There's nothing to say much about the cast, they played their characters perfectly to the point where it was easy to get irritated, to laugh, cry along with them. Each and every actor brought their characters to life in style and color.
The Music was just a perfect match to each of the situation they were supposed to be matched with.
I would totally recommend this drama if you are looking for a well adjusted drama about life that's clean funny and relaxing. Even if you are not in your 40's this drama is written so beautifully that it's easy for anybody to actually relate to and be like "oh that could so totally be me."
SO in clear if you are looking for a funny well adjusted and well written drama there you have it try this one just take a sit back and be charmed by all those oppas who are going to make you feel like life is just oh so well good ...
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This review may contain spoilers
It's decent
The trunk is a mix of psychological, mystery, and melodrama. It deals with various complex themes such as mental health, loneliness, complex human relationship, and the meaning of love and marriage.Pros
- Acting and cinematography are amazing
- Premise and initial character settings are interesting
- Chemistry is good
- I like the closure on FL & ML, they're both healing and they might find each other again if fate allows. It's a fitting resolution
Cons
- Mystery plot is not giving, it feels unnecessary and ruin the overall plot imo. The way it concluded was also unsatisfying
- Story feels underdeveloped
- Supporting casts feels underutilised and even the ex-wife got bland towards the end. I would prefer if she became the main "villain" until the end
- Pacing can be off at times
Honestly, it's a pretty decent show and I enjoyed watching it... but it does feel underwhelming. It doesn't leave much of an impression and I think I'll forget about it easily.
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I watched Reply 1997, the first installment of the franchise, and loved it. I also saw positive reviews of 1988 so I came in expecting to be entertained. But I've always believed that first installments, whether a movie or a book or a show, are the best so I didn't expect too much. And so from episode 1 to 20, I kept on being surprised and impressed because not only was 1988 a good drama -- it was also better than 1997 and definitely one of the best, if not the best, 2015 kdramas.
Like its predecessors, Reply 1988 is an ode to youth, a tribute to a time long gone. I think this installment was more nostalgic because the era was the oldest. 88 stood out though because it focused less on romance and the typical Reply franchise trope of husband hunting but more on youth, friendship, and family. First loves and romance also played a part but it took a back seat, which was both a good and bad thing.
88 had a strong cast and I love that even though Duk Seon was the lead, each of the cast got their own shining moments. They were so fleshed out that it felt like I knew them in real life. The strength of this show lies in its characters and the way they interacted with each other. The camaraderie and rapport not only among the younger characters but also among the parents was so heartwarming. And the conflicts presented in each episode were real-life problems. This kept the show real, relatable, and deeply engrossing.
Reply 1988's most touching moments were the ones centered on family and friendship. I swear, there wasn't an episode where I didn't shed tears and during the latter part of the show I was crying multiple times per episode. The dynamics between Bora and her dad, for instance, broke my heart to pieces, as well as the friendship of the three ahjummas. I also loved moments between Jung Hwan and her mom, and Taek and his dad.
The romance, at first, seemed predictable. From the pilot episode, I was so sure who Duk Seon will end up with. Up until the 18th episode I was confident of my guess. And then the opposite happened and I was shocked. Viewers were shocked. I did not see that coming at all and if you watched, you'd know that one of the guys was painted as the typical male lead so it was a real surprise when he wasn't chosen. This is not to say that it wasn't justified. The guy Duk Seon ends up with truly deserved her because be was braver and more determined to get the girl. Since both guys are good, I was okay with either one and I couldn't choose. I just felt a little played because of the unexpected twist. I wonder if this was the original plan of the writer or if it was changed midway.
I only wish more attention was given to the romance. Since it took a back seat, there wasn't a clear narrative on how Duk Seon fell for the guy. Other than that, I have no complaints.
Reply 1994 is next on my to-watch list but I'm not expecting much since it has not-so-positive reviews. Plus, it would be hard to top Reply 1988. I'm still reeling from the hole it left in my heart.
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This Drama, is really one ofthe best Dramas ever! It is a Drama, that makes you worry, tremble and cry rivers! There isn´t a single Episode that is boring, you always wonder what will happen next. You think about how it is going to continue, you think you finally found the perfect Scenario, just to be surprised again and again!
Story: A Story that is very awesome, and well written! Through the whole Drama, you think how it will end, just to see that it isn´t going as you expected, AT ALL! You think you finally found the murderer, it is all legit, and the Drama Comes around the Corner and "BOO", it scares the sh** out of you!
