This is low production drama . Most of the scenes are shooted using green screen and choppy editing. The dynamics…
I actually prefer it to be not romance. I enjoy her character for her own journey. It wasn't romantic dynamic I was missing. Somehow, everything feels disconnected. Between odd sets and the dubbing, things don't feel at all natural.
What I meant by my age comment is that I really adore this actress, yet, somehow, with the styling, they made her look older than she is in real life. That is confusing, since her character is supposed to younger than his.
Six year age difference and it shows but she's all over him in acting ability.
Totally agree there. She's a fabulous actress. She's why I'm watching. This wasn't meant to dismiss her. What I was saying is that, whatever they did with her styling makes her appear much older than him and that's confusing, since, in the story, she's supposed to be younger. I don't care about their actual ages (as long as they're both adults.)
I'm in ep 4 and something just feels off with the production. I feel as if I'm watching a stage play rather than drama/film. The sets simply don't seem real and everything feels contrived, even the dialogue. It all feels a bit wooden with no real dynamic connections between anyone other than maybe the FL and her friend. Is it all just moving too fast? Why am I struggling to be pulled in by it?
Also, is the FL supposed to be younger than the ML? She looks much older, as if she could be his aunt. This is confusing me.
Truth is the second revenge reeks of the writer's desperation to try and rinse out more forced angst. They simply…
the whole hating anyone who was adjacent to something bad that happened to you is not working for me, either. There is just a whole lot of hate swarming around. Is there something in the water?
Everyone is either hating him or patronizing him. He's a doctor and then a successful war pilot. But, they all treat him as though they know what's better for him and give him zero agency in his own life. He needs to hop on a boat a more laid back place, like, maybe Tahiti.
As for her "hating" him because of what happened to her parents. (Am I getting that right? I stopped watching, but this is what I'm gather from what I'm seeing here.) He was a child. He didn't cause anything. And she knows his history, via his family, and how he is already being blamed and hated on for things that happened when he was a child. AND she knows that he went to prison and was permanently disabled over a murder that she committed. She has no right to have any judgement of him, at all. She's a user.
A big part of what makes everyone unlikeable is that some a-hole adults murdered your loved ones and you're going to hate on a child? You're not worth knowing. (Don't even get me started with the mother. Why the hell would anyone ever give her any respect? They can see the unjust and irrational ways she treats people. She needs to be locked up.)
I find it all to be horrible storytelling. The first time she abandoned him and turned a cold shoulder should have been the end of any feelings he had for her. What is there to be attached to? She doesn't do attachment. How would you ever trust her again? What is love without trust? So, what's the point of any of it? What exactly is he supposed to like about her? Once she doesn't have revenge plans, what exactly is she going to be doing with herself? What would you even talk to her about?
I was hanging in there to see if there were going to be interesting character developments.
Stopped watching when she chose revenge a second time. One could argue that the first time, she felt compelled to save the women who were still captive.
This second time, though, there is no real need. It is not going to change anything. It is purely that she is more driven by rage than love.
I don't want them to be together. There are almost no likable characters.
What's the Chinese word for "makjang"? This feels like one. You watch it for the inanity of it all.
It's seriously that bad? Is it the plot? Or the actors? The FL is crazy young to be playing this role.I don't…
I hear you. My sister loves shorts. I only meant that they tend to be a form of compressed storytelling similar to shorts. The rest of my critique was not related to shorts.
But that's how the entertainment industry works. No one ever gonna invest more or same amount of money for a sequel,…
Why is this even a discussion? No one is suggesting that she reprise the role.
That said, but a good actor doesn't think of roles that way. If the role is challenging and would give them an opportunity to exercise their acting skills, they would want to do it. Plenty of "superstars" have taken on roles where the character was not the most dignified. What the character goes through is not a reflection on the actor. The acting skill is.
Anyway, 'What planet do you live on" is not exactly civil dialog. So, I'll stop here. Do your straw man thing with somebody else.
But that's how the entertainment industry works. No one ever gonna invest more or same amount of money for a sequel,…
I don't even understand the "suits her career" comment. She's an actress. And that role is complex and challenging. I would think it would be more interesting to do than the same ole same ole.
That said, who said anything about having Li Qin back? Replacing the actors made sense. They're all 10 years older, but their characters have only aged a few months. The actors aren't the problem here.
The writing is awful. It's like I'm watching a short. There is no development of relationships between characters. Each one is a like a lone actor who happens to be forced to dialogue with other people as they walk through their days. The characters have no, well, character. There is no depth. They are cardboard cutouts.
There was no setup of the people, their relationships or the context of the story, other than a narrator's monologue. I know it's a sequel, but it's 10 years later. You have to get people to attach to these characters again, but there is nothing to hold onto. I even watched PA again before starting this and I still couldn't feel anything for anything. I feel like I'm just being dragged through one near-death experience to another, with no reason to care. If I cared about the characters I'd be too emotionally exhausted to keep watching, at this pace. (I'm only on ep8 and not sure I will continue.)
Why are there so many posing moments? How many Vogue shots does one drama need? Especially when there is no real buildup.
