrong with your typical KDrama. My issue here is we get a "INSPIRED BY THIS BOOK" which sucks in people like me who might have otherwise given this a skip... only to be disappointed when no, it's not very similar to the book.
I'm sure some people will ask why I didn't drop it: because one of the big parts of the book/movies is the ending. I wanted to see how it would end and the writers completely chickened out. The book is a bloodbath. Even the modern teenage American version - the male lead died.
Here? Redemption for nearly everyone and the bad guy is just some loser. The bad guy of the book is Moon Ga Young's character. She's the villain. And yet she's forgiven in this show by everyone and her last scene she realizes some love for the second male lead. Who knows how or why after rejecting him for the previous 31 episodes and 25 minutes of 32.
There are lots of books, movies and shows that have revenge and redemption. Why not say you were inspired by those? Why take a tragedy and turn it into a TV show with a happy ending?
we can focus on rehabilitation instead of punishment when sexual predators stop getting away with their crimes.…
No.
We can do more than one thing at a time.
Your argument is awful. It's one of the weakest arguments of all time "we can only do one thing at a time and it's the thing I want to do". That's not how society, governments or even individual people work.
I would take a break if I were you, personally. You've called him a rapist when he's not. Now you're here claiming we can focus on rehabilitation when they "stop getting away with their crimes"... while the prosecutors are investigating possible charges and he has been fired from his job.
Hopefully he gets charged, convicted but I'm not sure about this mob justice we constantly see... he didn't rape the girl, he didn't murder her.
He's going to be back out in society if he serves jail time. Should his entire life be over because of this? I don't think so. Most people will get out of jail someday... even many murderers and rapists. Is society served by making sure these people have no options, become desperate and re-offend creating even more victims?
It's not pretty but the focus should be on rehabilitation and not punishment. Society needs to be forgiving. Not naive but not "oh we're going to make sure nothing goes right for you because you did this 15 years ago".
Judging from the ridiculous tone of some of these comments, you would think the police should just take him out back behind the station, shoot him. We like to think we're better than people from the past but it's obvious we're not.
I guess since they're usually only 1 season it's not like you're hanging on for an indefinite period of time and that's why I rarely drop. I guess now that I work full time I am more willing to drop a show.
Plus I tend to read the synopsis and even some things people might consider spoiler-ish before deciding to watch.
I do scene skipping and usually look for the positives like the second leads or a side character if it's bad but not bad enough I'm going to give up on it.
The criticisms are a bit harsh. The leads are decent, the side characters are decent. The writing is messy and has been the whole show. This isn't a new revelation at episode 15-16. The writing has always sucked.
I don't care that time travel to the past is the most overused trope in Chinese dramas in a period setting. I will keep watching and I will watch this if it gets subtitles.
Well it was certainly worth the watch for me. It slowly started to run out of steam at the end and I thought it got a little corny but whatever. I really liked the performances by most of the cast. They did a good job.
Compared to Nirvana in Fire the original? It's much more romance focused and the story isn't a pure revenge story.
I think this is about as good as you could hope for with a follow-up season with a different cast but similar time period/era.
They reference a lot of season 1 characters and their relationships with season 2 characters (who are their descendants).
So it's a little nice to know "oh wow that's the daughter/son/nephew/niece/etc... of ________" but other than that no, you do not need to have watched Season 1. The story is independent, the characters are explained. You should not need Season 1 to understand Season 2.
In terms of feel, I think NiF1 was a lot more focused on the revenge. I haven't finished quite yet but this seems more like a typical historical show. Some romance, some love moments, the bad guys get their scenes where they plot and kill off some of the good guys.
The only disclaimer is I have not watched the whole thing yet.
The female lead is evil. She deliberately destroys the lives of innocent people and there is no moment of regret or reflection.
By far the worst lead character in Korean dramas in at least a decade if not more. One dimensional and that one dimension is "bad person". Think of any negative quality a person could have and the lead female in this show probably has it. Laziness? Yep. Corrupt? Yep. Egotistical? Yep. Violent and abusive? Yep. Hypocritical? Yep.
Bad stuff happening to her doesn't excuse her bad actions. She didn't grow on me like she obviously did with many of the commenters below.
The male lead nailed her personality by episode 2 (though the writers might disagree): She's a psychopath. An actual psychopath. She uses others to achieve her goals. It doesn't matter if they get hurt. She does not empathize with others when they do get hurt. She does not act professionally or ethically.
This show had potential. The female lead destroyed it all by being who she was. The actress is good. The role and writing is garbage.
Aside from what I thought was a poor portrayal of gay men... this show continued to build steam right up to the end. I got really invested in the characters.
The ending seemed ambiguous to me but maybe someone can explain it better.
If anyone is considering this show, give it a chance and try not to get turned off by the first few episodes where things are a bit more raunchy/sexual and there is swearing. This show improves episode after episode. The performances are good and the show has some depth to it.
