I put off watching this drama because i thought it´s just empty hype, especially since in the recent years, most highly rated dramas on this site were overrated in my opinion. I was pleasantly surprised how good the acting was, of course particularly from Park Eun-Bin (her every gesture, reaction and so forth are really well done and planned thoroughly), the dialogue was always interesting and often very funny, and the cases, while obviously not legitimate from a legal standpoint, were unconventional, whether in the featured laws, or the philosophical grey areas.
Unfortunately after two thirds of the drama the writer felt it necessary to incorporate K-drama clichés that reduced my interest, whether it´s birth secrets, cancer, scheming scumbags or artificial drama that nobody can understand. It´s no coincidence that highlight reels on youtube and such mostly feature scenes from the first half of the drama, and there were a lot of iconic scenes that I laugh about just thinking about it (the pengsoo rap, "woah woah", "woo to the young to the woo", the "what was it again" quiz, every Geu-Rami scene....).
I hope she will consider what people (or at least me) really like about the show for season 2.
It was ok, story did not make much sense, except maybe Choi Mujin the characters were not really interesting and did not stimulate investment but from the production value, the fight scenes and so forth, it was good.
Nothing in this show made much sense to be honest, chemistry was not noteworthy, the progress of the relationship was questionable, the mystery behind the main leads past was utter ridiculous, the people of the neigborhood were mostly annoying.
On my journey to go through the highly rated dramas of the last few years, i recently completed Our Blues.
Most of the other dramas with high rating were a miss for me, but this was a full hit, 10/10.
The maturity with which writer Noh tackles the stories is very rare. As it always is, i do not agree with many decisions taken by the characters, yet i can still understand why they did it and could empathize with their decisions. And of course some stories hit harder than others and were more interesting, it depends on your own experiences, your tastes and so forth. But i can say that no story was truly weak, and that´s also very rare.
In addition, i think writer Noh has found her format of storytelling, slice of life with distinctive arcs featuring many different main characters. This felt like a weekend drama with more maturity, higher production value and more interesting dialogue and back stories. In her past dramas, she still tried to include an overarching plot, and i think many times that did not work.
I have seen comments from people about how kdramas are more daring now but its true that movies have always been…
It´s not really even about being "innocent", i think K-Dramas getting more realistic , trying to tackle social issues, being more mature and so forth, is a good development but they can do that in their own way and not emulate Western style of storytelling and previously made Western media.
And you have that development, just in the last years you had D.P., Made in Heaven, Our Blues, My Mister...
That´s different from making Korean Western media though.
This is really insightful, I like this kind of comments. If I can add my two cents in the conversation I have…
Thank you.
1) I get what you are saying, but the trend definitely goes towards there. This makes me sound like a party pooper but the more K-Dramas are successful internationally, the more everyone is going to try to emulate those dramas of course to essentially water it down to as large an audience as possible. It´s not a bad thing per se, since like i said, as long as you do not forget the cultural context, Westernized stories are fine but the trend is definitely going there. Just to give an example, think about the huge amount of zombie stuff that came out in recent years, both in dramas and movies. And i think Kingdom is brilliant in combining the typical Korean historical setting with zombie horror. But then there are also those that essentially do a Korean language version of Western zombies movies because now they can do it compared to the past. It´s both an opportunity and a danger in my humble opinion.
2) That also is prevalent, i don´t deny that, but this one is a prime example of trying to emulate Western stories, especially the bigger the better part.
3) tvN and jtbc are frontrunners in doing unconventional Kdramas that are still connected to traditional stuff, so i think they are finding new ways to do it.
The lack of logic really bothered me in this drama unfortunately. After watching the first episode, it seemed like i would have finally found a highly rated drama that deserves its rating, second episode quickly changed that impression, it´s incredibly dumbed down, especially character actions.
I get what they were going for but you have to keep a basis level of coherency at least...
Just finished it. It´s worthy to be watched to be clear (unlike Money Heist imo), with the combination of high class actors (among the best Korea has to offer really) and the director/writer behind movies like Nameless Gangster and Spy in the North, definitely recommended. Regarding Ha Jung Woo´s and Hwang Jung-Min´s acting prowess nothing has to be said at this point. It´s also from the production value, the stunts, the setting and so forth a new level for what you could still call a drama (though it´s more like a 6h movie).
Having said that, i am skeptical regarding the trend of dramas, though Korean natives will probably disagree. While trying to reach new heights with dramas, i think one should be careful to not westernize their content too much and consequently lose what makes Korean media special in the first place, the cultural context, the grit and so forth. Especially since storyies like this have been done countless times already. At the end it seems like what we have seen in the last 30 years regarding crime stories, only in Korean language.
