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I started watching this drama because it was the holiday season and I desired a good romance comedy, and I followed a friends recommendation and started watching this. I can't say that I instantly fell in love with this drama, but I did like this drama from the beginning.
Story:
Overall, I enjoyed the story immensely. So why did I give it a 9 instead of a 10? It's because you know who ends up with who. It's not going to shock you in anyway if you've watched any korean romance comedies. Other than that though.
Cast/Acting:
Perfection. It couldn't have been better. The only thing that was somewhat "different" was Dok Go Jin's voice. His voice is "different". In the end it becomes the most soothing voice though.
Music:
The music did its job very well.
Rewatch Value:
I'm not much of a rewatcher, but I probably will not rewatch this like most other dramas and movies.
Overall:
Overall, I enjoyed this drama so so so much. It's a great drama that'll have you laughing and crying in no time. It's one of the best Romance Comedies out there. Oh and the ending was just A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.
So go and watch it! You'll enjoy it!
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The story is a prequel to The Lost Tomb so there will be a lot of scenes were they are in a mine if you loved The Lost Tomb i will recommend you to watch this. Also the drama will focus a lot on the bad guys so they will appear very often like they are the main character. There is not an end yet because there will be a season 2 so it won't be sure that the original cast will stay. The drama will be a lot about action,adventure,mystery and romance. Also the love story of William and Zhao Li Ying was great you will love that couple but Zhao Li ying wasn't really a main character she appeared in a few episodes.
Acting
The role of Fo Ye was perfect for William Chan he did a great job and Zhao Li Ying did a great job as Yi Xinyue with her stubborn role. What i also liked was that she wasn't scared to tell Fo Ye that she liked him and that she knew what she wanted. Lay acting was good as well i really liked him in the scenes with Ya Tou there scenes were very emotional. The rest of the cast was great too the only character that annoyed me was the white guy when he spoke chinese it annoyed me and he talked very slow.
Music
I loved the Ost especially LJM - huan hun men and the beginning was of William Chan and the ending song was also great chinese music are usually really good.
Rewatch
I don't think i will rewatch everything but i will rewatch the scenes of Zhao Li Ying and William Chan because of their great chemistry
Overal
Good drama with great couples i would recommend you to watch this if you like The Lost Tomb or you liked the main leads.
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My heart....
I don't know if any show has affected me the way Hidden Love has. I watch with a smile on my face and I even cry through the sweetest scenes. First of all, the age gap is not an issue at all. He is only 5 years older and there is nothing inappropriate in any of the 25 episodes. Please do not be put off by any of the negative comments because you will miss out on a beautiful experience. I rewatched all the episodes while I waited for more episodes to be released. Now that I have watched all 25 episodes, I am so sad because I will miss Jia Xu and Sang Zhi! I also loved Sang Zhi's brother Sang Yan. I read that there will be a sequel with Sang Yan's story called First Frost. I am hoping to see the same actors play Sang Jhi and Jiaxu in First Frost.Sang Zhi grew up in a loving family. Her parents are kind and generous. Her brother loves her and is protective of her even as he bickers with her. It is still so touching to see how much the brother and sister love each other. I enjoyed watching the beautiful dynamics of Sang Jhi's family. If you enjoy watching sibling relationships, it is another plus for Hidden Love.
Duan Jia Xu had a sad family life, and he worked hard to pay off his father's debts. What made his relationship with Sang Jhi so beautiful is that even though he didn't have money to spare, he always took care of Sang Zhi and refused to take money from her or allow her to pay for anything when he was around. And even more beautiful was the way Sang Zhi cared for Jia Xu by protecting and taking care of him. He never had anyone to rely on and instead took on the burden of taking care of his mother and father. It was so beautiful to see the emotions as he felt Sang Zhi's love for him.
Both Zhao Lu Si and Chen Zhe Yuan are the magic key to Hidden Love. Zhe Yuan expressive eyes...sigh. Just watching him play Jiaxu is enough to convince me that a 17-year-old girl would have a crush and fall in love with him. Lu Si was perfect for Sang Zhi. You just need to watch to see. The BTS clips provide information on the scenes and be sure to watch the extra scenes at the end of each episode. The strawberry scene at the end of episode 13 was one I had to rewatch immediately. I absolutely love this show!!! There is nothing quite like it.
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Movie Review – Colony (2026)
Colony (2026) had a good and interesting plot with a lot of potential, but the biggest problem was the pacing. Everything happened too fast. Instead of letting important moments build naturally, the movie kept moving from one event to another without giving enough time to connect emotionally with the characters.There were too many things happening at once, and because of that, many ideas and scenes didn’t feel fully explored. Some emotional moments could have been stronger if the movie slowed down and gave more depth to the characters and their relationships.
The story itself had potential, but it felt rushed, making several important parts feel underdeveloped. Overall, it’s entertaining and has a solid concept, but it could have been much better with slower pacing and more emotional depth.
