Reviews

If Romeo and Juliet had lived…it would still end tragically

This Was Always Qingyuan’s Story

Technically, Spring of the Blade could have ended at Episode 24. We had the wedding, the honeymoon, our two tigers finally together…and we were on a high.

But this is a Chinese drama after all. Of course we weren’t getting off that easily.

Looking back, this was always Qingyuan’s story first, and Shen Run’s second. And to understand Qingyuan, we had to understand the tragedy of her mother and father…two people caught by circumstances who ultimately chose very different paths. One surrendered to greed and ambition. The other lost her life because of it.

And damn, the actor playing her father practically took over these final episodes. The versatility of his performance made him feel like the lead while Qingyuan and Shen Run became supporting characters in their own drama. What surprised me most was discovering that underneath everything he had done, he too was a victim of circumstance. That doesn’t erase his choices, but it makes the man far more complicated than the villain I originally thought he was.

Even the silver coin feels appropriate. Judas betrayed for silver, and here again silver becomes a symbol of betrayal…the price placed on loyalty, family and eventually someone’s soul.

Maybe that’s what Spring of the Blade was really about all along: greed and what we’re willing to sacrifice for it.

My problem remains the same. I would have preferred much of this Xie family history to come before the rebellion, allowing the political story to become the climax rather than interrupting it and then returning to the family mysteries afterward. But once again, we’re back to my biggest complaint…30 episodes simply weren’t enough.

Give this story another twenty episodes and suddenly Shen Run’s past, Commander Hu, Shen Che, the rebellion, Lady Hong, Grandma Chen and all those crazy Xie women could breathe.

I suspect the writers had a choice: finish with the rebellion and leave the Xie mysteries behind, or return to where everything began and give Qingyuan’s story its closure.

They chose Qingyuan. And perhaps they had to. Because no matter how much I loved Shen Run…this was always her story.

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A Series about Mental health, Sickness, and Trauma

I thought it was very clear what the plot was about from the trailer but the misconceptions about this show....oh my god. I couldn't never imagine GMMTV airing something like that, like that's crazy. It was a very good show about mental health, sickness, and trauma. I don't think it was done VERY well but I liked it regardless. It was a good attempt. PerthSanta did a phenomenal job as Pobmek and Sun/Solar. Santa especially surprised me because I could easily tell when he was playing Sun vs. Solar. He really showed how good of an actor he is in this series. I liked how Pobmek's struggles with taking care of sun was portrayed and how much of a mental toll it took on him to take care of his sick partner. The flashbacks to their university days were SO cute and some of my favorite scenes for sure. Perth and Santa's chemistry is really unmatched in GMMTV.

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Didn't live up to expectations

Why was the pilot trailer better than the actual show? It got me too excited and the real drama didn't live up to it. I'll admit that I'm not usually into these types of plot, I'm more into cute wholesome slowburn types, but somehow I still enjoyed it. It was obvious they were trying to ride off the hype that "Only Friends" got and just made a GL version. I think if they marketed it differently, the reception would've been a lot better. Everyone was expecting a really messy plot where everyone was hooking up with each other and a much crazier development of their stories but they mostly stuck to the OG pairs and nothing crazy happened plot wise. Nevertheless, I enjoyed watching it a lot. I loved Shasha and Gorya's story, although I think MilkLove's dynamic fits cutesy plots way better. I wasn't the biggest fan of Prim and Bambi's story although I enjoyed all NamtanFilm love scenes. Bambi was definitely my favorite character, Gorya being a close second. She was really interesting and I loved the drama. Min and Preaw were really boring. I feel like we should be over the "straight" girl falling for a lesbian and refusing to come out and treat her right plot line. I also don't like how they kept referring to her as straight when she was clearly just bisexual and literally dating a girl. A lot of things pissed me off about this show. The ending also sucked. It felt like they just gave up. I had so many hopes for this series and felt really disappointed.

Also everyone hated the intro song but I loved it IDC!!

