Thanks for this article which made me think over what is my criteria for watching dramas. I have now reached the total of 457 dramas watched and obviously I have become much more pickier than at the beginning. At first I used to watch most of the K dramas that were released whether I liked the synopsis, genre, cast or not. As time went by and as I started to figure out similar clichès or plots I started to choose what not to watch and added Cdramas to my range, until I reached the point where I am now in which I can almost tell at one glance, thanks to all the elements that you listed if I will be interested in a drama or not . Usually I never regret my choices (especially about which ones to skip) except for rare cases in which I read lots of positive comments on the feeds such as with Itaewon Class recently. So in my case experience is what helped me to pinpoint my criteria for choosing dramas.
I kept away from Korean family dramas for a while as the last ones I saw always dealt with overbearing and histerical parents and very submissive grown ups. I have to admit that this drama also included these aspects so not much has changed since then, however I enjoyed the warm overall atmosphere and the easy going personalities of most of the members of the family involved and I appreciated the market environment. There were a few parts that didn't make much sense to me and which I found annoying and luckily didn't last long but on the whole it was a pleasant drama that I watched slowly and taking my time. My rating is 8.
This was a very well written and acted time travelling drama. I enjoyed how everything was explained and carried out perfectly and how entertaining it was. Usually in time travelling dramas the back and forth can get confusing but here writers always made sure we knew what date we were in because it was either written or pointed out extremely well. All the knots were properly explained and nothing was left unsolved by the end (although I did have a few moments of doubt along the way), so I would highly recommend this drama for a fun watch.
Thanks for this great article! I also love Chinese and Korean historical dramas for all the reasons you mentioned. I enjoy learning more about the history of these two countries. I agree that costumes and settings are beautiful and that most of them have sad endings. Lately there has been a consistent tendency to mix this genre with fantasy/horror/comedy etc. and I personally try to keep away from them as I prefer the pure historicals.
Where is everyone watching this drama? Viki only has up to Episode 14 (many of them not subbed completely). Youtube only has subs up to Episode 6. Can anyone help please?
Just a quick review as so much has been said about this drama. I personally enjoyed it, and the parts that I appreciated most were those related to the family/friendship ties and to the start up issue which was really interesting. I was less interested in the romance part although I have to admit that Kim Seon Ho litterally shone here and surpassed the remainder of the cast who did a good job anyway. My rating is 8.
I found the 8th episode somewhat irrational...I mean they had the chance to meet Kim Seo Jin in the present time and neither Ae Ri nor Geon Wook told him about his enemies (including his horrid wife) making plans to destroy him, but all they could do was shout at him and tell him nonsense that he obviously would not believe? The writers have greatly disappointed me here and my rating will certainly go down for the whole drama.
Just came here to say the time jump is the lamest most cliche writing the writer could ever come up with.It might…
I also feel JP deserves a more mature partner than DS. She seems quite childish at times so definitely better suited to DM. What a waste of a great actor whom I hope to see in a leading role soon.
Thanks for writing this comprehensive starter kit. I actually started out my drama addiction watching J dramas 8 years ago and carried on until about two years ago when I somehow lost interest. You certainly covered all the basics here and I totally agree that it's very difficult to find a wide choice of Jdramas with English subtitles in legal streaming sites which is a shame in particular as Asadoras and Taiga dramas are so beautiful.
I so loved this article, thanks for writing it! There are so many dramas listed here that I loved, rated with a 10 and consider as classics and a couple that I also rewatched (Faith and Innocent Man). Indeed 2012 was a fantastic year for dramas and it was luckily also the year in which I started watching K dramas.
I have watched about 20 Chinese historicals so far and I had never come across one that felt like a waste of time such as this one! My policy is to never fast forward anything as I would rather drop a drama and I kept to this also for this one but I can totally understand those who pressed the FF button as the second half of the story here really dragged too much!! I also agree with those who felt that in the end many questions were left unanswered as it seemed like the writers couldn't wait to get the whole thing over with. The OTP started out strong, determined and almost unbeatable overcoming so many difficulties and in the end they tripped over incredibly trivial matters which made the whole story seem ridiculous. I also couldn't get over the fact that the son who remained King at the end was someone who had schemed and killed his uncle without anyone finding out about it. In any case a total failure which I am rating with a 5.
I am soo relieved this drama is over!! What drew me to it was the classical music setting which I always found fascinating with great drama plots. It wasn't absolutely the case here as the story was slow and also frustrating with all the arrogant teachers and horrible personalities continuously putting down the main leads. Also the main leads themselves were extremely dull...many times I wanted to shake them into action as they were only good at staring at each other and talking as little as possible. The actual classical music itself was almost non existent here if it weren't for the last two episodes and the only aspect that moved me was the tormented relationship between the female lead and her violin but it wasn't enough to make this drama valuable to me. Boring, boring, boring...it's a 5 for me which is being generous.
Thanks for writing this article. This was truly an amazing drama which I loved from beginning to end. Everything was perfect and I agree that it was one of the best performances of LSG.
Usually I never regret my choices (especially about which ones to skip) except for rare cases in which I read lots of positive comments on the feeds such as with Itaewon Class recently. So in my case experience is what helped me to pinpoint my criteria for choosing dramas.
I have to admit that this drama also included these aspects so not much has changed since then, however I enjoyed the warm overall atmosphere and the easy going personalities of most of the members of the family involved and I appreciated the market environment.
There were a few parts that didn't make much sense to me and which I found annoying and luckily didn't last long but on the whole it was a pleasant drama that I watched slowly and taking my time. My rating is 8.
My policy is to never fast forward anything as I would rather drop a drama and I kept to this also for this one but I can totally understand those who pressed the FF button as the second half of the story here really dragged too much!!
I also agree with those who felt that in the end many questions were left unanswered as it seemed like the writers couldn't wait to get the whole thing over with.
The OTP started out strong, determined and almost unbeatable overcoming so many difficulties and in the end they tripped over incredibly trivial matters which made the whole story seem ridiculous. I also couldn't get over the fact that the son who remained King at the end was someone who had schemed and killed his uncle without anyone finding out about it. In any case a total failure which I am rating with a 5.
It wasn't absolutely the case here as the story was slow and also frustrating with all the arrogant teachers and horrible personalities continuously putting down the main leads. Also the main leads themselves were extremely dull...many times I wanted to shake them into action as they were only good at staring at each other and talking as little as possible.
The actual classical music itself was almost non existent here if it weren't for the last two episodes and the only aspect that moved me was the tormented relationship between the female lead and her violin but it wasn't enough to make this drama valuable to me. Boring, boring, boring...it's a 5 for me which is being generous.