Impressive historical drama
I found this historical drama to be impressive and moving. This was amongst my first historical K-dramas, and it left me with a strong impression.Great performances (Ha Ji Won & Ji Chang Wook!), and the amazing costumes added to the overall impression.
Although the story (as I remember it now quite long after watching) had a few "jumps"/gaps, I guess it was due lack of references and to not make this long drama even longer.
Warning: Big chance you will cry at least once, maybe more.
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Sweet and endearing
I found myself enjoying this a lot more than expected.The main leads were very sweet, and I felt they acted out the different emotions well.
It was a bit on the long side, and as I am writing this review now several months after I watched it, I must admit I don't remember THAT much from the story, but more the overall sweet feeling it left me with.
I do remember that I found some short scenes felt a bit unnecessary - they didn't really matter/add anything of importance.
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Workplace drama with mature romance
I became a lot more invested in this than I expected. I liked the mix of female friendship, workplace challenges and mature relationships. Part of the reason why I got hooked might be I am in fact mature myself, lol.The cast was good: I liked the fact that they "looked their age"; mature people in their 30s.
The main leads portrayed their roles well. ML had charm without being overly dashing; his small expressions were very well timed and added realism. FL was also very strong and convincing.
The stories revolving around the three friends shows different kind of life choices, relationships and obstacles. The three different storylines were well executed. They paced well, had good archs and character developments.
The overarching keywords (themes) that can be said the three storylines have in common are: family, career, obligations, sacrifices, and "self respect/worth". But how these themes are being explored for the three female characters are very different angles.
Although I kind of could foresee the outcomes, it was still nice to follow along on the journeys.
The workplace dramas were not on the extreme side, and I found the shopping mall setting interesting.
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Good, but a bit long
This is my third Wuxia /xianxia C-drama.“Love between fairy and devil” took me some episodes to get into, but then I enjoyed it. “The Untamed” I didn’t manage to get into at all, so that is on hold. This one gripped me pretty much from the start.
It is long, and some scenes are very dragged out. I watched a lot of this on faster speed, actually.
As some other reviewers mentioned: You have to just ignore how bad some of the effects are. It’s kind of like they realised they didn’t have the budget to do it well, so instead of doing a half-ass job they just kept it very simple instead.
In some close-ups you notice that the makeup could have been better as well.
I mostly liked the costumes though.
Besides some over-acting in certain scenes, most of the acting was good. I liked both the FL and the Ghost tribe princess.
The script was quite well-paced. The storyline had some rather familiar plots from scheming characters. That became a bit too much for me at some points to be honest. The story didn’t give me many surprises, but it still made me cry towards the end.
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Bitesize episodes stills your cravings for some entertainment
The short episodes make this easy to watch. It is entertaining, the acting is good, but take this for what it is, and don’t think logic when it comes to the main part of the story (humans vs clans with special powers).I quite enjoyed it for what it is; was easy to watch when I needed to “disconnect” after a really tiring day.
There’s not really anything I can put my finger on as “bad” with this. The costumes and the sets were decent, and as mentioned I think the acting was ok as well. I just don’t think it will be that memorable, so won’t give it more than 7 stars.
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Do not watch if you don't like open endings
I quite liked this, even if it was a bit dragged on.You might cry (I did), and it does have an open ending, up for enterpreting. I did Google it after finishing, and what some comments said made sense, but I won't reveal any more here.
This is kind of a typical role for the ML, and he does it well. Not exceptional, but better than "OK".
I liked the FL in some of the other roles I have seen her in, and this is also a bit similar character to some of her other ones. It is the same for her as for him: Good portrayal, but not "wow".
The story itself doesn't romanticize the depiction of the firefighter profession, but shows some of the struggles that comes with it, both for the firefighter and for those around.
I kind of wish they had kept the story a bit simpler at times - some added plots for tension/drama could have been avoided, in my opinion.
It does have some similarities to other dramas in the same genre (first responders/military).
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Comfort drama
Not super-original, but still a nice comfort-drama about growing up and young love.The story is held amongst the more realistic lines (no scheming, no overly controlling parents/grandparents...), which makes it more relatable (but also a bit predictive), and you grow fond of the characters. Hence I call this a comfort drama, that is easy to watch.
Even if the story spans over a long period of time, the story flows quite nicely and doesn't dwell too much on unnecessary time fillers.
I did find the FL character a bit too childish at times, and she didn't really sit right with me. I think it was a combination of the character, her appearance (the hair looked so fake), and the acting. It was a bit better in the later episodes, but still not quite "right". I wish she developed into a bit stronger persona – the foundation for it was there.
All of the female characters were a bit "exaggerated" character-wise; I don't quite know how to express it, but they all felt just a tad bit "off".
Both of the two ML were good though, and I especially liked Zhao Yi Qin as Lan Tian Ye.
Even if this was a good watch and left me with some warm emotions, I am not sure how good I will remember after a while, just for the reason it is not very original - I suspect it will kind of "blur together" with the other Chinese school dramas I have seen. I will still recommend it if you are up for watching something that is easy and enjoyable. It doesn't require you to process a lot or gives you huge ups and downs in emotions and energy.
I watched this now simply because it is leaving Netflix (in my region).
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A rock that turns into a gem
First of all, I must proclaim that it is quite a while since I watched this. But: This is one of those shows that you don't forget easily.I must also admit that the first episodes or so I wasn't really impressed. I think the female protagonist was a bit "over the top" for my liking.
But then, just as a rock that gets polished by the waves, the underlaying themes revealed themselves and I saw the beauty.