Acting/Cast: It is perfect acting and perfect cast!! I know Lee Bo Young fom I Hear Your Voice which is one of my best-ever-Dramas, but Cho Seung Woo has been totally new to me! And man, this is a guy! Everybody in this Drama Show top-notch acing skills but Cho Seung Woo - he was better than them all (although only a slight bit, they were all awesome).
Music: BEST!!!!!!! The Drama OST´s fit the Drama perfectly. They make you cry and tremble even more! I definetely have every OST of it on my phone right now!
This is a Drama, that I loved from the very first second to the very last second. I cried in almost every Episode, enough to use it for a pool actually, and trembled so many times! There sure are a few characters I didn´t like, they have been so suspicious! If you really want a Drama to cry, to tremble and to shout at your Computer, then this is for you!
I really want to thank all the writers, the directors, the actors and overall all the staff that have been working on this masterpiece, they did a really awesome Job!
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This review may contain spoilers
that joyless place. I like to call; The last 11 episodes
"Whoa. Speculation reset. Just toss everything we thought we knew last week out" (2 months ago). My comment after episode 6 aired - where the line draws, and romance ends.Where, watchers thought maybe a great chemistry could climb out into the light toward freedom. A place, that hunted-young-couple would discover love and themselves in the process. But, that story-180, took our leads away from originality, and right back where they started.
Where, the rich can take your organs, ruin your life, kill your child, and force lust on you. While, clueless vengeance and misunderstandings loop repetitively. We all know that place, that joyless place. I like to call it; The last 11 episodes of this soap-opera.
That wonder of walking down a dirt road, in a crown of straw, with a pony-tailed man - With old nanny as witness to a wedding under a open sky. All fell to nothing, and in the end the house they built, meant even less. That couple; mundane, but rich; chemistry gone; wander the earth; to write five star hotel reviews in branded gear. What a difference, that time skip made.
There are better romances out there. This could have been something special, but, it isn't. Not recommended.
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Strong ML
Song Wei Long looked so handsome in this drama! I'll just start there lol. This was a great "contractual" marriage drama and you will see why I say that. I got to say Tan was starting to frustrate me because she didn't want anything to do with him and yet when the Prince as showing affection/kindness she was still questioning his feelings (even though she didn't and also wanted him).Both Prince and Tan love grew stronger for each other. I am glad they didn't leave us too heartbroken at some of the characters that passed.
The political aspect of the drama was easy to watch and loved how smart the Prince is and oh not to mention his fighting skills.
Overall, it was good - I am always a sucker for these type of endings and I feel more sattsified.
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I understand that this might not be to everyone's taste, so if you're looking for a Rom-Com or something light I suggest you watch something else.
On the other hand, even if it is titled as tragedy it's not THAT tragic in my opinion. Okay, maybe a little tragic, too, but not everyone-dies-in-the-end-tragic.
This show surprised me from the start, taking a direction I didn't expect, really making me wonder where we were going.
After watching the last episode I can say that the whole story was very well thought-out and in the end everything made sense.
It did a very good job at surprising once more in the end, when I already thought I had it all figured out.
I also realy liked the dark mood and the tension, especially in conversations between Mako/Satsuki and the detective.
Both Takei Emi and Kiritani Kenta did an awesome job. I have seen Takei Emi several times before, but each time it feels like a completely different character. This time she managed to play two characters at the same time in such a way that the audience is always able to tell the twins apart even when the line starts to blur.
Lastly, I set the rewatch value very low, because it's the kind of drama that won't be as interesting anymore if you know what will happen. It's the surprises that are catchy, but you won't be surprised the second time round.
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When A Brave Magistrate Fallen In Love
' Cry Me A River of Star'A romantic comedy plus light historical drama that contained some conflicts and obstacles.
▪️Main Points
~ The male and female lead were came from two different group of people, Zhongyuan people and Qianli people ( those who shed blue tears).
~ A brave Magistrate was responsible to punish Qianli people who want to rebel but later ended up fallen in love with a girl from Qianli people.
