Sirenas

Lighthearted

Foremost, the reviewers who complain about how unrealistic it is for the FL to get away with what she does at the palace is pretty silly. This series is meant to be unconventional. While it's not slapstick comedy, it leans heavier on the humor side and is very lighthearted. Who really knows what palace life is like after all, other than what we've seen in other palace-based dramas? Has anyone today lived in that era or personally experienced the lives of royalty? Don't mind these types of biased criticisms.

I'm personally only dropping the series because I'm in the mood for something with a more serious undertone. But I think having a Queen who doesn't fit the typical cast is brilliant as it highlights how personalities are what makes people meaningful. It's also refreshing to watch a series that isn't full of conventional beauties.

This truly is a lighthearted series with fun characters and silly events so don't expect a very intricate plot or much character growth. But if you're in the mood for a casual watch that doesn't trigger high emotions, this is worth a try.

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Not Great

*Minor spoiler

Eight episodes in and while the pacing of the plot has stayed steady since the first episode, it has also yet triggered much intrigue. While the ML did a decent job in portraying his character, the dialogue he was given wasn't great. The FL was a dull and unimpressive character, and there was zero chemistry between the two. The relationships the ML develops so far also doesn't feel natural. I had planned to give the series a few more episodes to see if it better evolved but the cringe scene with the rescued little girl solidified the decision to drop. She's supposed to be an orphaned child who was then placed into an abusive environment and witnessed multiple murders. Yet, she very oddly breaks into a happy song (with poor dubbing) the same night with over-exaggerated acting and then turns into an obnoxious spoiled brat the next day? This further highlights the misplacement of emotive focuses such as how the series attempts to lighten up the mood every so often by switching to playful music and banter in between, but it just doesn't feel natural and it doesn't help with the chemistry-building.

The biggest positive about the series are the action scenes. The fight scenes were done really well. I just wish the plot and dialogue matched.

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Great Season

This review is based on a re-watch after a long hiatus. I didn't want to review it at the time due to the first season ending on a heavy cliffhanger and was waiting for season 2 to complete. As I'm about to drop season 2, this review will solely be on season 1.

This season is deserving of its fame and there's no need to really go into too much details for the review because of it. The plot flow was great as there are multiple sub-plots that keep the series interesting. This is also one where you'll find yourself having multiple favorite characters. The humorous layer attached to some very serious and intense underlying situations really makes the series shine.

My only qualm is our main ML's love interest. There isn't great chemistry between the two, their romance doesn't feel natural, and the FL is pretty useless. Even during my first watch, I had skipped through most of their interactions as it was quite boring. Fortunately, the romantic scenes between them aren't heavy-handed. If it weren't for this, would have given the series a higher score.

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Memorable

This a great casual watch with a unique take in the historical genre with a focus on how clothing impacts the palace dynamics. It's likely deserving of a higher score but unfortunately it's a story that really requires far more than movie-length time to blossom. This is the only reason for the lower score.

It's definitely one I'd recommend for those who enjoy this genre as the acting was great, the plot was straightforward but also not predictable, and of course, the costumes were gorgeous. It hits all the spots for minimal investment and I do hope they one day decide to create a series with a similar feel around royal tailors.

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A journey of military corruption

Having not yet seen season two, season one could stand on its own without one. In only six episodes, this series put me through a journey of much more. My heart swelled in both warmth between our two young MLs and from their desperate crossroads of choosing to do their duties and being human.

While the plot is grim, I wouldn't consider this as dark fiction as it's a very realistic depiction of corruption. There's no excess dramatization, no saviors, and no particular antagonist. It simply portrays the difficulty in choices everyone has to make or continuously make at some point in their lives. This one was just uniquely centered around the military dynamics. If you are someone who ever chose to join a company, a sorority/fraternity, or any group that has any type of hierarchy, how many would speak up for another if it meant risking your own position and livelihood? And even if you were to speak up, would you even have any ability to even make a difference? Then those who blame their immediate authority fail to recognize that the same authorities themselves have high authority to answer to. In the situation of the military, it's even worse than being an employee at a company where you have the option to quit and find a new job.

Most series want to showcase a hero who steps up and manages to somehow defeat all that is bad. This one captures the realism in how multiple people try their best in their own capacity to do what they can, and how a small act of kindness can go a long way. Unlike what we want to believe in our idealistic worlds, the "good and righteous" does lose the battles most of the time so those who live under a rock in stubborn ignorance may not appreciate this series as much. Reality is far darker and stranger than fiction and this series definitely does not have a feel of over-exaggeration.

