it keeps getting worse
I like max & nat but the repetitive storyline and redundant issues faced by their characters every episode got old weeks ago. this is a waste of their talent and my time. the story is inconsistent, the side characters have little chemistry, and every episode has had basically the same plot. it’s a fun concept if it were written well but so far it’s been poorly executed.Was this review helpful to you?
How to ruin a 10/10 show with one episode.
I must congratulate the writers for accomplishing something I considered nearly impossible. Well, I know better now. One can completely ruin a show in just one episode. Here is how I imagine it was done.Step 1: Destroy the characters. The characters that the audience have known and loved for the past 15 episodes need to be ruined first. Take all their character-traits away from them, including their understanding, their love, their spirit of never giving up - everything that made them… them. Everything that made the audience fall in love with them. Ready? Great. Now apply this to their carefully constructed and super strong relationship and make it seem like it was nothing. Easy peasy.
Step 2: Try to trick the audience. Everything that has been shown important in the past 15 episodes needs to amount to nothing. All the little things, hints dropped, heartwarming things shown, need to be shown moot and useless. Now, switch their focus to completely different and dumb things which had no relevance before that wretched episode.
Step 3: Leave tons of things unexplained. Build up entire mysteries for 15 episodes and then simply refuse to solve them.
Step 4: Completely give up on all sense. Nothing needs to make any sense whatsoever. The strongest forged bonds are weak AF. People clearly madly in love with one another can be forced to break up with no regrets and can move on from each other just as quickly. Like I said, give up on all sense.
There you have it folks. A 4-step guide to ruin a 10/10 show. It was clearly easier than I had initially thought.
Was this review helpful to you?
It appeared like different theme. The whole story was dark and then surprise! Everything fixed and they live happily ever after. I didn't like that those characters did not take their time to think about their sins... They changed because they were afraid of losing their beloved children or because they finally realized that they didn't live life with their own decisions and rules. I didn't like children's decisions at the end. What a privileged people who born with a silver spoon in their mouth. It seems like all those 19 episodes were written by different person than the finale.
It was really great and i loved it... waste to end up like this.
Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Can I just say this broke all the limits I thought were possible.
Okay, I admit it, I loved it. So let’s start from each aspect of everything I love about this drama because I am sure you guys read the plot line before coming here.1. Gotta be acting!
You know I loved Dylan Wang in the drama Love between fairy and devil but not so much after that (I don’t hate him, he is an amazing actor, his dramas just did not match my style after that) and after that I came here and stayed forever. To say his acting was terrific would be an understatement. Not just him, everyone else was amazing. The acting, expressions, delivery, my god I can’t complain. I am sure I fell in love with two characters more than twice in this show, Xu Qi’an and Yang Yan. I am pretty sure if I ever made a list of best (and hottest) actors they both would be on top.
2. Story
When you think of an engaging murder mystery plot, you almost always imagine blood, stress and tension but this drama said “F*ck that we are doing it different boys!” And you may ask different how? Different by humour. I laughed almost every episode. You think the situation is stressful? Let’s switch it up. Even till the end when the stress was at its peak it managed to ratain its GOOD HUMOUR (emphasis on the good please). The story was just the perfect blend of suspense, humour, (and no I am not counting this as a romance) action, politics everything. I am pretty sure the emperor would’ve killed me thrice by now if I was in the place of Xu Qi’an… hehe… (Oh and advice, get your popcorns ready because you won’t get up once you sit down, this thing is more engaging than a screw on a wall.)
3. Music
Soundtrack? Fire. My playlist? Dominated by one song. Opening and ending? Unskippable (of course unless you are too excited and skip to find out what happened because the director loves cliff hangers more than my patience.) Do I need to say more? The music was something I enjoyed. The bgm, OST, everything was so well done that it ruined some of the other shows broadcasting with this.
4. Can’t forget the CGI can we? This show was advanced. The CGI was one of the best I have seen in recent dramas. Comparable or I dare say better (I don’t mean others are bad, my pfp is of MM) to Moonlight Mystique, Blossoming love and any other major drama you can think of.
5. And lastly my love for Yang Yan, I swear I bit my lip everytime he came on screen. He was just too hot and cute. Sorry Xu Qi’an, maybe next season!