▪️Short Synopsis
A Magistrate, Tao Jun Ran bravely seeks and punish the Qianli people who wanted to rebel in Biyun country. He wants to search for Lian Qi from Qianli people who kept the weapons and arms illegally and punish him. Later he met an independent and hardworking girl, A Fan who close with Lian Qi and started to investigate her. He was told that A Fan was Lian Qi's girlfriend and knew about him. A Fan denied it and agreed to be questioned. Then, he knew that A Fan was not guilty and she was a nice and hardworking girl. He had fallen in love with her and want to marry her. As he confessed his love and asked her to marry him, A Fan agreed and they want to have a marriage reception. But a conflict happened a day before they want to get married.
Yun He An was so childish and stubborn girl. She still want to marry Tao Jun even she knew he do not loved her. She forced him to agree with her even they were married only for a time being in order to save Cao Qing. I hate her characters since she was arrogant and heartless person. Her brother, Yun Jia Yu also was a bad and heartless guy. He plans to make Tao Jun helpless and killed him but since his sister want to marry Tao Jun so he cant do anything bad to him. Li Qian bought A Fan to her country in Qianli. He plans to make her a 'High Priest' in her country. A Fan disagreed at first but she just followed him since he forced her to do it. There also many bad peoples who disagreed with A Fan as a High Priest. Later, Tao Jun tried to go to Qianli to save A Fan.
▪️Opinions
~ You can see how much Tao Jun Ran loved A Fan. He did everything in order to save her, he can even give his own live to her.
~ A Fan trust to Tao Jun was very deep. Even there were a lot of misunderstanding, she also chooses to trust him.
~ Majesty was just a toy since he doesn’t know what happened to his country and can easily getting betrayed by others.
~ Even Tao Jun was a great Magistrate before, he doesn’t get any respects from his Majesty and people, he been punished without getting an investigation for his frames.
~ Tao Jun Ran do as he promises to A Fan which is to marry her. Even they couldn’t get married in earlier but still they’re married in the end.
▪️Characters Intro
~ Luo Zheng as Tao Jun. He was a magistrate that responsible in dealing with Qianli people. He was popular because of his handsome face and brave in dealing with enemy. He was respected by all the people because of his braveness and kindness in helping people to deal with epidemics. Even his make up effects looked a bit weird and over make up but still okay since I do not care as he can smoothly acting and showed a good characters.
~ Huang Ri Ying as A Fan. A cute, silly and kind hearted girl who responsible and hardworking in supporting her life and also her adoptive dad who madly insane. She came from Qianli people who shed a blue tears when she's crying. Her cloth's styling was a bit glamour for a poor girl' s characters but she so pretty and cute in that styles. It is okay since I love to see a beautiful looks and stylish characters in a drama.
▪️Overall
The flow of this drama was very dramatic. It started from light, slow but suddenly got very hard. I thought this drama was a simple drama because it has some of funny scenes during an early drama. But it’s not like that. The flow getting worse and worse because there were a lot of misunderstanding between couples. No worries, there were also a sweet scenes during an early episodes which they’re kissing and also dating in the market.
I think this drama was okay. It’s only have 24 episodes for historical drama which never happened before. Thus I recommended to watch this if you want to see a short historical drama because it’s quite interesting.
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1This review may contain spoilers
Underneath the science and math, it's about human frailties destroying mankind or Earth or both
Plot Summary:(In chronological order, as opposed to the sequence of events in the drama)
During the Cultural Revolution in China, a budding astrophysicist witnessed a horrific incident that made her lose hope in humanity. Armed with research data and basic math, she was able to figure out that the Sun may be used to amplify radio signals from Earth to the vast space of the universe. She sent a signal through the Sun that was picked up years later by a pacifist alien who advised her not to answer otherwise his less peace-loving colleagues would conquer her planet. Had she regained enough hope in humanity to heed the warning, thus stop exposing Earth's location to the aliens, or did she still think earth couldn't sort its problems out itself and needs to be saved by an alien civilization?
Several years later, top scientists in China are committing suicide, seemingly due to frustration over failed experiments and the dread that physical laws known to man don't apply to the whole universe after all, thus making their life's work pointless. Might the shooter theory supposing that seemingly universal patterns apply only to limited areas and not the whole universe, actually be true? Might physics really not exist?
A nanomatter expert suddenly starts seeing a number in his line of vision and realizes it's a countdown. Countdown to what? He witnesses the universe seemingly blinking. He is invited to participate in a virtual reality game simulating a planet ravaged by a three-body problem causing its civilizations to get obliterated every now and then, haphazardly, with no pattern in the intervals between chaotic and stable eras. The object of the game is to find the pattern, i.e. solve the 3-body problem.
