Entertaining & enjoyable
I quite enjoyed this. Even if it got the "supernatural" element to it with FL hearing lies, it doesn't spin off into lots of superstitious stuff, but kept it at that. The balance between romance and suspense is good, and what drives the story forward.Brief synopsis:
The female protagonist, Mok Sol Hee, is a rather lonely soul with a complicated relationship with her mother. MSH can detect lies by listening to people, and makes a living as a shaman offering her services. The ML, Kim Do Ha, is a successful music composer who hides his identity due to a murder allegation in his past. Their lives cross paths, and as they get to know each other and unconsciously help each other "heal", his past might come back to haunt him.
The story has an original twist to it, which I appreciated. Overall the flow could have been a bit smoother; there was some unnecessary derailments, although not huge ones.
Casting is good, and I mainly liked all the actors in their roles.
Hwang Min Hyun (1st ML) kind of reminds me of Cha Eun Woo sometimes. He gives a good performance as Kim Do Ha, however I feel sometimes his performance could have been a little bit stronger. He has a lot of good moments too, though, don't get me wrong!
Kim So Hyun (FL) is "her usual self" I would say. This isn't a remarkable performance, and I kind of wish her character had been a little stronger/fiercer in some aspects, so she could try to shine a bit more. They do have some cute moments together.
I enjoyed watching both Seo Ji Hoon (2nd ML) as Lee Kang Min (police), and Yun Ji On in the role of Jo Deuk Chan.
To sum up:
I liked the kind of original twist on the story, but it could have been kept a bit tidier without some of the sidetracks. It was enjoyable and rather easy to watch, but I don't think I will watch it again.
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Quality soap-opera - all the familiar plots on steroids
Take all the well-known tropes (or plots) from soap-opera like dramas, add convincing acting from a good cast, season with enough budget to do a quality production based on a well-written script, and you get what feels like a high-quality soap opera on steroids.You could also say this is another "poor girl, rich guy" kind of story, or a take on the "Cinderella genre".
Very brief synopsis:
Han Yi Joo was at a young age adopted into a family, where she was mistreated. As an adult, she found out that her husband was in love with her sister, and her stepmom framed her for her own wrongdoings. HYJ then dies after a car crash, and wakes up as herself a year previous, right before her wedding. She wants revenge, and as the first step, she brakes off the engagement, and then approaches the man her sister had her eyes on, a CEO from a powerful family; Seo Do Guk. He takes her up on her initiative, and they enter into a contractual marriage. His reasons for agreeing turns out to be more than her promise to help support his business dealings, and as secrets and evil acts gradually comes to light, will love also find a way to thrive?
The story is well-paced and balanced between giving you some breathers in between the events propelling the story forward. And although you have all the familiar elements present (scheming, villainous characters, half-siblings fighting for power and attention, business rivalry, one night stands and consequences), it is executed without feeling like cheap tricks. That said: 12 episodes of about an hour each felt like the right length. Much more, and it would have been dragged out, and any less would probably have felt rushed. Even if it is well-written, I am only giving 7,5 stars for the story, as it isn't very original.
I love Sung Hoon as the ML, and Jung Yoo Min in the FL role. The both deliver solid performances, building a connection with the audience. I could sense his sympathy and love, and I felt her deep sorrow and anger.
As for the supporting roles, the cast for those were also very good, and I found especially Han Yi Joo's stepmom and sister to give convincing performances.
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Excellent romcom
Very brief synopsis:The female protagonist, Go Eun Ha (played by Han Sun Hwa) is a struggling children's content creator, who by chance gets tangled up with a firm run by a former gang boss.
The CEO of this company, our male protagonist Seo Ji Hwan (Um Tae Goo), wanted to break free from his mobster dad and ratted him out to the authorities years ago, sending his dad to prison.
After some initial misunderstandings, Go Eun Ha and Seo Ji Hwan end up falling for each other, but there are of course other players on the field, as well as the struggles of running a business as a former mobster.
First of all: This was a rather fresh series, a bit different from a lot of other ones. Stands out a bit like how "Knight flower" also did for me, even if that is a different genre. It's kind of like they don't view/take themselves so seriously.
My Sweet Mobster has got charm, humour, romance, and some action and suspense.
