Quite a refreshing plot

I did not expect to enjoy this drama as much as I did. The title sounded comedic, while the entire cast looked very young, but it was not really a comedy.

It was a drama on love – family love, relationships between family members and just a small portion on the usual love between man and woman. It was a rather refreshing plot to me. Simply put, it was mainly about a boy who travelled back in time to when his parents were at his age. He was able to see for himself the things that happened to them and what led them to become the persons they were. Seizing the opportunities to control his family's future, he tried to prevent all the bad happenings and hoped to eventually change his parents' destinies.

As in all Korean dramas, the pace was on the fast side. Things happened quickly, so there was never a boring moment. The first half was a little slow, but come the second half, you will want to keep watching till the end.

There were loopholes here and there, but I was still able to overlook them for the story and the acting. *Like in most Korean dramas, the leads were always able to run to one another’s houses in minutes, as though they were all living on the same street lol, not a major loophole, but still not very realistic after a while.

I give kudos to the main cast for their acting. The four main leads were young, in their twenties, in fact two of them were only 21 years old. However, their acting was convincing enough. I would not say impressive but it was sufficient for the roles in this drama.

The OSTs were melodious. The fast ones were catchy and full of life while the slow sad ones were touching and good enough to bring tears to my eyes.

All in all, it was one of those dramas I would not re-watch, not because it was bad but because I already know the story, the meaning of their actions and the ending, so I do not see the point of re-watching, but I think it was one of those dramas that was worth at least watching once.

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A drama with a different setting from the usual Thai BLs - olden Thailand

The main leads are mature working adults. The setting is quite different for this drama, unlike the usual school settings in most Thai BLs. It is set in the 1920s Chiang Mai, so the characters are dressed in olden traditional Thai clothing of that time. Thinking and mannerisms also reflect that era.

The story flow is logical and systematic.

Not sure if this is related to culture, some of the reactions look exaggerated and awkward. The acting of the main leads is natural enough though. And others have pointed out as well, spoken English by some of the cast, is excellent.

The kissing and bed scenes are steamy and natural enough to me.

Happy ending or not, yes, it is a happy ending, but I am left slightly bewildered because there is no logical flow or explanation of what is happening in the last scenes of the last episode. This is probably my only gripe with this drama.

Overall, this drama gave me a glimpse to olden Thailand. It was something different and I enjoyed watching such dramas. I did not struggle to watch every episode because I was looking forward to some reveal or explanations to why the male lead travelled back to the 1920s in the first place. There did not seem to be any explanations in the drama eventually, but I was contented to believe that it was to meet his destined other half which seemed reasonable enough to me after watching the drama to the end.

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The best part for me was Xiao Zhan

This was a love story between Princess Zhu Yan (Ren Min) of the Chi Yi Tribe and Royal Prince Shi Ying (Xiao Zhan). Due to the framing of his mother the queen, Shi Ying was taken away to Jiu Yi Mountain to cultivate from a young age. Since then, he focused solely on his cultivation until he met and accepted Zhu Yan as his disciple. Over time in the mountains, both developed romantic feelings for each other, but neither acknowledged nor expressed their feelings because of their relationship until only much later.

What I liked:

1. The male lead, Shi Ying. I really enjoyed seeing Xiao Zhan’s boyish face. Though he looked young, he carried himself well as a teacher. His character was kind yet decisive and ruthless when required.

2. Acting of the entire cast. No negative comments about anyone. In the beginning I was skeptical about the female lead. Her face looked round and what with her bangs down in the early episodes, her face looked even shorter and rounder. However, despite her character being the typical kind in such teacher-disciple dramas – innocent, playful, adorable, she grew on me. Her acting was not exceptional, but it was acceptable. Undeniably, Xiao Zhan’s acting was a par above her.

3. The cinematography. It was spectacular. Clearly a drama with a huge budget. I heard someone said that it would not be easy or even possible to make another such heavy-budgeted xianxia in China again.