The failed experiments, the countdown and the winking universe are actually caused by photons sent to earth by an alien civilization, Trisolaris, whose inhabitants have given up on their fight against their 3-body problem and are currently on their 400+ years trek to Earth. The photons are monitoring earthlings' progress, making sure, with the help of humans who have joined Trisolarians' impending invasion, that human technology does not advance far enough to rival or even surpass that of Trisolaris by the time they reach Earth. Thus, they are driving scientists suicidal with frustration by tampering with their experiments. When a scientist agrees to stop his experiments, his countdown stops.
What happens when the countdown goes to zero? Is this when murders that look like suicides happen? Would humans, called bugs by Trisolarians, be able to ward off this threat of an alien invasion? Would they be able to help solve the 3-body problem thus obviate the need for Trisolarians to leave their home planet and invade Earth? Would Trisolarians, who cannot abide lies, be able to work with lying humans?
These and other questions may or may not be answered in this drama but they drive the narrative. It will be noted that this drama is based on the first book, "The Three-Body Problem", of a trilogy written by Chinese author Liu Cixin. So, sequels are likely to follow.
Review:
This is the most engrossing Chinese drama I've watched. It's much better than the Netflix version. Aside from the scientific and mathematical discussions, the issues covered - humans treating other humans and the environment despicably to a point that would raise the question of whether man deserves to continue living in this beautiful planet or not - are presented in such a thought-provoking manner that powerfully draws the viewer in. The production, acting and music create a haunting, mysterious and sinister mood that fits the subject matter.
The story emphasizes the fallacy in the conventional belief that more advanced civilizations are likely to be friendly. In fact, history has shown that advanced civilizations tend to subjugate more primitive ones. This drama made me pray that those searching for extraterrestrial life would be circumspect about letting aliens know Earth's position in the universe, much less invite them in.
This drama also revived my awe at how blessed we are to have such a beautiful planet to live in. In this violent universe, planets are more likely to have uninhabitable conditions similar to Trisolaris than Earth. Yet, how are we handling this blessing? By acting like only certain humans have a right to be here, disregarding how our actions affect other occupants of this planet like humans who look different, other animals, plants, land masses and bodies of water.
Three-body is such a drama that can make viewers feel strongly about our beautiful planet as well as human moral frailties such as cruelty, selfishness, pride and dishonesty that could spell our doom.
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Detail:
Did I say it was slow? Like a glacier, and some times even slower than that. But it's not slow because it can't get to the point, or wants to just spread the story super thin. It's because the story is about the characters, the way they are handling wounds that might be new or decades old, how situations change and how the characters evolve around that.
I enjoyed it a lot, there's lots of nice slow tempo music which fits the pace and the views in the scenes are often stunning as it's set in Gangwon Province - not in the tree's like "Forest" but in a small village. We'll join in with a school reunion, with various activities the village people get together for, as well as following the various characters on their journey. Honestly i think I enjoyed this as much for the small slice of life it offers, a glimpse into a different pace and something that feels more traditionally Korean than some of the ones set in the busy hustle of the city.
There are some touching moments, and there are some downright comedic ones mostly thanks to Im Hui, who was absolutely the light in the show for me - she's a force to be reckoned with and her approach to life, her little outbursts and how she is with friends and family can be hilarious.
You need to be in the mood for something slow and relaxing for this one. If you find yourself in other dramas thinking "come on get on with it" - you're not going to enjoy this.
The only down for me is that I really didn't fully grasp the ending - I do tend to need *certain* things written in big neon lights for me to grasp them properly so while I was overall happy, I am largely just basing it on some assumptions of how I *think* they're trying to say things ended rather than actually knowing for sure. But that's ok, it's close enough :)
There's no reason this couldn't be watched over and over if you find yourself in the mood for the pace and story, if you have a lot on your mind and you want something that will just play in the background while your mind races away and not worry that you're missing things, it can be a good story to put on and hopefully calm your mind.