It also showcases what I imagine is a very real struggle: to turn your life around as an ex-convict. This series are in a non-preachy way showing that they often are very normal, compassionate human beings too.
Cast was brilliant, and the main couple worked well together - although I would say Um Tae Goo probably impressed me a little bit more than Han Sun Hwa, as I also think his role was more challenging to portray.
I don't always notice the music, but this time I did, in a rather positive way.
I have very high standards for "rewatch"; it is mainly only a topscore of 9 or 10 that means I myself would consider rewatching. This lingers between 8 and 9 on rematch value; I have just finished, so I might reevaluate when digested my impression a little more.
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OK drama, made better by well-developed characters and good acting
Brief synopsis:The female protagonist Lu Li has been secretly in love with Jiang Yi Cheng for years. He is a genius programmer, now running his own company. He doesn't hire female programmers (there is an obvious story for that), so she disguises as a man and gets hired. There's twists and turns, they get married, but signs a secret marriage contract. She hopes she can make him fall for her during the duration of their contract, but obstacles appear.
The story contains a lot of well-known tropes and cliches, but at the same time I found it engaging. The main reason in my eyes being that the characters were not so one-dimensional as they are in "soap operas", but they were rather given multiple layers, making it more interesting and giving better opportunities to build a connection to us, the viewers.
They could have skipped some of the side stories, it felt a bit unnecessary with the love stories for her friend, the sister AND the coworker.
I did like both his and hers parents, though.
All in all, the script could have been better, but the acting and the well-developed characters made it well worth watching in my eyes.
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Well-written until halfway
The story revolves around the female protagonist Gong Shim, who feels inferior in life, especially to her beautiful successful older sister. By chance, Shim attracts the attention of two seemingly very different men: Ahn Dan Tae, an unconventional lawyer with an unpretentious view on life, and the kind hearted chaebol grandson Suk Jon Soo. Suk Jon Soo’s family carries a burden from over 20 years ago, and this resurfaces, intervening with the lives of our main characters.The synopsis here on MDL feels a bit misleading in regards to “love story of the two sisters” in my opinion. The sister is a rather unlikeable person, but her story feels more like a thin sidetrack.
I thought the script was very well written, but it declined in quality from about halfway. That’s also when the way too obvious product placements appeared, btw.
The ending also felt a bit rushed, or should I say like they took some shortcuts.
As for the cast, I really like Namkoong Min from The Veil and My Dearest, so it was interesting seeing him in this earlier work. His character (Ahn Dan Tae) was a bit exaggerated, but he plays it out very well, and although I won’t say he is as strong in this as in the two before mentioned dramas, it is also a different kind of role.
Bang Min Ah as Gong Shim was convincing, but not brilliant. Her character did disappear a little as the story went on in a different direction, which might be one reason; as I feel she did shine more in the earlier episodes.
I enjoyed Ohn Joo-Wan as Suk Jon Soo; he portrayed emotions well and managed to build a connection with his audience (me, lol).
To sum it up:
It is not a waste of time watching this, but it could have been better. It is not a series I am likely to rewatch, but I might recommend it to others.
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A mix of beautiful and triggering
First of all: This show contains scenes that might be triggering for some, all from wrist-grabbing and abuse to r*pe (disgusting Emperor!).Very brief synopsis:
Crown Prince has been in love with the FL "forever". When they are due to marry, the influential Perceptor, our ML, gets her as his bride instead. FL witnessed this man murder someone and believes him to be pure evil, and tries to kill him on their wedding night. We then follow their story; falling in love, deceivement, intertwinements with the Royal court and the Crown Prince, revenge plots, near-death experiences, abduction, tragic losses, and more. Add in some memory-loss and poison, and pretty much all the boxes for cliches and tropes are ticked off.
Cast:
The main actors were all strong. He Xuan Lin (FL) and Richard Li (ML) makes a good on-screen couple. There are some steamy moments between them.
Wang Xing Wei (SML) made me dislike the Crown Prince, although his character was a bit exaggerated.
Story:
It contains a lot of well-known tropes and cliches, and they could probably have skipped some without loosing much from the story. They could rather have given more room for us to grow a stronger bond with the main characters, as it could feel a bit hectic at times.
The introduction of Pei Che felt unnecessary. His character kind of felt "half-hearted".