All of the actors did such a fantastic job in their respective roles. What really elevated the series was the natural injection and focus on the relationship between the two MLs. Their bonding with one another shone some light and humor on the hands they were dealt with and it made the series much more digestible to watch.

P.S. I think every organization out there needs a Han Ho Yul, because he's someone I would totally want around.

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Binge-Worthy

I'm usually not a big fan of time-slip types of plots because it just usually isn't done very well. Had this series on the plan-to-watch list for a while because of this. I also tend to avoid anything that appears to be romance heavy. However, this one outwitted my initial expectations and had me fully invested until the last episode. You have certain series which are just good and then you have those that will pull you into their world, and this was one of them. This is also one of the rare times where I'm in agreement with MDL's average rating.

The cast was fantastic including the support roles. Because they based this one on written/accepted historical events, it will keep you guessing on how they plan to follow or diverge from the past. The concept of a male being in the body of a Queen took the entire plot up a few notches (it wouldn't have been as great otherwise). Within just 20 episodes, your emotes will pleasantly be balanced with laughing, crying, biting your nails, and smiling with warmth. As for the romance aspect, because the FL/ML were both interesting characters with such good chemistry, that I didn't mind any of the romance portrayed within the series at all.

The only slight less than positive comment is that it felt just a tad long-winded with the political aspect of the plot in the first half but nothing in comparison to other historical dramas. It doesn't take away from the binge-worthiness of this series and I've admittedly lost more than few hours of precious sleep.

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*Very minor and broad spoiler*

The first episode will draw you in immediately with its calm yet increasingly suspenseful atmosphere. It's not an easy series to describe so I'll keep it relatively short. Because the story has such a strong romantic baseline, I half expected it to overpower the crime and suspense as some series do. Fortunately, it was well balanced and it did not disappoint.

The only aspects that made it a bit less than for me was somewhere in the middle when the original flow started to feel rushed. The shifting of Baek Hee Sung's emotions was abrupt (even if there was a trigger) and since that shift, it became less and less believable. Mostly because it was followed by dramatic events clumped too closely together which caused some encounters to become a tad repetitive, and some plot holes to develop.

Nevertheless, this series will draw you in and keep you in enough suspense to want to keep watching in lieu of sleep. I think it's a great one for those who enjoy different genres inclusive of psychology, romance, crime, or mystery. While it isn't a masterpiece in any particular genre, it did equally well in all of it.

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Annoying female lead

This is the second time I've tried watching this series because I REALLY want to. But despite all the great things going for it, the character of the main female lead, Niao Niao, is just too infuriating to watch.

Despite all the empathy or justification I've tried to muster up for NN due to her circumstances, her incessant self-pity and inability to empathize for others is just too irritating. It's hard to believe how much she's been "bullied" by her family when she acts like such a spoiled brat who is jealous of everyone for having a mother. Her parents were away risking their lives to support the family and although they had to leave her behind, you'd think she'd be happy to have both of them back alive. If she really were as clever as depicted, she should have known that her family were all liars and manipulators and anything they said about her parents were potentially false. Instead, she kicks into high manipulation gear the minute she sees them.

She acts like the biggest victim in the family but appreciates nothing and no one. Her father is loving and her cousins coddle her but she can't stop complaining about her mother disciplining her. Pouting and manipulating without putting any real effort into herself, and yet she just blames everything on everyone else. Her aunt physically and mentally abuses her husband and daughter but nope, NN is the only victim here. She makes it impossible to root for her.

It's such a shame because NN's parents are fantastic and have amazing chemistry with one another. The series initially won me over at the scene her mother rode in on a horse fully suited up in war gear. Her character is just so good. The male lead, Zi Sheng, is also intriguing so far, as well as the case he's working on. Even the family dynamics and drama are interesting.

I really wanted to try and just bear with NN's character until there was hopefully some severe character growth. But when within an episode, she had men falling for her left and right from their one and first encounters, it was game over. The score for her is almost nothing and an 8-9 for everything else about the series so far.

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One Major Flaw

With series like this, there are a number of factors you know you'll be overlooking. This series indeed contains many of these flawed factors but the one I couldn't overlook was the female lead and her entire persona. I'm a huge fan of strong and independent female characters but it feels like the industry is going overboard these days or they are just confused. They want to portray how tough the woman is, but also don't want to give up the "damsel in distress" who is saved by her handsome man just to build the idealistic romance.