So, guys buckle up, pull out your popcorn, and just enjoy this ride. You’ll never be bored, exhausted, annoyed (okay the FL was a bit annoying in the beginning but she changed!), depressed, stressed (because unlike me you won’t have to wait a day or two). I promise you all that you might regret reading my overly self centered but factually correct review, but you won’t regret watching this masterpiece of a drama. See you in Seaosn 2.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Worth the 1 year wait for me, albeit having some plot inconsistencies
• Read the top part for a review with NO spoilers• Read the bottom part for an in-depth analysis of the plot, comparison with the original novel and interpretation of the ending WITH spoilers
< Review >
1. Storyline
In my opinion, the story was a decent adaptation of the original novel. I enjoyed the novel and the drama, not to the extent that I love it but it was likeable. The story has a lot of sad parts with sweet parts hidden inside. There were some sudden transitions here and there, but overall it was understandable. To me, it was worth my 1 year wait for it, watch it if you think you enjoy a more sad storyline throughout with sweet parts interspersed and don't mind some inconsistencies!
2. Acting & casting
I liked the casting (mostly). I felt that the two main leads, Ju Jingyi and Guo Juncheng did well. Their characters are individuals who speak through their eyes more than their words/actions and I thought they did pretty well in that. I also enjoyed the casting of Song Xinran as Lan Su and Zhang Zhihao as Ou Ya. The duo was very funny and added flavour to the story. On the other hand, I felt Lu Tingyu as Yi er was a bit out of place (?) I think her style suits modern dramas more.
I personally feel that Ju Jingyi improved in her acting from when I saw her in Yun Xi Zhuan. I think Song Xinran is also more natural now. Not sure about the actors as I have never really seen their dramas.
3. Music
I love two of the OSTs - 仍寻 sung by Ju Jingyi and Guo Juncheng, as well as 剪不断 by Jin Wenqi, have been playing them repeatedly since I heard them in the drama. The other three OSTs are average to me.
4. Special effects
Special mention to the special effects team. The special effects are pretty good for a drama!
5. Rewatch value
Frankly, I feel like rewatching it already to further analyse the story and because I was confused at some points of time, so I may rewatch the parts I like to think deeper about it.
---------------------------------------------------
< Analysis >
1. Characters
The characters in the novel and drama are rather different. In the novel, Wei Zhi is someone who is very 痴傻 (silly and persistent; apologise for the lack of a better word, but I'm not very sure how to translate it to the same meaning), in the drama, she is not silly but still persistent, and also quirky and kind. In the novel, Yan Yue is a very cold person, with little emotions who is only gentle (at times) to Wei Zhi, because he is the reincarnation of a land or something. Conversely, in the drama, Yan Yue is more cool than cold and very gentle. All in all, I feel that the drama Wei Zhi and Yan Yue are more realistic to me.
As for the other characters, I think the ones who are the most different from the novel are Ou Ya and Lan su. In the novel, Ou Ya was the one who gave the Qian Ji Luo to Yan Yue and Wei Zhi saw him as a very annoying character who was trying to get close to her. Novel Lan Su also had her marriage with novel Yan Yue cancelled and hated Wei Zhi (this story was not seen in the drama). However, in the drama, Ou Ya and Lan Su were really supportive and nice to Wei Zhi and Yan Yue till the very end, which I found as a sweet adaptation.
Do note that many of the characters are quite different from the novel though, but I won't go into detail.
2. Storyline
I've seen reviews saying that the drama storyline was dragged out, overly tragic and confusing. Frankly, the novel one was even more tragic and sometimes more confusing, requiring a lot of interpretation on my part. Below is a summary of the novel storyline, do note that it is not 100% accurate as I cannot remember the entire storyline.