If you want to know if there is a season 2 or whether the story is over, see below.
- Chemistry Rain and Kim Bum was incredible, their comedic timing was on point, watch it for the bromance - Sung Dong-Il delivered as usual, i have never seen him fail, he always manages to impress - There is no logic whatsoever, do not expect it - Don´t expect a good romance plot, the both female main leads, while i do not blame them since they were not really given anything worthwhile, were useless - A lot of plot points were dealt with in a clumsy way, it was obvious a lot of stuff was left on the chopping board, and it was edited clumsily at times
I have already watched Ming lan but LLTG brought me here again. I found out that both drama have very similar…
Same for me, and after finishing LLTG i can say, Minglan plays on a completely different level. LLTG really sacrificed a lot of logic and rationality for emotional scenes and drama, meanwhile in Minglan pretty much everything was so detailed oriented and planned meticulously that i was surprised the novels are from the same author but then again, i think the writers of the drama are more important when it comes to stuff like that.
This is not available in Viki or WeTv in my region. May i know where else can i watch this?
It should be available on viki, at least that´s where i watched it and still watch it, but i guess the region is important. Youtube should work regardless of the region though, here is the link for first episode
High rated C-dramas continue to be hit or miss for me, this one was unfortunately a miss. Don´t want to be a party pooper, so i will only state the positive stuff for me:
- Production value, music, camera work and so forth, all top notch - Memorable female lead
May I offer a different perspective, why viewers, including myself, gave this drama high rating.Story of Minglan…
Thank you for your long comment.
I can definitely see what you mean. Minglan certainly only had one central character development, she needed the encouragement to get out of herself more and be confident in her intelligence, something that was not cultivated in her family except by her grandmother. And Yanxi had her basically get used to the harsh environment of the harem.
Meanwhile, i do not deny that, LLtG certainly highlights more aspects of both the character of CSS and her development as both an individual and in an equal relationship. But those aspects are, at least for me, too rarely actually addressed and most of the time, if it actually gets addressed, i think it happened very illogically. I think i already mentioned the relationship with the mother, in part 1 almost nothing about it made sense. I can rationally understand the mother´s fears for example, but it seemed very unrealistic in its execution. Or CSS goes through the life changing experience of Hou County, and it seems like she has learned several things, just to go back to her selfish behavior.
And i can certainly understand Lou Yao´s role rationally (first childish crush based on very superficial aspects plus first time someone accepted her for who she is) but did it really warrant half of the first part´s runtime? I don´t think so.
Like i said, there were a lot of things setup that were interesting as a concept but not done well imo.
I started part 2, the first few episodes are better imo because you delve into the palace politics that force CSS to grow in just a few episodes.
I guess it just depends on how much expectation you yourself put in it and your preference so its not surprising…
Thank you.
I don´t have as much expectation on the content, rather the execution. I think two for their times social outcasts finding together, the character development that transpires within that context, it´s a great setup. But it has to be executed logically and sensibly.
It´s still an above average show, but 9.0 suggests masterpiece to me, and that´s definitely not it, but we will see with season two.
I was pleasantly surprised how good the acting was, of course particularly from Park Eun-Bin (her every gesture, reaction and so forth are really well done and planned thoroughly), the dialogue was always interesting and often very funny, and the cases, while obviously not legitimate from a legal standpoint, were unconventional, whether in the featured laws, or the philosophical grey areas.
Unfortunately after two thirds of the drama the writer felt it necessary to incorporate K-drama clichés that reduced my interest, whether it´s birth secrets, cancer, scheming scumbags or artificial drama that nobody can understand.
It´s no coincidence that highlight reels on youtube and such mostly feature scenes from the first half of the drama, and there were a lot of iconic scenes that I laugh about just thinking about it (the pengsoo rap, "woah woah", "woo to the young to the woo", the "what was it again" quiz, every Geu-Rami scene....).
I hope she will consider what people (or at least me) really like about the show for season 2.
8.5/10
6/10.
My drama of the year so far is "Our Blues"
5/10
Pretty overrated all in all.
Most of the other dramas with high rating were a miss for me, but this was a full hit, 10/10.
The maturity with which writer Noh tackles the stories is very rare. As it always is, i do not agree with many decisions taken by the characters, yet i can still understand why they did it and could empathize with their decisions.
And of course some stories hit harder than others and were more interesting, it depends on your own experiences, your tastes and so forth. But i can say that no story was truly weak, and that´s also very rare.