What even was that scene on the mountain top with the bird? All this talk about a fire ritual and then it's just birds? They nearly killed a whole battalion dragging their butts up to a flat rock? That whole scene was a nothing burger, but we had to have a glamour shot at the end?
The whole things, so far, is just flat. I'm being dragged through a plot (that I hope makes sense in the end) without any context of place and people and the cultures of those people.
Why is the dialog so dry? rat-tat-tat-tat-tat. It's just rapid fire with no finesse. (Maybe the Mandarin is more prose-like than the English translation?)
Zhang Kangle wasn't that bad. His biggest problem was that Shawn Dou was spectacular in Princess Agents and it…
Agreed. When I saw the first scene with Lin Yun Rui, I thought, "Ok. Not a bad actor change. He's good for this." But, seriously, no one could replace Shawn Dau. That was just too iconic. He totally stole the show in PA. Anyone else was going to seem dull.
The bigger problem is that the writing and the production quality is so low that there is nothing the actors could do to save it. The characters are written like cardboard cutouts.
Are they seriously not going reintroduce the characters to us? Or introduce new ones? Other than the 3 leads, I have no idea who anyone is. who is this Helian woman? Who is the commander with the scar who hates Chu Qiao? They are the driver of any plot, at the moment and I don't understand where they're coming from and why they are doing what they are doing.
Why aren't the first three episodes centered on the leads and how they are doing and what they are thinking. We're barely seeing them and just seeing these people plotting around them. Nothing feels grounded. There is no sense of place. No sense of characters. No sense of what the story is about, really. Yes, a narrator rushed an explanation, but that doesn't get us grounded in the story. I've spend three episodes wondering why I'm supposed to care about any of this; and that's after re-watching Princess Agents. It's all so disjointed and detached, with brittle dialog and zero sense that any of the characters have any relationships - friend, family, or otherwise - with anyone else. They all just seem to operate as self-centered beings with no attachments to anyone or anything; nor any inner questioning. What drove the story in the first season was that all the characters were having to make choices about themselves and what direction they would go. We learned what drove them and what inner conflicts they had.
Here, there is nothing. All the characters seem like blank cutouts that spew dialog they are programmed to say. It's weird.
It's seriously that bad? Is it the plot? Or the actors? The FL is crazy young to be playing this role.I don't…
I'm only of Ep3 and not sure I can continue. The writing is soooooo bad. They do no character development, so these characters are plotting things, but the viewer has absolutely no attachment to either their agenda or the agenda of the person they are plotting against. I even re-watched PA right before starting this and I still feel totally detached from what is going in this.
There are no relationships here. You don't see any camaraderie. No development of tension. The dialog is dry and stilted. There is no sense of place; as in each scene could be happening anywhere. Everything feels like a set rather than a setting. They spend zero time building an audience relationship to the characters, And given that all the actors changed from the original, they really should have given the audience some solid adjustment time to tune into them. I find myself trying to figure out who is who from before. (Like the guy with the scar on his face who hates Chu Qiao? Who the hell is he? It isn't supposed to be the character who was with them while they were imprisoned at that house for three years, is it? Because he had a good relationship with Chu Qiao. So, who the hell is this guy?)
How does the sequel to one of the most popular C-Dramas of all time end up feeling like such a low-budget hatchet job? It's like the whole production team just called it in and relied on the audience to have read the books or something. DId they even care?
The pacing and the dialog make it feel like a short.
Rewatched Princess Agents to prepare for watching this. Even though PA is 10 years older and feels like an old school production, Rebirth manages to have inferior production quality? This thing feels like a short.
PA was one of the most popular C-Dramas ever. They couldn't raise enough funding to it's sequel justice? Every aspect of it feels cheap. One episode in and it already feels rushed. How is that I just finished PA and I cannot connect to these characters? I guess I'll give it another ep or 2.
Didnt worth my time even if I finished with speed watching. Not enough focus on characters' emotional progress…
I'm struggling to get through it. I really don't care about the hotel or it's rich customers. As a setting for character development I can go with it. But, if the focus is all on the business and not centered on the characters themselves and the intersecting relationships, it is boring.
K-Drama 
What I meant by my age comment is that I really adore this actress, yet, somehow, with the styling, they made her look older than she is in real life. That is confusing, since her character is supposed to younger than his.
Also, is the FL supposed to be younger than the ML? She looks much older, as if she could be his aunt. This is confusing me.
Everyone is either hating him or patronizing him. He's a doctor and then a successful war pilot. But, they all treat him as though they know what's better for him and give him zero agency in his own life. He needs to hop on a boat a more laid back place, like, maybe Tahiti.
As for her "hating" him because of what happened to her parents. (Am I getting that right? I stopped watching, but this is what I'm gather from what I'm seeing here.) He was a child. He didn't cause anything. And she knows his history, via his family, and how he is already being blamed and hated on for things that happened when he was a child. AND she knows that he went to prison and was permanently disabled over a murder that she committed. She has no right to have any judgement of him, at all. She's a user.