1 
1 
I read spoilers to see who she would end up with. Maybe that will help and I'll get this done before the end of August. I just don't know why I keep stopping this drama after 1-2 episodes.
The problem is this show is based on a book and it butchers it really badly. Now some people who don't really know or care about the book might love this drama... but I knew the book and I like the story and the tragedy.
The book is organized and the pressure slowly builds until it bursts at its climax. The show sputters constantly. Too many relationships, especially with the parents. Too many characters finding out too many secrets too quickly... which lead to fights, breakups and then they forgive each other until the next secret comes along.
And finally, the writers seemed to really want to deliver a happy ending but the book is a tragedy. Why not have the ending be tragic? Why even base this on the book or claim it's inspired from the book?
In conclusion, to me this felt more like a typical drama, especially soap operas... it didn't feel like a tragic tale the book and even the movies portray.
There's nothing wrong with soap operas, there's nothing wrong with your typical KDrama. My issue here is we get a "INSPIRED BY THIS BOOK" which sucks in people like me who might have otherwise given this a skip... only to be disappointed when no, it's not very similar to the book.
I'm sure some people will ask why I didn't drop it: because one of the big parts of the book/movies is the ending. I wanted to see how it would end and the writers completely chickened out. The book is a bloodbath. Even the modern teenage American version - the male lead died.
Here? Redemption for nearly everyone and the bad guy is just some loser. The bad guy of the book is Moon Ga Young's character. She's the villain. And yet she's forgiven in this show by everyone and her last scene she realizes some love for the second male lead. Who knows how or why after rejecting him for the previous 31 episodes and 25 minutes of 32.
There are lots of books, movies and shows that have revenge and redemption. Why not say you were inspired by those? Why take a tragedy and turn it into a TV show with a happy ending?
We can do more than one thing at a time.
Your argument is awful. It's one of the weakest arguments of all time "we can only do one thing at a time and it's the thing I want to do". That's not how society, governments or even individual people work.
I would take a break if I were you, personally. You've called him a rapist when he's not. Now you're here claiming we can focus on rehabilitation when they "stop getting away with their crimes"... while the prosecutors are investigating possible charges and he has been fired from his job.
He's going to be back out in society if he serves jail time. Should his entire life be over because of this? I don't think so. Most people will get out of jail someday... even many murderers and rapists. Is society served by making sure these people have no options, become desperate and re-offend creating even more victims?
It's not pretty but the focus should be on rehabilitation and not punishment. Society needs to be forgiving. Not naive but not "oh we're going to make sure nothing goes right for you because you did this 15 years ago".
Judging from the ridiculous tone of some of these comments, you would think the police should just take him out back behind the station, shoot him. We like to think we're better than people from the past but it's obvious we're not.
Subs for English are all up on the youtube one if anyone is wondering.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvpAVnYN4lb3xwlv4WQBKPScEkyw5wT2U
Plus I tend to read the synopsis and even some things people might consider spoiler-ish before deciding to watch.
I do scene skipping and usually look for the positives like the second leads or a side character if it's bad but not bad enough I'm going to give up on it.
I'm kind of on the fence because it is fantasy but it also looks like a period drama which I like.
Compared to Nirvana in Fire the original?
It's much more romance focused and the story isn't a pure revenge story.
I think this is about as good as you could hope for with a follow-up season with a different cast but similar time period/era.
So it's a little nice to know "oh wow that's the daughter/son/nephew/niece/etc... of ________" but other than that no, you do not need to have watched Season 1. The story is independent, the characters are explained. You should not need Season 1 to understand Season 2.
In terms of feel, I think NiF1 was a lot more focused on the revenge. I haven't finished quite yet but this seems more like a typical historical show. Some romance, some love moments, the bad guys get their scenes where they plot and kill off some of the good guys.
The only disclaimer is I have not watched the whole thing yet.
By far the worst lead character in Korean dramas in at least a decade if not more. One dimensional and that one dimension is "bad person". Think of any negative quality a person could have and the lead female in this show probably has it. Laziness? Yep. Corrupt? Yep. Egotistical? Yep. Violent and abusive? Yep. Hypocritical? Yep.
Bad stuff happening to her doesn't excuse her bad actions. She didn't grow on me like she obviously did with many of the commenters below.
The male lead nailed her personality by episode 2 (though the writers might disagree): She's a psychopath. An actual psychopath. She uses others to achieve her goals. It doesn't matter if they get hurt. She does not empathize with others when they do get hurt. She does not act professionally or ethically.
This show had potential. The female lead destroyed it all by being who she was. The actress is good. The role and writing is garbage.
We're only halfway through and it seems the head bad guys have been discovered. Some of their top guys have been taken out.
The ending seemed ambiguous to me but maybe someone can explain it better.
If anyone is considering this show, give it a chance and try not to get turned off by the first few episodes where things are a bit more raunchy/sexual and there is swearing. This show improves episode after episode. The performances are good and the show has some depth to it.