I guess my best way of describing it is to take some rather serious themes, spin a story around said themes that is a bit "over the top" to not make it feel too heavy, but rather make you laugh, feel some suspense, and love - both familiar love, and a bit of romantic love – and maybe you even got a bit emotional.
The acting was superb. Seo Ye-ji, Kim Soo-hyun and Oh Jung-se especially all gave convincing portrayals.
Seo Ye-ji's charachter Ko Moon-young (FL) was annoyingly crazy, but also managed to let you see the cracks in her armour every now and then.
Moon Kang-Tae, portrayed by Kim Soo-hyun, made you want to take him in, give him lots of hugs and support.
And then last, but not least: Moon Sang-tae, brilliantly brought to life by Oh Jung-se. He gave so much life and development to his character.
The supporting cast was also good – I can't remember a single one I frowned upon.
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Sweet and rather innocent easy entertainment
This was rather sweet, with the innocence of youth but with a small element of “what happened”.Lots of familiar plots and character-types we see in nearly every “young love” C-drama.
I would say it started off a bit stronger than it progressed. Kind of wished they had skipped a sub plot or two.
Good with short episodes, and even if I usually skipped intro and outro, the music was fitting.
This doesn’t really affect the rating, but it affected my viewing experience:
I watched this with subtitles on Youku, and some of the lines disappeared way too quick, and they often became very difficult to read on light background (white text no background/shading).
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It plays on one thing - and plays on it a lot
The amount of times the FL gets held, pushed, pinned to the wall/bed/sofa far exceeds any other dramas I’ve seen. If those kind of scenes trigger you negatively, then stay away. If not, it was the chemistry between the ML and FL that kind of kept this worth watching from my pov.There were things that bugged me in the story (which I’ve already forgotten after a few days), so can’t exactly say it’s memorable.
Although I didn’t really like him, the 2nd ML was an interesting character, and his acting was decent.
So, if you are looking for something with a bit of action and suspense but story doesn’t have to be very strong, and you don’t mind a lot of male dominance, then this is something that can help you kill time.
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A bit of everything
What would happen to a sommelier who loses his or hers taste? It’s an interesting foundation for a good story. Here, it is told with fiction, mixed with a bit of crime, romance, and what is supposed to be comedy?To be honest, it became a bit too much. I wish they had concentrated more on one direction instead of trying to cater to all.
Especially the influencer character (Xia Fan), who felt like he was supposed to bring the humorist element was over-the-top for me.
Other than that, the two main leads did a good job, although I find Gong Jun’s role is a bit stereotypical for him.
There’s no real surprise in the story, although it seems like the scriptwriters tried to throw a curveball it was a bit too obvious.
All in all, it was an easy, entertaining viewing experience.
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Could have been so much better
This review is for the complete series (1&2). My star rating is also based on the two seasons under one.Besides some illogical/unrealistic things, this started off fairly interesting. I felt it peaked as season 1 progressed, and then sadly, pretty much everything declined in season 2.
The quality of both filmography and sound was occasionally real bad, some dialogue and scenes felt very stiff and unnatural, and all the long and repeated flashbacks and other unnecessary long scenes (2 minutes theme park rides). The repeated flashbacks also occurred in S1 by the way.
There was also more (small) holes in the script in S2, and a few bloopers if I recall correctly (daytime/nighttime). Disclaimer: What I questioned as holes in the story might sometimes be due poor translations.
The highlight was the actors. Seven Tang brings a special energy to her performances, and although she might appear to be a bit over-the-top in some scenes, I still think she did a good job.
In some of the casual, relaxed scenes with the ML it kind of seemed like they were not acting, just goofing around having fun. It made me wonder if some lines were unscripted but they decided to keep it in 😉.
ML (Jiang Chao) was quite good - I think to play a rather emotionless character well must be pretty hard. He did have some moments where he was really charming, so I am curious to see some of his other works now.
All in all, this could have been much better if it didn’t appear like they had to cut costs and/or rush it. Some elements were a bit too “soap opera-ish” for my liking.
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Sweet modern love story that are refreshingly non-solemn
I would say this grew on me as the story developed.I enjoyed the last episodes the most, when things were falling into place, and the script included some refreshing scenes like the diarreah-scene (!).
The main cast was ok. He was a bit too “flat” sometimes, but I guess it was really challenging to not be, due to his character.
She had some scenes were she was very convincing, and mostly her scenes were ok.
Second male lead I found to be a bit over-the-top childish sometimes.
Music I did actually notice for once; well suited.
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Familiar tropes in a fantasy-historic setting
Evil, scheming family members, cold, ruthless man, misunderstandings and love; this drama contains a lot of familiar tropes, but is still entertaining.Nice sets and costumes.
Could have been a bit shorter; some parts of the story was dragged out too much.
ML and FL was quite good, whereas some of the supporting cast was somewhat lacking.
The one thing I didn’t quite like was how her character went from appearing quite tough and brave to being helpless a lot of the times.
The place some of the clues led them to find more clues in regarding 8th prince was a bit too far-fetched; it didn’t sit quite well with me. Could have been scripted in a different way.
The ending just reminded me a bit too much of other drama; I won’t mention it (spoiler).
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Entertaining but not very memorable
Decent story, although not very original (or memorable).It has a kind of light-hearted feel to it; good time-killer if you want something entertaining but not too heavy.
Acting was ok, though chemistry between the leads could have been a bit stronger. They didn't manage to leave a strong impression on me.
It had some funny moments adding a bit of charm, and those scenes let the FL shine a bit more, in my opinion.
I also liked that it wasn't "too extreme" in neither the dramatic plots nor the "moralizing" content.
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