Reviews

Oddly, Weirdly entertaining?

Firstly, this was oddly entertaining. I though i might not like it but ended up watching it all. So yeah this was weird drama with less expectations but unknowingly it was still a good watch. The best character is no doubt the ML Xie Xin Xu. Cui Yu Xin acted really well in portraying all the emotions of Xie Xin Xu. It was my first time watching his acting and he really portrayed it so well. I think from start till end i was able to connect with the drama because how strongly he portrays the character. We can easily see how he was angry, jealous, happy, sad, and how much it was difficult to control himself around FL when he needed her. At first i though he was a grey shade character but after completing the whole drama, Xie Xin Xu was purely a green flag character.
Now the SML and FL both were similar in a way, both brother-sister duo made a hell of his life. SML first made him a controlling object and when he break free, the FL controlled his life. FL was actually a red flag for our ML as per me. She never understood the pain of our ML who gone through hell. She could not even understand his feelings despite telling him that she loves him cause his brother was the person she loves the most. Xie Xin Xu lost his parents, became a subject of test of her brother, had to hide his identify, even had to fight his inner self and made so many sacrifices but still FL never feel his sorrows. On top of that his brother, SML continue to ruin our ML life, and even after killing himself he ended up ruining his sister relationship with his husband. What a brother, i mean there could be another way of protecting his sister rather than killing himself. Moreover, he did not even fulfill the last wish of his partner Li Xiang, who wanted to see him alive. These instance made me feel that both brother-sister duo were selfish and only thinks about themselves first before anyone else, what they feel is what matter the most.
Personally, first 30 episodes were great but then last 10 episodes were not at that level. Despite knowing that ML has nothing to do with his brother killing, FL continue to blame him and ML continue to sacrifice himself for her. During the last 10 episodes, my inner self wanted the ML to leave FL and start afresh life without her cause he deserve much better. But sadly it is a drama and ML and FL had to end up in last, which they did.
Overall, this was surprisingly a good watch. The Cui Yu Xin portray of Xie Xin Xu what keep the drama entertaining and as a viewer we were keen to know his character development. The best part of this drama was its background ost which were so good. Those background songs keeps the drama engaging as every bgm placement was nicely done. I hope that i can get all the background ost that played cause i could not find it anywhere. I can rewatch this drama for its background songs. This was a great watch and yeah i wish we could have gotten more of those dragon scenes with ML 😂😂that dragon was unexpected but it was a sci-fiction drama so anything can happen. Good thing we did not got vampires or werewolves😅

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Stupidity and toxicity - no thanks.

I tried to watch this about five times and just can't get through the arrogance, stupidity and toxicity of the characters. Could not get through the fourth episode. I know some say they love it, but it was just revolting for me. Maybe I've met too many people like them. Also the dumb pouty complaining expressions - just awful (I know it's a common thing in Kdramas and for the most part I can ignore it but not in these characters).

All in all, an unwatchable series for me. Maybe younger people would like it - it could be a study in toxic and stupid people I guess :) I tried to stay through for Song Kang, but couldn't.

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Overall good viewing experience but a story with many loopholes

Alright, let me start with the stuff I actually liked about this story. First off, the music was fire. The OST Burning Petals blew me away the first time I heard it — it had this East Asian vibe, almost like something you’d hear from India or Sri Lanka. I’ve honestly never heard a Korean series use music that heavy and emotional, with those deep vibratos and sliding notes. Since I grew up around East Asian music, it hit me hard every time it played in the background. It really pulled me into the emotional scenes.

The casting was also spot on. Lee Jae Wook just has that aura about him, and Jo Bo-ah was super versatile. Her crying scenes? Damn, she nailed them — they felt so raw and real.

Now, onto the stuff that bugged me. The writers totally skipped giving us the villains’ backstories, so we never really understood what made them tick. And some of the characters were just… dumb. The sister and older brother had no martial skills, so you’d think they’d at least be smart and strategic, but nope. Only Hongrang managed to balance fighting skills with some actual thinking. Like seriously, how do you not realize the consequences of walking around unarmed when people are literally chasing you? And don’t even get me started on Jae-Yi’s escape attempt — broad daylight, by ship? Girl, that’s just asking for trouble. She ended up putting a bunch of lives at risk because she couldn’t plan properly.

And the older brother’s storyline? Total letdown. He started off as the calm, grounded one who was a real source of comfort for Jae-Yi, but then they flipped him into a villain once Hongrang showed up. It’s the same tired trope you see in so many Korean and Chinese dramas — the love triangle where the “good guy” gets turned bad, never gets a real chance, and is dragged along until the end with no satisfying resolution. Honestly, it’s played out and boring at this point.

