Just finished this and have to say - it just didnt do it from - mostly because the FL character was so annoying to me. Loved BWS - he is always a joy to watch and grandma was super cute and one of the better SML characters (good bromance and no real love triangle - thank you for that!) But, man, the FL character just ruined it for me - right from the get-go. Here you have a 30 yr old woman who has her room decorated like a teenager with huge idol posters and spending money she doesn't really have on idol merch (I get the watch is part of the set up - but the rest was too much) I get the fangirl crush given the phone call - but this was just way beyond a healthy like of a singer/group. You then move on to the time slips and she is just so stupid so much of the time. Made some sense during the first one - but after that it just kept repeating and her character never learns or grows. I also just cannot stand the idea of sacrificial love - if you want to call it that. This idea that someone else's life is more important, I'm not worthy attitude - just irritates me to no end. The woe-is-me; its all my fault, incessant crying; let me take it all on by myself cause its my fault (when its not) and suffer in silence - she takes all the ML's agency away by making all the decisions herself in some sort of twisted idea that she is 'saving' him - I had just had it by the end with her and had NO sympathy for her character by the end. Another female character that was exhausting in her emotional hot mess, stupid antics that were supposed to be comic relief - but were really just her not thinking anything through and always acting on impulse - she was just so reactionary all the time - I hated it. I would have enjoyed this more if she had been clever and learned how to use the time slips in a good way. It also just got so repetitive - each arc was basically the same until the very end when it finally gets resolved. Time slips get messy and TONS of loopholes Villain almost seems unnecessary and feels like such a side-story when its really is the crux - so it didnt work for me at all. Their relationship kind of didnt work for me either as they really didnt spend that much time together and I SO did not get why he liked her beyond that fact that she was "cute".
ok - this was super fun - totally worth the watch. I had recently watched IM and MR in As Long As We Both Shall Live and man, how, wonderfully, completely different they are here - both these actors gave powerful performances in both. I hope they do more together. LOVED the Kedoin character - probably one of my favorites. I really only had one irritant, and its totally superficial - and it was MR's hair - the weird, helmet head, mullet hair cut - sometimes felt like wig - it just wasn't natural and it wasn't very flattering to him (of course, coming off the ALAWBSL movie and the stunning white/silver hair didnt help - lol!). But it was distracting and it shouldn't be Beyond that - this was a total delight. I see a movie is planned - but I do hope they think about a second season.
as someone who has experienced a miscarriage myself - both parents grieve (it’s a loss for both of them) and it was her decision to remove those items without letting him know in advance that made her actions so off-putting - angry at herself or not it was just wrong - don’t get me wrong, it was completely inline with her character and just one of the many reasons she was so unlikeable. It just was such a striking choice but the writers and directors to make the FL character soooo unlikeble - trauma or not, and then to not really have her have much emotional growth, was just odd
just finished it and its a mixed bag for me - some things I liked a lot and others I just hated Lets start with the likes: I would pretty much watch KSH in anything - he is such a wonderful actor and he doesn't disappoint here. I liked most of the side characters - although some of them do get a bit much - in that the writers just dont how to let a schtick go and let characters grow early enough (her bother and aunt are prime examples) Filmed well and good story (for the most part) Dislikes: And this is probably not going to it well with some fans - but the FL character (not the actress - although she isn't one of my faves) - just annoyed the bejeezus out me. I get that they were going for the female version of a tesundre CEO - but she was just mean. Way too self-centered and I felt like I was emotionally manipulated into rooting for her just because of her illness - cause she wasn't really that likable (such an odd choice to make your FL so unlikeable for much of the drama). But even that didnt hold - by the time of the second trip to Germany I really didnt care. Where I ultimately lost it for her was when she gets mad at him when she finds out about the divorce and her response is "you let go of my hand" and I was like, bitch, you did it first after the miscarriage (emptying the nursery without telling him). She was just exhausting in her tantrums and pettiness. She lied to him from the get-go about she she was, let him be treated horribly by her family for years and then doesn't seem to understand why he might want to leave her? Then it's weird the times she thinks he is flirting and she is just clueless - the man is physically recoiling from her and she is oblivious. Everything was about her and her wants and needs. She gets slightly better towards the end - but it's too long into the show to turn it around for me. One piece that still irks me is they didnt explain very well why the psycho mom went after the Hong family - I kept waiting to find out what her motivation was and its never really explained beyond her just being a sociopath. I mean, we get why the SML goes there - but never his mom. Not a big fan of dramas that are centered around a super-wealthy family - they were all pretty awful in one-way or another and the level of greed and extravagance was just gross.