In addition, i think writer Noh has found her format of storytelling, slice of life with distinctive arcs featuring many different main characters. This felt like a weekend drama with more maturity, higher production value and more interesting dialogue and back stories.
In her past dramas, she still tried to include an overarching plot, and i think many times that did not work.
And you have that development, just in the last years you had D.P., Made in Heaven, Our Blues, My Mister...
That´s different from making Korean Western media though.
1) I get what you are saying, but the trend definitely goes towards there. This makes me sound like a party pooper but the more K-Dramas are successful internationally, the more everyone is going to try to emulate those dramas of course to essentially water it down to as large an audience as possible. It´s not a bad thing per se, since like i said, as long as you do not forget the cultural context, Westernized stories are fine but the trend is definitely going there.
Just to give an example, think about the huge amount of zombie stuff that came out in recent years, both in dramas and movies.
And i think Kingdom is brilliant in combining the typical Korean historical setting with zombie horror.
But then there are also those that essentially do a Korean language version of Western zombies movies because now they can do it compared to the past.
It´s both an opportunity and a danger in my humble opinion.
2) That also is prevalent, i don´t deny that, but this one is a prime example of trying to emulate Western stories, especially the bigger the better part.
3) tvN and jtbc are frontrunners in doing unconventional Kdramas that are still connected to traditional stuff, so i think they are finding new ways to do it.
3)
After watching the first episode, it seemed like i would have finally found a highly rated drama that deserves its rating, second episode quickly changed that impression, it´s incredibly dumbed down, especially character actions.
I get what they were going for but you have to keep a basis level of coherency at least...
It´s worthy to be watched to be clear (unlike Money Heist imo), with the combination of high class actors (among the best Korea has to offer really) and the director/writer behind movies like Nameless Gangster and Spy in the North, definitely recommended. Regarding Ha Jung Woo´s and Hwang Jung-Min´s acting prowess nothing has to be said at this point.
It´s also from the production value, the stunts, the setting and so forth a new level for what you could still call a drama (though it´s more like a 6h movie).
Having said that, i am skeptical regarding the trend of dramas, though Korean natives will probably disagree. While trying to reach new heights with dramas, i think one should be careful to not westernize their content too much and consequently lose what makes Korean media special in the first place, the cultural context, the grit and so forth.
Especially since storyies like this have been done countless times already.
At the end it seems like what we have seen in the last 30 years regarding crime stories, only in Korean language.
If you want to know if there is a season 2 or whether the story is over, see below.
Seemed a bit too risky for a K-drama
- Chemistry Rain and Kim Bum was incredible, their comedic timing was on point, watch it for the bromance
- Sung Dong-Il delivered as usual, i have never seen him fail, he always manages to impress
- There is no logic whatsoever, do not expect it
- Don´t expect a good romance plot, the both female main leads, while i do not blame them since they were not really given anything worthwhile, were useless
- A lot of plot points were dealt with in a clumsy way, it was obvious a lot of stuff was left on the chopping board, and it was edited clumsily at times
6.5/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_LKXIJCXfw
- Production value, music, camera work and so forth, all top notch
- Memorable female lead
6.5/10
I can definitely see what you mean. Minglan certainly only had one central character development, she needed the encouragement to get out of herself more and be confident in her intelligence, something that was not cultivated in her family except by her grandmother.
And Yanxi had her basically get used to the harsh environment of the harem.
Meanwhile, i do not deny that, LLtG certainly highlights more aspects of both the character of CSS and her development as both an individual and in an equal relationship.
But those aspects are, at least for me, too rarely actually addressed and most of the time, if it actually gets addressed, i think it happened very illogically. I think i already mentioned the relationship with the mother, in part 1 almost nothing about it made sense. I can rationally understand the mother´s fears for example, but it seemed very unrealistic in its execution.
Or CSS goes through the life changing experience of Hou County, and it seems like she has learned several things, just to go back to her selfish behavior.
And i can certainly understand Lou Yao´s role rationally (first childish crush based on very superficial aspects plus first time someone accepted her for who she is) but did it really warrant half of the first part´s runtime? I don´t think so.
Like i said, there were a lot of things setup that were interesting as a concept but not done well imo.
I started part 2, the first few episodes are better imo because you delve into the palace politics that force CSS to grow in just a few episodes.
I don´t have as much expectation on the content, rather the execution.
I think two for their times social outcasts finding together, the character development that transpires within that context, it´s a great setup.
But it has to be executed logically and sensibly.
It´s still an above average show, but 9.0 suggests masterpiece to me, and that´s definitely not it, but we will see with season two.