Reviews

별-똥-별 - quite a fitting description of the quality of this show.

Fun, entertaining, sometimes clever elements, with a crappy core.

What’s good? What are the reasons I somehow finished watching it? Everything except for the love story of Han Byul and Tae Sung, and both plot lines surrounding male lead. None of these 3 things work well - poorly written, with ridiculous resolution and out of the blue miracle ways out of the problems.

The convoluted way they tried to tell us the story of Han Byul and Tae Sung was some next level of bad presentation. Rom-coms are not thrillers, you do not need 10 different plot twists to make it exciting. The worst part of it was the fact, this type of non-linear storytelling made it close to impossible to understand the characters at the beginning, which led to me simply not caring about them at all.

The three semi-mystery plot lines, with two being part of a larger picture? Extremely unnecessary. The setting was all that needed to happen for the show to be interesting. Everyone wants to know what the behind the scenes looks like. What type of problems the actors face. How much of that glamorous life is try? What about the ugly side? The “mundane” celebrities life is interesting enough, no need to add over the top plotlines.

Not to mention, they were simply not well integrated in the story. Instead of showing bits and pieces of it throughout the show, they dropped larger portions here and there and it messed up the pacing. I don’t even want to talk about that Disney resolution, or lack of any closure for some.

That said, I did enjoy the main couple when they interacted with other characters. Han Byul and her gossip time with Ho Yeong and Gi Peum? Fun. Her friendship and working relationship with Yoo Sung? Interesting. Tae Sung with his manager? Adorable. Him bickering with Soo Hyuk? Some of the best comedy bits of the show. It amazes me how well these two worked with everyone except each other.

I just feel like their relationship was too juvenile. They presented some middle school type of behavior I just did not connect with. And it’s not like it’s impossible to show a sweet, cute romance - they did it with the side couple. Yes, it was over the top cute, but that’s who the characters were from the start - adorable, so it fitted the overall picture.

They also showed a more mature and chill approach with another side couple - a lot better paced even though they had 1/10th of the screen time compared to the mains. All the supporting plots showed me there is a skill and good writing hidden in the show, but somehow they failed to use it for the most important aspects.

I definitely enjoyed the few small commentary bits on the entertainment industry. Some were presented in a more serious manner, some leaned towards comedy. Sh**ting Stars has also one of the best “breaking the 4th wall” scenes I have seen in dramas for ages. I replied that one scene many times - perfectly executed if you ask me.

Performance wise, it varies depending on the actor. Probably one of the worst performances in Lee Sung Kyung’s career. She delivered close to nothing. The lines felt flat, the crying scenes evoke zero emotions. She presented little to no variety in her facial expression. And I know for a fact she can do better, she did in her other dramas. She is not an amazing actress, but should be capable of leading a rom-com.

Kim Young Dae did fine. I enjoyed his more emotional scenes, he did a good job portraying the vulnerability of Tae Sung. At the same time Tae Sung was just a poorly written character, so it’s not easy to judge the performance of the actor.

Most characters did not have enough depth for the cast to truly showcase the skills they might have. Yes, Yoon Jong Hoon delivered the sweet hard working senior, Kim Yoon Hye was the cute and innocent junior, Park So Jin did an amazing job as a journalist with some internal conflicts and Lee Jung Shin was able to make the arrogant and distant lawyer more approachable and fun. But that’s it. The characters don’t really serve more than these short descriptions.

The production value was nice. Quite a number of scenes had an aesthetic appeal that supported whatever was happening on screen. Talking about the production, we cannot ignore the initial wave of criticism surrounding the uneducated and ignorant depiction of Africa. I still believe this just shows how lazy the writers are (honestly, the same problem happens in all countries, and is not limited to Korea). 15 minutes of google search is too much work for them. Finding a more appropriate way to present a specific plot line? Why waste time, when you can apologize later if it gathers some bad press.

Overall, it was painfully mediocre. I enjoyed following some side relationships (be it romantic or platonic) and plot lines, but close to nothing concerning the main two characters was good. They just put random events and ideas together, and did not spend enough time to figure out how to present them in a cohesive way. The show just did not flow well.

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Everyone on this show needed to go outside and touch grass, my GOD

If you're looking for a revenge drama about rich people behaving badly, you'd be better off watching The Glory, which is an altogether more satisfying execution of this story. That said, I do love watching horrible people get their just desserts, so I ate this up regardless.

The acting was quite good and Park Gyu Young was especially captivating as A-Ri, which says a lot about her skill as an actress because the script didn't really give her much to work with. It felt like we, the audience, were kept at arms-length from her for the entire show and even after watching all 12 episodes, I don't feel like I really know her as a character at all. The same goes for Si-Hyeon and I wish Lee Chung Ah had gotten a meatier role and a chance to do more than just look wan and melancholy. I do like that they maintained their friendship as I was convinced for the first few episodes that it was gonna be an All About Eve situation. The less said about the romance (if you can even call it that), the better, because what the hell was that? Congrats to this show for having one of the weirdest "romances" I've ever seen, I guess.

As someone who doesn't really care about Instagram or influencers, I found most of the conflict quite petty and hard to take seriously, and even though A-Ri's reputation (and by extension, her livelihood) was on the line, the stakes never really felt that high. I also think there was a huge missed opportunity for the show to say something about privilege, as A-Ri's massive success was not just due to her hard work, but her fashion knowledge from her wealthy upbringing and her industry connections thanks to her father's old company.

Ultimately, this was a fascinating peek into a world that is so outwardly glamorous and a good reminder to get off the internet once in a while, but instead of skewering modern internet/influencer culture, the show fell into its own trap and gave us the filtered, Instagram-ready version instead.

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Seeds of Plot that Never Sprouted

As a personal creed, I never drop any drama as soon as I start to watch it. And so with at that in mind, I was not ready for what awaited me as I started watching Snowdrop. With each passing episode, it became clear to me that the writer had watched every hostage and spy movie produced in the 90's as her source of "Inspiration", only weakly tagging Romeo and Juliet later as her literary source. If Shakespeare had seen what is being considered adaptations of his best work, he would sooner rise from the grave and pelt us with Wilt's and Thou's. In fact, until now, many literary scholars and professors would debate the merits, messages and hidden meaning of Shakespeare's best work. These days, the only scholars and professors who pay attention to Yoo Hyun Mi's Snowdrop, are the ones looking to cancel it.