4. In many of the teacher-disciple relationship dramas I have watched, most of the time the teacher would not acknowledge his romantic feelings openly, much less think of ways or take actions to chase after the disciple, so it was good to see Shi Ying admitting his feelings for Zhu Yan, taking action and willing to give up his life in the mountains to be with her, albeit I had to wait 30 episodes to see him take some action.

What could have been better:

1. The open and somewhat illogical ending or maybe I just cannot accept it. One of the worse endings to me in any xianxia drama. After all that they had gone through? I was left wondering whether they were finally together or not. I read that the drama portrayed a different ending from the novel, so I shall choose to believe the novel’s ending which was a more acceptable one.

2. Chemistry between the main leads. I hate to admit this because I was quite touched by their love, but I would not say they had the best chemistry ever. When Zhu Yan was younger, it was near impossible to imagine them as a couple. When she was older, I think she was mellower and her bangs were longer so they looked better together, but still, their pairing did not feel natural enough and their intimate scenes were slightly awkward to me. I watched the behind-the-scenes shots and saw that Ren Min was embarrassed kissing Xiao Zhan. Could that be one of the reasons?

I have always enjoyed teacher-disciple relationship dramas. It is an old trope, but I enjoy the angst and thoroughly enjoy every intimacy between the couple, because it is a so-called forbidden relationship.

The overall storyline for this drama was easy to understand, although some parts confusing, flaws and illogical parts like the final battle scene which seemed so lame possessing one body after another and eventually having to sacrifice Shi Ying to rid the demon once and for all.

As for their relationship, it had relatively less angst to me compared to other such dramas of the same genre. The angst only started around episode 34 of the total 40 episodes and was still relatively mild - I did not watch sighing and wanting to tear my hair out.

All in all, would I seem shallow to say that the best part for me about this drama was watching Xiao Zhan? His performance was not his best to me, but it was still good, worth watching him for 40 episodes.

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A ‘waiting’ show

It was a simple drama focusing on the female lead, Sang Zhi’s life or more accurately, her love for the male lead, Duan Jia Xu. The drama title hidden love was depicted by her love at first sight for him when she was 14 years old and thereafter secretly liking this guy till her time in university when her deep concern and love for the guy finally touched his heart and they got together, somewhat like a dream came true.

Zhao Lu Si as Sang Zhi, was convincing in her role. She was pretty and sweet as a young girl. I have no negative comments about her. They clearly tried to make her look like a senior high schooler with non-existent makeup and a student-like hairstyle.

This was the first time I watched Chen Zhe Yuan. He was good-looking and a perfect male lead as the character of such lovey-dovey idol dramas, though to be honest, I had enough of seeing his face after about 20 episodes.

I saw the high ratings for this drama and hesitated to post my review because watching this drama, to be honest, I was bored.

There was nothing exciting happening or nothing to look forward to episode after episode, unless you consider waiting for the next passionate kiss to be something to look forward to. Everything was predictable and execution was slow. The only setback or obstacle to their relationship was that of the objections of Sang Zhi’s parents, but this was solved uneventfully. And then there was this third party, a harassing girl, but nothing really happened after repeated warnings.

Furthermore, this drama revolved around only the main leads. There were no stories for the secondary leads who existed simply for the main leads so the screen time of the main leads was 99.9% and that was perhaps the reason for my fatigue watching Chen Zhe Yuan.

I struggled through the first 10 episodes, waiting for the female lead to grow up and go to university as I knew that was the time things between her and the male lead would have some development. And then when she was finally in the university, I waited for her to meet the male lead, for the male lead to fall for her, for them to get together and for them to hmm....have some passionate intimate scenes and for them to get married.

I knew once they got together it would just be all fluff after reading others’ comments and people said you had to be in the right mood to watch such shows, I believe I was, there was no better time when I watched this, but somehow, I was not as touched or cringy as I thought I would be. Sweet? Yes, but just a little when they dated. That mild sweetness was the kind when you watched a young couple so madly in love with each other, but that was it. I guess because there were no surprises, so no unexpected moments that touched my heart.