The ending felt a bit rushed for me.
All in all:
I watched a lot of this while multitasking, and even if I had to skip back every now and then, it was also much I didn't really miss even if not paying full attention.
I feel the show could have been better, and completed watched it mainly because of the main couple.
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Strong acting and familiar, but good tropes
I have watched quite a few historical K-dramas, and this is another strong one.The story does have the familiar elements of court intrigues, paranoid king, sibling rivalry over both the throne and love (kind of), time of separation, and loss.
The synopsis here on MDL is a bit misleading, or should I say: not as descriptive to the actual events in the drama. It revolves a lot more around everything happening before she became Queen.
The series starts off almost at the end, so we know tragedy will strike. It then takes us back to the beginning of the main couples' story, with a happier mood, but with events building up to the dramatic future. The young cast was brilliant! Kudos to all of them.
As for the adult cast, I thought Lee Dong Gun portraying the elder brother (king Yeonsangun) was absolutely superb. Everything from his facial expressions, the look in his eyes, and tone of voice – this was really strong acting. Even if he played an un-likeable character, you still got some sympathy with him, much because of Lee Dong Gun's portrayal: He managed to show us his character's feelings of hurt and betrayal.
(FL) Shin Chae Kyung portrayed by Park Min Young is also impressive. Her acting is consistently on-point.
(ML) When it comes to Yeon Woo Jin who played Yi Yeok / Nak Chun, he was mostly strong. There was a few instances though where (in my opinion) it looked like he was suppressing a smile instead of crying.
I did search up the history around King Yeonsangun, King Jungjong and Queen Dangyeon after completing the drama, and if Wiki is kind of reliable, my understanding is that the drama is loosely inspired by historical persons, not necessarily by historical events.
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Light romcom wasn't quite that anyway
This started off giving the impression it was going to be a light romcom, but ended up being more of a drama. The funny scenes kind of dwindled away as the story took us on some more serious paths, and the characters developed.The story got a bit intricate or hectic at times, and since I don't really know anything about dissociative identity disorder or stress disorder, I don't know how accurately it is portrayed in this series. Some of it did seem a bit unrealistic for me, though, adding to my impression of this not really knowing what kind of genre it wanted to be.
The underlying more serious topic in the script seems to be healing - of childhood traumas and insecurities because of appeareances.
The cast is good.
I like Zhao Yi Qin as the ML Shen Yi, although his somewhat aloof persona is a bit similar to another role I have seen him in. I found him a tad bit stronger than FL. Their chemistry was not bland, but not through the roof either – it did shine stronger in a few scenes.
Li Jia Qi is an actress I can't really make my mind up about. As the FL she mostly did a good job portraying Meng Hui. I must say I thought she did a little bit better as the alternate personality though.
From the supporting cast I enjoyed watching Fan Zhi Xin as Sui An.
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Good acting, unexpected development
I hadn’t read any reviews before watching this, so for me, the story development came as a surprise.Writing this without trying to give away spoilers, but if you really don’t want any hints or clues, then stop reading as it is difficult.
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The synopsis on Netflix is really short, and I didn’t really remember if I watched the trailer back when I added it to my watchlist. So, for me, this kind of hit me right in the heart.
Maybe I was expecting a bit more lighthearted banter, and not something that was quite emotional (I cried).
It felt shorter than what it is; I actually felt they could have let some of the story play out in a little more detail.
The two main actors were great; not boisterous taking up a lot of attention, but low-key strong presence.
The ending kind of left me wanting more.
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A love-hate story that gets a bit fluffy
Some scenes you could almost feel the tension and the sparks of both attraction and hatred flying between the FL and ML. And then you have some rather dull scenes.I feel it could have been possible to cut out some of the side stories and “fluff” without loosing much - a few less episodes wouldn’t have hurt the story much.
Mei Lin, the highly trained assassin, sometimes became a bit passive.
Murong Jing He’s character went through an emotional growth-journey. I kind of liked how we witnessed first the more indirect signs, and then his unashamed declarations of love.
As for the other love stories, Luo Mei’s didn’t really feel that it fit her character. As for concubine Zi Gu, they could have kept it at the emotional level and let her fate end in a different way.
For me, the common message from the love stories here was how love can make people take difficult choices, and willingness to make sacrifices.
