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Jun Kyung had maybe two facial expressions throughout this whole show, but the absolute chokehold he had on me is actually crazy. Other than his character making literally everyone love him, I thought this drama was fast paced and I was sucked in pretty quickly. There wasn't anything very substantial about it, but it was fun and easy to watch and I can't ask for much more than that.
Last little note, that scene during the fashion show when Jun Kyung is just staring at Ari? Yeah. Made me go insane.
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For it's length and ambitious plot, drama was well done
For it's length and ambitious plot, this drama was well done. The production was high and the acting was great, but it definitely lacked in some aspects. For me, it was mostly just the villain. He was so basic and boring. The world itself could've been expanded on, but I didn't really care because the plot itself was so straightforward that the audience didn't need to know much about world.Every other moment of the show was just me screaming about how good Kim Woobin looked. So it was a real treat just for me.
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Joy of Life is now my whole personality
It's not like this show needs anymore reviews talking about how good it is, but Joy of Life has completely taken over my brain and I have THOUGHTS.First of all, this doesn’t pertain to anything, but I’ve been waiting to watch this drama for over a year because my sister watched it, loved it, and told me there was a huge cliffhanger at the end. So I didn’t want to watch it until we had some idea of when the second season would be out. So I waited…and waited…and then heard rumors about filming and then about possible release dates. Until last week I saw it finally confirmed that the second season would come out in a little over ONE WEEK. I despaired thinking there was no way I could watch 46 episodes in a little over a week while having a job and you know, being an adult. Boy was I wrong. It’s exactly a week later and I’m done.
Not only is this a testament to my lack of social life but it’s also a testament to how excellent Joy of Life is. The plot grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go for the entirety of the show. I tend to skip scenes in most cdramas, and usually I’m not missing much, but whenever I tried to skip something in this show, I realized that I’d just skipped something important and had to rewind. That’s the whole show; you need to be paying attention or you’ll miss something.
Plot aside, this drama could’ve fallen on its face if it didn’t have the actors that it did. All of the older actors are really excellent, but it’s Zhang Ruo Yun who carries this whole thing on his back. Without him, I don’t think the show would work. For the audience to root for a character like Fan Xian the actor has to be charismatic and engaging and not smug or arrogant, and Zhang Ruo Yun pulls it off perfectly. He’s acting circles around some of the younger actors in here (no disrespect to any of them).
Yeah, so while I’m sad that I didn’t watch this masterpiece sooner, I’m also happy with my choice to wait until the new season was about to drop. That way I didn’t have to wait in anticipation for years for the payoff to the cliffhanger.
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it's all about the yearning
I really enjoyed this drama.The plot is set up to be a palace/political thriller, which I like, but is really overdone--however, this show twists that plot by adding in a mystery that the Crown Prince and his people are trying to solve. The political drama blends into the overarching mystery nicely, which makes the plot fresher. There were some things in the plot (villain choices towards the end of the show) that I thought were a little silly, and parts of show dragged (too much screen time for unnecessary characters), but I could overlook all of that because I was enjoying myself so much.
Also, I love love both the Crown Prince and Min Jae Yi as individual characters, but I really loved them together. The drama really showed how they respected each other and worked well together as a team. Their romance is slow, but so lovely. It's all about the YEARNING.
I can see how this won't be for everyone, and that's okay. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. However, I think that this drama took an overdone plot and gave it a fresh twist. Do I think some things could've done better or that more time could've been given to the interpersonal relationships between the characters? Sure. Does that lessen my enjoyment? No.
Overall, really loved this one.
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cute show that manages to stick the landing
Lovely Runner was such a joy to watch, especially in the era of kdramas getting dark and gritty or just plain silly/cheesy. I had such a fun time and was so happy that this drama managed to stick the landing (something that seems to be rare these days). I was excited every week to watch the new episodes and honestly, while it did hit a little bit of a lull for me in the middle, it was still really good.I will say that my only beef is that I wanted Sun Jae to still be part of Eclipse :(
Anyway, what a cute show.
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season 3 when??
Season 2 of Joy of Life had a lot to live up to, and while the first season is still better, this season really really good. The pacing was a little slower and the story less focused than the first season, but at this point I didn't care because a) it was still good and b) I just wanted to see Fan Xian worm his way out of all his problems.It was so much fun to see all of the characters/actors back this season (with some changes). I will say some characters seemed to have a bit of a personality makeover (the Crown Prince). Something else I noticed was that it seemed like Fan Xian was a bit less morally grey this season. He was very much For the PEOPLE this season. Don't get me wrong I actually do buy his journey from "I just want to live comfortably" to wanting to help the common people. It's just that he seemed less ruthless this season and I wanted that aspect of him back in full force.
All of the acting was still excellent (shoutout to the Second Prince. He's my favorite Barefoot Psycho) but once again Zhang Ruoyun was beyond practically everyone else. Fan Xian has become one of my absolute favorite characters and it's really due to Zhang Ruoyun. That boy is acting with his ENTIRE chest and I love him for it.
Lastly! We've been teased with that damn gun for TWO seasons now. Fan Xian better blast someone with it next season.
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