A little gem
I am giving this one a 10 because I think it deserves way higher rating than it got so far!!!
After the debacle of many promising costume c-dramas ending in disappointment, and most of them focusing on romance this one is a rare gem.
Note for those who only like dramas which focus on appearance, loads of make up, glitter, childish females and heap of romance - this won’t be one for you. (See reason 2 below)
A few of my reasons to give this one a try:
1) It will thoroughly refresh your palate before embarking on yet another heroic romance.
2) the flavour of the drama and filming style is in line with superb series like Faithful, Judge Dee Mystery, Wind blows from Longxi, Side Story of Fox Volant etc… scenes are dark, the hint of monochromatic colouring adds to the suspense, characters are not overly made up nor glittery, OST is unremarkable, yet perfectly supports the story and moods. Dialog is also similar - kind of flat speaking but not in a boring way, it is intelligent and creates that certain mood which makes you immerse. And yet, despite the dark style, it is undepressing and doesn’t leave you feeling heavy.. so, if you enjoy this type of drama, definitely go for it!!
3) MYS - I always found him cute and watched a few dramas just for him, to see his development as an actor. And oh my gosh, was I rewarded - this is by far his best performance. In this one he is unable to make up for any shortcomings with hot sexy scenes, and he delivers a seamless performance!! I hope he will now be cast in more and more serious dramas and his skills duly recognised.
4) Perfectly cast supporting characters, both the lead supports and the villains. The FL super intelligent yet holding something back, SFL bubbly but not OTT, SML doing a good job of rebellious boy finally finding purpose and yet maintaining the boyishness and generous openness - perfectly balancing the ML and FL’s seriousness and their hiding the dark secrets / traumas. The villains are dark as hell, the main adversary such a far gone psycho, it actually gave me shivers 😅
5) Fun and refreshing plot incorporating a bit of weird sorcery, with twists and turns keeping you occupied. At least I found myself immersed and not skipping through bad ring bits by scrolling Insta 😆
6) no screeching female leads or support characters who sound like they have learning difficulties / mental age of a baby trying to somehow sell themselves as adults independent strong women (my huge gripe with Love game in E.F., Go East etc…. It’s so nice to see yet another drama with women who actually exude intelligence and strength
7) fight scenes - not too many , yet enough to compliment the mystery, the 3rd ML and 2FL deliver nice moves and look pretty authentic, the fight scenes are pro and don’t look too artificial.
8) ending - superb! No tragic end (soz if this is a spoiler), it ties up all the loose ends and yet introduces more twists, leaving the drama complete but also open to second season!!! Love it.
All in all I am surprised at the quality, considering this is short series (16 eps) one would have expected production to be on cheap side, instead this has the equal clout of any 30+ episode star studded dramas!
I hope as more people watch this, the ratings will improve as we need more quality like this, not just to support the budding actors but also the screenwriters, producers and directors who are able to deviate from the mass produced recipes of storylines / cinematography / candy make up and predictable story progression and endings. So please do give it a chance and be generous. Xxx
After the debacle of many promising costume c-dramas ending in disappointment, and most of them focusing on romance this one is a rare gem.
Note for those who only like dramas which focus on appearance, loads of make up, glitter, childish females and heap of romance - this won’t be one for you. (See reason 2 below)
A few of my reasons to give this one a try:
1) It will thoroughly refresh your palate before embarking on yet another heroic romance.
2) the flavour of the drama and filming style is in line with superb series like Faithful, Judge Dee Mystery, Wind blows from Longxi, Side Story of Fox Volant etc… scenes are dark, the hint of monochromatic colouring adds to the suspense, characters are not overly made up nor glittery, OST is unremarkable, yet perfectly supports the story and moods. Dialog is also similar - kind of flat speaking but not in a boring way, it is intelligent and creates that certain mood which makes you immerse. And yet, despite the dark style, it is undepressing and doesn’t leave you feeling heavy.. so, if you enjoy this type of drama, definitely go for it!!
3) MYS - I always found him cute and watched a few dramas just for him, to see his development as an actor. And oh my gosh, was I rewarded - this is by far his best performance. In this one he is unable to make up for any shortcomings with hot sexy scenes, and he delivers a seamless performance!! I hope he will now be cast in more and more serious dramas and his skills duly recognised.
4) Perfectly cast supporting characters, both the lead supports and the villains. The FL super intelligent yet holding something back, SFL bubbly but not OTT, SML doing a good job of rebellious boy finally finding purpose and yet maintaining the boyishness and generous openness - perfectly balancing the ML and FL’s seriousness and their hiding the dark secrets / traumas. The villains are dark as hell, the main adversary such a far gone psycho, it actually gave me shivers 😅
5) Fun and refreshing plot incorporating a bit of weird sorcery, with twists and turns keeping you occupied. At least I found myself immersed and not skipping through bad ring bits by scrolling Insta 😆
6) no screeching female leads or support characters who sound like they have learning difficulties / mental age of a baby trying to somehow sell themselves as adults independent strong women (my huge gripe with Love game in E.F., Go East etc…. It’s so nice to see yet another drama with women who actually exude intelligence and strength
7) fight scenes - not too many , yet enough to compliment the mystery, the 3rd ML and 2FL deliver nice moves and look pretty authentic, the fight scenes are pro and don’t look too artificial.
8) ending - superb! No tragic end (soz if this is a spoiler), it ties up all the loose ends and yet introduces more twists, leaving the drama complete but also open to second season!!! Love it.
All in all I am surprised at the quality, considering this is short series (16 eps) one would have expected production to be on cheap side, instead this has the equal clout of any 30+ episode star studded dramas!
I hope as more people watch this, the ratings will improve as we need more quality like this, not just to support the budding actors but also the screenwriters, producers and directors who are able to deviate from the mass produced recipes of storylines / cinematography / candy make up and predictable story progression and endings. So please do give it a chance and be generous. Xxx
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