Novel: Yan Yue sent to the academy to undergo his Qing Jie -> almost killed by Wei Ling Yue -> went to Yao Cheng -> Wei Zhi activated her bloodline for the first time when saving Yan Yue -> at one point, they had to escape because the Mo Zu Da Zun (Mu Nan) was trying to find the phoenix -> spent some happy days as a normal couple, this was also where Wei Zhi transferred the Qian Ji Luo to her body -> thrown into a dangerous desert world by Mu Nan, Yan Yue was severely injured and saved by Qing Huan, and brought into another world where time flows faster to help his injuries heal (around 1000 years passed in this special world for Yan Yue) -> Wei Zhi on the other hand, was taken by Mu Nan (or someone else) and lived 8 years on a boat -> Wei Zhi managed to escape and went to the city Yan Yue was controlling -> Yan Yue told Wei Zhi to leave when he saw her (Imo, he was trying to keep her safe because there is a high risk she may be revealed as the phoenix) -> Wei Zhi refused and stayed on, taking on some position due to her powers -> Things happened here and there and then Yan Yue and Wei Zhi drank a magical wine that made them follow their wishes and they had some alone time together -> Long story short, afterwards, Wei Zhi transformed and Yan Yue became the Mo Zu Da Zun -> She spent a total of around 20 to 30 years in the Mo Jie as a hostage -> Eventually, Yan Yue tried to die together with his father to save the world from his father who wanted to become a God but Wei Zhi came and saved both of them by using his Phoenix magic -> Afterwards, they were reincarnated every lifetime to be together, but with no knowledge that they used to be a Shen Xian or Phoenix
Overall, I enjoyed the drama storyline in a different way I enjoyed the novel storyline. The drama storyline was tragically sweet but the novel storyline was tragically heartrending except for very little sweet parts. I found the romance more realistic in the drama though!
3. Interpretation of the ending
Okay, so yesterday I watched the ending and in my mind I was like "???", so I spent the night and this morning pondering about it and this is my interpretation...
In the ending, Wei Zhi gives her Hua Rong to Yan Yue, which means that she'll die (somewhat like how Mu Nan died after he destroyed his Yuan Shen). 6 months later, we see Yi er becoming Tian Di, Ou Ya lamenting the loss of Lan Su and Wei Zhi's child being born. The story then cuts back to after Yan Yue returned to his own body 6 months ago, it showed Yan Yue sending Hua Rong to the sky and into the Time Palace, and time moves back.
From my interpretation, Hua Rong is the symbolism of peace, innocence and renewal, so by sending it to the sky, it purified the destruction caused and that is why the soldiers' weapons were removed. Afterwards, it was sent into the Time Palace. Remember that before this, Yan Yue said "Life is meaningless without you even if I can live forever, Wei Zhi, wait for me". By sending Hua Rong to the sky to purify the land, I believe that this is building good karma for Wei Zhi, often emphasised in Buddhism/Chinese culture.
By sending it into the Time Palace, I have two interpretations, (1) one is that both of them travel back in time and live in a separate timeline from the existing one the rest are in where Yan Yue never killed Wei Zhi and they live happily, (2) the second is that by turning back time, present Wei Zhi returned to the past Wei Zhi and took over her body as Tian Hou showed us that it is possible. This is because past Wei Zhi has the Hua Rong while present Wei Zhi does not have the Hua Rong. This would mean that past Wei Zhi would be replaced by present Wei Zhi who would go back into the present. And then Wei Zhi would still die in the past as she was meant to in order for everything to happen as it has already happened.
Regardless, it is clear that they are still alive as their child, also a Phoenix was born. We know that Wei Zhi's life is closely linked to her child, so if her child is born then Wei Zhi must still be alive. Additionally, Phoenix is the symbolism of rebirth, so we can take this as a symbolism that Yan Yue and Wei Zhi have found a new life. However, where they are is a big mystery, but if I were them, I would probably just live my own life in peace, to avoid any more tragic events from happening.
Thanks for reading my super long review and hoped you gained something from it!
Was this review helpful to you?
Let's just remember the good moments!
Ok, so... at the moment it is really hard for me to review this drama. I've just finished it a minute ago and ... what happened?Alright, let's start from the beginning. Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol was just breathtaking in its early episodes, and even though the following episodes may have had some weird plots, I couldn't care less as the show was just so beautiful and as many people have said, it was "a breath of fresh air" (which clearly is more than welcomed during this special year that is 2020).
From the characters to the importance of music, every episodes felt so short and I was really attached to our two main leads, Jun's character (our male lead) being so touching and beautifully naive, Ra Ra's character (our female lead) being this lovable and strong-minded woman.
