Just to be clear, this is an adult rated drama with multiple instances of intense torture, sex, sexual abuse, rape and gang rape but with no nudity.
I second guessed multiple times whether this was not produced in China or does China has a secret second set of censorship laws for certain demographics...
I guess this way, it does show the real nitty gritty inhumanity of the times. Still the odd character personalities confuse me.
As for the review, I didn't like the leads, they were portrayed by old actors throughout their life, from teen years to their 40s. Qi Wei was the only one who could correctly portray herself as her character because of her age neutral progression and portrayal.
It is a revenge and obsessive romance drama which suffers with second FL syndrome. Bad luck for me as I had just come from a drama with a predominantly second ML vibe.
The story picks up very late, after the middle part, only then it becomes irresistibly addicting. Essentially when the actors' appearance start to characterise their age correctly. So I found myself skipping a lot of content in the early to mid parts, then finding it harder to skip anything in the last 15-20 episodes.
Regardless acting is top notch as is expected of extremely veteran actors. The enemies are also not one dimensional. Intricate political schemes were the highlight. Obsessive romance was well not very easy to watch.
Ah there are always dramas that just don't click. Perhaps as I have read many many Xianxia, this comes up as just another riding on the same old beaten path every other has that I felt such aversion towards it. I also found everyone other than the leads attractive and thus the main couple just faded. It didn't help that the drama went with the long winded, last episode culmination of romance and life route.
It is an okayish drama, starts great and from about E21, I was literally yawning and skipping large swathes of content... Only the last couple of episodes made it interesting again.
The romance is good and the overall plot is also very interesting, though it doesn't get the focus it needs. Its a romance focused action drama, pity that the main plot had so much untapped potential.
For sure the scriptwriter dumb down her character in the drama compared to the novel which showed her growth and…
You can say that because you have the novel material completing the story. For me, the drama is the end.
There were many times I thought I would be archiving the drama but the ending 16 or so episodes just killed that feeling. Ultimately, it was a good one time watch.
The first part was great, the second part was slow as heck after the FL family fiasco and I lost interest multiple times.
I am a fan of ZLS but I didn't like her character in this drama. Though I agree that she acts her age (15) so how she is reckless, rebellious and self-serving is rather appropriate. In time, she will learn to be mature and be able to share both sides of being in a relationship. Not everything needs to be said and couples need to have a high, close to bottom less resolve to go through thick and thin especially in a world where human life isn't of much value.
Unfortunately, that time does not come throughout the drama. So we always have this rickety caricature of a relationship which has many highs clinging on the transient passions of the FL. The need for twists also doesn't help her and story frequently puts her into situations where her immature personality flairs up.
The ML is a henpecked husband in all possible ways and perhaps the only possible personality who can cling onto a FL like her. As he is a very mature individual, his thought process clashes frequently with FL. Understandably he is always thinking far ahead and mistakenly taking FL as the same. Strikingly the FL has a very close and personal perspective. Which serves many a times, a very frustrating but realistic plot device.
Her prominently graceful behaviour in front of the emperor's family was not because she was mature but rather because she saw loving parents in them and wanted to put her best behaviour to not lose them.
Overall for me the courtship was a solid 9, same for the schemes but at the end, the FL dragged the score slowly to 8/10 for me. I confess, I was not expecting the FL to be a teenage paramour.
the story is good, nice they clear up all the problem. Like the King , is so funny, this series maybe the only…
Strong willed and getting saved always are not opposites ya know.... She is strong willed and impatient thus she is reckless and obviously needs saving on many occasions...
You have this opinion because you are used to Korean dramas. In reality, this is exactly what will happen in such…
Well good to know about my misfired judgement. Sorry.
Still, it made perfect sense to me. Perhaps, I have higher tolerance or acceptance towards including sex as a human instinct and plot device in a story.
I cannot think with the kind of people involved will have any other outlet to their stress, especially when most of them are not professional thieves used to such long heists nor do they have a clear picture of the plan. Yeah, I cannot thing of an easier way of letting it out.
Pros: Great scenarios, tension and thrilling twists and turns.
Caveats: The greatest trade off of faster pace is the character development which is severely lacking. You don't make much connection with them at all. On top the maverick professor is considerably weaker than the original. Instead the only character that I did find utterly intriguing was Berlin.