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Loving It
The Well Blended adventure plot and Romance subplot captivated me.Xu Kai and Yu Shuxin have chemistry no doubt. It is that I wonder if Luo ZhaoYan and Yue Qi if this is in an GL line. The chemistry of the two characters is captivating although they have different love line which is also makes me feel giddy, hahaha. The characterization is perfect.
Cutie girl with Strong Fighting Skills x Dignified Master who pretend as a guy.
I'm fond of the two actress.
Back to the review, The show is comedic and you will not get bored. The 1st episode for me is captivating that you want more episodes.
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Storywise, this was a great drama. Lots of twists and turns. It also broke a lot of stereotypes.
The actors and actresses did a terrific job on this drama.
The music was pretty good. I probably won't listen to it too much now that i've finished the drama, but the songs fit each scene perfectly.
As for rewatch value, i don't rewatch dramas generally, but this is one I could see myself rewatching in a couple of years.
Overall, this drama was a solid drama that had me on the edge of my seat, and severely lacking sleep these past few days. I can fully say I understand why this drama is currently ranked #1 on MDL.
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It’s a no.
This was one of the most boring and dullest dramas I’ve ever watched. I understand it’s genre and that it was intentionally projected this way. idk if the English subs were just bad but even the dialogue wasn’t that great to me. it didn’t make much sense too. The dialogues were so random and irrelevant. Even though it’s completely relatable stuff I’m also just at a loss for words at how mundane and overly dull their lifestyle was. They need vitamin D in their lives, it might help with the depressive lifestyle they have. Their outlook on life is just so very uninspiring and hopeless. I did not gain anything valuable. I did cry and the acting was superb. But definitely not my genre.Was this review helpful to you?
Where the original Story of Chunhyang (and earlier film adaptations of the folk tale) tells the story of the beautiful courtesan's daughter and the handsome nobleman who falls for her, in this retelling this classic love story takes on a new dimension.
Bang-ja has worked in servitude to Mongryong for many years. He's satisfied with his existence until one day he encounters a woman who changes his life forever. Both master and servant fall for the beautiful Chunhyang at first sight. However, due to his lack of status, Bang-ja is convinced he doesn't stand a chance against the aristocrat, Mongryong.
I have to say this retelling of the original folk tale was quite moving to watch.
Where Chunhyang (2000) is an upbeat, pure love story with likable characters all around, The Servant is a poignant story of long-suffering and sacrifice. It puts a more mature spin on the original story, and solicits a deeper emotional investment from the viewer.
Both films are great for different reasons. In Chunhyang I loved the feel good story of young lovers discovering each other for the first time as well as the skillful direction of the film by Im Kwon-Taek. In The Servant the hero's strait journey to be with the love of his life is what touched my heart.
He was a very sympathetic, worthy, if tragic, hero, portrayed superbly by actor Kim Ju Hyuk. Though powerless & trapped by his low class Bang-ja revealed himself to be the true noble, a man of honour, wisdom & sound character who, for the sake of love, suffered through much humiliation and hardship. A number of the supporting cast put in notable performances as well, in particular Oh Dal Su's In No, Bang-ja's compatriot & mentor. The Servant was also surprisingly modern in tone and mood. It took on a somewhat tongue-in-cheek approach towards its handling of sexuality. It may seem a bit contradictory to the period in which the film is set, but it worked somehow with the overall arc of the story.
In closing, I'd say both films are well worth a watch, though it's not mandatory to see one in order to understand the other. I'm giving The Servant a 10 (as I did Chunhyang) for its story & Kim Ju Hyuk's performance. The ending was beautiful and bittersweet. Just an overall enjoyable watch that I'd recommend to everyone.
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Best 2023 Historical Drama. Brilliant palace politics with dark romance
This drama tells the story of a female lead who goes back in time 2 years prior to her death to change her fate. In her first life, she is a selfish and manipulative woman who uses all means necessary to achieve her goal of becoming an Empress. In her second life, she realises the many mistakes she has made and tries everything in her power to change her fate and right her wrongs.Note, the main focus of this story is the palace politics (female lead’s redemption and male lead’s revenge). The romance is a secondary focus but definitely worth it especially in the last 8 episodes. It’s reverse harem so there are three love interests. The female lead loves them for different reasons but only one is her perfect match/true love.
POSITIVE:
- Reverse harem romance is done right! We don't see the female lead jumping from one man to another or loving them at the same time. Each love interest has his own time to shine. We are first introduced to her childhood friend that loves her, then the second man who she admires for his righteousness and goodness, and then the third man who represents the perfect enemies to lovers trope.
- No love triangles or stupid misunderstandings/miscommunications.
- Dark romance with VERY hot kiss scenes.
- Main lead chemistry is hot, hot, hot. Did I say hot!
