Skipped most of the last 6 episodes just to see the scenes with the second couple, the only truly interesting thing in this show.
The ML was pretty nice and interesting, more of the serious type but at the same time not a typical cold ML "nobody ever sees him smile" (he actually has a great relationship with his friend and mother), but the FL at times felt as if she was 15. I know that she lost her memories, so she was overly naive and optimistic, but I just felt that the age gap between two leads was even wider than in reality. I literally saw zero reasons for the ML to fall for her. Not even mentioning that she fell for him after 1 episode, which came from nowhere. But the screenwriters had no other idea to bring the two of them together, other than her her clinging to him, for the next 10 episodes or so.
Also the timeline doesn't work for me. MGY looks very young, or should I say - her age (she was around 23 when they made the drama), so if she's the same age as ML's first love, and that relationship ended 8 years ago, it just doesn't work for me. The ML should be at least 30, if we assume that ML's first gf dated him while 21-22 (still pretty young). No way in hell does MGY look 30 in this drama. I know that it's nothing major, but it irked me.
On the other side we have the side couple, which got only few scenes with each other, but in that limited time still managed to become friends, build their bond, slowly fall for one another and then have their sweet relationship.
Recently I began watching really slow Cdramas, which made me convinced that I am capable of watching a slow-burn romance, so pacing is not my only issue here. The whole execution of the drama is just meh. If you want to kill some time, go for it, but if you're looking for drama which will make you unable to get away from screen, this ain't it.
So I've seen 8 eps, and I might be stirring a pot seeing how loved this show is, but nothing happened much in this amount of time? And it's half of S1. Believe me, I've seen a fair amount of shounen anime in my days and I do understand and love all the tropes, so clishes - hero working hard, earning his power and beating everyone - aren't a problem for me. But here, the ML seems to be reluctant to do anything, and then miraculously, with barely any work, he masters some crazy shit in a day or two? I mean, I get that he's the chosen one, but at least show that you care, man, not that you're here cause sb forced you to. In thise 8eps he spend like 10-15 mins actually training. Also I kinda didn't vibe with the amount of humor here, it made me feel like there are no stakes and nothing and no one is serious here. Like, I seriously don't need them making fun of every single character, including the elders. But I get it's personal. I'll be dropping, cause for all of the nice acting and scenery, it doesn't really offer anything more than a good shounen or xianxia. Never really vibed with Hong sisters overall.
Wow, for such a long series, and for such a slow-burning romance (from FL's side ofc) I barely skipped any scenes. It's not perfect (with some plots taking a bit too long, and some being too short esp in 2nd half), but incredibly well done nonetheless! I LOVED the fact that there were so many characters which were just good and supporting people. Will forever be a fan of emperor-empress-concubine trio. Such a satisfying show!
Ok, so if there's a memory loss plot, I'll just wait with watching the whole show till it airs fully to read some spoilers. I thought of starting S1 now and get up to speed by the time S2 finishes, but memory loss for me is the single worst cliche that ever existed.
The mortal world arc is making me want to quit the show. I hate it.
Oh, I feel you, I was skipping like there's no tomorrow in those episodes... Such a waste of time. It does get better from ep 26-27 in my opinion though, still not perfect but at least way more dynamic.
Oh God, the mortal world arc was soo excessively long and pointless overall. I like myself some jealousy sidestory, but maybe in 1-2 episode tops, not like 5. The relationship progress was not worth it either. Just the same stuff repeated over and over. The chemistry is still there, but ngl, it had me a little tired with the show...
I have a very weird relationship with this one. Never watched neither wuxia, nor chinese historical dramas before. Also, I am kinda thrown off by dubbing in chinese dramas overall, it's really hard for me get into the story with dubbing.
So when I started this, it was a really different experience for me. I really couldn't keep up with the names, I didn't really understand the concept overall or the rules of this world. The start was really slow too, but at the same time it was lacking some more exposition for me. I got lost really quick and didn't know what was going on. But at the same time it was a bit addictive and I just couldn't drop it. So I started reading wiki, spoiling myself at times, to get a good grasp of what's going on, and it definitely helped me get through it, as I'm not the kind of person to avoid spoilers.