Having seen both the original (only season 1) and this remake/reimagination I really find it hard to believe some…
You have this opinion because you are used to Korean dramas. In reality, this is exactly what will happen in such a stressful and immoral environment. There is no opportunity better than instinctual sex to relieve the stress and mistrust every body builds up, every second of the day.
Korean media is just limited by heavy censorship so they can't portray that reality faithfully. A media that even has to censor a knife is severely lacking in the ability to portray the darker aspects of human behaviour.
But yes, it excels at selling an illusionary, politically correct world. The very reason it exists even in this era of flagrant demands of unregulated freedom...
The elders in E26 are so awesome when they find out about the main couple, how they give the knowing smiles and hum songs, really cracks me up every time.
personally, why the kids annoyed me so much was because the husband didn't just cheat. He used the wife financially…
Well in my perspective, it was normal.
I have been through such many times in my life with my parents, though there was no cheating involved but a lot of resentment and revenge.
The first thing that always came into my mind was that mom must have done the same tirade once again which she knows infuriates him. My parents were of the same kind, fire vs fire, nobody backed down unless a third party intervened or after a months long separation pending divorce.
There was always this revenge element prominent in my mother while father would forget the problem eventually. I could say my father at the end was the wiser one and compromised (for us) and did not give any chance to mother for her revenge to resurface.
It had gotten a high rating from me because the drama held my interest but as much as I was disappointed in the…
First draft of the cut is complete at 8 hours... have to polish it now, a long arduous journey.
Anyone knows a video editor that can cut subtitles along with the video and also add transition effects? Paid is fine too. Currently using a combination of cutter and editor, both paid. The cutter cuts subs but the editor does not, the dilemma...
It had gotten a high rating from me because the drama held my interest but as much as I was disappointed in the…
Well for the rush I think again that the usual happened:
A second season was planned and the script was on that pace. Unfortunately, that got cancelled suddenly while production had started for season one. Which necessitated that writers end it in one season and thus a haphazard script was readied and produced.
This is most plausible scenario as I don't think Yang Yang would have gone with such bad script form the get go. He is too high profile an actor.
As for making it satisfying, well I will cut out the romance till the wedding for myself and keep it enshrined in my archives :)
A usual Chinese series with great start, slow middle and rushed end. The only unusual thing is the sky high rating even after such torture one endures.
The snail pace starts from the middle, mess in the last third. After a long skip fest, you get to few meaningful last episodes. Romance also died down quite a lot, the tension was already little which only got increasingly reduced. Still the main couple is just pure eye candy.
I made a grave mistake with this drama. I am a person for whom the ending is simply a make or break thing.
This drama just doesn't try to save itself, I should have never seen it. I don't know how this slipped through my radar. There wasn't even a side couple that had enough screen time that I would like to keep that part with me.
This drama also touched upon a subject which is extremely sensitive for me as exactly that is causing so many tragedies in my country. I would not like to see them yet again even in my entertainment time, what little I have left.
I was so scared to finish the last 2 eps because of all the divided opinions on here. But I'm telling you, the…
We remember the tragic ones, really?? Perhaps those are luxuries of a first world country.
I hate and forget them with a passion. There is already enough tragedies happening all around me that I would like to spend my hard earned free time to experience another.
Not to mention, for us the cause is the same as the drama!
How the writers wasted the last episode is such a tragedy. They could have done it so much better. There are so many parallels to this story already done terrifically better than this.
The tension somehow just died down too quickly without reaching any sort of peak. Disappointing...
Han So Hee has been really unfortunate with dramas except My Name. Even though she is so pretty.
I second guessed multiple times whether this was not produced in China or does China has a secret second set of censorship laws for certain demographics...
I guess this way, it does show the real nitty gritty inhumanity of the times. Still the odd character personalities confuse me.
As for the review, I didn't like the leads, they were portrayed by old actors throughout their life, from teen years to their 40s. Qi Wei was the only one who could correctly portray herself as her character because of her age neutral progression and portrayal.
It is a revenge and obsessive romance drama which suffers with second FL syndrome. Bad luck for me as I had just come from a drama with a predominantly second ML vibe.
The story picks up very late, after the middle part, only then it becomes irresistibly addicting. Essentially when the actors' appearance start to characterise their age correctly. So I found myself skipping a lot of content in the early to mid parts, then finding it harder to skip anything in the last 15-20 episodes.
Regardless acting is top notch as is expected of extremely veteran actors. The enemies are also not one dimensional. Intricate political schemes were the highlight. Obsessive romance was well not very easy to watch.