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Extremely well made and polished GL

I'm a sucker for a good enemies to lovers and body swap plots are always so fun. Pam and Arhoung are great actresses and they were so insanely cute together. They did so well acting as different characters when they swapped bodies. Very impressive. Chemistry was great as well and so was the production quality of this drama. I want to kiss the stylist that worked on this show because all the outfits were phenomenal. SO cute. The side couple, Saifon and Wanmai....omg, I'm blushing just thinking about them lol. I might have liked them more than the main couple if the main couple wasn't SO amazing as well. Their story was perfect. I have nothing to complain about. This was a perfect GL.

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Rating This Below 10 Is A Crime !!

Just OMG !!!!!!!!
​If you don't want to read the review below, just remember to ignore comments saying it was fast-paced, because this drama is a gem. I hope you don't miss it just because of people's unrealistic standards and MDL ratings 😭❤️
​I love all the characters so freaking much. I love how it showed that the people around you and the circumstances you are in make you the person you are. I love that some characters got character development while some stayed true to who they were. I love the relationship dynamics of the Marquis family. The way the second male lead loved the female lead, and yet in the end accepted his wife, was so damn beautiful.
​The best historical second male lead award goes to Xu Zhenxuan! His character was so charming—not the least bit annoying, damn cute, and so sincere. Not to mention, his acting in the funeral episode stole the whole show!! Even the antagonists acted so damn well! I loved how the characters weren't just plain villains, but morally grey. None of them were born evil; it was the various situations they went through that became the reason they chose the wrong path TT.
​And Grandma! That’s how you spill tea. She just slayed that confession.
​Each and every actor nailed it!! Especially Zhou Ye and Xu Kai 🫶
​To be honest, the amount of "I love" I have written in this review is enough to convey what I feel about it.
​So please give it a chance! It’s a historical drama that is perfectly paced and never boring. Not one boring episode!
​This is definitely one of the best-written historical dramas to date! It’s a 1000/10.

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Enjoyable but Nothing Special

I'll admit I'm weak to high school/university dramas that are mid. They're just so comforting and easy to watch. "Monster Next Door" was exactly that. It wasn't amazing or anything but very cute and fun. My favorite was just watching Diew. He is SO cute and definitely autistic. Like he was SUPER introverted, always had his headphones on, no eye contact, obsessed with turtles, picky eater, specific routines everyday, and the list just goes on. Very cute and relatable honestly. Ignoring everything going on with Big and Park right now because I watched this before all that, I did think they had pretty good chemistry and the acting was good. Overall enjoyable show but nothing special.

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The Best of the Best

I knew Teetee and Por from "Your Sky" and they were cute but didn't stand out to me at all. The original pilot trailer seemed cute but basic. Seeing some of their interactions online before the show, they seemed extremely shy so I didn't trust their chemistry as a main couple either. I have never been more wrong in my life. These two genuinely have the best chemistry in any drama I have ever seen. Every interaction between them seemed so natural. I've honestly never seen anything like this before. This drama was so sweet and wholesome. I loved the development of the plot. I must be conditioned by so many bad Thai dramas that every time a new conflict was introduced, I braced myself for this amazing story to all come crumbling down but so much care was put into every aspect of this show that every conflict was handled with care and resolved in a realistic, satisfying way. For example,

(slight spoilers ahead)

the conflict with Qin's parents was addressed but they didn't pretend that everything was perfect and solved by the end.. Qin himself said that it was only the start and they had a long way to go. It was so refreshing that everything didn't magically get fixed after one interaction.

Qin and Duang always communicated and had such a healthy relationship. This healthy habit followed through with their friendships as well. I LOVED their friend groups. Jamie and Pae were hilarious. My least favorite part of "Duang with You" was Jamie and Marvis' relationship unfortunately. They had a friends with benefits situation going on with nothing going on outside of that which would be fine if not for the fact that they were not physically close with each other AT ALL. Like their whole relationship is physical intimacy yet we never see any of it and that's the only thing we had to root for them on and there's nothing there. I think either they just shouldn't have had their relationship be purely sexual OR shown them be physically affectionate. It just didn't make sense to me.

The build up between Qin and Duang's relationship was done SO well. I the first half of the series, I screamed and cried when they just hugged. The second half of the series was disgustingly adorable at portraying their relationship. So extremely sweet and cute. Their chemistry on and off-screen is just as adorable. Too cute.