However, I have to give special mention to the ending. The proposal was rather unexpected and I did shed a few tears. Finally, the girl got the guy and it was a happily ever after ending, though do not expect any explanations for the other characters.





An afterthought:
Not sure whether this was part of Asian or Chinese culture, Sang Zhi’s brother hit/punched Duan Jia Xu after realising they were together. I tried to understand this. Was he unhappy that Duan Jia Xu ‘stole’ his baby sister away from him? Maybe. Was he unhappy that they did not tell him earlier? Perhaps. Was he unhappy that the person who ‘stole’ his baby sister’s heart was actually his own buddy and he actually had the nerve to ‘steal’ his sister who was younger than him by 5 years? It seemed so.

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great chemistry between the main leads

I started this drama not having any expectations mostly because I was not particularly interested in Zhou Ye and did not even know who Hou Ming Hao was.

The first 8 episodes were slow, story was average and relationship between the two main leads was very typical of c-drama couples who first met: bickering like enemies.

I watched on, however and was gradually drawn into the story and drawn into the developing camaraderie of the two main leads, from getting used to each other to falling in love and even dying for each other.

Basically, the entire story was simple, about the male lead finding the decapitated parts of his body after being harmed by Su Ying and the female lead helping him albeit initially unwilling. Lots of adventures along the way as they tried to find the parts together and lots of things happened which also tested the strength of their love for each other.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this drama more than I expected and was glad that I started and continued with it because it became one of those dramas I waited for episodes to drop and couldn’t bear for it to end. I was touched by the love they had for each other, something which was not sudden or out of the blue but developed as they went through each adventure. This was largely because of the strong chemistry between the main leads - Zhou Ye and Hou Ming Hao - a winning factor in any xianxia and they look good together in the drama, like a real couple.

There were some comedic parts in the show, you know it when the music changed, I was perfectly fine with them. It gave the show a lighter feel and I did find some humour in some of those parts.

There were no illogical moments or irritating characters in the drama, at least nothing that I want to make a hoo-ha of. The only negative thing would be the amateur acting of some of the cast. Though they were not important figures in the story, when you could see the flaws, your emotions would somehow be affected.

So, yes, all in all, this was a good watch, I would recommend this to anyone who likes to watch xianxias with adventure and a strong chemistry between the main leads.

And yes, Hou Ming Hao did look rather charming in the drama.

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A journey of miscommunication, wrong trust and…..lots of frustrations as a result

What I liked:

1. The story. I would not say I loved it but I liked the angst that came with such a xianxia, so I was filled with anticipation when it first aired since I had enjoyed the Journey of Flower. The storyline is similar to the latter but this definitely had less angst.

2. The first 20 episodes were light and easy to watch.

3. OST were melodious and very fitting for a xianxia.

4. CGI is acceptable, not the best, but nothing to fault.

What I didn’t like:

1. Scenes were abruptly cut so much that I even wondered whether there were some issues with the online platform I was watching from.

2. Lots of random scenes where a character or characters out of nowhere suddenly appeared and seemed as though they were there all along but I was there scratching my head, asking myself whether I had missed something.

3. Acting overall from the entire cast was mediocre. Jeremy Tsui, the male lead, had the same expression. When he was happy, he looked that way. When he was sad and devastated, I could predict he would look that way. And Yang Chao Yue, I am sorry, I already did not like her from episode 1 but since the initial episodes were easy to watch, I could just continue with her, but 40 episodes on, after the entire drama, I still did not like her acting and her expressions, ah, yes, someone said pouting female lead.

And the rest of the cast, some were acceptable, but most looked like they were just ‘acting’. Yes, I know everyone is acting, but I have seen my share of good dramas where I totally forgot that they were actors/actresses because everything was so natural and convincing.