First off, before we can discuss Snowdrop the drama, we need to quickly touch on the OST. Initially, when I first watched the drama, I found the OST/Music quite distracting as there are so many jarring tonal and musical shifts in the first few episodes that essentially ushers you from one emotion to another, without a second thought to the emotional whiplash you may feel from such jarring tonal shift. From suspense, satire, romance, and slice of life, the music of the first few episodes felt so intrusive, that there was a fierce disconnect between the scenes being portrayed and the music being played. Thankfully the music/OST eventually finds the sweet spot in the back half of the episodes, where the beautiful music intensified what would normally be dull scenes of poor plotting and acting. In the back half, the music/OST are almost powerful enough to save the production. The beautiful tone of the music has a choir like quality which has an uplifting effect, much needed in the drama. But what I found weird was that, although there were a few scenes which seemed to have Christian undertones, the plot did nothing with it, other than to use it as a symbolism of blind faith. A symbolism that isn't presented often enough or given enough credence that the scenes of praying, feel very out of place. This is one of those scenes though, which needs further research to understand. You see, the original name of Snowdrop was supposed to be Ehwa University, a South Korean university that was started by a Boston Missionary Sister. And you know what? The plot does nothing with this information, it becomes just another unnecessary plot that does nothing for the story, but provide them a place to sit down and kneel.

Given the backdrop of 1988, I was half-expecting some amount of nostalgia to permeate its script to allow viewers to allow a reprieve on the dark tone the script intended to take, and appreciate some of the beauty and simplicity the historical refences would have. But instead, the whole drama is so stuck on the message it wanted to force, that there was nary a time to enjoy anything beautiful in the drama, which ironically included the romance between Young Ro and Soo Ho. And with little time given to enjoy anything in the dire situation they are in, the viewership started drowning in the watery plot, started getting lost in the labyrinth of plot holes, as the badly colorized plot started to mesh together, and started blurring lines, that were timid to begin with. In fact, without the buoyant properties of the stellar acting cast, the drama could easily have drowned in all the ludicrousness the plot was touting as realism.

Seeing as each episode boasted a staggering 90 minutes of drama, I patiently waited to see how the plot would grow as each episode passed. After the last minute of the 1,400 minute run time ticked, I was left with an empty feeling. The potentially beautiful garden that the writer had started was left in disarray as seeds of plot were left unwatered, many of the seeds the writer had sowed in the earlier episodes where neglected the necessary sustenance needed for development and thus withered away. Each episode, I waited to see the seedlings grow into the titular Snowdrop, and every episode, I am left disappointed to see the seedlings bereft of even the simplest of courtesies. The garden was riddled with potholes, partially created by the aggressively shouting dinosaurs that decried their existence with wails or shouts.

As the episodes rolled by, I wondered why the writer kept needlessly adding new plot points which she will have to cover up later. The quick answer is, that she didn't bother covering up the plot holes, or she hastily glossed them over in lieu of more new tragic plot points. In fact, after a certain point, it doesn't become a question of HOW the writer will make the FL/ML for tragic, but rather WHEN. As I kept writing theories, and kept predicting how the writer could write herself out of her predicament, the writer would surprise me, by denying these lifelines, and opting instead to martyr her plots over and over again, until there is nothing left but chaos and discontentment. Whenever I feel the writer had an opportunity to add complexity and creativity to her writing, she instead re-iterated some of the same old tired jokes she used earlier. She overused some plot lines and jokes so much, that seeing them rear their repetitive head over and over again worked against the writer as these jokes, which were not funny to begin with, became distractions. Much like the boy who cried wolf, after the 2nd or 3rd time, people will stop caring about these plot devices.

It's not like I don't believe in love at first sight. But you see that isn't the direction the plot took. Young Ro, you see, is just a poorly disguised Deus Ex Machina, that existed solely to keep the Male Lead company during his eventual redemption arc. The writer was so focused on making sure that the Male Lead had a coherent characterization that she neglected to focus any effort on making the female lead's character relevant or real enough on her own merit. And even though the FL is seen as the sole reason for the ML's existence, we are given to many HOWs and never really any WHYs. In fact, it is not just the FL, a lot of the female characters in Snowdrop do not past the Bechdel test as most if not all of them let their lives revolve around the men in their lives. One of the characters in particular literally throws caution in the wind for her "Man", while obviously that man is shown to be cool as a cucumber throughout the show. In fact, ironically, the only women in the plot who has shown a certain duality in her character is also the most reviled one in the drama.

No review of Snowdrop is complete without at least quickly touching on the controversy that mired Snowdrop in lower than expected domestic ratings. After seeing Snowdrop to fruition, I can't help but ask myself the question of WHY? Why did the writer feel she needed to tell this story using this particular historical backdrop, especially if she is picking and choosing what she wanted to be a fiction and non-fiction anyway. When I first read the synopsis of the drama, I had assumed that the writer intended to tell a love story that grew in the tall weeds of political chaos. But instead, what we get is a drama that ironically felt more like a subliminal left wing propaganda ad that reared its ugly head at several times in the drama in obvious and distracting way. The only clear message that the Drama made sure not to miscommunicate to the audiences is how evil and corrupt the ANSP was. But unfortunately the writer wasn't nuanced enough, and instead of allowing the ANSP atrocities to exist as a backdrop for the story, it allowed the backdrop to become a distracting flower bush that continually blocked the intended story from being seen. In fact, as soon as you felt, you would catch a glimpse of the story, the drama would feel the need to remind you of the ineptness and corruption of the ANSP.