A big part of what makes everyone unlikeable is that some a-hole adults murdered your loved ones and you're going to hate on a child? You're not worth knowing. (Don't even get me started with the mother. Why the hell would anyone ever give her any respect? They can see the unjust and irrational ways she treats people. She needs to be locked up.)
I find it all to be horrible storytelling. The first time she abandoned him and turned a cold shoulder should have been the end of any feelings he had for her. What is there to be attached to? She doesn't do attachment. How would you ever trust her again? What is love without trust? So, what's the point of any of it? What exactly is he supposed to like about her? Once she doesn't have revenge plans, what exactly is she going to be doing with herself? What would you even talk to her about?
I was hanging in there to see if there were going to be interesting character developments.
This second time, though, there is no real need. It is not going to change anything. It is purely that she is more driven by rage than love.
I don't want them to be together. There are almost no likable characters.
What's the Chinese word for "makjang"? This feels like one. You watch it for the inanity of it all.
However, the Han Joo Won being so obsessed with catching/punishing Lee Dong Sik, even after he knows that he's not the murderer, is getting tedious.
That said, but a good actor doesn't think of roles that way. If the role is challenging and would give them an opportunity to exercise their acting skills, they would want to do it. Plenty of "superstars" have taken on roles where the character was not the most dignified. What the character goes through is not a reflection on the actor. The acting skill is.
Anyway, 'What planet do you live on" is not exactly civil dialog. So, I'll stop here. Do your straw man thing with somebody else.
That said, who said anything about having Li Qin back? Replacing the actors made sense. They're all 10 years older, but their characters have only aged a few months. The actors aren't the problem here.
The writing is awful. It's like I'm watching a short. There is no development of relationships between characters. Each one is a like a lone actor who happens to be forced to dialogue with other people as they walk through their days. The characters have no, well, character. There is no depth. They are cardboard cutouts.
There was no setup of the people, their relationships or the context of the story, other than a narrator's monologue. I know it's a sequel, but it's 10 years later. You have to get people to attach to these characters again, but there is nothing to hold onto. I even watched PA again before starting this and I still couldn't feel anything for anything. I feel like I'm just being dragged through one near-death experience to another, with no reason to care. If I cared about the characters I'd be too emotionally exhausted to keep watching, at this pace. (I'm only on ep8 and not sure I will continue.)
Why are there so many posing moments? How many Vogue shots does one drama need? Especially when there is no real buildup.
What even was that scene on the mountain top with the bird? All this talk about a fire ritual and then it's just birds? They nearly killed a whole battalion dragging their butts up to a flat rock? That whole scene was a nothing burger, but we had to have a glamour shot at the end?
The whole things, so far, is just flat. I'm being dragged through a plot (that I hope makes sense in the end) without any context of place and people and the cultures of those people.
Why is the dialog so dry? rat-tat-tat-tat-tat. It's just rapid fire with no finesse. (Maybe the Mandarin is more prose-like than the English translation?)
The bigger problem is that the writing and the production quality is so low that there is nothing the actors could do to save it. The characters are written like cardboard cutouts.
Why aren't the first three episodes centered on the leads and how they are doing and what they are thinking. We're barely seeing them and just seeing these people plotting around them. Nothing feels grounded. There is no sense of place. No sense of characters. No sense of what the story is about, really. Yes, a narrator rushed an explanation, but that doesn't get us grounded in the story. I've spend three episodes wondering why I'm supposed to care about any of this; and that's after re-watching Princess Agents. It's all so disjointed and detached, with brittle dialog and zero sense that any of the characters have any relationships - friend, family, or otherwise - with anyone else. They all just seem to operate as self-centered beings with no attachments to anyone or anything; nor any inner questioning. What drove the story in the first season was that all the characters were having to make choices about themselves and what direction they would go. We learned what drove them and what inner conflicts they had.
Here, there is nothing. All the characters seem like blank cutouts that spew dialog they are programmed to say. It's weird.
There are no relationships here. You don't see any camaraderie. No development of tension. The dialog is dry and stilted. There is no sense of place; as in each scene could be happening anywhere. Everything feels like a set rather than a setting. They spend zero time building an audience relationship to the characters, And given that all the actors changed from the original, they really should have given the audience some solid adjustment time to tune into them. I find myself trying to figure out who is who from before. (Like the guy with the scar on his face who hates Chu Qiao? Who the hell is he? It isn't supposed to be the character who was with them while they were imprisoned at that house for three years, is it? Because he had a good relationship with Chu Qiao. So, who the hell is this guy?)
How does the sequel to one of the most popular C-Dramas of all time end up feeling like such a low-budget hatchet job? It's like the whole production team just called it in and relied on the audience to have read the books or something. DId they even care?
The pacing and the dialog make it feel like a short.
PA was one of the most popular C-Dramas ever. They couldn't raise enough funding to it's sequel justice? Every aspect of it feels cheap. One episode in and it already feels rushed. How is that I just finished PA and I cannot connect to these characters? I guess I'll give it another ep or 2.
Good cast. Poor storytelling.