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This review may contain spoilers
DEFINITELY SEEN BETTER BUT IT WAS FUNNY
Since the very first episode Backstreet Rookie has been quite the scandal, and after completing the drama I can agree with the fact that there were problems: romanticizing student/adult relationships, black cultural appropriation and the fact that the whole was tagged under 'family comedy-drama'. At first, like many, I took that first episode rather lightly, saying that since it's a webtoon adaptation the facts and events are very unrealistic and that I should not put too much thought into it. But the more I read discussions and opinions from others the more I realised that although it's all unrealistic it can have a bad impact or trigger some people, which made me further realise how unsensitive that first encounter between Saet-byul and Dae-hyun was. Although she started everything and kissed him it was still giving a wrong message to younger audiences who might confuse a fictional love story of 10 years into something romantic and to try in real life. Also, it was insensitive towards people who had similar bad and traumatic experiences. The second point is the best friend Dal-sik, whose character was just totally wrong for me. His presentation, behaviour, and style were just so offensive and are the biggest mistake the writer or PD team made in my opinion and the fact that until the very end, they didn't try to change or develop anything about him. Yeah, he was funny, but also cringey and disgusting.From what I heard these kinds of dramas were popular in South Korea in the '90s but for audiences today, with all the talks about gender equality (do we want to talk about the father being beaten up religiously lol), cultural representation and misappropriation, a lot of things here were offensive and ignorant. Yes, SK is usually pretty insensitive in these cases, but honestly, if the writers and directors gave some points a little thought it would've saved them so many of those complaints and hate towards the actors.
Now let me mention why it was funny, despite all the issues I discussed above. It was silly, stupid, completely unrealistic and very colourful. Everything was a mess at times, but that's exactly what made it comic and at times relatable. Apart from all the bad stuff, it gives rom-com, and although kind of slow, it had all the elements and I don't regret watching it to be honest. I'm happy how so many people, me included, recognised the wrongs in the drama but still gave it a chance.
The OST was really good, and that's totally what I loved most out of all the drama. The acting was also good, it was a new kind of role for Ji Chang Wook, his character had problems but he did a decent job.
Those who want to watch it, do it with an open mind, knowing all the negative stuff about it, if you don't want to get triggered or disappointed.
I've seen better but it was okay nonetheless.
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I know pretty much nothing about Japanese actors. I fell in love with Kitagawa Keiko. Not only is she gorgeous, but her acting is great. Yuki is just as Mamoru describes in the last episode. Kusanagi Tsuyoshi was excellent as Mamoru. I was Mamoru before I met the person I have been with for the last 12 years. I thought I was destined to never be in a long term committed relationship and I was totally okay with it. I really identified with the character and I think that is a tribute to the acting. The other actors were good also.
The music is also great!!! Moon River is one of my favorite songs.
I will probably rewatch this at some point.
I recommend this to everyone.
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Musical like drama
It's my first time watching a K-drama that involves so many musical acts, i somehow felt like I was watching a Disney princess movie throughout this series.This basically concentrates more on the female leads life journey, having to face harsh realities of life at an younger age, having no adults around to support her and if magic enters her life? BOOM!!! All miseries out of her life, Sounds fun right? Watching first half even I felt that the same. But NO! The second half concentrated more on the magician(ji Chang wook) and Na II deung's life's story. I some how felt a little similarity between the 2 male leads characterizations. The latter seemed younger version of former (Wound'nt go much deeper analysing it here ,may endup spoiling).
This drama did take me by surprise be it the musical acts (Damn! Focus on the lyrics ,seemed like they were talking to each other through music) or the vague ending . Because it is just 6 episodes and the actors are just amazing, I'll say it's watch worthy.
Started this just because of ji Chang wook but ended up falling for the female leads actings, Oh God!!! the look in her eyes explains her misery. Every actor in this drama truly portrayed their character's personality through acting which got me involved more into the story, absolutely loved the actors
Alert!! Zero romance and yeah the ending was quite confusing to me . Story kept jumping from one thing to the other.plot was quite plain with no wow factors involved
Personal opinion :P lol :- Do you believe in magic?
During our low times, if it is something that makes you believe in miracle even for a moment then, why not? -_<
Funny fact:- As ji chang wook is part of it I thought episodes will be released weekly and started off with the latest episode released and 50 minutes into it realised something was off .Turned out I was watching episode 6 throughout. AAAAHHHHH! Erase everything you saw and let's start afresh. EP-1 let's go!!! Was what I though to myself.
Yeah the first episode I watched was the last episode of this drama. SILLY ME!!!!!
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Fun, exciting, engaging and entertaining - just a bit diluted.