This particular FL is self-righteous and obnoxiously hypocritical. She constantly claims how much experience she has and what she knows but when she loses her cool over nothing, she then blames it on the lack of experience. She is painted as someone who can do no wrong in her coroner and medical skills as well as someone who knows how to assess people around her and manipulate as needed. This isn't believable when she's throwing temper tantrums too many times. Her coroner and medical skills are also not believable when she finds a multitude of dead bodies and just goes on a high rant about how she underestimated the evil in the world. Wasn't her entire persona based around finding vengeance? Overall, her personality isn't of someone who is truly professional but more like a spoiled teenager who is riding too high off of the skills she picked up from her background and family.

The ML is less annoying but also quite dull. He's painted as someone who's rugged from war experiences since he was a kid and someone to be highly feared/respected by many but then pretty much immediately follows the female lead around like a loyal puppy. He has enough redeeming qualities to still keep him in the game but not enough to make up for the shortcomings of the FL. Can we also lay off the overly dramatic FL/ML scenes with slow longing looks at one another and change in music to emphasize what we all already are aware of? How many times does it need to be shoved in our faces? At least for series in this genre? Subtleties can be a strength.

This was given a higher score because the actual mysteries and the unraveling of them were done decently well. The costumes and action scenes weren't a major turn off and it would have been much more enjoyable less the items mentioned above.

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Unrecognizable

It is really quite unfortunate how season 2 really ruined the series for me. I've been anticipating the continuation of season 1 for quite some time but the majority of the characters are now unrecognizable and the plot is all over the place.

Foremost, we find out in season 2 that our ML faked his death from our season 1 cliffhanger. But apparently despite very intelligent scheming we see from season 1, this fake death apparently didn't fool anyone and doesn't seem to have served any purpose at all. What was the point in this entire elaborate plan?

Secondly, the characters are all completely not in character anymore. The second prince who was portrayed as very stoic and nonchalant is now throwing mini-tantrums? The ML who was supposed to be highly strategic and careful, is now casually hiding at his trusted friend's house risking his friend's family's lives? It almost seems as if the director completely disregarded the essence of season 1 and decided to turn season 2 into a comedy instead.

Thirdly, the plot flow is terrible in this season. It may not be as detrimental if it was a standalone but compared to the prior season, not much seems to make sense in this one. It's really disappointing particularly for those who were fully invested in season 1.

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Not For Me But...

I'm dropping the series mostly because even up through episode 8, the action aspect of the plot never picked up pace. And personally really dislike the typical romance stories with overly innocent and useless women. What's worse is the rest of the other women so far have been portrayed as either being just as useless, full of drama, evil, and/or manipulative. This is very typical of the old-school ideal of Asian romance and couple portrayal. Poor woman/rich man, innocent and sweet woman/powerful and misunderstood man, attached with unrealistically cute voices that belong to girls who haven't gone through puberty.

But for those who love these types of sappy stories, I can see why this one is on the higher-rated end and would definitely recommend. Personally I was putting up with the heavy romance scenes for while hoping the action and backstories would pick up at some point but it's been a slow burn.

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Although the mortician aspect would have been interesting, this series is a poor imitation of The Longest Day in Chang'an. While the dramatics actually worked there, it was poorly executed and unnecessary for this plot. I do appreciate that more Chinese dramas are starting to bring back some of the essence it once had, before they tried to incorporate poor graphics and terrible costume work. The action scenes are feeling more skill-based again instead of the floating around nonsense or having characters with strange hairdos that are ridiculous for any time period. One of the mains here also starred in The Untamed and while that one was also somewhat gimmicky, it wasn't as severe and it made more sense due to the supernatural aspect.

Nevertheless, at least visually, this series was done better than some of the others I've seen but it still had too many gimmicks attached to a poorly written script:

- They make Gao Bing Zhu seem like some brilliant fighter and observer but for some reason, he doesn't realize the guy he killed was wearing a completely different mask and didn't have the wound he inflicted earlier? Ugh.
- Baili Hong Yi ties a flimsy white cloth around Gao Bing Zhu's wrist and tells him it's some type of magical knot that he would never be able to untie himself from? And Gao Bing Zhu is somehow threatened enough to give in to his demands? Ugh again.

For what seems like a fairly expensive production, the camera work was subpar. Each episode also made less and less sense and the cheesy dialogue only became more cringe. This series really felt like they tried to reuse or combine all the elements of what made The Longest Day in Chang'an, Nirvana in Fire, and The Untamed successful, but didn't bother to care whether the effects actually made sense for the plot. Note that what didn't make this one work for me wasn't because of the actors but from the cards they were dealt.

