Meari21

You want to educate me? I am almost 50 years old. My country was enslaved by Spain for 300 years, then by the US, and Japan. My paternal grandfather was murdered by a Japanese soldier in WW2. I lived through martial laws, dictatorships, and extrajudicial killings. I have been discriminated against and bullied by the Korean society you think highly of. I have seen and experienced enough in my lifetime. If this war happens, I know who to blame. I didn’t put these leaders there. I am tired and just want to enjoy the remaining years of my life. Have fun thinking you know everything.

I am defensive? I already told you I do not support their socialist ideals. My family supported the opposing party and that is why my grandfather was blacklisted and couldn’t go back to the mainland. You know nothing about me and what my family went through and yet you judge as if you do. Is it wrong to enjoy their dramas? And what about you? You think you know so much about Korea. Unless you’re Korean yourself and have actually lived there to experience what life there is actually like, what you know is only what you believe to be true. You’re more biased for them than I am for my own heritage. And yes, I know their history and I know that they are not what you think they are. Their society is more toxic than you think and most of their dramas do not reflect their reality. I have wasted enough time interacting with you. Good day!

I started watching K-dramas in 2000. I have watched a lot of them for 26 years. I am Asian with Chinese heritage and have been working in Korean companies for 16 years and have more Korean friends and acquaintances than I can count. I don’t think I need to know what you think I need to know.

And there it is. Discrimination against the Chinese government. I am part Chinese btw and though my family has never supported the CCP, we watch these dramas purely for entertainment. I avoid their republican dramas because of the political agenda, a lot of their republican dramas promote their socialist ideals, which I personally don’t approve of. I do not see that kind of agenda in their historical dramas. But hey, if that’s not your cup of tea, then don’t watch them.

How can I give you a specific dialogue? I watched that drama years ago and it has a total of 54 episodes. The drama itself is intelligently written, how one man’s intricate plan and machinations bring down an empire and replace the corrupt emperor with a more fitting ruler. But it’s now clear to me that you harbor a strong discrimination against C-drama that I cannot change. You promise to check out only one particular scene and dialogue just to see if that qualifies as intelligent in your opinion. I did check your list of K-dramas btw and you enjoyed some dramas that I didn’t like as much. Our tastes differ obviously.

In Nirvana in Fire, the dialogues there are well-written because the characters are intelligent themselves, everyone schemes and plots for their own gain. It’s a historical drama that’s based on the power struggles of the nobles and royals of that era, the greed of emperors and their fear of being dethroned because they themselves usurped the throne they sit on. The drama was made in 2013-2014 and released in 2015. I don’t think it is shallow, not when it mirrors the current political climate in many countries these days. And the others I’ve mentioned are also historical dramas based on their own country’s history save for 12 Letters. Have you actually tried watching their historicals? Not idol dramas like POJ. The modern romances you’re referring to are idol dramas catered towards the younger crowd and they usually star idols.

Oh No Here Comes Trouble is a Taiwanese drama. I found it heartwarming. It reminded me of J-dramas I used to watch. Hong Kong dramas and films are different from C-dramas. They don’t even use the same language most of the time, they speak Cantonese mostly. I prefer to watch historical C-dramas like Nirvana in Fire. That’s the drama that others have tried to emulate but just couldn’t. But if you’re not into royal court politics and revenge plots, you might not enjoy it. Another historical C-drama I enjoyed was Joy of Life for the mind games and the fantasy elements. But like I said, if you don’t enjoy politicking and scheming, you might not like it. Twelve Letters is a different twist on the “time slip” concept similar to the K-drama Signal. It’s set in both 1991 and 2026. But that’s a tearjerker so it’s devoid of humor as you put it. I liked it for the strong performances and the different take on the “time travel” premise. For romances, I liked The Prisoner of Beauty for the slow burn development of their relationship from enemies to lovers, the intelligence of the female lead, and the great supporting cast. It’s a typical idol drama, though. POJ is not
the standard, it’s actually catered more towards the younger crowd and funny enough, most of the people who loved it are romcom K-drama fans.

Which C-dramas did you actually watch? Because some of the most intelligent dialogues in Asian drama I’ve seen in C-dramas.

Not a fan of POJ and I am not sure how to feel about this yet either, but this is nothing like a C-drama, at least not the kind I normally watch. This is a K-drama through and through in the same vein as Princess Hours, which I surprisingly enjoyed back in the day. If you think all C-dramas are like POJ and dismiss them before giving them a shot, then you’re missing out.

That depends on the drama and the network. Veil of Shadows is also dropping one episode per day now. Sometimes they do it to increase the heat index, the more people wait and anticipate the succeeding episodes, the more engagement it will have. It’s better than having it go on hiatus for a few days like they did with other C-dramas.

It’s delayed, as I suspected, by a couple of hours.

This is not on Disney+. Maybe it's region-locked? Or maybe it will be delayed by a few hours? Maybe that 8:40 pm release is just for Korea.

Unfortunately, they don’t release all the episodes at the same time in China. They have an airing schedule that they usually adhere to, 4-6 episodes for the premiere, then 1-2 episodes per day after that. Then you can purchase the express package for the last 6 episodes if you want to finish the series earlier. This is how things are done in China and Netflix only follows that when they buy the distribution rights. It’s actually a good thing that Netflix releases episodes simultaneously now unlike in the past when episodes were delayed by a few days to weeks.

Yes, Joseph Zeng is great there. He will forever be one of my favorite male lead trios.

I just started this. It was on my to-watch list until I forgot about it. I'm glad I started looking at Liu Yuning's old dramas, I was reminded that I still haven't seen this. It reminds me of Jet Li's Once Upon A Time In China movies although they are set in two different time periods. It just has that old school kung fu movie vibe I grew up watching as a kid.

I actually expected the one episode per day after the premiere because it's a relatively short series with only 29 episodes. I think it's better than having it take a break for one weekend like they did with Fangs of Fortune. And it was when the drama was gaining momentum so it didn't reach 10,000 heat index. I think that's what they're trying to avoid here.

This made me laugh! lol Thank you! Like I told Enigma, you guys are pretty generous in your rating. I can't give this a 7, let alone an 8 because it became a chore to watch. It could've been an 8 if things didn't go so far downhill after the Lin An arc, though. But your thoughts mirror my own. I also give points for the visuals and stuck around for Deng Kai's compelling performance.

Hahahaha! I should've subscribed to Youku.

Is it just me or are the Netflix subtitles make everything even more confusing? Or is it just plain confusing? lol

Mine too! I just noticed. Hahaha. Oh well, I think most of them who gave it a 10 are not usual C-drama watchers. A lot of them are from the K-drama fandom or it's their first time watching costume C-dramas so they're impressed with the production. Personally, I think the production value is only good, not excellent. I've seen better.