4. There were many scenes that were ‘made to happen’ (do we call such scenes cliched?) and that caused lots of frustrations like I would wonder why the male lead could not save the female lead when she needed him the most at that time, while he was somewhere doing some other stuff which could have been done by other people who were actually doing absolutely nothing at that time.

All in all, I would not recommend this xianxia because the negatives for me outweighed the positives. There was not much angst to me and I did not feel touched by the undying love between the main leads. Maybe there were not enough sacrifices? After giving some thought, I believe the most likely reason is the lack of a strong chemistry between the main leads and this is so important here – or in any xianxia – where 99% of the story is about the love between these two people.

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Convincing acting, some bloody and gruesome scenes

Lots of suspense in the drama and this would make you want to binge watch. Plus it was only 7 episodes.

Everyone, except the male lead and his family, in the village seemed to be hiding something, villagers who appeared friendly turned out to be weird in the end. Even the male lead's boss and colleagues in the police station looked suspicious one point in time.

The drama ended abruptly, so definitely looking forward to season two, but I expect more gruesome scenes (to be expected when we are talking about humans eating raw flesh of other human beings) in season two as more secrets will be revealed.

By the way, the male lead, Yuya Yagira, seemed to have a nice body :D I guess he had to be if he were to handle all those fighting scenes against the cannibals in the drama.

All in all, I would recommend this drama. Generally, the Japanese do well in suspense and mystery dramas, but watch bearing in mind that it is about cannibals so expect some rather bloody and gruesome scenes.

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More than just a drama about friendship

This will be a relatively short review because I don’t want to write spoilers and I think reviewers have written most of what is to expect.

Like most reviewers, the friendship shared by the 3 women (main leads) was amazing. I don’t think I’ll be able to find friends like that in my entire life. Their love lives were toned down a lot, as in everything about their love lives was almost smooth-sailing, because this drama was supposed to focus more on their friendship.

For me, such dramas on friendships of a group of main leads would usually just be about their lives plus incidents here and there throughout and it will make up the entire show, so I actually did not expect the loss the main leads had to experience in this drama. Neither the title nor the synopsis gave this idea, but the preparations towards, the sheer overwhelming loss itself, the very believable acting of the main leads and the OST called That’s All sung by Choi Yuri – all of which made my tears literally flowed from episode 2 to the end of the show. I especially liked the ample amount of time given to the preparations of the loss. I think they were portrayed realistically albeit sadly and a reminder to us again that life is short and unpredictable.

The entire vibe of the drama was sad yet very heartwarming because of the heartfelt dialogues and actions between the main leads. I didn’t find this drama slow-paced except one or at most two episodes when nothing new was happening. You would still keep going, nevertheless, because you would want to see the ending despite knowing what would happen - this drama has this charm.

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one of the best CGI in a xianxia drama

I did not plan to write a review for this drama because many people have written excellent and comprehensive reviews already, but I decided to add in my thoughts just for my record in point form while trying not to write spoilers.

1. Female lead’s voice sounded really childlike, but by the third episode, I was used to it. Her voice reminded me of those dubbed female lead in Japanese anime. The cute, high-pitched ones.

2. I did not find the female lead’s acting convincing enough at first, but she improved as the episodes went by especially when Xiao Lan Hua became Xi Yun Goddess. I thought she acted well with her changed voice and expressions.

3. It took me months to finish this drama. Just one sentence: not engaging enough. The beginning episodes were draggy, the mortal realm was boring (I was stuck there for weeks) , but after the mortal realm, the story got a little better and I finished it in a matter of days.

4. To be honest, all in all, I was not touched by the love between the main leads. They were not the kind of main leads whom I really hoped they became together and nothing tore them apart. Nothing was wrong with their acting, I guess it was just the chemistry between Wang He Di and Yu Shu Xin. And the kissing scenes, especially those which were supposed to be passionate like the ending ones, were just well...lips touching. However, I do have to mention that I was moved to tears at the bridge when Dongfang Qing Cang confessed his never-changing love for Xiao Lan Hua (Xi Yun Goddess) and Xiao Lan Hua left the bridge with tears flowing secretly. I think the surrounding circumstances made his confession very heartrending.