I would be lying if I said I did not have a fun time watching. So Hee was as unique as always, Ji Yeon as crazy and Ji Gu as grumpy. Their friendship was still the best and strongest part of the whole show (till one specific scene). Compared to season one, it also focused on them outside of their friendship, so we’ve got less group drinking moments, but instead could see them interact with other people more.One thing I liked was the fact Kang Buk Gu did not really feel like the main character. I don’t think he had more scenes or importance than for example Kim Sun Jong, which I don’t complain about since he was never a character I looked for while watching the episodes even in season 1. It might be something that others dislike though.
The issue I had with this season is how disjointed it felt. First two episodes don’t fit into the timeline at all and while I understand they had to give a proper closure to the events from season 1, I am not sure they handled it in the best way storytelling wise. And the similar “individual stories not quite connecting together” feeling lasted for the whole duration of the show.
Some episodes were truly great, some were nice, some were not memorable at all. The quality fluctuated a lot. As a whole it was less funny, less moving and less entertaining. It’s still a great drama though, far above the majority of comedy shows. It just pales in comparison to season 1.
The arc this time was them as individual people learning how dependable they are on each other, and how it does not always have positive effects. I understand it on paper, but I think it was not quite well presented in the show itself.
Then, there was one side plotline that was the biggest issue for me. Without giving any spoilers of what happened, the events just made me question why these 3 girls are even friends and how did this friendship last so long. We got an unsatisfying conclusion to an extremely complex problem. The writing of this one side plot was so bad, I actually lost any interest in ever rewatching season 1 and 2. I just cannot see the friendship in the same light anymore (more about it in a comment below).
Performances were amazing - great continuation of the phenomenal deliveries from previous season. It truly feels as if the actresses were born to take these roles.
Overall, you can sense that this season is different and I think the change of the director is obvious. Personally I preferred how Kim Jung Shik handled the story. Season 1 was my first 10 in 2 years. While season 2, while I don’t regret watching, I would not exactly recommend others to check out.
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This review may contain spoilers
Justice is served
When you play a game of cards, the outcome is never 100% guaranteed. It can be predicted based on the players moves but it is never really absolute. It can change in the blink of an eye. One is expecting something and at the very last minute, the perceived unexpected happens. Why? To show that a person’s life path can be challenging and though? What is the point of climbing a mountain, through treacherous terrain, temperamental weather and conquering altitude sickness in hopes of enjoying a spectacular view at the top only to discover a cemetery instead?It's almost as if drama production teams were compelled to discreetly push and motivate the audience to continue watching the drama, building up hopes that it would be worthwhile and that fans would enjoy it, just to deliver them tombstones.
Blossom's production team, thankfully, delivered their implicit promise that the view from the top of the mountain would be incredible. In fact, the view was breathtakingly flawless, with the ending seemingly crafted in the stars. After going through the pits of hell with and for one another, Song Mo and Dou Zhao would finally be able to live happily together.
The deliverance of their wedding fairly early in the drama has allowed viewers to experience their marriage life for a significant number of episodes, which the majority of dramas tend to overlook in favour of unnecessary fill-ups that devalue the quality of the visual storyline and irritate viewers. Story quality over number of episodes worked extremely well as the 34 episodes perhaps minus one or two that could be condensed in the later stages of the drama were just right to tell a good story from beginning to end without dragging it out to 40 episodes with boring material that added nothing to the plot.
The story’s introduction was an epic masterpiece with Song Mo in a lengthy white/greyish hair, saving Dou Zhou and an orphan child from harm. His softness, tenderness, sensitivity, empathy and kindness were as riveting as the fated arrow that later pierced through them, binding their life stories together. It was so unexpected and mind-blowing that made the audience thirsty for more and did not let it down throughout. As they are pierced by the arrow, they fall through a large mirror, and travel back in time, waking up as children to begin their lives again.
Song Mo is a strong man, a powerfully humble, righteous male lead with an unquestionable sense of justice and loyalty who has been betrayed by a number of people, most notably his father, a duke who despised him in favour of his younger brother, an illegitimate love child whom he desired to be his legal heir. To accomplish this, he had no qualms in hurting Song Mo as much as he could, displaying his public contempt for the son who took a beating for him in front of soldiers. However, the father no matter how wicked and terrible he was, was a known enemy. Song Han, the seemingly soft studious brother, however, plotted Song Mo’s demise without publicly opposing him. The worse kind of opponent is the one that hides in the shadows and the most dangerous one is usually a family member. Betrayal after all never comes from an enemy. The most intriguing aspect of Song Mo is that, despite everything he has endured from his father and paternal relatives, his heart has remained pure and his honour has remained intact, as evidenced by his commitment and dedication to justice and determination to find the mastermind behind his maternal uncle’s demise.