Very early on in the drama, it becomes painfully clear to me that the idea of cause and effect were being thrown out the window. The plot doesn't pay much attention to consequences and ramifications, and instead focused on shock tactics that loses its novelty the less tense the situation becomes. As the characters pointed phallic symbols at each other over and over again, the lack of anyone getting shot, made me wonder whether these weapons of non-destruction were nothing more than military grade paperweight. In fact, I should put the word thriller in air quotes, because I was severely bothered by the lack of it. By episode 5, after a lackluster first 4 episodes, it appeared that finally, the plot remembered it's base genre. But after an interesting Ep. 5 though, the plot decides to languish back in it staid writing as if by clockwork. Every supposedly tense situation is diffused by illogical reasoning, and nobody really is punished. The writing, and the plotting had so neutered the spy scenes, that the whole hostage situation felt more like breakfast club, rather than a hostage crisis. People inside the dorm are wondering more whether they would still be able to voted prom queen and king rather than walk the line between life and death.

Of course, if you dig deep enough you will eventually find the depth and complexity of what Yoon Hyun MI is trying to portray, but depending on where you live, you are more likely to hit water and drown in the innate stupidity than find any complex meaning in the writing. When reading Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, finding the depth and complexity isn't too difficult, and the emotions, although shrouded in Shakespeare own unique language, is relatable to us; the characters, minus all the killings, feel real. To fully enjoy Snowdrop, you really need to turn off certain parts of your mind as it is a struggle to find the realism in such cartoonish characters, whose portrayed more closely belong to a museum of stereotypical acting, than a supposedly complex plot.

With such a long run time, it would have made more sense for the writer to flesh out backgrounds of the main characters, or flesh out the characterization of the different characters. But as if she has an obsession's with huge ensemble cast, Snowdrop instead contained a huge cast of characters, who in the end didn't amount to much, except as weak plot devices to keep the plot plodding along. That is not to say there are no good moments in Snowdrop, there are a few moments that are worth watching, but you would need to slog through at least 10 episodes before you reach them, and by that time, if you are binge watching, your mind might already be turned to mush, and your emotions already numbed enough that when the impactful scenes may not be good enough to shake yo from your reverie. The truth of the matter is that proper world building would have made many things in the drama, including the tragic experience and romance shine much more.

Now for the good things. I already mentioned that I felt the OST/Music was vital in making the drama watchable, but the writer/director also lucked out with the casting. Quite a few of the actors I believe put in the performance of their lives, and their acting prowess acted as buoys to keep the drama floating. The power of emotion of Jung Hae In in particular was strong enough to uplift Jisoo's acting as well. And although, I don't think Jisoo's acting was that great, as a rookie actress, I cut her some slack, and she did what I expected a rookie to do; a lot of this also maybe because her character wasn't written that well. Kim Hye Yoon as well deserves a shout out, because at only 25 years old, she is proving to be one of the best actress in the Kdrama industry.

What may be the ultimately infuriating thing about the drama is that although most of the episodes were dull and lifeless, the last 4 episodes were actually written quite well. The writer's vision finally came to fruition in those last few episodes, in those episodes we finally see what the writer was intending in her drama. But unfortunately for me, it was too late, there was too many flaws in the first 10 episodes that became hard to overcome by a few good episodes. If the writer had kept the same tone, style, and plotting in the first 10 episodes, I may give Snowdrop a substantially higher rating. It seemed to be that the writer did not have many ideas to put on paper, and she kept her best plot points for the last 4 episodes, whilst keeping the first 10 episodes for repetitive filler scenes.

P.S.

Below is an excerpt from a deep dive analysis I made on Boon Ok's character, I hope for people to give the character a chance, and sympathize with her the way I did. The whole analysis can be found in the discussion portion of Snowdrop entitled "The Tragedy of Boon Ok".

"To further talk about Boon Ok, we need to quickly touch on the characterization of Young Ro. Are we surprised Disney is behind Snowdrop? Young Ro’s characterization literally screams Disney Princess. The romanticized fantasies, the prince charming, the evil stepmother, the heroic tendencies and the overly optimistic persona are all qualities most modern Disney princess encapsulates. But you know what? Disney princess are called that for a reason, most of the time, they are gilded in fantasy, they don’t often represent realistic portrayal of life. In many ways Young Ro represents the best side of humanity, the side is always optimistic, the hero in all of us. It’s the goodness in humanity we don’t see often. She’s the perfect Kdrama Mary Sue, the heroine, she allows us to stay entrenched in the escapism Kdrama offers."

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A captivating tale of love, adventure, and self-discovery.

The Legend of ShenLi is a delightful and captivating series that takes you on an unforgettable journey through ancient Chinese mythology. With its rich world-building, engaging characters, and thrilling plot, it's a must-watch for fans of the fantasy genre.

What sets this show apart is its strong and dynamic female lead, Shen Li, who defies stereotypes and stands out as a powerful and capable heroine. The chemistry between Shen Li and the male lead, Xing Yun, is both heartwarming and humorous, making their interactions a highlight of the series.

The stunning visuals and epic fight scenes are a feast for the eyes, while the emotional depth of the story will keep you invested in the characters' fates. Overall, The Legend of ShenLi is a captivating tale of love, adventure, and self-discovery that will leave you wanting more.

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The river that ran straight and clear

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my geographical knowledge granted - most rivers run neither straight nor clear. This series promised a raging river and instead delivered a silent stream.

Instinctually, it's easy to recognise that The Murky Stream is a drama that is solemn, but unfortunately, that may be the only thing that is consistent about it. Because the narrative, the plot, were all scattered around aimlessly, barely managing to come together in the final moments for a lackluster ending.

I do believe this is a story that requires some knowledge on the era it is set in - unfortunately, I walked in knowing none of it, making me unsure if some facts were true and lost on some contexts. As such, I may not have been able to understand or enjoy this piece of work in it's intended or to the full extent - and for the same purpose, I won't focus on the actual details in the series in my review.

The first three episodes of this series had dreamlike writing - the story ebbed and flowed like the titular stream, nothing was quite clear, everyone seemed highly faceted. With the introduction of every main character, I thought I had it figured out! I could tell how the story was going to go, I could plot out all the major conflicts based on the information we were given, and this was going to be an epic struggle for all our characters - for their duty, dreams or dignity.
I, however, wanted to be proved wrong, because my version of events weren't nearly as twisted or mysterious as they needed to be. I was proved wrong, but I now wish I was right.