I must admit I cried as I watched the last episodes in the middle of the night.
All in all, this had some good acting, the story was mostly ok but could’ve been a bit shorter. There were some scenes where the effects were so-so (I especially noticed in the later episodes), and I mostly enjoyed the music.
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Refreshing and quite original
I will say this script had a very good balance: There was funny moments, emotional and thought inducing scenes, fight scenes and some light romantic scenes.How the screenwriters managed to tell the rather tragic life of Joseon widows without it adding a heavy emotional feel to the series was well executed.
It was a refreshing take on a historical drama, with unconventional female protagonist.
As for the FL, I liked her in One the Woman, and she gives a good performance here as well; she suits this kind of role where she can utilise her comedic timing.
Kim Mi Kyung (her mother in law) was brilliant as always.
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Surprisingly memorable
I am writing this review now around 6 months after I actually watched the series.Originally I rated this an 8 on Viki, but it has really stuck with me, so I am "upgrading" it to 9.
Exactly why it has stuck with me I am not sure of, but the ML did make an impression on me.
He was an interesting character, and Lin Yu Shen portrayed him well. I think one of the reasons his role is memorable for me is that he stands out a bit from a lot of the other more visually "polished" male actors I had seen in C-dramas. Lin Yu Shen is a mature man, not trying to look like he is a 25 year old idol, lol.
Zhao Lu Si as the FL is also convincing, and her persona has some more natural traits than in a lot of other dramas. (I actually didn't know it was ZLS until I looked this drama up again now.)
The story kind of grabbed my interest straight away, and if you are a foodie or have a liking for food, that might be enough reason for you to check this series out.
As for the story, there are some very familiar plots, but overall it is still interesting.
I can see myself rewatching this at some point, mainly because of the warm feelings the ML and FL left me with.
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Good for a "budget-production"
I kind of review these lower-budget productions on their own "scale", because it just doesn't feel fair to compare them against huge-scale productions.So, on that premise, I would say this is quite good.
I liked the music, the story was interesting (not super original though), the main cast was good. The script could have been a bit better, and the effects were so-so.
As for the cast, the ML sometimes gave off a bit similar vibe to Song Joong Ki in Vincenzo.
FL was decent as well.
I liked the sensual undertones/attractions shown, without it being overly relied on. Compared to "Embrace in the dark night" that plays heavily on one thing, this is a lot more subtle.
When it comes to what gives it away as a lower-budget production, I would say it is the effects, and the sometimes inconcistencies in the script, especially for time and wardrobe. It was just several scenes where it kind of didn't make sense that they suddenly had different clothes on, or it seemed like they skipped several hours while moving from one scene and location to another, without there being a logical reason for it.
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Fast & brutal action scenes
I have read and seen little about season 2, I only recently caught on that it is happening in modern times.Hence, I was quite curious to what kind of character Park Seo Joon (ML) would play this season: would he still be Jang Tae Sang? Or someone who looked like him? I guess I can say I was wondering how they had included his character in modern time. I won't reveal it here to not spoil, though, but it was solved in an OK way.
I know Han So Hee (FL) has been a bit controversial, which I don't want to get into, but as an actress I must say I think she impresses. I dare say I might even find her a bit stronger than PSJ in this season.
The season is fast-paced, with lots of action and fight scenes that are bloody and goory, and sometimes so packed and intense it is almost difficult to follow (at least when watching on smaller screens).
There was a few things I questioned a bit - could be because I don't quite remember from season 1, or because the script didn't go into it.
I won't say this is highly memorable, but it is a quality production.
Tips: Do watch a little bit into the end credits.
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Good, but felt it was lacking “something”
I liked this drama, but at the same time I feel that I could have liked it even more. It’s lacking a little bit of that extra “something”. A deeper connection to the characters, maybe? Or could it have been the way too obvious product placements that put a dampener on the feel of the series?The ML has an interesting story arch and development, and I kind of wish that was explored even deeper.
We got some “peeks” into the FL’s backstory, but a little bit more might have given us a better connection to her character.
You have the typical chaebol and power hungry controlling parents and sibling rivalry, but then you also have his mum that stands out a little bit.
I’m glad I watched it, but not something I am likely to watch again.
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