Dou Zhao is a phenomenal strategist who, unlike Song Mo remembers everything about her previous life, and works tirelessly to remedy the mistakes that have led to their demise. In the present, with the red line of fate intertwined with Song Mo’s, they embark on a journey of mutual assistance, support, trust and love that transforms them into allies and converts them into a loving husband and wife, united against the world, literally transcending both time and space. Through her decisive actions Dou Zhao is able to achieve her goals and avoid repeating her past life mistakes, thanks to her strategic, decisive measures. Despite being unable to prevent her mother’s death or her best friend from becoming her stepmother, Dou Zhao is able to move in with her grandmother, grow up in peace, and build prosperous business ventures that provided her with financial freedom. She was also able to choose who she married, accepting Song Mo marriage proposal and becoming his wife, rather than marrying Wei Ting Yu as she had in her previous life and getting poisoned by him and her sister due to their simplistic idyllic love for one another.
Blossom is full of twists and turns with various demises as the story progresses including Dou Zhao’s sister Dou Ming and Wei Ting Yu who not also marry in the present but also die tragically, and her stepmother, who ends up living the rest of her life paying for her sins, among other characters like Song Mo’s father, to mention a few.
It almost seems like after a supporting character’s arch has served its purpose in the story, the character dies. Thus, death serves both as a karmic, tragic ending and a beginning to another uncovered plot, which continues until the very end with existing personas i.e. Ansu, Dou Zhou’s childhood friend who is granted the title of princess by the emperor and marries Song Han. She debuts early in the story, then goes about her life for a number of episodes before taking centre stage as Dou Zhou’s high-ranked sister-in-law, second only to the male leads, to propel the storyline forward. She stands by Song Mo, because she loves him, ignoring his distorted mind and sordid inner nature. A man who was willing to hurt another person in order to prove his physical superiority had a black heart and a corrupted spirit, as a result of his inferiority complex with Song Mo. In the end, Ansu serves justice by taking her husband’s life, showing that there is love and hate on opposite ends of the spectrum and their combination is fire and ice.
Yuan Tong / Ji Yong was an interesting character. In the first life, he was a monk, in the second, a game-changer strategic healer mastermind who strived for power to implement the changes in the empire that he saw as necessary, and aimed for Song Mo’s death to be with Dou Zhao, whom he admired and loved to the ends of the earth, whom he saw as an equal, and the ideal match for him. Yuan Tong was kind and light-hearted. Ji Yong on the other hand, was kind, deceitful and grey, a magician of fates, using people as pawns in his chess match to gain authority. The first wanted peace, and strived for good; the second wanted peace and aimed for war, believing that revolution was necessary and could only be achieved via force. He eventually achieved his professional goal of becoming the new dynasty’s chief grand secretary but loveless. Love, however had never been his main priority anyway.
Even though he was mentally in love with Dou Zhao, Ji Yong was more focused on his career than actively chasing her, unlike many second male leads. However, the character could not really be regarded as a second male lead in the first place. He was a dynasty manipulator who used Prince Qing and Song Han like his disposable pawns, who ultimately paid the price for their wrongdoings, demonstrating that even though they had the means to accomplish their goals, those things mean nothing in a conflict between evil and right, darkness and light, war and peace, hate and love. Karma should be fulfilled and love should ultimately triumph. That's what took place here. Justice was served, love prevailed and karma was served without the possibility of redemption but then love and redemption is another story.
All things considered, Blossom was refreshing sans the cliched storylines. As per usual troupe, the leads did not meet, fall in love, break up, and then reunite at the very end. They met, became allies, friends, fell in love, married, endured hell together, remained devoted to one another, and had a daughter they watched grow up. Since Song Mo and Dou Zhao only had eyes for one another and did not want to be with anyone else or put up with any interference in their relationship, there was absolutely no love triangle. Kudos to them for sticking together through everything life threw at them, for helping and caring for one other, for demonstrating what a healthy, stable, and loving relationship should look like, and for the happy ending.
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