Because you see, my predictions were coherent and the primary problem here is with the pace of the story - focusing on the plot, all the nitty - gritty details is not a bad thing, but too much focus on that and you lose track of your narrative, you lose your flow. Multiple seasons (or no), you need a setup, you need your events and you need a payoff, especially when the plot is heavily geared towards political and social themes. The story moved forward without any real direction or turbulence, things were plain and simple, yet made no sense.

No episode after the first trio had much to say, every immediate scene introduced a new character or a new conflict or a new chronicle, but none with any substance. All the details presented needed to have been revealed much earlier or in a much more interesting way. I do recognise that the narrative took on a form that was much closer to real life than reel, which eventually ended up bogging down what could have been an interesting tale.

Thankfully, the final two episodes did have an interesting narrative - but I hated them. Majorly because none of those plotlines had a valid setup. The hurried sequences seemed to be connected to actual historical importance based on the emphasis placed on them - but it was too little too late. It came out of the blue and did nothing to complement the setup in the first three episodes, rather, it felt like a brand new story all of a sudden.

It seems like the story, the dialogues, the bonds between all the characters were written down before the characters were even finalized - and when you're stubborn that the story will go one way and one way only, it doesn't matter how much you work on your characters, they will do and say what the script says, even if it means it goes against the very fiber of the core characteristics you've written for them or even if it means they barely have characteristic of significance, something that makes you remember them. This series is afflicted with the second situation.

This is only enhanced by another massive error they made writing this script, ignoring their leads. Most of them at least. You need them all for the most part, but take any one of them out of the equation and the story would still move forward. I don't see that as a good thing, especially when you're marketing the complex ties between all them to be as murky as your river, it is kind of futile to not give any of them the required screentime or character depth. All of them are one - dimensional, can be summed up in a word, or they have no real personality that allows you to ponder upon the bonds they'll create or the actions they will take.

Siyul for example - he's described as hot headed, but you can see he's kind and fair from his screentime. But that's it? How does that play into Chun's honest idealism? What about Eun's prejudice, or Mudeok's cowardice?
And Siyul is the common link here because there's barely any interaction amongst the other leads. It felt like each of them was on their own personal journey, yet occasionally crossed paths with others, in happenchance.

I suppose my main gripe here is that everything was clear as day - none of it was remotely murky. The story and the character's personalities were both set in stone, neither of budged an inch through the course of the nine episodes.

I have no complaints about the acting or the cinematography, but in this context, they pale in comparison to the writing that stuck out like a sore thumb.

Watching it completely did indurate the fact that many events that happened in the series may be reflective of real life, but once again, I am not well versed in the history of the region and era. I will do some research into this, but whether it was historically accurate or not, ultimately, this was my kind of drama, but with bad execution. On a personal note - I hated how little screentime Seoham had, because to be completely honest, I started it for him. But even discounting my personal feelings on it, objectively speaking, they had so much going for them, but instead of running with it, they sat around toying with ideas that went nowhere and settled for an ending out of left field. Let's say they concluded it as well as they could, with an ambiguous ending, but even if there is a second season, I will not be revisiting it.

6.75/10

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This is not a romance. This is a missed opportunity of romance.

This drama is not the love story of people who have feelings for each other, love each other and end up living happily ever after. This is a drama about what people can do to people who love them when they do not return their love feelings. So, the characters are most of the time cowardly, manipulative, pathetic, annoying and gesticulating in wrong situations. This happens in real life too as not all relationships are based on true and sincere love. This is what this drama is about. It has a realistic take on adults’ relationships. Adults who do not know their own feelings, ignore them, tone them down or pretend to have feelings… and make choices with their reason that their heart does not agree with.

1/ WHAT I LIKED:

- The story and the trajectory of the 5 main characters. None of them is perfect. They all have qualities and flaws that determine their choices. They are all relatable because they all look like human beings led into wrong choices by their human condition and trying to deal with their wrong choices and not the best way.
- The mature take on sex and love. It is not so common in romance kdramas. This drama is not shy about sex, and it tells that there is a difference between love and sex. Just like in real life.
- The cheating: 30% of women and 40% of men have cheated once in their life. No need to throw an anathema to them and pretend to be so much better. People have their own reasons for doing what they do. I did not want to judge them. I just agreed that in their situation, the cheating would happen, and it did happen like in real life. It was steamy and intense. People who can’t stomach cheating as a human emotional state and possible behavior should stay away from this drama.
- The rather realistic depiction of the workplace and colleagues. The friendly ones and the annoying ones who are always gossiping.
- The ending. There are two endings. One with ep15 with a sad unhappy ending but more consistent and logical with what happened during the whole drama. I have not read the novel but I felt like the ending with ep16 was especially cooked to give everyone a great situation like everything was bad that ends well. The two leads have an open ending with this ep but personally, I prefer the ending with ep15.

2/ WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:

- The early episodes were confusing and exhausting with the ML and FL acting unclear towards each other.
- Some draggy parts with too much gloomy faces and long contemplating moments
- The story between the ML and his mom could have been better. The mom looked a strong character, but she was quite underused for me.

3/ CHARACTERS/ACTORS:

- ML: The only one with real unconditional Love feelings. But he lacked courage and that drowned his chance. He grew into a more assured person and took responsibility of his feelings and his no-feelings in the end. Not very fond of the actor but he did a decent job looking gloomy and contrite and unable to bury his one-sided Love.
- FL: Self centered complicated person with sad circumstances and low self-esteem but she used them as an excuse to not face her own feelings and act upon them. This led her to make a wrong choice that she will try to assume despite obvious signs it is wrong. I liked Moon Ga young in this role. Different from what I used to see from her.
- SML: Student from a poor family who wanted to woo noona but when she chose him out of frustration for his kindness and for comfort, he suddenly had nothing more to offer her and became lousy and bland.
- SFL : Manipulative, possessive, scheming to always have gains from others. But I liked her bright, smart, and outgoing character. She was immature regarding Love and failed to be lovable and to love her partner. But she did not take it too badly. Of course, the ML was just a challenge and a trophy partner for her. Loved the actress who displayed lots of emotions.
- TML: Kyung Pil. This snake was a bad boyfriend, a bad friend and a bad person whispering bad ideas into the ears of the ML, SFL and FL based on his own sorry past that he chose himself. A dislikeable and pitiful person who slightly improved. The actor was great looking cunning, bitter, disillusioned and not proud of himself.