I couldn't event get past episode 1 - Just cant do the stupid FL's in these drama anymore. I know they are going for naive - but they just come across as dumb-blonde, dumb and I hate - doesn't help with he stupid baby voice either. May come back to it later as I do loves me some BinBin
Good prediction, beautiful cinematography, great costumes. Like the main leads and many of the supporting characters - but that ending was just crap (in that it was so unnecessary) I found both their actions to be a bit selfish in the end (especially given they have a daughter) - I find the whole noble sacrifice thing stupid - hers out of guilt and his out of grief. SO, yeah, that ending was a just a big 'ole NO for me. I will give a lower rating because of it.
These days children barely tries to understand their parents and their upbringing. They just want instant freedom…
as well as showing parents who can let their children be independent from them and have their own lives - it should be an either or, both needs to happen
I think the biggest problem for this drama is the it was labeled as a romance drama, when it really isn't - that is such a secondary, even an afterthought really, part of this drama. The main characters are really the FL and her mom (who truly has to be one of the most horribly annoying moms in cdrama land). So, I think that if you know that going it it might help - might not, but, maybe Unfortunately, this was sold a romance drama with XK and YZ - which is probably why most people went to go watch it and then you got slammed with this mom character who took up waaaayyyy to much screen time. Add in that really the whole first 1/3rd of the show (or more) is about her extracting herself from the boyfriend and his family - this just went on way too long. We dont even get to them getting together until well into the second half and there isn't even any flirting or real buildup and then bam - kissing on the bus and then nothing after that - so that part was weird. I did like that once they did get together - good communication and support of each other. If you enjoy watching self-absorbed, self-centered moms who are overly invested in the kids lives in REALLY unhealthy ways - you might enjoy this. She was stubborn beyond compare, didnt care how her kids felt about anything - everything was about her disguised as caring for her family. She just made want to punch the screen all the time and pretty much fast-forwarded through most of her screen time after a while. The enabling by her family (especially the husband) to behave this way cause no one liked to deal with her outbursts (so, she has basically holding them all emotionally hostage) - was annoying as well Most of this drama is about the kids trying to break free. It literally takes mom getting a death scare before she will learn - but, even all that she turned into an unnecessary drama. Now, I get, she was an luneducation, poor woman and so much of her behavior was about her guilt and Shane around that - but that ultimately does not excuse her behavior towards her family. Some of this was also about exploring the generational gap And this wasn't the only awful family - the original boyfriend's family was awful, mom Zhang (President Zhang), his parents - just a lot of awful parenting all around. Biggest highlight was Grandma - love this actress and she was just delightful here. This could have been an interesting life/romance drama - but it was just a bad script and when you make one of your main characters so unlikeable and unredeemable that you actually hopes she dies at the end just to give the family some relief - you have probably failed on the script. This had some potential and you had two really good leads that were just waisted.