- Brilliant palace politics talks.
- Morally grey female and male lead that are both smart, cunning and wicked in their own ways.
- Male lead who achieves his goals through his intelligence rather than muscles. It’s rare in costume dramas to see a male lead who destroys his enemies with badass strategies without lifting a weapon.
- The most satisfying happy ending. The story wrapped up well and everyone gets what they deserve.
- Top-notch performance from all the cast and especially the main leads Bai Lu and Zhang Ling He.
- Slow burn romance for the main couple that is totally worth it and all the wait pays off!
- No annoying characters, no unnecessary fillers or draggy plot lines.
- Flashbacks and parallels between the first and second life were fantastically woven into the story.
- Great character development for all characters, main and support. Everyone’s motive for what they did and why made sense!
NEGATIVE:
- Cinematography is a let down but it still does not take away my enjoyment! The director really went crazy with the camera lights which irritated many viewers including me. Especially towards the end of the drama where there are many flashbacks, the blinding lights were showing up every 5 minutes which felt very, very excessive. Also, there were weird spinning effects, pink hue filters and unflattering angles as well as random “wind” blowing the actor’s hair even when they were indoors.
- As a hopeless romantic I would have loved to see more romance between main leads (or at least in earlier episodes) as their chemistry was off the charts however with how the story is set up, it makes sense why it was a very slow burn.
OVERALL:
For me this is THE BEST historical cdrama I’ve ever watched. The political plot is executed brilliantly, the dark romance is chef’s kiss and most importantly the drama portrays beautifully the female’s lead story of redemption and the male lead’s story of revenge. You will miss out a lot if you don’t give this a chance!
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Terrible
This series was definitely not what i expected. The only decent part of this series was the ML costumes and his character.The thing that annoyed the most of this series was the FL she was so annoying and highly irritating! I'm all for strong women and independent women, but she was a more nosy character and one that just did whatever she felt like, yes there was parts where she stood for doing the right thing, but as always she would go overboard.
The other thing that was really annoying was that she never seemed to trust her husband and yet he bent over backwards for her. Whenever he asked her to stay in a place she defined him. The scene where she tried to climb a wall during her pregnancy was also another part that was just so wrong, im sure any pregnant woman would never to try and climb a wall or tree in the first trimester of your pregnancy.
Sadly this series was disappointing for me.
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I honestly don't know what the writers were thinking because the characters were interesting, but not developed enough to be interesting or matter and the acting wasn't that bad, Go-Ara is a brilliant actress but her character was written so badly she couldn't show her skills. Park Seo-Joon did a brilliant job with what he was given, although he wasn't as badly written.
The worst character was by far Han-sung. His character was so interesting - A fun-loving young man who loved his peasant brother dearly, opposed his families views, and had the burden of being the sole heir. THE POTENTIAL FOR DEVELOPMENT WAS IMMENSE. But he got no development and was shown perhaps once every other episode. He was a big part of the shift in direction towards the end but his dynamic with various characters wasn't explored so it was more of a fact stated than actors showing this - again, writers fault, not the actors.
Some characters had interesting histories but weren't explored at all - mainly the Hwarang who didn't know who his father was.
The romance was just thrown in their for the sake of showing some kissing. Park Seo-Joon and Go-Ara did well enough to show that their characters cared for each other, but story wise, the romance wasn't needed. I cared much more for the dynamic between Hyung-Sik and Seo-Joon.
The plot had potential, but showrunners focused more on Go-Ara walking around depressed than moving the plot forward.
Overall, the acting wasn't bad at all but the showrunners left no room for the actors to, well, act. The characters were so 2D that it was like asking an actor to act as a lifeless corpse.
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This review may contain spoilers
Mediocrity with so much potential
I just want to start this review by saying, i think i completed this drama wholly for what it could've been, instead what it actually was. So many of the plot points had good groundwork but they just executed everything in the most uninspiring way. The story had potential, pairing had potential, second leads were okay to a point and SML was wholly unnecessary inclusion with love triangle. I hope writers would actually do some thinking why some tropes work and try and make them work instead of just putting them in the stories without thought.Inclusion of love triangle in first episodes and it lasted for almost full drama was so unnecessary, it really didn't bring anything to the drama and made SML so one dimensional that the actor was fully wasted. I don't know why kdrama writers need to include it just seemingly cause it has to have one instead of thinking does it actually need one.
Leads relationship started good, not counting the mentioned love triangle ruining it from the start, it moved kinda fast but that was okay, but at some point it started to feel like FL started to use ML for emotional support and latter part vice versa, it is kinda sad to make half of the drama kinda trauma train and it didn't really fit the sold image of the drama at all.
Secondary couple was so much better than leads but i think writers just didn't know what do with the couple latter episodes and made them go through every cliche known to man. Disappointing on that front too.