3/ OST:
Very good. I liked most of the songs and listened to them apart from the drama.

4/ REWATCHABLE VALUE:
It is slow paced and the story is realistic but sad, so I won’t rewatch it.

5/ OVERALL:

It’s a good drama if you can accept that humans are weak and make wrong choices and do wrong things that do not improve their situation on the contrary. Because they lack courage and confidence in themselves, their choice of reason is undermined by their heart’s choice, and it leads to messy situations. In the end, they still manage to put things in the right order and move on to a happier life after a time jump. Despite the contemplative and slow parts, I enjoyed watching these people I had pity and hopes for. Not so entertaining but a slice of life drama I enjoyed. 8/10.

Lesson of the drama: "If you have feelings for someone, take the courage to face your feelings honestly and act upon them. "

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The ship didn't just sink, it imploded under the weight of its own melodrama and bad writing!

The central plot of the drama revolves around trauma and its handling, set against the backdrop of a war zone in Eastern countries. However, it failed to evoke any emotions in me and just felt bland and boring.
The only saving grace, which is why it even gets a 6, is thanks to Benjamin and Saxin, who helped me sail through all 38 episodes of this aesthetically pleasing mess!

For a drama where trauma is the main plot, there was no real sense of warmth, depth or emotional resonance.
At first, it gave off the impression of aiming for something deep and thoughtful, but it quickly lost its way. The plot meandered aimlessly, leaving what should have been powerful moments feeling strangely flat and forgettable.

FL Song Ran was supposed to be a reporter, but she spent more time doing everything except her actual job. It was hard to believe how she was just wandering around and taking pictures in a war zone army base, it just felt completely out of place. Most of the time, all I saw was her trailing behind the male lead.

ML Li Zan's character left me with mixed feelings. I appreciated how the show portrayed his trauma and the denial he was stuck in, it felt raw, real and authentic. However, as time went on, it seemed like his reluctance to open up was more about convenience than anything else. The constant addition of trauma without any real growth or resolution made it feel like there was no light at the end of his tunnel.

I am a fan of both the actors, but I just couldn’t feel any chemistry between them. Maybe it was because their romance developed in so many illogical situations like having a heart to heart conversations on the bomb site before even getting medical aid , that it felt hard to buy into.

Most of the drama was set in a war zone, but the seriousness , urgency and consequences of it were largely missing throughout especially in the first half. The logic was often flawed and there were many instances that could have been fixed if they paid a little attention to detail. For example, why were people moving so freely in the war zone? Why were people just lying down and hugging when there had been a bomb blast only minutes before and why couldn't they do that in hospital to make more sense ?

When it comes to handling PTSD, don’t get me wrong - they did attempt to show the real vulnerabilities, denial and the struggles people face after being in such a traumatic environment. However, the portrayal became a repetitive cycle, with no significant character growth. It doesn’t make sense to me that after 8 episodes of dealing with the issue, there was still no real development.
You would expect them to be open and communicate with each other, especially after everything they’ve been through together. But no, we are still stuck in that non-communicative phase, where life-threatening and life-changing decisions are made without even informing the other person.
In real life, while PTSD can have long-lasting effects, people do tend to make progress over time, whether in small steps or through moments of realization. The drama's absolute refusal to allow characters to experience this type of growth feels unrealistic, as it disregards the possibility of healing and moving forward.

At one point, the hero complex from both of them actually diminished the impact of those serious scenes!

Acting wise both the leads did a good job with what was given to them. Chen Zhe Yuan can act and time and again, he shows that! Liang Jie did a great job too but CZY stole the stage when vulnerable scenes were on the screen!
The emotional scenes were executed well ( the man cries so pretty) but the problem wasn't the acting but the writing!

Now coming to the good part, Benjamin and Saxin ! This was a perfect enemies to lovers trope! The constant bickering , the eye contacts , the jealousy, the unwavering trust and support for each other was just the chef's kiss.If the drama had focused more on them or given them even half the screen time, I would have rated it much higher.
Censorship wants you to think it is brotherhood, but they ain't fooling us. Initially I thought it was me who was on team delusion, but they kept hinting us that we weren't wrong. They know what they are doing ! They know we know what they are doing ! Everything is out there yet still between the lines. We need a masterclass so that we can have those shelved dramas out !

I want to keep this review spoiler free but let's just say the ending was just bizzare and lazy writing. It was as if they ran out of ideas to how to make this mess right which they made, grabbed the nearest piece of paper, scribbled something random, and called it a day.

Overall, this drama was incredibly disappointing and fell flat despite its ambitious premise. It seemed to aim for something grand, but ultimately, it failed to deliver. The plot lacked depth and the pacing dragged, making it hard to stay engaged. It was a slow burn with little payoff, leaving much to be desired and leaving me feeling bored.

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Road to Patriotic Boredom

If you look at the stars you may wonder why the low overall score when pretty much everything is rated highly so here is the deal. The story itself is a decent and pretty interesting story, the cast is amazing and the cinematography is gorgeous there are no annoying over the top characters and the start of the drama was so good I even cried in the 5th episode. The chemistry, kisses, dynamics in this are also all good. There are adorable animals in almost every single episode too and not to mention amazing found family and friendships.

So basically this should have ticked every single one of my of my boxed and gotten a 10 star rating...

However I was bored out of my mind at times as the pacing of this drama is extremely inconsistent, the flashbacks to the past come seemingly out of nowhere and once we are back in the present something big happened but we never got to see the good stuff as it unfolds.

A lot of time is dedicated to teaching us some type of morals about monogamy, staying faithful to ones partner as well as to mother nation. As I am pretty sure this drama was made to satisfy and recruit wives to soldiers, SWAT team members police etc.... Teaching viewers that saving the nation comes first and a good wife waits patiently for her lover to come home without asking be it a week, a month or 10 years she shall be faithful and supportive and loving...