overall this is a pretty good one Great story about strong women during an era when women were not supposed to be - the journey and growth of the Hua women was fun to watch. FL that is steady, strong, smart and mature, no baby voice or any of that silliness. She has her crisis at the beginning and with help of the ML makes her decision and never wavers (mostly - has one moment but it doesn't last long). She was not someone to be taken lightly and I liked that she was just this steady rock throughout. Good romance - mostly because they communicated well, were supportive of each other and respected each others lives and choices. You aren't going to get real sizzler here - but it s very heartwarming romance. You are gonna HATE, HATE, HATE the emperor (as you are supposed to) - this was a well done villain because he was a bit complex in that he clearly adored his nephew (so we kind of liked him for that part) - but he was just a vapid, paronoid narcissist who ultimately was the biggest emotional manipulator and tormentor and really should have died a lot sooner than he did. My biggest let down here is that the ML was loyal to him to the end and that he wasn't able to break away on his own It gets a bit draggy in the middle - as in common in cdramas - but it is worth a watch
Just finished this up and it had some potential - but, ultimately did not work for me at all. I struggled out of the gate with the whole setup to start with - actress sisters runs off and they basically kidnap her twin sister to take her place - she was literally at a dig site with other students and it was like no one seems notice she disappeared (they explain it differently later in the drama which is problematic in if itself - like they think we forgot by then). But, I went with it - but it just didnt get any better. I mean, I get it, its a rom-com and not supposed to be real - but it at least has to have a certain level of plausibility - and it just kept filing on this front. So - PHD sisters takes over actress sisters life and she cant even for a hot minute act like the actress sister - so now her personality has done a complete 180 and everyone just acts like its normal. She then goes on to completely change the actresses persona - I just kept thinking, what happens when the sister comes back? Is she now gonna have to act like this new persona? How is that gonna work. It was also amazing how the PHD student becomes an expert in PR (cause she took picture of her friends in college), can act perfectly with very little training and seems to know the biz like the back of her hand - the writers really must have thought we were all just stupid. While I did appreciate the PHD sister had a good, tough, take no shit personality - she also was soooo exhausting in how she got mad every five minutes, was hot and cold all the time and often just made no sense in her actions. Besides being pretty and that they had a contract - not sure why the ML stuck it out after a while. To then wrap it up with the whole - I am going to run away/disappear to save you idiocy - of course, does this immediately after saying she will marry him, etc... By far - the worst character of the drama is the little sister. I pretty much fast-forwarded through most her scenes. She was just this childish girl with the stupid huge bow in her hair that everyone has spoiled (cause they just really dont know what to do with her). She cried and pouted and whined and worst of all stalked Secretary Gao. And this is what ultimately killed it for me. The romanticizing of stalking as if it's just her being persistent cause she 'loves' him and then to reward it all by actually having him fall for her and get married - NO!NO!NO!
I started out REALLY liking this - a show that had an embalmer and a woman with a physical disability in a romantic relationship - two VERY taboo topics in asian culture - so I was very excited by this and it started off great. But by the time I finished, I so did not want this couple together - mostly because the FL was so toxic in too many places (accusing him of forcing her, the whole engagement/leaving debacle, etc...) I also couldn't stand that she had to mention she was disabled every 5 seconds - yes, I know, WE KNOW, you don't have to keep bringing it up. She also ended up being just a big talker - liked to pontificate on being a 'modern' girl (code for being feminist)- while not really understanding or grasping the true meaning of it. She had piss-poor communication skills and it was pretty evident that she could have used a really good mental health therapist. But what got me was she used all of that to just justify doing what she wanted without having any guilt or consequences (in her mind) and it was all about her. Annoyed with ML character because he just kept eating it and coming back for more. There were two episodes in particular (first time they tried to be intimate and she freaks and accuses him of forcing her and the whole leaving for Shanghai and manipulating him into an engagement) - just crossed the line for me. I would have dropped her after the first episode, but for sure after the last one - she just went right in for the kill hitting his most vulnerable spot and then even says at the end "I don't think I did anything wrong, why do I feel guilty?" - what the actual f*ck girl - are you serious!! And while he wasn't that great at communicating either - he didn't intentionally or even unintentionally play games - which she did ALL OVER the place. Besides the horrible relationship - what this drama did beautifully was the story-telling around death and dying - these pieces truly were masterful
But, man, the FL character just ruined it for me - right from the get-go. Here you have a 30 yr old woman who has her room decorated like a teenager with huge idol posters and spending money she doesn't really have on idol merch (I get the watch is part of the set up - but the rest was too much) I get the fangirl crush given the phone call - but this was just way beyond a healthy like of a singer/group. You then move on to the time slips and she is just so stupid so much of the time. Made some sense during the first one - but after that it just kept repeating and her character never learns or grows.
I also just cannot stand the idea of sacrificial love - if you want to call it that. This idea that someone else's life is more important, I'm not worthy attitude - just irritates me to no end. The woe-is-me; its all my fault, incessant crying; let me take it all on by myself cause its my fault (when its not) and suffer in silence - she takes all the ML's agency away by making all the decisions herself in some sort of twisted idea that she is 'saving' him - I had just had it by the end with her and had NO sympathy for her character by the end.
Another female character that was exhausting in her emotional hot mess, stupid antics that were supposed to be comic relief - but were really just her not thinking anything through and always acting on impulse - she was just so reactionary all the time - I hated it. I would have enjoyed this more if she had been clever and learned how to use the time slips in a good way. It also just got so repetitive - each arc was basically the same until the very end when it finally gets resolved.