And that wedding scene… seriously, what were those two brothers even doing? These guys were ready to throw their lives away at every other moment, but when it came to actually saving their sister, they didn’t have a solid plan until the very end? Like, come on. And did they really think nobody would figure out their scheme with the third wife? Even I saw that twist coming a mile away.

Also, what's with the little brother seeing snow man in his dream and the opening scene where he ran into Snow man? That explanation was never given.

Also, not gonna lie, I wasn’t feeling the whole “sister catching feelings for Hongrang” bit. Especially when she wasn’t even sure if he was her real brother or some imposter. That was just… weird.

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Fate chooses you to watch this

First of all, I admit to watching only 35 out of the 40 episodes. I'm sick of subscription based services wanting us to pay even more to watch the finale. Why do I have to pay more when I'm already paying a subscription? Smh. Anyways.
Story. Prior to watching this, I didn't even know that Fate Chooses You is continuing in the world of A Moment But Forever. You don't have to watch A Moment But Forever in order to get the back story, since everything we need to know is explained in Fate Chooses You. Nonetheless, I do recommend also A Moment But Forever. Ren Jialun as Lu Qianqiao is a half War Demon half human and he's trying to become a "full" human by getting rid of the curses layed upon the War Demons. While doing that, he encounters love, friendships and companions, also betrayal, lies and schemes and on top of that, we're also unraveling a mystery about who's the bad apple among the immortal sects. I like the script a lot, you can apply many situations to today's world, for example (character name redacted because it's a spoiler) having a dream about the future, he doesn't like what he sees in that dream and he's doing everything possible and even against the principles to stop that dream from happening. He's so determined to reach his goal that he's absolutely blinded by it and can't see the harm he's doing to the common folk. There are no weak spots in the plot, it's making you want to watch every episode. Also Sheng, girl.... Episode 35.... GIRL WHAT ARE YOU DOING (you'll know when you get there what I'm talking about) like I understand her and her backstory, but what in the world...
Casting. I mean, I started to watch mainly for the cast, I love Ren Jialun, Riley Wang, Xiao Xunyao, Liu Xueyi (even though he has only a tiny little guest role). Xiao Xunyao is becoming a type cast for the morally grey characters and I am a sucker for morally grey characters who are cold on the outside and soft and warm on the inside. I have not seen any of the actresses before, so I can't judge on that. The only cast I was kind of not happy with was Wang Herun, like she's good, but I can't quite put my finger on what exactly it was about her that was missing for me. Maybe if her styling was making her stand out more, because she was quite outshined by the characters of Sheng and Jiang Ji.
Soundtrack. I didn't notice it much, as I said in numerous reviews, the OST has to stand out to me. It's pretty average to me personally.
Rewatch value. I can see myself rewatching this, as I said, the script doesn't have any weak spots, the camera is beautiful (the contrast of the golden leaves to the red wedding gowns for example), I absolutely love the cast and costumes, so there's definitely a high rewatch value.

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WASTED POTENTIAL!!

Honestly, the choice of story was good but the Execution said "No, Not This Time!!!".

The series went more like a romance series than a detective one ig?? By this I mean the mystery and thriller was missing, the story went sloppy.
The story resonates so well with the situations of friendships in new gen. It's all messy , no ethics, no baseline and inhumane - the story won in showing these things.
They started off really well,keeps you hook and keeps you guessing who's the killer in 1st half, and ofc the chemistry was there. The second half went quite predictable (may be like they wanted it to be). The cast blended really well with each other, definitely shows some good work out there.
But man!, Dunk's acting - idk if I'm the only one who feels like this -> it's bland and same since his debut as main role (Star and Sky)
I'm only telling this because Joong has this charisma he can bring chemistry with anyone he works with and can deliver his character really well. That's his aura + his acting is a really good plus point there.
~ Over all the series didn't leave me satisfied as it was an abrupt ending. It didn't answer :
• what happened to puifai? Did she die?
• Champ and Puth went to prison?
• Champ's father didn't resent his decision?
• no action was took against Commander Don?
• Kamin just continued to investigate with his suspension?? Also with a fake ID and how did he get gun at the last ep? And he just got away with it???

At the end of this, we are either Puifai or Jay in someone's/our own life. The decision to get out of toxic friendship is always with us and is definitely not easy. Takes a lot of bravery,courage and ofc money and power!!!

