I'd give him another chance lol but not with Bai Lu, they don't match at all energy wise.
I agree with you on this one. It's also worth taking into consideration that sometimes it's the director who is really the one killing the romance or chemistry. Romantic scenes need to be shot with a certain degree of sensitivity to the actors in mind. If what was happening offscreen was making the actors feel self-conscious or under pressure, that can have a big effect on the acting performances. He should get more chances to play ML.
this is the only show of Zhao Lusi I’ve watched. I find her annoying and childish in her other dramas.
Apparently chinese men really go for that creepily infantile "I'm just a wittle baby" crap... I know of no other culture - asian or otherwise - where females act this way with the expectation that it's somehow alluring. I find the not-so-covert tones of pedophilia deeply disturbing. Every other culture seems to understand that there's a big difference between being coquettish, and just larping as a diaper-aged child.
It was ok. The characters were fun, the story was not bad... but kind of short on the actual romance. There were some pretty wacky holes in the plot that you're just supposed to overlook. Once the ML and FL get together about halfway through the show, they kind of drop the romance and focus on the makjang/mystery/revenge really heavily.
I have never understood why so many dramas purport to be romances when they clearly neglect the romantic aspect of the show so much. It's almost like the people who make them don't really like romances. I wish they would ask themselves "who is my audience" before they script and film the episodes.
Why are you having a meltdown over a kiss ahahahhaahhahaahah
IMO... For a show with this production value, and for all the effort everyone put into the show, it deserves better than deer-in-headlights style kiss scenes. You wonder why kiss scenes are a big deal... because these are ROMANCE dramas. The kisses between the leads are supposed to convey and encapsulate their feelings for eachother. I could just as well ask you why does everybody love What's Wrong With Secretary Kim so much. Kiss scenes can make or break a show, regardless of whether that kind of thing matters to you very much.
I don't even ask for much. I'm not saying every kiss has to be an epic scorcher. What's so female empowerment about kissing like that? She's kissing like a sixteen year old would on the first night of an arranged marriage. It doesn't fit the character or the show, and that just makes it stand out as even worse than it would be in some cheesy makjang. The show itself is not conservative, and neither is the character she's playing. So it makes the kiss scenes so incongruous, it disrupts the flow of the drama.
I just watched ep 15 of Hotel King, and cracked up so much at HY's perfect execution of the dance choregraphy! He can't even bring himself to pretend he's an amateur, ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ!
They are actually having a comeback soon. Unfortunately Hak Yeon (N) is sitting out the comeback.
WHAT?! How can they, after what happened with Ravi and with Hong Bin? I hope they do make a comeback. I just thought Korea is really weird about how they view and how they react to "scandals"? (I put it in quotes because in America, neither of those things would even be viewed as a scandal, no one would care...)
I'd be pretty bummed out if they did a comeback and HY was missing. It just wouldn't be the same without him.
How is the romance? is it the main focus or just a background? idm spoiler
It's the main focus, but it starts off very slow-burn. You have to be patient and let the show take you where it's going to take you. ML and FL get together well before the end of the drama. The farther the story progresses, the more it focuses on the ML/FL's relationship.
on ep 10 and idk if its only me but i feel like there's something unsettling with how they portray the relationship…
I felt it was one of the most moving scenes of the drama, on the bridge when they break up. After it was over, I sat there and cried for a little bit over it. It was unsettling. Lots of C-dramas are vapid and brainless, but every now and then, a c-drama comes out that proves they are the undefeated heavyweight champs at creating realistic characters because they have such a masterful grasp of complex human psychology.
These two had moved slowly but surely into a toxic relationship, and they both realized it and dealt with it the best they could. She was stronger than he was from the outset, so of course it is her to end the romance. He knew he wasn't good enough for her, but still he wanted her so much that he tried as hard as he could to be a better man, and in his own way he fought for his love for her, up to the very end. His breakdown at the end of that episode just moved me to tears it was so raw and vulnerable.
I don't think this is the drama romanticizing their relationship, but rather NOT romanticizing it at all. I've been somewhat in her shoes, and it isn't as easy to say goodbye to a toxic relationship as you might think if you have a healthy psychology and no experience with a toxic romance in your own life.
Some women have the kind of emotional makeup that can make toxic love hard for them to recognize at first, and makes them attractors for toxic relationships. For both of the characters, that breakup would have been very melancholy. He, for obvious reasons. And her, because despite the fact that he isn't right for her and doesn't have his emotions under control, her heart goes out to him because he tried his absolute best for her. A part of her doesn't want to break up with him, she expresses reluctance to leave several times before she finally decides to let him go. Which also made the scene so real and so moving... that in that moment, she is finally standing up for herself, and growing into a better person who will be more healthy in the future, despite how much pain it causes her to confront him like that and be strong in the face of her own empathy for him.
I was very invested in this drama till they killed minami. After that I stopped caring what happened next or who did it or any of that stuff. Watched the rest on FFW. This drama was unique and aesthetically pleasing, but I didn't enjoy it.
It's pretty frivolous and juvenile, but there are some kilig moments scattered here and there, and the ML/FL characters and actors aren't annoying at all. This is a "to be continued" drama, so if you don't want to be left hanging with no resolution, then might want to give this one a miss.