However, something changed during episode 14. I don't want to write any spoilers so I'll just say that Jun did something so out of character that it felt wrong. From then on, I kept feeling that this character was not the one I knew and I still can't understand why the writer did this (I have watched Shopping King Louie and loved it, but I do remember her fancying "pranks" - she clearly should have changed that).
So I decided to only think of episodes 1 to 13 as Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol and I would definitely recommend these episodes to anyone looking for something warm and touching to watch. Btw I'll probably rewatch these episodes very soon just to forget the last episode...
Was this review helpful to you?
1This review may contain spoilers
for such a short drama, it didn't feel flat at all. the story is well paced and had the right amount of angst, balanced by the chemistry of two individuals with different backgrounds. sure, the tsundere and upbeat dynamic is not new. ji woo has a stoic personality but deep down, he's a caring dude. seo joon has a fun type of personality but he also won't back down when someone's being a dick. one thing i loved is how straightforward seo joon is with his feelings. he doesn't hesitate to express himself and it was refreshing to watch.
"I didn't want to get hurt again. And I didn't want you to get hurt either. But staying away doesn't prevent getting hurt either." -Ji Woo
the conflict between the main leads was understandable with how unpredictable things can go due to seo joon's fame and the homophobia they'd face. seo joon doesn't care what society thinks while ji woo is scared from his past experience.
i'm just happy that the plot didn't go for a complex route so things were resolved easily and the pace of the story didn't become overwhelming or mellow. acting wise, it was pretty good. ji woo's crying scene and the slight angst definitely made my heart yeet into two pieces. seo joon was undeniably quite a charmer and his smile is hella contagious. i must say the acting is decent and i'm impressed.
overall, this drama revolves around two individuals helping each other grow with each other's support. bonus points for the ost.
Was this review helpful to you?
The Pirates 2: The Last Royal Treasure
18 people found this review helpful
This review may contain spoilers
An awfully ridiculous plot
There was so much of hype for this movie, but in the end it failed to impress me.It's the classic case of "Great Cast doesn't guarantee you a good movie".
The cast of this movie was quite impressive and to be fair, all managed to do a very good job as far as acting is concerned. But when you stuff all these magnificent actors in one single movie, there's high chance that the script is not gonna do justice with all of them.
Can't blame the efforts of actors, though. Han Hyo-joo was very beautiful as a pirate, and so was Kang Na-heul with his witty lines and erratic behaviour. But the one who impressed me was Lee Kwang Soo. It seems like he simply can't leave behind his image of being a betrayer behind (*pun intended).
There wasn't much to do for Kwon Sang-woo and neither for Kim Sung-oh, which was kind of a bummer as I was really looking forward to their roles, only to be disappointed at last.
Now coming to the story.
It was just awful. Characters popped out of nowhere. There was no backstory for Han Hyo-joo and was very weak in the case of Kang Na-heul. It was just the plot of the previous movie, albeit with a bit of new ingredients. Let's compare it with its prequel:-
A Pirate - check
A disgraced soldier turned bandit - check
One evil general - check
One betrayer - check
And animals rescuing the pirates - check
The story might have been good if not for so much of stuffed characters. Chae Soo-bin's character literally had no importance at all.
At last, I will say some words for the VFX. It was childish graphics. Yes, the VFX certainly improved in the last act, but overall they were very poor and one can clearly see that there are just a lot of green screens.
Overall, I was disappointed with the movie, but the cast made it a bit enjoyable. Watch it for Lee Kwang Soo, Han Hyo-joo and Kang Na-heul. If you are seeking a good story, then don't go in that direction. Better to leave your brains aside while watching this movie, as this is certainly very logicless.
Was this review helpful to you?
If you love watching emotional Heart touching dramas then you'll love this.
A medical drama with a strong female character and a cool i-know-im-hot iwantyouyouwantmetoo male character who has this emotional side to him that will make you cry.
One of the reasons why this couple fit. Other than these two.The drama itself has adorable, funny and sad moments. It has EVERYTHING. Great music. Romance. Cute korean moments XD Hilarious parts and Sad moments. Its so good to see a drama with everything. The story line is great. Keeps you entertained and im not a rewatcher kinda person but ill definitely watch this one again.