Time slips get messy and TONS of loopholes
Villain almost seems unnecessary and feels like such a side-story when its really is the crux - so it didnt work for me at all.
Their relationship kind of didnt work for me either as they really didnt spend that much time together and I SO did not get why he liked her beyond that fact that she was "cute".
I had recently watched IM and MR in As Long As We Both Shall Live and man, how, wonderfully, completely different they are here - both these actors gave powerful performances in both. I hope they do more together.
LOVED the Kedoin character - probably one of my favorites.
I really only had one irritant, and its totally superficial - and it was MR's hair - the weird, helmet head, mullet hair cut - sometimes felt like wig - it just wasn't natural and it wasn't very flattering to him (of course, coming off the ALAWBSL movie and the stunning white/silver hair didnt help - lol!). But it was distracting and it shouldn't be
Beyond that - this was a total delight. I see a movie is planned - but I do hope they think about a second season.
Lets start with the likes:
I would pretty much watch KSH in anything - he is such a wonderful actor and he doesn't disappoint here.
I liked most of the side characters - although some of them do get a bit much - in that the writers just dont how to let a schtick go and let characters grow early enough (her bother and aunt are prime examples)
Filmed well and good story (for the most part)
Dislikes:
And this is probably not going to it well with some fans - but the FL character (not the actress - although she isn't one of my faves) - just annoyed the bejeezus out me. I get that they were going for the female version of a tesundre CEO - but she was just mean. Way too self-centered and I felt like I was emotionally manipulated into rooting for her just because of her illness - cause she wasn't really that likable (such an odd choice to make your FL so unlikeable for much of the drama). But even that didnt hold - by the time of the second trip to Germany I really didnt care.
Where I ultimately lost it for her was when she gets mad at him when she finds out about the divorce and her response is "you let go of my hand" and I was like, bitch, you did it first after the miscarriage (emptying the nursery without telling him). She was just exhausting in her tantrums and pettiness. She lied to him from the get-go about she she was, let him be treated horribly by her family for years and then doesn't seem to understand why he might want to leave her? Then it's weird the times she thinks he is flirting and she is just clueless - the man is physically recoiling from her and she is oblivious. Everything was about her and her wants and needs. She gets slightly better towards the end - but it's too long into the show to turn it around for me.
One piece that still irks me is they didnt explain very well why the psycho mom went after the Hong family - I kept waiting to find out what her motivation was and its never really explained beyond her just being a sociopath. I mean, we get why the SML goes there - but never his mom.
Not a big fan of dramas that are centered around a super-wealthy family - they were all pretty awful in one-way or another and the level of greed and extravagance was just gross.
I found both their actions to be a bit selfish in the end (especially given they have a daughter) - I find the whole noble sacrifice thing stupid - hers out of guilt and his out of grief. SO, yeah, that ending was a just a big 'ole NO for me. I will give a lower rating because of it.
Unfortunately, this was sold a romance drama with XK and YZ - which is probably why most people went to go watch it and then you got slammed with this mom character who took up waaaayyyy to much screen time. Add in that really the whole first 1/3rd of the show (or more) is about her extracting herself from the boyfriend and his family - this just went on way too long. We dont even get to them getting together until well into the second half and there isn't even any flirting or real buildup and then bam - kissing on the bus and then nothing after that - so that part was weird.
I did like that once they did get together - good communication and support of each other.
If you enjoy watching self-absorbed, self-centered moms who are overly invested in the kids lives in REALLY unhealthy ways - you might enjoy this. She was stubborn beyond compare, didnt care how her kids felt about anything - everything was about her disguised as caring for her family. She just made want to punch the screen all the time and pretty much fast-forwarded through most of her screen time after a while.
The enabling by her family (especially the husband) to behave this way cause no one liked to deal with her outbursts (so, she has basically holding them all emotionally hostage) - was annoying as well
Most of this drama is about the kids trying to break free. It literally takes mom getting a death scare before she will learn - but, even all that she turned into an unnecessary drama.
Now, I get, she was an luneducation, poor woman and so much of her behavior was about her guilt and Shane around that - but that ultimately does not excuse her behavior towards her family.
Some of this was also about exploring the generational gap
And this wasn't the only awful family - the original boyfriend's family was awful, mom Zhang (President Zhang), his parents - just a lot of awful parenting all around.
