Reviews

Epic revenge saga with bonus romance.

As I'm late to the party, there is no point for me to add to the hundreds of reviews already here. Hence, this will not be a detailed review but rather some thoughts about this series (part 1 and 2 combined).

When I say this show is epic, it is not an exaggeration. The revenge plot spans a generation. It also took years for our leads to complete their romantic journey. This is a long and bumpy ride for all involved.

In many ways, this series is true to its roots. The ML is stoic, brave, overflowing with martial prowess. The classic hero with a capital H. On the other hand, when we first meet the FL, she was a teenager barely 15. She was deprived of a formal education because of a scheming aunt. She is intelligent, feisty, has an affinity for mechanical things but unruly and wilful in the eyes of her elders. In short, the perfect foil for the ML.

Their romantic journey is fraught (of course it is). There are plenty of second leads and naysayers. At one stage, the FL told the ML to his face that he engineered their romance the same way he plotted the downfall of his enemies. The most generous you can say is that he doesn't leave things to chance even though he is 100% dedicated to the FL. He knows what he wants, and he can be ruthless . . . in love and in war.

There are many good performances in this drama. The Emperor and Empress are very understanding and supportive of our leads which is a nice change. Most antagonists are a bit one dimensional but it is par for this genre. At least they don't run amok all the time. All the young maidens are crazy for the ML, but he only has eyes for the FL so the amount of jealous/poisonous looks can power a small town. ;)

Our OTP are the bedrocks this series is built on. While The Romance of Tiger and Rose is the breakout role for ZLS, this pretty much cements her position as a S tier traffic star. The ML has master the stoic, heroic stance. They do have their swoon-y moments which is appreciated.

Nevertheless, the show can feel manipulative as well. For instance, the FL broke up with the ML towards the end of the drama and yet she refuses to forgive him even though he laid bare his soul to her and saved her life repeatedly. Then suddenly, she has an epiphany and all is forgiven. Just in time for the final epic battle and the series conclusion. ;)

The funny thing is after binge watching this show, I felt drained, but I also don't feel that I have much to add to the discord. It is well acted and beautifully crafted with epic scenes and an intricate plot. I could wax lyrical about that, I suppose. However, it is fundamentally tropey in the classical sense. We have seen many examples of this genre before. Aye, few are of this calibre, but it is a well-trodden path nevertheless.

What more can I say? It should be in every c-drama aficionado's watchlist. It needs to be experienced . . once. Peace.

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As a fellow person, I can empathise. This is more than meets the eye.

Disclaimer:
1. I am a person of logic and lack social "normal" etiquette.
2. I keep to myself most of the time
3. I seldom write reviews. It is either a love or hate relationship for me.

This drama.. I wanted to give it up so many times..
I started watching this drama just before episode 7 was available, so I knew I hadn't long to wait. (By the way, autocorrect suggested that I write that I was hooked by episodes 6- 7. Hell, no.)

This is a good reflection of mental health. This is not a spoiler but an invitation.

Many directors have tried to depict what the brain of someone with autism looks like. Now, here is another way of looking at things—but not through the eyes of autism. This is something different.

I watched this x1.5- 2 most of the time and FF.

But it is worthwhile to get to the end.

It leaves you with something you want to ask about your current state of living..
I think that is what the scriptwriters and the director wanted.

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What Watching a Novel Come Alive on Screen Looks Like

This is definitely not a beginner's watch. If you are expecting the typical K-drama feel, with cute characters and hearts and flowers and a generally good vibe, this is NOT IT. It markets itself as a horror genre, but I don't think that horror is the correct word to describe what was going on in this drama. The writing is *chef's kiss*, disjointed, surreal, no narrator is reliable, yet every narrator has a compelling story to tell, it felt like watching a novel come to life on screen.
The aesthetic that the director used to narrate the story was very grim and dark; the atmosphere in the first couple of episodes of the drama is sure to scare the weak-hearted watcher. But it is a story that requires patience and time to sit through, so that you don't abandon it in the first couple of episodes, but watch it till the end to see how each character meets their resolution.
If you are a fan of writing, then this is a series for you. It's a masterclass in how to weave multiple narratives into a coherent plot. If at all, there needs to be a tiff with the series, it is that its OST is nothing remarkable. But that is again a writer's/director's choice; it uses silence to signify death, loneliness, grief, horror, tension, everything that the series deals with.
The only advice to anyone watching this is DON'T GIVE UP IN THE MIDDLE, watch till the end. Overall, a solid 9.5 on 10 (deducted 0.5 because ep 7 got a bit boring).