And its def worth it...Jo in sung <3
Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
I have a love/hate relationship with this drama. The story is all over the place. I can't even begin to tell you how messed up it is. The GREAT scenes are with Hyun Tae and Mong Hyun's story line. I enjoyed it the most. Mong Hee's story line turns into a nightmare. ALL of the moms except Hyun Soo's mom are CRAZY and EVIL. How they ended it with them ticked me off. Hyun Joon's story line is just sad. I ended feeling like he struggled the most because some of his earlier actions were against his true character and because of his mom and wife. OOOOHHHH...Sung Eun gives me the creeps. Hyun Soo's story line is also strange. I won't go into how much I disliked how they handled some of it. I guess they thought a time jump was enough. I liked Yoona's character the most and she isn't even in it much. The grandmothers are boring as all get out and to tell the truth I ended up skipping most of their story line. I didn't miss anything by doing so. Mong Kui's story line is barely there, but it doesn't suck. I really like Yoona and Hyun Soo's mom interaction toward the end of the drama. I can't post spoilers or I could write all day about this drama. I can't say it was horrible, because there are some great and precious moments. I ended up with mixed emotions.This cast is great. It is really too bad they ended up in this drama. I wasn't disappointed in the acting. Han Ji Hye is the main reason I watched this, because I loved her in May Queen. I think she did well playing two different characters as Mong Hee and Yoona. Then of course there is Yeon Jung Hoon as Hyun Soo, Lee Tae Sung (I loved him in Rooftop Prince) as Hyun Joon and Park Seo Joon and Hyun Tae. All very good looking men and excellent actors. Very yummy!!! Baek Jin Hee as Mong Hyun is too cute. All the veteran women actress also did well playing the crazy moms. I really disliked them and I think that is a huge credit to their acting abilities.
There is some good music in this.
I don't know if you could pay me to rewatch this.
I would not recommend this. It is only my second 50 episode family drama. It isn't so bad that I wish I had my time back, because I'm glad I got to see some of the actors and some of the cute story line. If I were you, I would read the recaps that people have written to find where the cute parts are and just watch those. :-)
Was this review helpful to you?
I found this drama randomly on viki.com. At first I wasn't very serious about it because I thought it would be like other dramas I watched before. There are many dramas I like out there so I didn't think it's gonna be a serious condition. I didn't like the title either. Well, for some reason I decided to give a try out of bore. Just to kill leisure time. After watching two episodes, I began to curious about Mei Chungsu. I decided to watch more. And after five episode, I realized it was a good drama. Then after watching to episode fifteen, I couldn't stop myself from thinking about it. LOL.. On new year's eve, I came back home from work early around 10:30 in the morning. As soon as I came back I didn't eat or do anything, but started watching it till 3:30 a.m. the next morning. I didn't know how the NewYear passed. I watched again the next day I woke up. I slept at 2:30 a.m. in the next morning again. You can imagine how I would look like by now. My eyes were red with dark cycles and eye bags. My lips were white and had to go into bathroom to wash my face with cold water many times at work. Yet I thought of this drama all day at work. T_T
The drama doesn't have much romance but it was brotherly, and family love which made my heart melts. It was about a very intelligent but sick man name Mei ChungSu, his friends and relatives. Basically political scenes but with deep meanings tied to it. I love the plotting. Every move every character made seemed simple but later revelations were astounding. That is which made the drama more interesting episode after episode. Mei Chungsu was the main character but you won't see him very often yet all characters and plots played out perfectly to convey the true character of Mei Chunsu.
It was REALLY GOOD. I didn't want it to end. I want to keep watching it. But sadly I finished it. :(
Was this review helpful to you?
Wasted Potential
Before moving to my review, i kindly request people who are a big fan of this drama, to skip this review.Coming back to my feedback, the drama started off very well containing all factors in equal portions like romance, emotion, sibling rivalry, business war, friendship. so i thought that this drama will have business theme and will picture the war between male lead and his sister. but as episodes pass by the story got deviated and focused fully on lead pair's dating and their love life. at one stage I really got frustrated cause literally 50 mins of the episode was full of love only, not to mention the unwanted k!ss scenes in each episode. TOO MUCH OF ANYTHING IS GOOD FOR NOTHING. This is not a drama actually this is a documentary of what if LJH and YN dated in real life. the story, the actors, everything had a great potential to be a fast-paced beautiful drama, but the director and scriptwriter totally wasted it.