7/10
The romance is good and the overall plot is also very interesting, though it doesn't get the focus it needs. Its a romance focused action drama, pity that the main plot had so much untapped potential.
8/10
There were many times I thought I would be archiving the drama but the ending 16 or so episodes just killed that feeling. Ultimately, it was a good one time watch.
I am a fan of ZLS but I didn't like her character in this drama. Though I agree that she acts her age (15) so how she is reckless, rebellious and self-serving is rather appropriate. In time, she will learn to be mature and be able to share both sides of being in a relationship. Not everything needs to be said and couples need to have a high, close to bottom less resolve to go through thick and thin especially in a world where human life isn't of much value.
Unfortunately, that time does not come throughout the drama. So we always have this rickety caricature of a relationship which has many highs clinging on the transient passions of the FL. The need for twists also doesn't help her and story frequently puts her into situations where her immature personality flairs up.
The ML is a henpecked husband in all possible ways and perhaps the only possible personality who can cling onto a FL like her. As he is a very mature individual, his thought process clashes frequently with FL. Understandably he is always thinking far ahead and mistakenly taking FL as the same. Strikingly the FL has a very close and personal perspective. Which serves many a times, a very frustrating but realistic plot device.
Her prominently graceful behaviour in front of the emperor's family was not because she was mature but rather because she saw loving parents in them and wanted to put her best behaviour to not lose them.
Overall for me the courtship was a solid 9, same for the schemes but at the end, the FL dragged the score slowly to 8/10 for me. I confess, I was not expecting the FL to be a teenage paramour.
Still, it made perfect sense to me. Perhaps, I have higher tolerance or acceptance towards including sex as a human instinct and plot device in a story.
I cannot think with the kind of people involved will have any other outlet to their stress, especially when most of them are not professional thieves used to such long heists nor do they have a clear picture of the plan. Yeah, I cannot thing of an easier way of letting it out.
Great scenarios, tension and thrilling twists and turns.
Caveats:
The greatest trade off of faster pace is the character development which is severely lacking. You don't make much connection with them at all. On top the maverick professor is considerably weaker than the original. Instead the only character that I did find utterly intriguing was Berlin.
Korean media is just limited by heavy censorship so they can't portray that reality faithfully. A media that even has to censor a knife is severely lacking in the ability to portray the darker aspects of human behaviour.
But yes, it excels at selling an illusionary, politically correct world. The very reason it exists even in this era of flagrant demands of unregulated freedom...
I have been through such many times in my life with my parents, though there was no cheating involved but a lot of resentment and revenge.
The first thing that always came into my mind was that mom must have done the same tirade once again which she knows infuriates him. My parents were of the same kind, fire vs fire, nobody backed down unless a third party intervened or after a months long separation pending divorce.
There was always this revenge element prominent in my mother while father would forget the problem eventually. I could say my father at the end was the wiser one and compromised (for us) and did not give any chance to mother for her revenge to resurface.
Anyone knows a video editor that can cut subtitles along with the video and also add transition effects? Paid is fine too. Currently using a combination of cutter and editor, both paid. The cutter cuts subs but the editor does not, the dilemma...
A second season was planned and the script was on that pace. Unfortunately, that got cancelled suddenly while production had started for season one. Which necessitated that writers end it in one season and thus a haphazard script was readied and produced.
This is most plausible scenario as I don't think Yang Yang would have gone with such bad script form the get go. He is too high profile an actor.
As for making it satisfying, well I will cut out the romance till the wedding for myself and keep it enshrined in my archives :)
The snail pace starts from the middle, mess in the last third. After a long skip fest, you get to few meaningful last episodes. Romance also died down quite a lot, the tension was already little which only got increasingly reduced. Still the main couple is just pure eye candy.
8/10
This drama just doesn't try to save itself, I should have never seen it. I don't know how this slipped through my radar. There wasn't even a side couple that had enough screen time that I would like to keep that part with me.
This drama also touched upon a subject which is extremely sensitive for me as exactly that is causing so many tragedies in my country. I would not like to see them yet again even in my entertainment time, what little I have left.
I hate and forget them with a passion. There is already enough tragedies happening all around me that I would like to spend my hard earned free time to experience another.
Not to mention, for us the cause is the same as the drama!
The tension somehow just died down too quickly without reaching any sort of peak. Disappointing...
Han So Hee has been really unfortunate with dramas except My Name. Even though she is so pretty.