5. Extremely gorgeous CGI. I think this has been mentioned umpteen times by many reviewers, but it is true. For example, in all the xianxia dramas I have watched, the heavenly main hall in this drama was the most beautiful and heavenly-like I have ever seen, no exaggeration here, I’m serious. What with its numerous dreamlike waterfalls and pamukkale (Turkey)-looking water steps. Watch it for yourself and you’ll know what I mean.

6. The last few episodes and ending felt like the director was rushing to tie the loose ends. Some side characters' stories were not properly shown, explained or developed, at least to me. For example, I would have liked to see more of the story development between Shang Que (Dongfang Qing Cang's subordinate) and Jie Li (Xiao Lan Hua's best friend).

Overall, I may have more negative things to rant about this drama than positive comments looking at the above, but I would still recommend this drama to anyone who wants to watch a Chinese historical drama and even more so a xianxia drama because of its CGI. Yes, because it is a xianxia drama and CGI is one of the most important things in a xianxia drama.

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Simple heartrending story with excellent acting

12 episodes, 30 minutes per episode

This was a simple story and relatively easy watch (due to its short duration per episode) with a few simple characters.

Kang Chang Wook (Han Seok Kyu), a workaholic, did not know how to cook until his ex-wife, Jung Da Jung (Kim Seo Hyung) was diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer. They lived together again with his ex-wife’s diagnosis and he started to learn to cook for her (and their son) so that she could have nutritious foods.

The story started from the time they lived together again and him starting to cook for her. It revolved around the two of them as the main leads, their day-to-day lives and subsequently as the episodes moved on, Da Jung’s illness became more serious and we saw her battle with final-stage cancer.

As expected, there were more and more tear-jerking scenes as we saw the painful battle. I rejoiced with Chang Wook every time when the doctor said there was improvement in her condition and she could eat something. He listened intently each time to what the doctor said Da Jung could eat and then endeavored to make something for her. My heart ached and my tears flowed when I saw the amount of effort he put in but only to have Da Jung too sick to eat or throwing up everything.

I was enthralled by Chang Wook’s cooking. There was a representative dish in each episode and some sort of a story revolving around the dish. It was heartening to see him becoming more interested and better in his cooking. And how he worked tirelessly to try to make every dish as organic and as less-processed as possible for Da Jung and how he put his best effort and even more so when his wife specifically requested for that particular dish.

I liked his narration to the audience in the form of writing his blog because I could understand his unexpressed feelings from cooking each meal and seeing his family eat them. Looking at his expression each time when he watched his family eat his dishes reminded me of how people love to watch their loved ones enjoy every bite of their cooking.

There was nothing negative that I wish to mention about this drama. The acting was highly convincing and natural, especially the main leads, both of whom I understand are veterans.

I would recommend this drama definitely. It is not the cheery kind where you can laugh your head off while watching, but it is realistic, heartrending yet healing and inspiring. After watching, I wanted to try cooking the food too. Cooking steps were not in detail but ingredients and amounts to be added were mentioned. I usually do not rewatch dramas, but I may consider rewatching some cooking scenes of Chang Wook occasionally to get some ideas for healthy Korean dishes :D

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Boring story, lacklustre acting

This drama was about two close friends who lived next door to each other since young, went to school together every day, did almost everything together, even sleeping together on a single bed in each other’s houses almost every night and waking each other up every day. Basically, the best of friends. However, as time went by, they gradually realized that their feelings for each other were not mere friendship and best of friends.

In the first few episodes, Seeiw (Earth), one of the main leads, whined so much like a childish kid. He had not many friends, no hobbies, basically only had Cake (Santa), the other male lead, in his life and spent his time whining and acting cute in front of him. Fortunately, this was not the first time I saw this actor, otherwise I would have been totally put off by him. I thought Earth’s character would get better as the episodes moved. Yes, he did stop whining, but unfortunately something about his character was not pleasing to me throughout. I just didn’t like the portrayal of his character.