Unless the guy is unfaithful or beats her then it is ok to get a divorce, seek happiness etc. etc. I am not sure if that counts for men serving the country or if it just for those who have civilian jobs. But it does seem to be clear that the drama is pro divorce, which is a good thing in my book but it was done so wrong I felt like my intelligence was being questioned.

I also found myself thinking:

Will someone please think of the children?
Yes there was one character who seemingly did but one of the kids was tossed around so much the kid must have wonderd where the h*** he was when he woke up. If this is the reality of kids to SWAT people I find myself thinking maybe SWAT captain is not the ultimate job for a single father... But Hey I am sure the guy had his reasons... But I did wonder how hard can it be t to get a job as a regular police officer near ones kid... but then again I do not know s*** about this but did feel bad for the kid, with
or without found family.

However the main reason for dragging down the score was the endless preaching dialog... the repetitiveness of I have to go I can not tell you... I may die..." meets "Ok, I understand" that would have made a killer drinking game, but without one present I was just board out of my mind.

So to sum it up yes this has a lot of potential and good stuff to it but it was not worth it and I should have dropped it somewhere in the middle... But again the first bunch of episodes touched me so I do not regret starting it, but I do regret finishing it.

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Meeting, Falling in Love, Staying Together, Standing Side by Side, & Never Parting.

Enemies to lovers done the first time the right way. This has become my favorite drama of CZY (though not character as that's forever I believe reserved for LZ), I knew he could do a general but the ruthlessness of his character more out of necessity to survive in his surroundings as the first prince was very much brought home here. I'm proud of him; he exceeded any expectations I had. I knew LQ could handle herself in her role as I have seen her in them before and many of the supporting cast. So this series really for me was following the leads mantra of meeting, falling in love, staying together, standing side by side & never parting.

Pros: CZY's character or FSG was my favorite and not because I follow him but I honestly wasn't sure he could pull off a ruthless general or the Killer God of Susha as it was his first try but now I can say he has--for me at least--joined the ranks of ZLH, WL, and LYN of men who could burn the world to the ground as a general but at the same time do so for the woman he loves. And his FL or FYX could be an equal partner for him because she was a general in the enemy country as well and her skills aren't to be trifled with. When they fought together later on, their tacit understanding was seamless, which was beautiful to see. Their chemistry was red hot even when they hated each other. He fell first but she wasn't too far behind and their sparks for each other really flew with that first kiss when she confessed first. FYX was the type of woman who didn't just wait around, she knew how she felt and knew he felt the same. He had some jealous and funny moments before the official confession that made everyone around them get it but not say anything. It was too funny. Even the audience was like "we know, dude!" LOL!

They started out as enemies from kingdoms constantly at war with each other but her losing her memories from being literally shot off a cliff and barely surviving plus being hunted by assassins. An ancient Doctors Without Borders type of place saved both of their lives as she had shot him with an arrow before all that happened to her. It took a lot of physical fighting especially lashing and biting for them to call a truce which thankfully happened early on. Anymore biting each other and I would have called this a vampire flick lol! She lost her memories after being betrayed by her then supposed lover (XJS or Nutsack as I called him because he played an equally obsessed with FL SML in another series) another prince of that kingdom who was in cahoots with some masked man from his kingdom who was for some reason allowed to give them orders. Funnily enough who the masked man turned out to be was spoiled by the show, when they released a poster of the characters one of which was holding the mask and otherwise easy to guess. But the dude couldn't fight himself to save his life and if he went against nutsack, would have gotten his ass demolished.

Betrayal was the name game here first for FYX with her amnesia that cleared pretty quickly and sworn brothers as one betrayed everything and her when he tried to kill her especially when the main reason for it arrived as a marriage alliance so it sped things up for her and a miracle doctor treating the emperor helped her with a very risky surgery. But another thing I liked was that all the negative stuff like amnesia or misunderstandings between our leads was cleared up pretty quickly. Even FSG's own amnesia after he was betrayed by his best friend MRY aka mask man and his father who professed his loyalty to the emperor yet killed innocent people brutally (still waiting for someone to avenge Eunach Ma or say something about it), was essentially ready to throw all of that away to keep his treasonous son alive; planned and nearly executed FSG; it was brutal and violent even burying him alive, his amnesia after they brought him to the Storm Alliance, saving, blindness, and amnesia maybe took 2.5 episodes. It was dealt with accordingly.

The amount of harm and betrayal FSG went through just the series let alone was staggering. This man never did anything to anyone and just wanted his kingdom and the people to prosper but the gunning for the throne and back games just made it nearly impossible. Just about everyone was corrupted included the emperor or his father. For the most, he was a good emperor but as a father, he knew what happened to his mother, was there, covered it it up, and kept the murderer around to hone FSG as a ruthless leader; when that came out, and how everyone who didn't submit should be killed even ordering FSG to kill FYX who read him to rights, was disgusting and I'm glad both told him essentially to go fuck himself. He was a horrible father to FSG and didn't deserve an amazing son like him. Towards the end even FYX asked how a kind man like him could exist in a world where he's faced so much betrayal even from people who were supposed to love and protect him. But I and many others believe he received all of his mother's genes, after all it was she who established the Storm Alliance.

At first I thought the Storm Alliance was nonsensical and should be placed in the cons but than I read what another viewer in the comments wrote and I had to agree, their time with the storm alliance was a time for FSG to obviously recover but also understand the real meaning of the word family. Also there was a decades old misunderstanding thinking his father ordered the raid on Storm Alliance so many of its members wanted revenge on FSG even when they didn't really know who the real culprit was (it was the PM and his private troops; but these folks already hated the emperor for what happened to FSG's mom so just blindly point and shoot; they were stupid but at least when they turned against each other for the strict rules, FSG and FYX brokered the peace and he promised to find out the truth, which he did). His was broken thanks to the murder of his mother by the PM and the cover up by his father just to make him ruthless enough to take the throne. No one in his family was actually "normal" save for his younger half brother who never wanted the throne either but who's mother and grandfather--the same PM--were trying to do everything in their power to him on including killing both the emperor and FSG to do. He also had a younger sister but that's a mess for another paragraph. It was FYX, his brother guards, the Q something battalion that got slaughtered while trying to keep the chasing goons away from the carriage carrying the barely clinging to life FSG after being dug up from his grave, and the entire Feng battalion, some who were killed for not supporting MRY the loser who couldn't fight but the rest of the battalion submitted though under pretense until their general returned. As FSG said himself, FYX was the most important to him along with his brothers in the Feng battalion because though not blood, they were his family. FSG spent most of the show trying to find out the truth behind his mother's death while at the same time warding off attacks of the PM, the Empress, and MRY's faction. So now having FYX and before they fell in love, he was also helping her uncover her memory and then she helped him with his.