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Good Series for those who want Soft BLs

𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐋𝐄: 𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐓𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭

𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐓:
Somehow I feel like the plot is really cute because I enjoy watching food ASMR vlogs, expecting the series will contain a bunch of comedic and happy moments. But, I just hope that it'll not be cringe for me. This one is good for those who are starting to enter the BL world.


𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘:
-Starting from the asmr live, I already know that it will have a great start. Knowing that Ohm is full of wit (saw him as one of the Supporting Actors from other BLs.). Knowing they have some back story already thrills me so much.

-The main actors' relationship keeps getting closer day-by-day and I cannot wait for their relationship to take the next level, but they should take the relationship slower.

-The way Captain and Jay fight for Sant's attention is one detail a series can't forget. It's like a pepper in every dish, won't be complete without a little spice.

-Feels like the side couple is being left behind, I'm expecting to witness how their love takes place from the previous episodes

-The way they treat, love and cherishes each other makes me giggle. This only proves that they are one of those green flags.


𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆:
-The way Sant takes that pain is unbearable for me. While watching, It's like we share the same pain. Luckily, Jay is there to help even, not only for Sant's tooth ache, but also handling anxiety and pressure from doing something, accidentally burning finger from the microwave/oven.

-I find it really cute when Sant is always asking for favor, and Jay will just take a little advantage of it to be closer to him. Ngl, that's a great move.

-When 2 people fight over for the Main Actor, maybe like create different scenes different from the other series. It's kinda cliche that I keep seeing them fight for food to give him, drinking beer and whoever falls first should step back, who's picking hime up

-EMOTIONS
Just wish that the some actors could give proper/more emotions. I get it that Sant can give us comedy, could've been better if he can actually cry it out in some scenes—not until Ep 10 came, that was the emotion that I'm looking for everytime there's heart-to-heart conversation. Knowing Jay's side story—I can definitely feel the pain in his acting .


𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐒/𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐒:
-Firstly, I did not expect the proper pronunciation of Jay's name. Y'all done something crazy about it😭. Being chase by him to help, taking the job of the Cinema staff—I DID NOT EXPECT THAT, I thought he will just ask the staff to drag the couple out of the room.

-Secondly, the way that the story integrate valuable insights on how to take care your teeth is one of the good feature of the story.

-Knowing that some of the characters have a very sad background makes me feel sad for them. But seeing them thrive to succeed makes the story more interesting, that life is filled with ups and downs.

-Didn't expect that Kak/Gagg and Yada didn't ended up together. Letting go of the person you cherish was one of the hardest thing in terms of love. But it's brave for him to do the best thing, not pushing himself to Yada.

-It was a big twist for Jay and his brother to meet up again (maybe Jay is daydreaming after the incident that happened). I think it portrays that their they have given a chance to see each other again—to rewrite their past as a better story, to give way to understand some things/why it happens. And because of the accident, he was able to live the life he wanted with his brother—even if it's just a dream. Moreover, such misunderstandings between Jay's family were stated.


𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐘:
-The sound effects emphasized the comedic approach of the series. Knowing that some dialogues reflect true-to-life experiences that most of us face in everyday, like facing our fears and traumas.

-Those scientitific explanations provided by the Jay added a good flavor for the series. Dentist students can relate to this series 100%


𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆:
-A happy ending indeed. Everyone found their purpose in life—Jay and Sant became each others' comfort zone, Captain found the real one for him, Kak/Gagg learned how to let the person he like for their happiness, Yada & Baipor understand each other clearly making their relationship stronger.

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Healing

Wow, I really loved this one. The premise of a twin swap is already very promising, and the first episode was really strong. I was immediately captivated by the younger scenes of Miji/Hosu, and their friends-to-lovers romance went on to become one of my on-screen favorites.

This show really did a fantastic job balancing romance with more serious, darker topics. Each character had their own struggles and their stories, and I really loved seeing everyone grow individually and together. But the most important theme in this show actually turned out to be motherhood; I loved seeing different mother-child relationships throughout the show, whether it was about the twins vying for their mother’s attention, or about the struggles of being adopted, or about generational trauma. I was really impressed with how much nuance this drama had towards each story.

Aside from motherhood, it’s just a really touching story about growing up, healing from trauma, and dealing with adulthood, and I found every plot point to be really relatable.