Biggest highlight was Grandma - love this actress and she was just delightful here.
This could have been an interesting life/romance drama - but it was just a bad script and when you make one of your main characters so unlikeable and unredeemable that you actually hopes she dies at the end just to give the family some relief - you have probably failed on the script. This had some potential and you had two really good leads that were just waisted.
Great story about strong women during an era when women were not supposed to be - the journey and growth of the Hua women was fun to watch.
FL that is steady, strong, smart and mature, no baby voice or any of that silliness. She has her crisis at the beginning and with help of the ML makes her decision and never wavers (mostly - has one moment but it doesn't last long). She was not someone to be taken lightly and I liked that she was just this steady rock throughout.
Good romance - mostly because they communicated well, were supportive of each other and respected each others lives and choices. You aren't going to get real sizzler here - but it s very heartwarming romance.
You are gonna HATE, HATE, HATE the emperor (as you are supposed to) - this was a well done villain because he was a bit complex in that he clearly adored his nephew (so we kind of liked him for that part) - but he was just a vapid, paronoid narcissist who ultimately was the biggest emotional manipulator and tormentor and really should have died a lot sooner than he did. My biggest let down here is that the ML was loyal to him to the end and that he wasn't able to break away on his own
It gets a bit draggy in the middle - as in common in cdramas - but it is worth a watch
I struggled out of the gate with the whole setup to start with - actress sisters runs off and they basically kidnap her twin sister to take her place - she was literally at a dig site with other students and it was like no one seems notice she disappeared (they explain it differently later in the drama which is problematic in if itself - like they think we forgot by then). But, I went with it - but it just didnt get any better. I mean, I get it, its a rom-com and not supposed to be real - but it at least has to have a certain level of plausibility - and it just kept filing on this front.
So - PHD sisters takes over actress sisters life and she cant even for a hot minute act like the actress sister - so now her personality has done a complete 180 and everyone just acts like its normal. She then goes on to completely change the actresses persona - I just kept thinking, what happens when the sister comes back? Is she now gonna have to act like this new persona? How is that gonna work.
It was also amazing how the PHD student becomes an expert in PR (cause she took picture of her friends in college), can act perfectly with very little training and seems to know the biz like the back of her hand - the writers really must have thought we were all just stupid.
While I did appreciate the PHD sister had a good, tough, take no shit personality - she also was soooo exhausting in how she got mad every five minutes, was hot and cold all the time and often just made no sense in her actions. Besides being pretty and that they had a contract - not sure why the ML stuck it out after a while. To then wrap it up with the whole - I am going to run away/disappear to save you idiocy - of course, does this immediately after saying she will marry him, etc...
By far - the worst character of the drama is the little sister. I pretty much fast-forwarded through most her scenes. She was just this childish girl with the stupid huge bow in her hair that everyone has spoiled (cause they just really dont know what to do with her). She cried and pouted and whined and worst of all stalked Secretary Gao. And this is what ultimately killed it for me. The romanticizing of stalking as if it's just her being persistent cause she 'loves' him and then to reward it all by actually having him fall for her and get married - NO!NO!NO!
I also couldn't stand that she had to mention she was disabled every 5 seconds - yes, I know, WE KNOW, you don't have to keep bringing it up. She also ended up being just a big talker - liked to pontificate on being a 'modern' girl (code for being feminist)- while not really understanding or grasping the true meaning of it. She had piss-poor communication skills and it was pretty evident that she could have used a really good mental health therapist. But what got me was she used all of that to just justify doing what she wanted without having any guilt or consequences (in her mind) and it was all about her.
Annoyed with ML character because he just kept eating it and coming back for more. There were two episodes in particular (first time they tried to be intimate and she freaks and accuses him of forcing her and the whole leaving for Shanghai and manipulating him into an engagement) - just crossed the line for me. I would have dropped her after the first episode, but for sure after the last one - she just went right in for the kill hitting his most vulnerable spot and then even says at the end "I don't think I did anything wrong, why do I feel guilty?" - what the actual f*ck girl - are you serious!!
And while he wasn't that great at communicating either - he didn't intentionally or even unintentionally play games - which she did ALL OVER the place.
Besides the horrible relationship - what this drama did beautifully was the story-telling around death and dying - these pieces truly were masterful