There were so many really great nuances in this series the most recent was when FSG regained his and how that click happened. The director showed the imagery in his brain and his face from moment to moment and it was great. Same as when FYX remembered it was nutsack who shot her off the cliff in the first place. It was a pendant he wore when he first arrived for the marriage alliance and randomly met in the street, after a shooting match, she saw the pendant and remembered and signaled to FSG to help her even though they weren't together yet. They already had that seamless tacit understanding even back then.

I just wanted to say about the ending, though they more less closed out the majority of the characters well, I'm actually happy with the ending. FSG never wanted to become emperor regardless just like his brother who went into seclusion after finding out about all of his mother's crimes. He was Regent as he left his sister to govern but put her on probation for 3 years and in those 3 years if she did well, he'd crown her as empress otherwise he'd name a worthy successor. Plus he brokered a 10 year deal with FYX's country not to fight but let the common people settle down. No matter what, he was still in charge and his kingdom was the powerful one. But he and FYX went to live quietly somewhere as they showed them just relaxing on a mountain top, chatting and shooting arrows. He promised her the grandest wedding in 3 years while she said if he didn't behave, she would deal with a feather duster so that was a cute ending.

Plus, I love the fact that usually when kids are gunning for the throne, everyone is cut throat and this is the probably first drama I've seen where siblings genuinely love each other, even though the sister was a lost cause eventually after hearing the death of her father and brother, she thought he was dead, and then learning he was alive, understood how much he meant to her. As for younger brother he never did a bad thing to his older brother, no matter how much crap his mother and grandfather filled his head with. So this is the first drama where all the siblings genuinely love each other in that kingdom. Meanwhile, in lunatic kingdom, you have siblings trying to kill each other from a young age for the throne and other things. In ML's kingdom, the ones that were doing all the cut throat fighting to stick their kids on the throne, were the parents because they never asked the kids what they actually wanted and neither brother wanted the throne so it's quite unusual, but I'm glad to see that kind of sibling love for a change.

There were a plethora of villains in this story but PM, serial killer dad, and nutsack were the best. The first two as veteran actors they made their roles believable especially serial killer dad of MRY who was more believable with the mask and the computerized voice than without it. When it was revealed (though most of us already knew) it was him, it was more like ok no big I can be myself and I'm crazy so I'll join the lunatics. It was a good role for him as he's usually in protagonist roles so though not as top as the three he still did a good job, though his father's switch between loyalist to serial who gets pleasure out of the kill was Ted Bundy all over again. And Nutsack, he's an obsessed with FYX lunatic, who had a hard life (being poisoned not helping) that didn't excuse him from all of the evil he did including to the FL. But he expected to win her back like his delusion was the highest of the story up to the moment FSG and FYX killed him together. Never dawned on him that they were done the moment he shot her off the cliff. Also, emperor lunatic who would kill a person if the air wasn't up to his liking but fell in love with XY because she didn't behave like a dog but would talk back to him and be head strong made him all happy and it made me just want to go bathe. The actor himself did phenomenally well considering he too usually plays protagonists so his first lunatic morally grey antagonist was very convincing and he did a great job.

I love fight scenes and we had some pretty awesome ones especially when FSG was involved. The final fight scene between him and Nutsack was awesome. You could tell that Nutsack had great sword skills that actually matched FSG's though still on a lower grade but FSG won that battle alongside FYX because he also had more strength and he threw nut sack around the room and basically wipe the floor with him. I thought that was awesome and FL coming in at that last moment really helped a lot as well. I do really wish also there was a better moment with FSG and serial killer dad when he realized that the emperor never intended to kill him nor his son, but they assumed it and did all those horrible things to FSG and the assistant to the emperor who still wasn't avenged well I guess he was when FYX shot the arrow through serial killer dad, but no one mentioned him. Nobody even knew where his body went. Wish we got to see more of the fight scenes we saw BTS not just in flashbacks. Costumes were gorgeous and FSG's home as well as lunatic kingdom interiors were just beautiful. OSTs ok.

Cons: His sister and the entire lunatic kingdom was just no for me. Her growth in survival after the slap and giving herself to the emperor lunatic but she spent all the time breaking her brother's heart because she fell for nutsack at first sight yrs ago without knowing or caring who he really was and no matter how others tried talking her out of it, she just saw life through rose colored glasses, even threatening to kill herself to her brother to help nutsack escape. She lowered herself to such a place where she was willing to give him a one nightstand which was cheap and nasty. It wasn't until he slapped her for being the real bitch for falsely calling FYX a bitch and saying that she was in love with her brother but still toying with him; than & after a few more incidents where she found out about her father and brother being dead did she finally start to think about revenge and survival. Survival I understand but she was in enemy country thinking she was going to get revenge? Girl, sit down. Getting pregnant by the emperor and then when nutsack started his plan, he essentially stabbed her and no more baby or babies ever; honestly though I felt a bit sad for her, she reaped what she sowed. She did have blood on her hands even if just one person. I'm glad she spilled all of that to her brother. So though we saw her survival growth, I couldn't bring myself to bond with her character.