This is a modern-setting c-drama, which I don't like. It has a business setting, which I don't like. There's very little angst, which I don't like. It's relatively spiceless and very low-key, which I don't like.
And yet... this was one of the best romances I've ever seen. This is the first modern-setting c-drama I've seen where the styling, wardrobe, and soundtrack are all totally on point with no flaws. The actors - ALL of them - are phenomenal. The acting has a very natural feel to it that seems raw and real. The dialogue is realistic and interesting, and at times poetic in quality. The direction is fresh and modern and keeps the viewer interested, despite the very slice-of-life storyline.
There is never a false note struck in this show, and nothing feels contrived... the sweet parts are sweet, the sexy parts are sexy, the funny parts are funny, the powerful moments are moving. I didn't even binge this drama because it was so good I wanted to enjoy every moment of it and take it slower like a really good book you never want to end. It was hypnotically good.
It was also interesting how the emotions were so well balanced in this show... it toes the line between sweet and sexy, and between poignant and fluffy til you can't figure out what kind of romance you're watching exactly except that it's a full experience with everything in it and totally unique unto itself.
I'm a really hard grader, and this is not my preferred type of romance, but I'm giving it 9/10 because it's virtually flawless.
I was fervidly befuddled by the fact that this is erstwhile "romance" has very little in the way of actual romance, and much more time is devoted to vile perfidious complots, swashbuckling, palaver, political quandries, and pates hoisted on petards like heinous victuals on cocktail toothpicks. Meseems the ML/FL don't have a lot of screen time together, and don't have a lot of chemistry. Which I find quite understandable because FL bears a striking resemblance to a frog, and can act approximately as well as one. I lost count of how many times while watching this drama I feel asleep perchance to dream of a romance with actual romance in it. And when I woke up I was still watching this tedious drivel. The only redeeming feature of this drama was the absolutely HILARIOUS subtitles which are, methinks, worthy of a Pulitzer.
1 
1 
1 
1 
Cons: Just about everything else
Just kidding, kind of. FL isn't the best visual match for the ML but shes allright. At least she's not annoying.
I have never understood why so many dramas purport to be romances when they clearly neglect the romantic aspect of the show so much. It's almost like the people who make them don't really like romances. I wish they would ask themselves "who is my audience" before they script and film the episodes.
I don't even ask for much. I'm not saying every kiss has to be an epic scorcher. What's so female empowerment about kissing like that? She's kissing like a sixteen year old would on the first night of an arranged marriage. It doesn't fit the character or the show, and that just makes it stand out as even worse than it would be in some cheesy makjang. The show itself is not conservative, and neither is the character she's playing. So it makes the kiss scenes so incongruous, it disrupts the flow of the drama.
I watch romance dramas for the ROMANCE. Aigoo.
I'd be pretty bummed out if they did a comeback and HY was missing. It just wouldn't be the same without him.
These two had moved slowly but surely into a toxic relationship, and they both realized it and dealt with it the best they could. She was stronger than he was from the outset, so of course it is her to end the romance. He knew he wasn't good enough for her, but still he wanted her so much that he tried as hard as he could to be a better man, and in his own way he fought for his love for her, up to the very end. His breakdown at the end of that episode just moved me to tears it was so raw and vulnerable.
I don't think this is the drama romanticizing their relationship, but rather NOT romanticizing it at all. I've been somewhat in her shoes, and it isn't as easy to say goodbye to a toxic relationship as you might think if you have a healthy psychology and no experience with a toxic romance in your own life.
Some women have the kind of emotional makeup that can make toxic love hard for them to recognize at first, and makes them attractors for toxic relationships. For both of the characters, that breakup would have been very melancholy. He, for obvious reasons. And her, because despite the fact that he isn't right for her and doesn't have his emotions under control, her heart goes out to him because he tried his absolute best for her. A part of her doesn't want to break up with him, she expresses reluctance to leave several times before she finally decides to let him go. Which also made the scene so real and so moving... that in that moment, she is finally standing up for herself, and growing into a better person who will be more healthy in the future, despite how much pain it causes her to confront him like that and be strong in the face of her own empathy for him.
Such a fantastic scene.
And yet... this was one of the best romances I've ever seen. This is the first modern-setting c-drama I've seen where the styling, wardrobe, and soundtrack are all totally on point with no flaws. The actors - ALL of them - are phenomenal. The acting has a very natural feel to it that seems raw and real. The dialogue is realistic and interesting, and at times poetic in quality. The direction is fresh and modern and keeps the viewer interested, despite the very slice-of-life storyline.
There is never a false note struck in this show, and nothing feels contrived... the sweet parts are sweet, the sexy parts are sexy, the funny parts are funny, the powerful moments are moving. I didn't even binge this drama because it was so good I wanted to enjoy every moment of it and take it slower like a really good book you never want to end. It was hypnotically good.
It was also interesting how the emotions were so well balanced in this show... it toes the line between sweet and sexy, and between poignant and fluffy til you can't figure out what kind of romance you're watching exactly except that it's a full experience with everything in it and totally unique unto itself.
I'm a really hard grader, and this is not my preferred type of romance, but I'm giving it 9/10 because it's virtually flawless.
Drama: 5/10
Subtitles: 10/10