There are a few things that I’m not the biggest fan of, even if this show handled it okay. One of those is the very well-known final act break-up. While I think Hosu’s reasoning of not wanting to burden his loved ones with his disability is very realistic and aligned with his character, I’m just never going to enjoy the final act break-up trope in media because it feels like introducing a new conflict near the end; in this show, I would’ve preferred if we took some more time to confront the twin’s relationship with each other or with their mother.

The other thing is the second ship, Mirae and Sejin. I don’t have any particular criticism here; I just didn’t really connect to the romance as much.

I’m ultimately satisfied with the ending but it is a tad bit open-ended; my heart wants to see more Mirae confronting the office bullies but my brain knows that it’s actually healthier for her to just remove herself from the situation and have her legal representatives deal with it. Either way, the message the show left me with is very true to life — life goes on.

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Unnecessary negativity and conflict

I started this drama because of its popular recommendation, however I'm struggling to see why others find it so good. I fell asleep several times in the first half but mustered through. It's not entirely bad, but I feel like I may need to rewatch it in case I missed something?

While the drama had a unique hook, the execution didn’t fully land for me. Some of the acting felt forced, and the story kept pushing itself to one direction.

Jiang Xuening was portrayed as the constantly upright protagonist. The drama leaned so heavily on comparing her past and present life that it was repetitive.

Xie Wei’s characterization also felt overdone. He was obviously meant to seem cold and cruel, but the constant scowling, shouting, overly hoarse voice, and choking during romantic scenes made the performance feel cringey. His mean personality and her giving in because she felt pity was confusing to watch.

The antagonists conflicts were dragged to such extremes that they became exhausting. The same villains were being squeezed for every bit of evil possible by the producers just so the protagonist could eventually overcome them. Even non-villians were portrayed to extremes, such as her mother’s constant nagging becoming very irritating, even if those conflicts were eventually wrapped up in a touching way.

I think the narrowness of the characters and the storyline made this drama difficult to watch. No character development. Basically she grew from her past, so we are already at the stage in the story where she has already grown. Typical palace drama ... and why make the king sick? He doesn't do much except for being sick. But shoutout to the sister for a change. Some of the scenes were also unflattering for the cast -- like why wideangle them in the only scene they're in bed?

The pacing was another issue. The buildup was really slow, and finishing the drama took patience and self-control not to skip scenes. The emotional payoff did hit near the end, but the conclusion felt restrained, like the story spent so long building tension only to quietly wrap everything up and move on.

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logic out of the window

I'm disappointed in this drama, from the trailer and first eps it was super interesting but then it went downhill. You'd think with all the deaths happening that at least the police got involved but apparently not, cause how are they entering areas where supposedly a person passed away but the crime scene looks untouched, like you'd think if the police got involved some sort of cleaning would occur? or they'd take the phones into evidence or anything at all, but no the crime scenes look virtually untouched except of the missing bodies, like was the police involved and why are 4 kids the only ones affected by this phenomenon app considering its suppose to be a viral app?, like did it not reach the news or the rest of the country or whats going on, i genuinely don't get this show, and the ending sucked too, like when they reveal the big "whh the curse got made" youd think it would be something super serious and insane and harsh and not something dumb like she revealed my crush to the school, super disappointed considering how promising the plot was.

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Good stakes but tonal whiplash

I know this entire series is highly regarded and there are moments where I can completely see why — it’s probably one of the most high-stakes historical dramas I’ve ever seen, and the acting and production value are all great. In this first batch of 10 episodes though, I found the tonal inconsistencies to be really difficult to keep up with.

The first episodes are really light-hearted, and we have a really spoiled main female character; this definitely makes for good character development later on as layers get peeled back and we start seeing that there’s much more to her, but those first few episodes were really hard to sit through. That combined with a similar obnoxious personality for our male lead meant that I didn’t really root for our leads to be together — not until later. It doesn’t help that the show uses a lot of tropes that I don’t really buy into or that I find frustrating, like dream symbolism or miscommunications.

About halfway, the heavy stuff starts, and that’s when I start to care about it. The political strategy stuff is not always the most interesting to watch, but seeing the FL become stronger and try to protect her friends was great, and probably the highlight of the season. Which is why it kind of jarring weird when the tone suddenly reverted back to being bright again when the previous conflict was resolved. And then it went back to being dark again when another conflict was introduced. I’m not against moments of humor in shows with life-or-death stakes, but I think it wasn’t balanced very well between scenes or episodes.

I’m a little sad that I didn’t like this as much as the rest, but I still have high hopes for Part 2.

