Bali

A Dream of Splendor is an adaptation from the opera "Zhao Pan Er Feng Yue Jiu Feng Chen". The story, although it has a nice romantic storyline, is more about three woman that are going through trials and tribulations and work together to overcome societal prejudice and injustice. This drama is delivered in a very artistic manner through the strong, smart, beautiful, witty, and charismatic Zhao Pan’er (Liu Yifei) and her lover, Gu Qianfan (Chen Xiao) who is equally intelligent, highly skilled in planning action or policy, and a great protector and benefactor. Their love story is one of mutual admiration, respect, and a beautiful and sweet steadfast love. A Dream of Splendor is an ode to three women that are willing to work together and support each other throughout adversity and good times to walk through life in splendor. Overall, this is a well written drama and the cast did a great job bringing their characters to life. Although the romantic scenes are soft and restrained, the leading couple certainly exudes a great loving chemistry. Enjoy it!

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This is a nice historical drama to watch while waiting for a great one to come. The drama’s title could be misleading since most of the drama is spent in trying to find a solution for the lack of marriage interest that was accidentally prompted by the leading male. The leading couple has a good playful chemistry but most of their romantic scenes were insipid or interrupted. The leading lady is lovable and she can deliver a dramatic scene nicely. As for the cast as a whole, the acting is average and, for a series about romance, the drama failed to deliver. The drama is not bad, it is just unexceptional. (Don't expect much from three Epilogue episodes, they don't provide any furtherance or plot improvement, quite the contrary, meant to be funny, it ends been disappointing!)

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This is a nice and sometimes frustrating romantic comedy within the world of ultra-competitive e-sports. Although the female lead gets better once the romance starts (episode 21), she was insufferable and judgmental while showing an emotionless expression and acting impulsively and meddlesome. Although the romance is definitely there, the male lead was the force behind the fuzzy feelings in the romantic interactions. It is not necessary to have knowledge on gaming, but the drama spends too much time showing the ugly side of media shaming and its effects on the public figures, in this case, e-sports players, the thrill of gaming, and the influence of the fans on the players’ rise and fall of/from fame within the online gaming community. If the viewer is interested on e-sports and its culture, the drama provides much to watch, but the leading lady, maybe because her acting might have been asked to emulate an e-sport’s emotionless character, failed to create a nice romantic chemistry with the leading actor, even as much as he tried : (

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This is a really nice comedy saeguk drama which gives glimpses of the era without making it a history based drama. Although the drama has some dark and dramatic undertones, it is just fiction and it is not to be taken too seriously. It is a star studded drama and the acting is great. There is a fantastic rendition of the character Park Tae Seo performed by Lee Jae Kyoon which had the most fleshed out and poignant character, from his villainous beginnings to his final redemption. The drama touches some historical events of the era through the palace deceptions and social stigmatization of the women and children taken by the enemy during the Second Manchu invasion of Qing forces during the Kingdom of Joseon, cultural and social issues of the role of women and men shown in a female centric plot with some strong female characters, delicious showmanship of Korean cuisine, a nice leading couple with great overall chemistry but weak romantic scenes, and a well delivered creepy farcical villain (Park Do Soo) that was not fun to watch. The friendship and camaraderie of the main and supporting characters makes this a very entertaining drama to watch if you’re not looking for a saeguk with historical accuracy. Enjoy it!

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This is a great slice of life drama for the first 21 episodes which depicted family, high school, and neighborhood interactions; a group of kids growing together and supporting each other while highlighting family and friendship connections as well as outlining cultural and social issues. The parents are excellent on this drama, their mutual friendship, love, and care was genuinely portrayed and it was wonderful to watch. Episodes 22-25 are about college and choices. Then finally, the very slow burned romance forms into a relationship and the drama suffers a decline as it was full of clichés, misunderstandings, and even bad advice and cover ups from their shared friends. The love story works better as friends that love and deeply care about each other than friends to lovers’ plot line. The lack of proper communication from the main leads makes the rest of the episodes, and their romance, overwhelming to watch. The drama has a happy ending but it is rushed and unamusing!

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My Sassy Girl is the remake of the 2001 Korean movie “My Sassy Girls” but, in this remake, although it differs from the movie, the plot is a seaguk in the Joseon era. It's a light romantic- comedy with some palace intrigue, action, and melodrama. It is a lighthearted drama with some heartbreaking moments and a happy ending. The leading couple has a cute chemistry and they portrayed their characters nicely. The ending seems rushed but, overall, it is a nice comedy with some romance, palace scheming, funny moments, and the conflicts are quickly resolved. Enjoy it!

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This is a great slice-of-life drama depicting the experiences of a group of young man and woman as they navigate through the ups and downs of college life within the backdrop of short track speed and figure skating. Although there are conflicts and misunderstandings among the characters, these young man and woman learn how to confront struggles in their lives and become stronger through challenging themselves and each other as they pursue their dreams. The leading couple has great chemistry and is a delight to see as they start to fall in love and support each other throughout the drama. Overall, this drama is really entertaining and the cast did fabulously delivering their characters within a great story of romance and sports.