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Let me start off by stating that I've watched this series years ago and this review is an attempt as a re-watch.

Although I've only re-watched a few episodes, I decided to drop it. It captures your attention quickly and easily with the initial backstory of your leads. But the script feels shallow for its setting and genre, even with its good attempt to build intensity into each scene.

1. The male lead for example who tries to hunt down his "first love" in the streets by following strangers. It isn't as if she changed her name from when they met or internet wasn't available. So it doesn't make much sense even when we exclude the fact that he apparently can recognize her by face a decade later (especially when they met as kids).

2. The female lead was fantastic as a child but she somehow turned into a rude, extreme snob as an adult? So much so that she can't say a simple "thank you" when someone finds her wallet and is outwardly rude instead? Very odd. While it was believable that she was a shitty lawyer, it is nonsensical that she somehow gets chosen as a public defender just because she told a tale of her past. It would have made more sense if she had credentials to back it up but she doesn't even know how to search for browser history on a computer?

Her mother got fired as a housekeeper and they had to move out. Not a big deal. It isn't as if she didn't have a loving mother who had her back and a decent roof over her head. Even if you try to apply the "she conceded to societal norms", it is still overreaching. Maybe her one traumatic incident as a kid, just wasn't traumatic enough (especially compared to a kid who saw his father murdered). Yet the series builds so much around this.

Then, somehow her moral fibers start to kick in within a couple of days because of some lecturing and a sudden reminder of how she was once falsely accused herself? What has she been up to all her adult career life then?

3. Who in the right mind would decide to hang on a windowsill just because they didn't want to get caught smoking? Ever heard of dropping the cigarette and saying you just walked into the room? It's not as if the room was barricaded.

It's tough. As mentioned, they did well with the intensity level and the light comedy so I can see why it would capture high scores with some. But if you really look at the basis, there just isn't much depth. I wouldn't have been so judgmental if this was supposed to be on the lighthearted side but it really isn't. Would have given it a lower score but because the actors were able to make it somewhat entertaining, I could have probably sat through it to the end.

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Not my style

There is no doubt as to why this series averages such a high rating. It depicts the historical settings of the battles at Changsa with great production quality and an abundance of great supporting actors. It also does a good job in portraying the individualism with many characters. The first few episodes drew me in right away as well as the charisma of the main family.

However, while I enjoyed the FL for her acting and her character initially, her and her twin brother's spoiled ways really doesn't sit well for me. The first scene to have irked me was when the brother ran away to join the army (the first time) when he stayed over at a woman's house. She kindly let him in to have water, etc. and then happened to get killed by Japanese invaders. There was zero reaction from the siblings from what should have been their first close encounter with someone getting killed and they simply continue to act foolishly and risking their own lives but worse of all... other people's lives. The series wants the audience to chalk it up to them being raised and spoiled by a well-off family and simply immature because they are young. But I can't imagine even grade school children acting this way during a warring period. Nevertheless, I patiently waited for that turning point when they showed growth and development with every tragedy encountered.

While there was some growth, it didn't feel natural or impactful enough. The FL still continues to have others dying for her because of her thoughtless actions. Even with the concept of her being desensitized to the environment, she doesn't seem to have any self awareness.

The romance between the FL and ML are also not very natural or fitting and the series does what many others can't seem to stop doing, creating way too many forced "coincidental" situations for the couple. Additionally, while Wallace Huo is good-looking with charm, have yet to really see great acting from him. Kudos to the Xue Jun Shan character and actor however. He is by far the most developed and complex personality in the series.

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Uninteresting

It's been four hours or four episodes and both the characters and the pacing are exhausting. It started off with an interesting concept of assassins infiltrating the Gong family but the assassins are so monotonous, it doesn't really make sense for them to "blend" in anywhere as they only seem to have skills for stealth. As grandiose, secretive, and careful as this Gong family is, their way of choosing brides also don't make much sense. The same goes for their "rule" of having to have a leader at all times based on who is present, no matter how incompetent the next leader is, also doesn't make sense.

- The conversations are all seriously snail-paced and not very effective.
- The two main FL assassins are uninteresting.
- The main ML (incompetent leader) is uninteresting and is a fool who falls in love foolishly.
- The flamboyant elder sister who's supposed to be the humor lifeline so far in the series, is also uninteresting.

The only character that seems to be interesting at all so far is Gong Shang Jue, but he hasn't really officially entered into the scenes yet. Nevertheless, four hours later and my facial expression from watching the series has been as expressionless as the characters so far. Slightly higher score is for production quality.

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