Acting was great from everyone, i loved how infuriating the villagers were. No complaints here at all.
Conclusion
Very mediocre drama which had potential if rightly done, but writers showed from the start that they just want to use tropes instead of actually thinking what would work. Acting was great and everyone really worked well together. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to anyone, it was lower end mediocre and i gave it 6/10. If you really like the actors, maybe for those i could recommend, everyone acted great, just the story left lot to be desired.
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1A beautiful story about a woman’s growth journey of love and life
This drama tells the story of a villainous type female lead who, due to her love obsession, ends up causing the death of her family. Before her seemingly final breath of life, she loses consciousness, only to suddenly wake up two years prior to all events that had happened. Convinced she is living a second life, she decides to do everything in her power to fix her mistakes and change her family’s fate.The drama is not a love story but about the female lead’s growth journey as she learns valuable lessons about life and love. A strong message about unconditional love is shown in this drama as well as how every person could be good or bad, depending on the perspective. There are three love interests. No kiss scenes however the intense, fire chemistry between the main leads makes up for it.
POSITIVE:
- All characters are morally grey. No one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes and learns their lessons.
- Well written perspective for each character. At every moment the viewer clearly understands everyone’s motives (good or bad) which makes the drama very human and realistic.
- No predictable, draggy parts or cliche plot lines.
- No love triangles. Even though there are three love interests there is no typical love rivery and cliche jealousy shown.
- Conflicts are resolved quickly. Mystery aspects are done well and the audience learns everything alongside the female lead.
- All characters are well-developed and fleshed out, nobody does stupid things without a reason.
- Fantastic execution of seeing the flashbacks of the female lead’s first life that are parallel to the second life. We clearly get to see how she is acting differently and changing things in the second life.
- Beautiful message about unconditional love at the end of the drama.
NEGATIVE:
- I would have loved it if there were more romantic scenes between the male and female lead.
- Second male lead (who is the husband) does get quite a lot of screen time at the start compared to the male lead which can annoy some people.
LOVE INTERESTS:
- Male lead - a Lord, who secretly loves the female lead.
- Second male lead - female lead’s husband and the man she is obsessed with at the start of the drama.
- Third male lead - an orphan who the female lead helps and later becomes her loyal guard.
OVERALL:
If you are looking for a mature, slow paced, historical drama about a woman’s growth journey related to love, with morally grey characters (no one is just good or bad) and beautiful messages about all types of love (unconditional love, selfless love and self-love), this drama is for you.
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This review may contain spoilers
Drama with Trigger warnings ⚠️
It is a boss- employee romance.But let me warn you for the process of romance development.
The mafia boss, Kinn was already feeling something for his bodyguard, Porsche and so when one day his bodyguard gets kidnapped and he finds him at an unconscious state(he was drugged) with bite marks all over his body(attempt of rape) while trying to take care of him, he gets uncontrollable and fucks him, well RAPE him.
And their love develops from this point.
I mean, are you kidding me?! How can some one fall in love with their rapist???? And how can it be normal?
Oh oh moreover, at this point of time Porsche was straight and Kinn was gay. 😑
On kinn's defence ( well this is from the book, I dont remember the drama scene), kinn asked for poreche's consent for sex. Well he asked for consent from a drugged person and that's supposed to make sense😑
And he also apologised after the incident, which made it all better😑😑😑😑
This is not the only scene that calls for trigger warning but the whole show is filled with it.
• Vegas- Pete relationship could have been portrayed normally but who wants it to be sober😑
What was their relationship? Was it Stockholm syndrome or Lima syndrome?
• so Kinn and Porsche are step cousins
Well the fans of 'Clueless' movie will love it 😑
And there are many more......
I watched the drama 1st and then read the book, the book is worse. English translated book 1 is what I read, and almost every sex between Kinn and Porsche was forced. Kinn forcing Porsche, and it is supposed to be romantic?!
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This review may contain spoilers
Not for the Anti-fans
This is the second series I’ve seen in real time. Usually I binge-watch all the Asian dramas I want to watch. The series makes me think and I try to review my knowledge of Greek Mythology as I view the storyline every week. I enjoy the romcom elements. I relish watching Park Shin-hye being so kick-ass with her combat skills bad-ass with her pink guns. Despite being such a hardcore female, Kang So-hae still has a soft and vulnerable core. Despite his genius, it’s great to see Han Tae-sul being so playful, witty and funny. Just seeing the range of Cho Seung-woo in this drama is a treat. Maybe I should check out an episode of Stranger.As for the story, all the questions seem to have been answered. The leads belong in a different time-space, it would be a stretch to expect a happily-ever after. This is not straight-up Makjang or full-blown romcom as others prefer. It makes you ask questions, formulate theories, draw conclusions. It makes you appreciate Park Shin-hye and Cho Seung-woo even more, propel you to check out their past and future projects.
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