I thought the story would improve after Cake left for overseas and they became older. Unfortunately, it did not and then Seeiw’s mother passed away. I understood the emotional toll it took on the family, but the entire incident took too many episodes and just too much crying and all these with nothing else happening.

I did not enjoy this drama from the start, but I did not think about dropping it because I was hoping that the story would improve or there would be some sort of a twist that would make the story more interesting so I stuck with it, but no, it just continued to be boring and underwhelming, with uninspiring acting from the main leads and the entire cast, all the way to the end. The main leads' chemistry with each other, something that was so important in a BL, was nothing to talk about. And was it just me, but I felt everything in this drama was just so old-fashioned, the filming location, the acting, the dialogues, the props, etc., all honestly in a negative way, it was too simple to the point of underwhelming. At first I thought it was filmed based on the 1970s but no it was like 2002 in the drama if I remember correctly.

It took me months to finish this drama even though it was only 12 episodes and was actually glad I finally completed watching it. The ending was satisfying in a way that all loose knots were tied with nothing hanging, but even so, it could not compensate the entire story. Of course, I would not recommend it, there are far better BLs out there and BLs aside, there are far better stories and acting out there than this.

And on why the title was ‘My only 12%’ because apparently 12% is the probability that the one you love would love you back. I wonder how true this is...

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A short yet impactful and intense drama

This was a story about a high school girl who had dreamed of becoming an architect but was forced to drop out of school after she was constantly and intensely bullied violently and assaulted sexually in school by her schoolmates and even teacher. Now in her adult age, she slowly seek revenge on her perpetrators.

This was an intense and fast-paced drama that kept me glued to the screen. There was never a boring moment while Moon Dong Eun (Song Hye Kyo) slowly and strategically took revenge on her perpetrators. Watching it, I couldn’t believe the extent of bully these high schoolers could do to a seemingly innocent schoolmate and even the teacher to her. What kind of morals the teacher had in the first place to become a teacher?

It was refreshing to see Song Hye Kyo in such a character. I did not think she looked out of place, but I wouldn’t say her acting was perfect either. Still it was acceptable overall. I didn't deduct points for acting.

8 episodes passed extremely quickly because you would find yourself clicking on to the next after every episode. It was one of those short yet intense drama that still stayed in your memory after watching and you would want to watch Season 2. Yes, because Season 1 ended in a climax that made audience craving to know what would happen (some dark shadow appearing and jaw dropped when you realized who the shadow of the person was), typical of Korean dramas.

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A simple yet meaningful Japanese romance drama

This was a story about a girl (Tsumugi Aoba) who was dating a boy (Sou Sakura) in high school. Around the time they were graduating, the boy was gradually losing his hearing and decided that he did not wish to burden by continuing the relationship with the girl. He did not tell the real reason, but simply texted about liking another girl. The girl only found out his loss of hearing after they met up coincidentally 6 years later. During that time, she was already dating another boy from the same high school who was also the boy’s friend.

11 episodes with 50-60 minutes per episode. ‘Silent’ this drama was indeed rather quiet, understandably so when there was a lot of sign language used.

It was neither fast-paced with action nor were there plenty of things happening. However, there were no draggy scenes. Even the usual tearjerker scenes were quickly over and done with, yet not having the feeling it was insufficiently done. I feel that everything in this drama was portrayed in typical Japanese fashion. Reactions were mild, actions were subtle, but inner emotions were strong yet not fully expressed.
This was best shown when Tsumugi and Sou met again and gradually became closer, yet not becoming a couple. Sou was hesitant because he felt lacking in himself, but Tsumugi was willing to move forward with him. These scenes were shown subtly, nothing overboard or dramatic, making them all the more touching and meaningful.

