This review may contain spoilers
With all the hype that it's surrounded by, LLTG has a distressingly underwhelming storyline
This being my second historical c-drama, I so regret being cross about Who Rules The World - it was a masterpiece really, especially after watching this.
(This is a collective review for both the parts)
I initially thought that this drama would be better than WRTW because of the ratings and reviews on MDL, so maybe it was just because I went in with high expectations, but boy was it annoying. All characters were ridiculously one dimensional ESPECIALLY THE LEADS:
1. The plot - The drama was divided into 2 parts - the first one focused on how the leads were being and, the second part was about how the leads were continuing to be stubborn. There was so much forced angst in this drama to balance out there being no real plot. Everyone was scheming against everyone but no one was getting anywhere. The ML was all calculative about his revenge for 20 years and then suddenly he turns batshit and goes on a killing spree. There is absolutely no excuse for the ML not telling the FL the truth except for continuing the story because frankly the writers had no real idea about how to separate the leads so they just went with this. The funny thing is, I never felt the story was dragging, I was waiting for it to start.
2. The characters - No depth in any character, everyone is one dimensional and dumb. Everyone has one and only one facial expression which they are going to be loyal to throughout the drama. The only characters I actually managed to like were the King's childhood friend wife - Heng and the FL's dad.
3. The leads - They were annoying, the both of them. They continuously made questionable decisions and refused to change. The female lead in the first initial episodes was gearing up to be an interesting character with room for a great character arc but she honestly ended up really disappointing. Same with the ML. The thing is, a lot of their behaviour- being selfish, indecisive, immature - it is all justified when you look at their ages but if you want the viewers to disregard the age factor(she is 15, he is 21) because of it being set in a historic premise, then maybe do a better job with the characters because I just felt majorly uncomfortable throughout most of the drama. The FL continuously whined about 'being her own person' and 'not needing anyone to protect her' which is great and all except she had to be saved like every two minutes. She supposedly became 'mature' after that five year lapse but I could not see much change except that she just became quiet. Honestly, I don't think most dramas are very great at doing character arcs.
4. The actors - The acting felt... underwhelming. I have seen Lusi in previous dramas and honestly think that this was one of her worse performances. Though I mostly blame this on the character and the story itself - there wasn't much room for acting, but seeing the same expression on her face the entire time didn't really help. Plus the whole 'age' thing was really rubbing me off anyway, so whenever she cried (and she cried a lot) she'd remind me of a child and I would feel awkward. This was my first time watching Leo Wu and though I wasn't really drawn to his character or his acting, he really did well in emotional and physically taxing scenes especially considering how narrow of a range his character leaves to express emotions.
(This is a collective review for both the parts)
I initially thought that this drama would be better than WRTW because of the ratings and reviews on MDL, so maybe it was just because I went in with high expectations, but boy was it annoying. All characters were ridiculously one dimensional ESPECIALLY THE LEADS:
1. The plot - The drama was divided into 2 parts - the first one focused on how the leads were being and, the second part was about how the leads were continuing to be stubborn. There was so much forced angst in this drama to balance out there being no real plot. Everyone was scheming against everyone but no one was getting anywhere. The ML was all calculative about his revenge for 20 years and then suddenly he turns batshit and goes on a killing spree. There is absolutely no excuse for the ML not telling the FL the truth except for continuing the story because frankly the writers had no real idea about how to separate the leads so they just went with this. The funny thing is, I never felt the story was dragging, I was waiting for it to start.
2. The characters - No depth in any character, everyone is one dimensional and dumb. Everyone has one and only one facial expression which they are going to be loyal to throughout the drama. The only characters I actually managed to like were the King's childhood friend wife - Heng and the FL's dad.
3. The leads - They were annoying, the both of them. They continuously made questionable decisions and refused to change. The female lead in the first initial episodes was gearing up to be an interesting character with room for a great character arc but she honestly ended up really disappointing. Same with the ML. The thing is, a lot of their behaviour- being selfish, indecisive, immature - it is all justified when you look at their ages but if you want the viewers to disregard the age factor(she is 15, he is 21) because of it being set in a historic premise, then maybe do a better job with the characters because I just felt majorly uncomfortable throughout most of the drama. The FL continuously whined about 'being her own person' and 'not needing anyone to protect her' which is great and all except she had to be saved like every two minutes. She supposedly became 'mature' after that five year lapse but I could not see much change except that she just became quiet. Honestly, I don't think most dramas are very great at doing character arcs.
4. The actors - The acting felt... underwhelming. I have seen Lusi in previous dramas and honestly think that this was one of her worse performances. Though I mostly blame this on the character and the story itself - there wasn't much room for acting, but seeing the same expression on her face the entire time didn't really help. Plus the whole 'age' thing was really rubbing me off anyway, so whenever she cried (and she cried a lot) she'd remind me of a child and I would feel awkward. This was my first time watching Leo Wu and though I wasn't really drawn to his character or his acting, he really did well in emotional and physically taxing scenes especially considering how narrow of a range his character leaves to express emotions.
Was this review helpful to you?