Was this review helpful to you?
Friendship is enough, is there a need for romance?
"My smile is not fake anymore, what took my mask away?"Disclaimer: I haven't read the webtoon yet so this review is solely based on drama.
In the first few episodes... you'll encounter a lot of tension between 2 male leads that definitely gives you the feeling and vibe, 'is this BL?' so let me clear this question: No it isn't. It's not typical youth drama, it tries to be different in many aspects adding some twists that are usually not seen in this type of drama, making you wonder about many things.
As of the first impression of Joon, I didn't like him at all (really at all lol). Loved his character development throughout the drama.. it wasn't out of nowhere or abrupt it was slow and natural. He got friends and love from them that he deserves. And not to forget he found his 'real smile.' Soo Hyun.. haha he acts oblivious and clueless many times, but he is adorable at the same time. I liked the change in his personality too, how he becomes comfortable around friends, having conversations even okay with getting help when it's needed. It's pleasant to see.
What I enjoyed most in the drama was the interactions, tension in the initial stage between Joon and Soo Hyun, the development in their friendship how they start to rely on each other, trust each other... the most pleasant time! Seeing Na In Woo was a surprise for me (I don't really check many things before starting drama lol)... ah I wanted his more interaction and relationship development with Jun maybe I would prefer it more than his time with So Bin :')
Romance ah the most uninteresting part of the drama, it has already many other things to handle lol (no offense it's my opinion) it is out of nowhere, it's like someone slams the door on the face as says yeah now leads like each other apparently for no good reason, you have to find why they like each other? Okay, so I get it about Joon as he is someone who is in need who hasn't been loved by anyone... so it's kinda acceptable for him to bit hungry for love. But what about So Bin, why the heck she likes him? Plus she is like one of the most important characters (Apparently one of the leads having poorly written) who gets really big screentime is the most uninteresting (or boring) character, yeah she has her backstory and all but still, she doesn't have her own identity or even personality, at the end of the day her role in the show becomes only as of the love interest for Jun. Maybe they had shown big character development in her or she even made some less stupid mistakes.
And this isn't only about Joon or So Bin why everyone should have their own love line, coz it's drama. Ah, I would have liked it more if it has shown friendship more other than bombarding too many love stories (Not to forget that love triangle lol).. other than triangle the trio of leads (only as friends) would have been the best scenario.
I don't have a problem with casting, not a very superficial level but we are getting decent acting. Everyone did an okay job portraying the characters. Especially I'm impressed by Park Ji Hoon's acting (It's my first time seeing him) especially with crying scenes he did a great job.
The soundtrack is really good.. our main lead is the singer, of course, we are getting ost sing by him 'Talk to me' (말만 해). 'Bom Bom Bom' (봄봄봄) by Punch is really refreshing. Bom/Boom '봄' means 'Spring.' And not to forget the duet of Rothy and Han Seung Yun 'Hug' (품) it's a soothing match with the drama's main concept. I liked the color palate specifically as it fit the theme of the drama.. spring! with really good cinematography.
I liked the fact it tries to show some social problems, sensitive topics without being over the top.. how they solve their problems overcome the traumas, but it tries to show many things in a short amount of time, it doesn't get draggy but a bit overcrowded I'll say. Drama isn't really like what the poster says it has different shades with being a bit dark also mysterious not losing its refreshing touch.
I don't rewatch so it's just a random number lol
In the conclusion, character development in some characters (not all), how they overcome their problems is my most favorite aspect of the show... it does have many problems if we ignore some poorly written parts and characters, it can count as an enjoyable show for sure!
Was this review helpful to you?
Recent Discussions
-
Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance50 seconds ago -
Which Was the Last Drama Episode You Watched? Part 36 minutes ago -
BL Drama Lovers Club7 minutes ago -
Hua yong's goal and better understanding11 minutes ago -