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Ninestar Studio and CEO

Nani (Nitcharee) Nitinavakorn — Joke of a CEO

Started at NineStar Studios on Feb 3, 2025. Hired as CEO of an entertainment production company—a role that demands strategic, creative, ethical, and operational leadership, especially when managing talent and fan engagement across global markets.

She had none of those skills. Zero. Zilch!

Within 3 days, she had already offended the entire Chinese fandom. Then, while issuing an apology to them, she insulted the rest of the international fanbase—spanning over 87 countries.
What an entrance.

It only got worse. Her track record includes:
- when fans were asking for answers, she made the artists and the fans wait 10 days for the date.
- citing they don’t work on weekends
- then finally the 10 day came around Nani terminated NineStar’s leading artist via a TikTok live

Unethical. Unprofessional. Unqualified.

Hint to prospective employer, do not hire Nani (Nitcharee) Nitinavakorn. Avoid her like a plague.

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NineStar Studio and their current CEO

Nani (Nitcharee) Nitinavakorn — Joke of a CEO

Started at NineStar Studios on Feb 3, 2025. Hired as CEO of an entertainment production company—a role that demands strategic, creative, ethical, and operational leadership, especially when managing talent and fan engagement across global markets.

She had none of those skills. Zero. Zilch!

Within 3 days, she had already offended the entire Chinese fandom. Then, while issuing an apology to them, she insulted the rest of the international fanbase—spanning over 87 countries.
What an entrance.

It only got worse. Her track record includes:
- when fans were asking for answers, she made the artists and the fans wait 10 days for the date.
- citing they don’t work on weekends
- then finally the 10 day came around Nani terminated NineStar’s leading artist via a TikTok live

Unethical. Unprofessional. Unqualified.

Hint to prospective employer, do not hire Nani (Nitcharee) Nitinavakorn. Avoid her like a plague.

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The story of mistakes and redemption

First of all I would like to say in general it was interesting. I’m a k-pop fan and I understand what problems this industry has. I wasn’t shocked or disappointed by the things are shown in Namib, I personally think that we should have more stories about the show business industry at least to pay attention to some aspects, but for me the acting level in this drama was too various.

The main characters, especially Kang Su Hyeun and Yoo Jin Woo look too typical, they are not people they are just characters. Sim Jun Seok and Sim Jin Woo look better at least thanks to Yoon Sang Hyun’s comedian talent and Lee Jin Woo’s youthful charm.

Lee Ki Taek as Chris/ Han Yeong was my absolute favorite and kept we watching the drama. His ability to act everything (literally everything: the pain, disappointment, hope, forgiveness and redemption) without any loud expressions, but so bright and desperate. Absolutely great acting performance, unfortunately the character wasn’t open enough by the script and screen time, but I can say Lee Ki Taek’s acting did it instead of the script.

I can say it’s worth watching if you like Korean music or want to look at the inner process and some examples of the problems here. And surely for opening Lee Ki Taek’s talent.

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“Dark Romance” whose highs make for a riveting watch

I finished this intriguing “dark romance” drama in days and highly recommend a watch! My review is on the highs and lows of the storytelling techniques, especially on what the Director, Pan Yan Qian is trying to do in a feminist vein, but I’ll just start by saying while I spotted the flaw in several Directorial and narrative choices, I was never bored, considered dropping, or would fail to recommend it as a compelling watch.

Looking at the Director’s other work (My Name Is Zhao Wu Di 2024) female empowerment seems to be her bag, but her liberal political lens is obviously only going to take her part of the way with what she wants to achieve via the main characters’ trajectories. In this drama she gets the importance of redistribution of resources to provide the woman with the power she needs to have leverage in a relationship with a very powerful man who abuses his power, but what she gets wrong is that she assumes sexual equality is when women get to be as terrible as men with power and are able to cruelly force certain outcomes; whereas the real feminist victory would to work to change the nature of the game altogether. Because she doesn’t really have a grasp of this after the extended scenes of emotional torture which have been justly complained about and I totally get it having now watched, the female lead (FL), Zhao Xing Rou re-subordinates herself by returning to gender roles which are necessarily hierarchical - of supporting the male lead (ML) Yi Qiu Ting at home in the family and in the community, while he goes out into the world and changes it - which is literally inequality. She gave up the more equal identity position she had vis a vis her husband to return to the same iniquitous power relations that infantilised, reduced and disempowered her years ago!