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Crazy Romance (also known as The Most Ordinary Romance) is a crazy, fun movie. It is just a movie about a group of ordinary people that work in the same place. The movie shows aspects of their work, interpersonal relationships among a group of people that know a bit too much about each other. The cast did a great job bringing their characters to life. Kim Rae Won (as Jae Hoon) and Gong Hyo Jin (as Sun Young) were great together as they portrayed two individuals that were hurting from past relationships and how they stumble into each other and started to heal and move on into what seems to be a great blossoming relationship.

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This is a nice drama with a cute, fluffy romance, beautiful cinematography, costumes, and good action scenes. Although it is a remake of the Korean original drama “Sungkyunkwan Scandal”, I was expecting more from the leading couple’s relationship and their struggles. This drama is missing the essence of the female and male leads’ strong attraction to each other and left it as a playful relationship. Also this drama lacks the tension and suspense from the original story and the fact that it doesn’t show the struggle and support that the female lead goes through when her gender is revealed. The actors did a good job delivering their characters and the group chemistry was pleasant to see. It is okay for entertainment purpose but, those that watched “Sungkyunkwan Scandal”; it falls short on the plot and the ending feels rushed.

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This is not an e-sports drama; it is a very nice slice of life romance drama with a beautiful and realistic slow burning romance that, once they become a couple, flows very natural given their characters and career commitments. The leading couple has good chemistry and their romantic scenes are beautiful and natural, especially the way they embrace each other. Someone complained about too many romantic scenes but the story is basically about the leading’s couple journey from middle school classmates to meet again as adults, fall in love, and been true to their feelings and commitments while loving and supporting each other. There is a bit of everything and, although the gaming part of the plot was not particularly interesting to me, the characters’ interactions through gaming are part of their circle of friend’s entertainment. Later on, as their relationship progresses, the plot centers into the leading couple’s career and in growing stronger in their relationship. Not having read the book, my review is solely based on the drama’s plot, production, and actor’s performance, which are quite satisfying. It is a beautiful story that follows the couple even years after they get married. Besides the character development and great chemistry, the dialogues and introspections are wonderfully written! On a side note: “The end is like a teaser of the theme from the Star Trek’s beginning and you are expecting to hear something like: ”Space, the final frontier…” Overall, this is a very entertaining drama. Enjoy it!

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This is a nice drama that started strong and lost momentum to give way to endless business interactions. The drama is about Xie Xiao Ni who is the only survivor of the Xie clan that was great embroidering and cloth merchants. They were betrayed and framed by their competitor, the Wu clan, and shortly afterward were killed. Xiao Ni becomes Changand, with the help of Prince Yang, brings back her family honor and glory. Ni Chang goes through a lot of unfair treatment and jealousy from antagonists but her character was too simple minded toward her enemies and to stubborn and even dismissive of her great love Ou Yang Ziyu which manages to survive by some tricks on the part of the writers since Ni Chang carelessness put his life at risk over and over again. Also, the chemistry between the leads was off in part because of the female lead's weird expressions, especially toward the male lead. Overall, the acting is not the best but the drama delivers entertainment.

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This is a nice remake of the Taiwanese original story “The Prince Who Turns into a Frog “ with Chao Zhang as Shan Jun Hao/Dang Ou and Joe Chen as Ye Tian Yu . There is also a Chinese remake “Waking Love Up” with Roy Chiu as Xiang Tian Qi and Tiffany Tang as Liu Xiao Bei. The drama is nice but, although the leading couple has good ongoing chemistry, their romantic scenes lack splendor, the plot drags a bit and clichés are abundant, and the characters’ development came and went too quick. All in all, even though it is not a great remake, it is entertaining.

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This is a really good thriller/romance drama. The leading couple has very good chemistry and a mature attitude toward their relationship. The drama has some well choreographed action scenes and the group of guys from the bodyguard agency has great friendship and camaraderie. The supporting cast did a very good job with their own stories and there were some comedic moments in the interactions between Qiao Yu Fei (played by Leslie Ma) and the precocious Jiang Xing Xing (played by Xu Duo Duo). The plot is well developed throughout the drama but the ending seems a bit rushed and caricaturesqued. Even so, the drama is very entertaining, enjoy it!

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This is a good wuxia drama that has a dark plot weaved throughout. It has great choreography, hidden identities, and secrets to be uncovered while the leading couple struggles to try to understand and love each other. Although the drama is not flawless, it’s still a nice watch. Zuo Qing Ci (Gala Zhang) does a great job as a ruthless strategist that, on the long run, is always trying to save his family and friends but, above all, his beloved Su Yun Luo / Fei Kou Er (Zhang Ya Qin) while been in the brink of death throughout the entire drama. The main and supporting cast did a great job bringing their characters to life. The second leading couple is also really good Wen Si Yuan [Shan Shui Du Master] played by Zhong Ting Wei and Shen Man Qing [Zhen Yang Palace] played by Deng Yu Li. The drama is not perfect but it’s entertaining.

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