Hime

When it comes to dramas, makjang means that the drama is "ridiculous", with situations and acting that seem exaggerated and that are supposed to cause emotions to the viewers, most of the time anger, pity, and feelings that most people don’t like having while watching a show. This is why makjang dramas are not for everyone.


Examples of things that can happen in makjang dramas and that are often seen in kdramas of this genre are:

-birth secrets (like swapping babies and one leading a better life than the other with the one that leads a better life usually becoming an awful person);

-cheating/adultery;

-terminal illnesses, amnesia, blindness and other health problems;

-accidents (usually caused by the so well know "truck of doom" and that a lot of times cause the people involved to die);

-absurd plot twists that can either be surprising in a good way or make people so angry that they decide to drop the drama

-rape (although this happens more often in slap and kiss [thai dramas]);

-possible incest situations (that thankfully most of the time turn out not to be incest at all).


Not all makjang dramas cause you to feel awful, some are ridiculously funny with over the top characters.

Hope I was able to help you and anyone else who reads this to understand what a makjang drama is all about.

True, including the characters skulls. XD

I am actually quite surprised. The first episode was not that interesting but the way it ends makes you want to watch the second episode and then you keep watching. I have watched 4 episodes so far and before I get to the 5th one I want to say to give this a try.

It is not amazing or anything but it is pretty entertaining and definitely has more watch value than some of the kdramas that have been airing these past few months. The female lead like several people have pointed is presented to us as someone who has pretty much given up on life and dreams and seems quite selfish but soon enough, and like I said I have only watched 4 episodes so this is not really a spoiler, her conscience starts to work and some of her plans backfire on her which is pretty entertaining to watch. And again, like someone else already said, the male lead is one of the nicest male leads I have seen in dramas in general (not just kdramas).

I think this deserves at least a try. Also, the actress playing the main lead is actually quite good, which I was not sure about before I decided to watch this. I know her from the first season of Produce 101 and she stood out to me at the time for her effort and incredible improvement in dancing/singing (which honestly she was not good at all at first). I was not sure how her acting would be but I guess since she was originally a trainee learning acting through her agency and thanks to her bright personality and persistence it turns out she is doing quite well for a beginner. I can’t say anything about her other roles since this is my first time watching her acting but one thing is for sure: she was able to pull off this character.

Well, as far as I have watched he seems to really love his kids. He is going to great lengths to find his son and he seems to care for his daughter, even the female lead gets along with her. Also, when he married her he did say that his kids were important and that he loved them and hoped she would be able to get along with them (or at least his daughter since the son is missing). But yeah, I imagine once he has children with Ming Lan, even if he does not mean to, he might love them more and the other kids will suffer with that. This is why I think all relationships should be monogamous and you should be careful with what you do before you marry. A lot of people have kids before they marry someone else and then have kids with that person and the kid that was born out of wedlock is always the one who suffers the most.
A lot of people these days are not that different from people in ancient China, they do the same things except now it is not called having concubines, its called cheating and they try to hide it. - . -

First of all, thank you for taking the time to explain it. And phew, I feel better knowing that he took the concubine but did not sleep with her (hope it stays that way).

Wait what? Concubines in Ming Lan? I was already tilted enough with him having had a "wife" and 2 kids before he got into a relationship with Ming Lan, but at least it was BEFORE they married. I have watched 44 episodes and am currectly waiting for it to finish airing before I complete it. Does that mean that concubines come into the picture somewhere between ep 45-6x? I mean, he already has 2 kids and I am sure Ming Lan will give him some too and its not like he is an Emperor so why is there a need for concubines. Ugh, I hate how often this happens in chinese historical dramas. Can you explain about the concubines? I don’t mind spoilers.

I know right? They totally got me at the "monogamous relationship despite their imperial status". Hope it gets subbed and that the summary is correct or I will be really mad later if a bunch of irritating concubines come into the picture.

Yeah. This drama has caused me to feel all kinds of things. I guess that was the writers plan from the start: to make us hate it but not be able to stop watching it cause it is addicting somehow. XD

I mean, it’s not a bad drama but I have watched several chinese dramas with a similar story, characters and pace so it I felt quite bored while watching it. But that does not mean you will feel the same way. You might like it a lot, especially if you have not watched that many dramas that are similar to this one.

Maybe skipping a lot did not help but I finished the drama already and I am still not sure of what happened with him. I honestly felt very confused with his story and I could not find the logic behind it. If you have finished watching and know what happened with him, can you explain it to me in a spoiler?