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Coould have had it all

I admit I was looking forward to watching this series because of ML who I really like and enjoy his acting, and because the story line seemed really good. I was not disappointed in the ML's acting or the storyline, but very disappointed in the match-up of the ML with the FL. I don't like criticizing anyone, but I can't hold back on this one. This actress was absolutely wrong as a FL match-up with ML. He is a good actor anf I have watched him and enjoyed his performances in many series, and I have to say the scenes of him and FL together here were so lackluster that it made me feel bad for him. She brought nothing good to the table. Her negative impact manages to dim his light in my opinion. They truly made me cringe! I enjoyed watching the 2nd leads together much more. I understand the characters the FL and ML were playing, but still find FL was not right match for him and I don't think it's because of their (real or their charcters') age difference either.
As for the storyline, I found it to be good.
Due to my disappointment in the FL, I won't be rewatching this. It was difficult watching it once. (I do rewatch Melody of Golden Era often 😁)

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Not worth watching for me

So, 40 eps later, I think I should have invested my time in another drama. It was not worth my time. Don't think I can rate this more than 6-6,5

Let's start with some positive points :
1) I liked the costumes
2) Acting was fine from the cast. I don't think I have ever seen FL's actress before and I think she did good, during the emotional and sad scene too
3) The leads character were enjoyable.
4) I liked the powerful ML, he is mostly why I continued watching the drama. I liked watching him fighting and solo everyone.
5) This had some good fighting scenes
6) Surprisingly, I liked the arc about the library. I liked the fighting scenes and I think it was admirable all these people willing to die and trying to save the ancient texts or wiling to die protecting them. It still felt infuriating when we saw one of the half burning after so many dead. I was feeling ''All that for nothing''.
7) I liked Bai Zong Ying arc later in the drama. I was sad when he died.
8) I liked what they did with Jiang Ji character. She was annoying a part of the drama, but she was so about the rules, following the sects, you are a demon, etc.. So I think it was interesting seeing her see things differently we could say in the end.
9) Some side characters were fine

Now the negative points for me :
1) A Sheng and Jin Lun : they were a complete waste of screentime. 0 Interesting and what was the point. Jin Lun and their scenes could have been completely erased and it would have change nothing. Even her, I didn't found her character interesting, she did serve some little purpose at some point, but she also felt unnecessary. As the fourth drama I watch of the screenwriter, the ''Second pairing'' is always a waste to me
2) The romance : there were some little moments, but there was barely romance and I did not really feel it. You don't need kissing scenes, I just don't think there was much romantic chemistry. Felt more like a friendship, companions than romantic partners
3) The last battle felt somehow disappointing. I know I said that I like ML being invisible, but for a last battle... he just show up, kill him and leave so fast. That somehow felt underwhelming.
4) The plot in general : It didn't really catch my attention and it felt mid to me, boring at time. I wasn't fully invested in the plot, but I still wanted to see where it lead. All of this to become human to in the end stay a war demon. Well he did had some times to enjoy what it feels like to be human, but still. I was left a bit with ''what was the point''.
5) The editing : maybe a few times it bothered me. Like the transition between the scenes. One time, we were in the middle of ML fighting and it shift to the second leads talking out of nowhere, like why. I fast-forwarded. And how many eps ended mid battle, that was annoying.
6) The ending : the most disappointing part of the drama. You tell me, they had 2 entire episodes to do the conclusion and it's how they went ? It's okay to show closure in general and side characters too, but for the leads ??? Useless and unnecessary cameos and filler moments, FL looking for ML for 2 eps. Then they have them meeting in the last few seconds of the drama.
You can call this a happy ending, but I won't call it a good ending. Feel like a complete waste of time an ending like this, left to imagination to what happens after that. These kind of ending gives nothing. The romance was already flat, so I wouldn't have expected much, but still could have gone differently.

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Stuck With This One

I’m a bit on the fence with this show. I absolutely love the mains. Most of the supporting cast is pretty good. music has been ok, but nothing standout. My issue with it is the constant state of give and take. I’ve watched a ton of dramas over the last 10 years and I don’t recall any of them throwing this many curveballs. Sure, one per episode is pretty standard, but with this show is 3-5 per episode. As a viewer, you’re never given the chance to build hope for the relationship to develop. To be honest, 7 episodes into a 12 episode series, there should be some development. There isn’t. They make the slowest amount of progress and then instantly erase it. Every time.

I have to finish it to see the end of course. I’m too invested at this point. But the building blocks of the story have been completely tossed out now. I’m sad about that.

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