Now I feel that I have to point out for people who might not have a full grasp of Chinese political/military history this man is a Warlord, don’t be distracted by the uniform, in what basically was a Fascist period in China before the Communist Revolution that removed the fascists, both the local KMT nationalists to which he originally belonged, and those belonging to the occupying army of Imperial Japan. We open the drama with this woman in a relationship with a fascist, (the non-state, private equivalent would be a Mafia) so already we should be informed what kind of violent world and unethical inter-personal milieu Zhao Xing Rou has entered into by her own consent. This is where their journey starts before Yi Qiu Ting joins the Chinese resistance forces at the very end. As head of the Hao family warlord clan this is moral morass Zhao Xing Rou also willingly if briefly occupies in a leading role. This is the context which underpins their entire journey and on which all character growth and development hinges on.

Now on the multiple rape scenarios:
I get why there was the dubious consent scene at the outset but I think the overkill of the ML’s sexual assault on the FL at her apartment was flagrantly unnecessary as was the FL’s attempt (it was not completed) to facilitate a sexual assault on the ML in the final third of the drama. In the first instance she consents to the sex but not the fertility drugs administered by stealth. The ML’s attempts to protect the FL by ensuring she has a basis (pregnancy with the Yi heir) to be accepted by his powerful family given her poor background, is wrong but the narrative lets us understand why he willfully decides to do that wrong thing and hide the reasoning from her. This makes sense for the narrative in that it substantiates the intimate villainy of the ML that must subsequently be tackled in the narrative - he’s now a villain in his public as well as his private life.

Every other subsequent assault was just gratuitous nonsense, which was supposed to be sexually titillating I imagine, but totally failed to do that and rather just mystified and repulsed the audience on that score. Those scenes did not make sense for either of the characters’ motivations or for their characterisations - two traumatised people who love each other and make terrible choices ostensibly to protect each other and or preserve the relationship for themselves; Major fail.

The BL CP:
The MM CP meanwhile also started with a pronounced power imbalance on many scales (authority, age, masculine presentation, dominant/subordinated, military/intellectual), accentuated by identity mystery and mistrust about the past. However, unlike the main leads the secondary leads in the next most compelling relationship, Peng Wu and Wu Chong Mo, have a journey that recalibrates their power dynamic, in which they rely on and support each other and earn the explicit endorsement for their atypical relationship of the ML in doing so. On this aspect the Director did well (now you see why women invented BL because it’s so hard visioning equal relationships between men and women - who are not social equals, on a permanent basis that’s not frustratingly contingent or illusory.

The BL element is really popular and as a result the Director has promised a special episode featuring that relationship; also one, but sadly not both, of this pair - Zhan Xuan will star in a new BL, “Revenged Love” https://youtu.be/4qmLHpHAyOA?si=8zREY20QxBfoFPuN , coming out on GagaOOLala this week!

Further Recommendation on this theme:
If you’re interested in exploring these themes and want to see a complete feminist subversion of “dark romance” tropes watch Killer and Healer which is a masterclass on the entirely important visioning Director Pan Yan Qian tries to do here but which Sam Ho, who incidentally is the Director of the much anticipated Danmei adaptation Immortality, does much better.

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A failed adaption

The original inspiring coming-of-age story has been turned into artificial saccharine. While the original protagonists came from ordinary families, the Thai remake elevated them to middle-class status. The original heroine maintained strong agency throughout, always clear about her path. But her Thai counterpart obsessively chases the male lead - even applying to medical school just to follow him, with her exam preparations becoming mere fodder for love triangles. The second male lead even declares, 'I won this gold medal for you.' Countless such moments scream one truth: for these characters, romance trumps personal growth

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It moved me to tears

Judge by actions, not intentions - for no one is perfect in thought. This heartwarming slice-of-life film tells a story about family bonds and filial duty. While its slow pacing may feel challenging at first, viewers gradually become immersed until they're moved to tears. Quite different from typical Thai idol dramas, its gentle approach nonetheless tackles social issues like parental neglect and son preference through realistic details. Being set in a Chinese family, it maintains cultural proximity for mainland audiences. One can't help but notice how deeply animist and Buddhist beliefs permeate every aspect of Thai cultural life.

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A breather from the trauma that season 1 brought

Definitely not as good as the first season, but the chemistry between the group is really cute and I’m happy Sieun didn’t have to live in guilt over Suho’s coma and everything that happened. Also, the scenes where he “talks” with Beomseok hit harddd and really showed he felt guilty not only for Suho, but for Beomseok too (even though none of it was his fault).

However, I feel like there wasn’t much depth to the new characters and we don’t really get to really know them. Like Baekjin played such an important role and yet we don’t find out why he was in The Union or why even died at the end.

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