The OST's are amazing as well. The additional MV's are super cute and really added to the experience of watching the drama.

This show was just amazing in almost every category. Definitely my favorite BL after watching it.

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Slow paced but not horrible

Surprisingly these two had more chemistry than I imagined. This drama is more plot heavy than romance heavy making it feel very slow paced. In the beginning I actually love how they were actually enemies and I wish that phase lasted a bit longer. The romance itself was also quite slowburn, like it took 20+ episodes to get anything out of them.

The plot itself was quite good but I wish they cut down a couple episodes because it was way too slow. Near the end it also focused more on her revenge which was fun to watch because some of the characters were sooo annoying. I felt so bad for the second male lead though because he was such a good guy but the two of them just weren't on the same path and didn't have the same mindset to make it.

Romance wise I think my favourite parts were the middle of the drama where it was like will they or wont they get together while the second lead was still chasing her. That portion of the drama was quite fun to watch.

Performance wise I think Zhou Ye does quite well, it lowkey was just that one crying scene and I think its just because of her dubbing. Even the crying right before that scene was fine. I don't know what happened after. I think her and Xu Kai are the same in terms of acting if anything Zhou Ye had to give more cause Xu Kai was just acting as a typical cold male lead for a majority of the drama. I think the female leads father is so well casted because the moment that ho stepped on screen I got the creeps like I do NOT want that man looking in my direction.

Overall this was a fun watch but not the type of drama I would watch again.

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Don't waste your time

JoongDunk never fail to disappoint me. I don't know why I try anymore. The blame isn't on the two though, whoever wrote this story and directed it deserves the most critique. I had slightly above average expectations for "Dare You to Death" and I can't believe it didn't even reach that. The chemistry was good but it's most due to Joong. Dunk looked uncomfortable every time they kissed, whether that's because of decisions he made for his character or if he's really not into it is up for debate, but either way, it was uncomfortable to watch. It really frustrated me. I did really like Joong's acting though. Besides that, The mystery was horribly written and the direction they took with intertwining the romance and the graphic violence shown every other scene was extremely jarring. The only good thing from this show was the few scenes that AouBoom showed up in. Don't waste your time.

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The biggest surprise from PondPhuwin

Watching Pond and Phwuin is a rollercoaster ride. Their series' have been bad, good, and mid. I honestly don't know what I expected from this show but a hilarious comedy with amazing acting and chemistry was NOT it. This is one of GMMTV's best BLs. Pond absolutely delivered as his role as Khun Thee and Peach's character fit Phuwin very well. This show generated so many memes and viral clips, it was a joy to watch as it was airing. RomeMok was such a treat. They were the better of the two side couples. While I definitely warmed up to Santa and Perth in "Perfect 10 Liners" and was excited to see them again, Tawan and Aran were the biggest disappointment from this drama. They were so toxic and got ZERO development. My last note on this drama is that LookPlub was my favorite character and I loved every scene with Bonnie in it. Her character was such a cutie patootie and I loved her SO much. Overall, this was a very well made show and I loved almost everything.

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I Thought It Was a Time Travel Drama, But It's Actually a Giant Tabletop RPG!

At first, I thought Guardians of the Dafeng was just another typical Chinese drama about reincarnation or teleporting to the past. But it's not! Episode 1 explains it perfectly: the main character, Yang Ling, is actually playing a tabletop RPG (like Dungeons & Dragons) and takes on the role of a character named Xu Qi'an.

In the "game," he starts off as a totally useless, very low-ranking security guard. From there, the story gets really interesting. The character development is great, and the plot moves at a solid pace. The acting is good too. To be honest, some of the jokes are a bit cheesy and dry, but they are still quite entertaining and fun to watch. The mysteries and conflicts are also built up really well.

If you are a fan of D&D or tabletop games, I highly recommend this show. Usually, you only play these games on a board and use your imagination, but this drama brings that exact feeling to life visually.

Now, about the ending—it leaves a huge mystery. Many people online were annoyed because it ends on a major cliffhanger. However, it's clearly just a setup to build hype for the next part of the story. The show was so much fun, and I really hope Season 2 comes out as soon as possible!

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