A plot hole that I found was they never explained how Nutsack and MRY met in the first place and why MRY was allowed to give nut sack and Weiran orders like he was their boss. MRY couldn't fight to save his life so if he went head to head with nut sack with a sword, he would've been dead in under 50 seconds. We also saw what happened to him when FSG fought and killed him just with his hands forget swords. So when exactly did they meet and how was never explained. We got great back stories on a lot of characters, but that important one somehow fell through the cracks. Also wish they would've shown whether MRY harmed that short minister that's an opportunist that though he helped the young brother emperor he also led MRY to the secret hideout of FSG. Though he swore he wouldn't tell, I guess he lived because he told MRY where FSG and company was, but I think younger bro should've realized that something was off and I hope he either retired him (off with his head) or took him from his position because the future would not be so bright with someone like him but then again with the sister governing, he probably doesn't have a very long time left as a minister of anything. She could smell a rat a mile away.

Plus, nutsack kingdom was edited weirdly to just randomly show up while we were getting the main story. Sometimes the timing was just off. And the one OST "Don't Cry" was played like the thing just wanted us to vomit it. At the end it played and was cut suddenly as danger BGM had to come. Did the sound editor not know that sometimes silence or just soft instrumental music was enough? Less is more in this case really! The fake woods were obvious but then I don't how much of a budget this had. Otherwise, I had no other issues.

Would I recommend it? 100%! It's an amazing series that I couldn't even write everything I wanted because of the 10K limit (do they seem to have lifted the limit cap); but this is what you want to see in an enemies to lovers series!

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I wasn't sure what I was getting into at first but with the first episode I knew I would like this.

The story is absolutely amazing and you will fall in love with the characters especially Song Sae Byuk's character Kang Pil Sung, who I absolutely adore, and Go Joon Hee's character Hong Seo Jung, who was like a living angel. The chemistry between those two characters will simply make your heart ache and break all at the same time. Song Sae Byuk really caught me of guard, he literally is probably one of my favorite male leads after this, I just can't tell you how much I loved his character. You really felt the love shared by these two characters.

The other characters were fantastic as well, you really became attached to them which made later episodes pretty painful. Even the evil bastard character Hwang Dae Doo was good in the fact that you really really really hate him.

I will give fair warning when watching this, the last four episodes are very painful to watch, I basically just wanted to cry most of the time. With that being said I don't think the ending was a bad one, in fact I really found some hope in it.

I would definitely recommend this drama. The story, characters, production, music, acting, just about everything was top notch! Still fresh off the last episode and really still feeling my heart breaking a bit and I'm sure the characters will be on my mind and in my heart for a while.

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TharnType comes back to annoy us all for a very special episode of ignoring all its real issues.

Our main couple declare their undying love for each other over and over again in what is nothing but embarrassing fan service while making sure to emphasise that Type is Definitely Not Gay (while everybody else around them is).

Type's big moments of coming out to his friends, family and Kom happen either offscreen, for laughs or in rushed broad strokes with all the emotions stripped from them. I should probably just be happy the writers dealt with those issues at all. They certainly didn't mention Type's trauma, apart from an impetus to his - apparently ongoing - hatred of Bad Gays.

Speaking of Bad Gays, Lhong wanders through to be forgiven by Tharn's brother in a truly disgusting scene that reminds us that Thorn is fine with San being in his brother's life too and therefore clearly doesn't actually care about him. He may as well hang a shingle on his door saying, "All Tharn's abusers are welcome here".

Essentially this "special" consists of random scenes with no real narrative thread or thematic underpinnings. It's basically "stuff fans might like to see" and I'm sure a lot of fans loved it. Even the weird cat/dog scene I'm scrubbing from my mind as we speak.

I guess if you sat through the first 12 episodes you may as well watch it. It changes nothing and adds nothing, except to my annoyance.

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My primary issue with this season was the writing and plot. My secondary issue was that the acting & editing were often weird or poorly done; this was most frustrating as it hugely undermined the chemistry between the couples.

Writing: the poor actors were forced to say so many unnatural lines that people just don't say in real life that even if they were extraordinary, they wouldn't be able to believably deliver them. Next, the transition of fixation/anger into attraction was hodge-podged together out of weird, pretty stupid plot contrivances, and no deep thought on the characters' parts was seen to be put into the changing feelings. It just wasn't believable. Separately, the plot wanted so badly to be unpredictable that it relied on the most annoying, forced twists delivered in clumsy revelations whose timing make next to zero sense. Finally, THAT'S NOT HOW POLICE WORK WTFFFFF every time something totally unbelievable happened with regards to the police work, I was wrenched entirely out of the story. This is why I say it was a failure of ambition: they wanted to do something other than school setting, which is laudable, but didn't take the time or effort to do it well.

Acting/Editing: I combine these because I wonder if all the peculiar pausing in place was due to editing failures and because I really want to believe the actors had better takes than the ones put into the final product. One particular oddity was that the kisses never developed out of the wooden "one person's eyes stay wide and body stiff in surprise" stage, even after the romance developed to a mutually acknowledged stage. Another instance of bad acting or maybe editing is that in a particularly heated scene I couldn't stop laughing because the main actor looked like he got "petulant child" mixed up with "murderous rage". I'm laughing again as I think of it. The rest of my issues I'm willing to put on the writers hurting the actors with just frankly dumb lines/scenarios.

It would have been cute as a manhua, but the choice to put it to real life actors requires more realism, less lazy writing, and fewer dumb gags.

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I just finished watching it. It'll be very hard for me to write a good review for this drama, because it has so many aspects. I will try to stick to those 5 aspects that mydramalist created.
First of all, Story. The plot is very complex and interesting. At the beginning it's a typical romance but it soon turns out to be more than that. Actually it's a drama about the older generation. The reason why I gave this drama a "2" and that is "dreadful" for the story is because it turns out to be a pretty sad drama. If you like positive, funny, romance stories, do not watch this drama. This series is full of awful characters that got on my nerves all the time.
Second thing is Acting. Most of the actors did a great job especially the older ones. I only gave "7" for acting because I think that one of the main couples, Joo Young and Woo Bin didn't act very well. For me their acting was unrealistic and they didn't show the right emotions.
Music, well, music was good, but it was often too much like in typical soup operas.
When it comes to rewatch value, I gave it a "1" because I would never watch it again. It's just that the plot went into the wrong direction and like I said before, it's a sad kind of drama. Overall I gave it a "5" because it has a lot of postive aspects but also a lot of negavite ones. I hope my review will be somehow helpful to all of you who haven't watched it yet.

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