So after like ep 20, I was really hooked. This show has such a strong message about what's right and wrong, about making mistakes, about forgiveness, that although at times I wish it was executed differently (which may be because of my unfamiliarity with chinese dramas, I am aware of that), it was still a unique experience. I am not sure whether I personally would call it a masterpiece - but it is incredibly strong in exploring every concept it chose.
Also - bromance? What bromance? This is straight up romance with no action. I dare anybody to look at their friend like Lan Zhan looked at WWX. Dear heavens, it was just heartbreaking that they couldn't explore it more cause of the censorship. This was more romantic and had more tension than many recent heterosexual romances.
Overall, a very new experience for me. Will definitely have withdrawal symptoms for a long time though, which definitely means a lot.
Woah, this was soo good! My first korean BL, cliche on cliche, but I just couldn't help feeling those butterflies in my stomach. Wish it was twice as long though!
Oh the kiss. And the next ones, always after a fight, right until the very end. I quess the viewers remembered the ML from the 1st episode and just rode on that, because after tthe Netherlands he's just the worst example of abusive employer to lover trope from an early 2010s drama. Also after reading your review realized that Dali really was just a prop after the 1st episode.
The ML was pretty nice and interesting, more of the serious type but at the same time not a typical cold ML "nobody ever sees him smile" (he actually has a great relationship with his friend and mother), but the FL at times felt as if she was 15. I know that she lost her memories, so she was overly naive and optimistic, but I just felt that the age gap between two leads was even wider than in reality. I literally saw zero reasons for the ML to fall for her. Not even mentioning that she fell for him after 1 episode, which came from nowhere. But the screenwriters had no other idea to bring the two of them together, other than her her clinging to him, for the next 10 episodes or so.
Also the timeline doesn't work for me. MGY looks very young, or should I say - her age (she was around 23 when they made the drama), so if she's the same age as ML's first love, and that relationship ended 8 years ago, it just doesn't work for me. The ML should be at least 30, if we assume that ML's first gf dated him while 21-22 (still pretty young). No way in hell does MGY look 30 in this drama. I know that it's nothing major, but it irked me.
On the other side we have the side couple, which got only few scenes with each other, but in that limited time still managed to become friends, build their bond, slowly fall for one another and then have their sweet relationship.
Recently I began watching really slow Cdramas, which made me convinced that I am capable of watching a slow-burn romance, so pacing is not my only issue here. The whole execution of the drama is just meh. If you want to kill some time, go for it, but if you're looking for drama which will make you unable to get away from screen, this ain't it.
But neither the ML, the writer, nor the director are making me excited for this one...
So when I started this, it was a really different experience for me. I really couldn't keep up with the names, I didn't really understand the concept overall or the rules of this world. The start was really slow too, but at the same time it was lacking some more exposition for me. I got lost really quick and didn't know what was going on. But at the same time it was a bit addictive and I just couldn't drop it. So I started reading wiki, spoiling myself at times, to get a good grasp of what's going on, and it definitely helped me get through it, as I'm not the kind of person to avoid spoilers.
So after like ep 20, I was really hooked. This show has such a strong message about what's right and wrong, about making mistakes, about forgiveness, that although at times I wish it was executed differently (which may be because of my unfamiliarity with chinese dramas, I am aware of that), it was still a unique experience. I am not sure whether I personally would call it a masterpiece - but it is incredibly strong in exploring every concept it chose.
Also - bromance? What bromance? This is straight up romance with no action. I dare anybody to look at their friend like Lan Zhan looked at WWX. Dear heavens, it was just heartbreaking that they couldn't explore it more cause of the censorship. This was more romantic and had more tension than many recent heterosexual romances.
Overall, a very new experience for me. Will definitely have withdrawal symptoms for a long time though, which definitely means a lot.