Why do most chinese dramas give so much screen time to supporting characters? I feel that the main leads did not get as much screen time as they should have. Also, the plot was all over the place. I am still not sure what I just watched, how things happened and who is who or why that person did that, so many questions in my head.

When I read the summary I was expecting something more organized and with more romance. I don’t know, I did not like it that much. I think the writers could have done a much better job.

When I first added this to my plan to watch list I thought it would be a modern romance with historical vibes because of the whole emperor/empress thing. I was expecting the revenge part but never imagined that this would be a makjang. Not only the tag but also the first few episodes really put me off. It was nothing like I expected and almost every character was making my stomach turn.

But later I found myself interested because of the female lead. (can’t say more or it would be a spoiler). And when I noticed I kept watching each episode and then the next and then kept going cause I wanted to know what was going to happen next even if the whole makjang thing was taking over the drama and I hated it. Now I have to wait for the last episodes to air so I can know how it ends, although I have a rough idea, but who knows, I might be surprised. Anyway, I should have waited for this to finish airing before I started it. At least, and if they keep the episode count to 48 (viki shows 52???), I should be able to find out how it ends in less than a week.

I would not say the ONLY decent people, there were probably other decent characters that had guest appearances LOL. But yeah, that was pretty much it. Probably one of the main reasons why I felt watching this was not worth it. There weren't enough decent human beings on screen for me to be able to ignore the trashy ones.

I will be honest here. I felt that watching this drama added legit nothing to my life or experience in kdrama watching. I was not able to emotionally connect to the the characters, in fact, only the male lead and a few supporting characters were decent human beings. Everyone else was one or more of the following: selfish, dumb, evil, irritating, greedy, ...

The romance was one of the least interesting I have seen and I have seen the main actors in other dramas so I don’t think the problem is them, maybe it’s the characters, but they felt dull, emotionless at times and I can’t say I saw the chemistry between the main leads, which should be a pretty obvious thing considering the plot.

At the end of the day, I watched it because I just wanted to get it over with but if I had not watched it I would have not missed anything.

No problem. ^^

This drama was a very nice experience. It had a little of several genres but they all matched well. It had cooking (obviously), history, romance, comedy, investigations, mistery, drama (not too much, which also made it free of frustrations), ...

Although I confess not all cases were to my liking and I did feel a little bored here and there, but it was still one of my favourite chinese historical dramas. I liked how food and cooking were a big part of it since I myself graduated from a cooking school and cooking is one of my main hobbies. The romance was there all the way but it was not rushed.

There were no characters that make you extremely frustrated like we see in most historical dramas (be it chinese, korean or from any other country) and the ending had what we so many times want to see at the end of a historical drama yet most of the time it does not happen.

So yeah, I was very pleased with this one. The long wait for it to be fully subbed (waited for about 2 years) was worth it.

Thank you, PP! You made it possible for us to enjoy this really good drama.

By the way, I forgot to warn you guys about something: NEVER, IN ANY SITUATION, WATCH THIS WHILE YOU ARE HUNGRY (especially if you have no food near you or if its too late to go cook something).

Some dramas are not meant to be taken seriously and its only purpose is to entertain viewers (go princess go is an example). But I did not think this one was entertaining enough for me to ignore how ridiculous it was. Also, without the second season subbed it is hard to judge it as a whole and I can only state my opinion considering the first 12 episodes which of course do not provide us with enough content or a proper ending. Even if the other episodes get subbed I probably will not bother watching them. I have no motivation to do it as I did with other dramas that were also not meant to take seriously but knew how to keep the viewers entertained.

Well, in case you have not read my other comment I requested for the Tragedy tag to be added. Why? I skipped a lot of things but from what I understood of the ending this is what happens:

- the male lead had to go back to this kind of weird modern looking capsule to sleep and heal or he would only have about 8 months to live;

- there is a fire and the said capsule gets destroyed;

- months go by and the male lead looks weaker and weaker until it’s their wedding day, he is sitting in a wheelchair looking more dead than alive, and he actually dies during the wedding leaving the female lead crying like a baby, then his body disappears and she seems to forget he even existed? (I think she remembers him later)

- many years go by, the female lead is now an old lady in her death bed, the male lead comes to visit (not sure his visit was even real or she was dreaming), kisses her and disappears and then she dies, or she dies and then he disappears (not sure).

Like I said, I skipped a lot of things because this drama was a disappointment for me, but one thing is for sure, no happy ending for the main leads.

How spoiled do you want it to be? Like telling the ending of the main leads?