The acting was also convincing from the whole cast. Special mention to those who acted as hearing-impaired, Ren Meguro, the male lead and Kaho, who acted as Sou’s hearing-impaired friend. They were believable with their fluent and natural sign language. Haruna Kawaguchi, the female lead, was also natural in her acting. She was pretty and was always wearing nice sweaters (not related to the story whatsoever though).

Earlier in the drama, some people commented that Tsumugi saying numerous times to Sou before he lost his hearing completely that ‘I like your voice’, ‘I want to talk on the phone with you’ was emphasized too much to the point of being unnatural, but I think the director wanted to deepen the sad irony later that it was no longer possible for Sou to talk to Tsumugi naturally. In the later episodes, being able to hear him speak out felt so precious. I almost forgot how his voice sounded. He might have lost his hearing, but was still able to speak, just that not being able to hear his own voice became a psychological barrier for him to speak out.

This was a simple drama which touched on the relationship between people who couldn’t hear and people who could hear, how they tried to overcome their differences and most importantly, looked at the other in the present and not look at based on who they were in the past – I thought this was thought-provoking because many times we look at others based on our opinions of who they were and what they did in the past. We should perhaps try looking as they are right now instead of constantly living in the past. In this way, we can become our better selves and move forward together.

I would recommend this drama if you like to watch Japanese romance dramas whose stories tend to be simple and less dramatic. I would not recommend this if you do not like simple romance dramas and prefer dramas which are fast-paced, action-packed full of dramatic turns and twists, highs and lows like Korean dramas.



Some things spoken in the drama that I found meaningful

“Don’t look at someone based on who she was in the past. You should look at her as she is right now. If we keep lowering our gazes, we won’t notice if someone gently calls out to us. We must not avoid looking at them.” – Nana Momono (by Kaho) to Sou (by Ren Meguro)

“I got used to the fact that I couldn’t hear other people’s voices. But not being able to hear your voice, was the only thing I couldn’t accept.” – Sou to Tsumugi

“I won’t speak out. I won’t laugh. I won’t talk on the phone. I won’t listen to music. If these are so hard, I’ll stop doing all these. Even then, I want to be together with you.” – Tsumugi to Sou

(Tsumugi and Sou were sitting side by side. Tsumugi wrote each sentence separately in post-it notes and passed them silently one by one to Sou. I think it was her expression, she looked so pitiful while she was writing and passing the post-it notes that I couldn't help but cried with her.)

“Flowers make no sound yet they contain words that can convey many feelings.” ……. So true.

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Great start, but underwhelming towards the end

I decided to watch this because other than revenge, I thought the storyline about the male lead, Yoon Hyun Woo (Song Joong Ki) being ‘reborn’ as the youngest grandson of the family, was intriguing.

The good

. The pace of the drama was fast, especially the first half and no episode was boring in the first half or at least up till the passing of Lee Sung Min’s character.
. Some references to real incidents that happened in Korean modern history, like the Korean Financial Crisis 1997 and Korean soccer team getting into the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup 2002, etc. This made the story realistic and viewers had glimpses of the effects these incidents had on Korea at that time.
. I totally enjoyed the acting of Lee Sung Min as Jin Yang Cheol. He was convincing as the patriarch of the family. Powerful and fearless. His acting was so exceptional that there was always something to look forward to in every scene of his. For me, the drama went downhill after his character passed away, I can say that his passing left a huge void in the story and it was not as enjoyable for me after that.

The bad

. I didn’t understand how and why Yoon Hyun Woo was reborn as the youngest grandson of the family or was he even reborn and did Yoon Hyun Woo even die? I thought I understood initially but when the ending came and then the somewhat vague explanations, I didn’t get the logic.
. There were some business terms or concepts in the drama that I didn’t quite understand, for example buying the company subsidiary’s bank card at an exorbitantly high price will lead to a drastic decrease in one’s share ownership of the company…or was it like that? In any case, I didn’t quite get it fully.

My Verdict

The writing was typical of many Korean revenge dramas that involve conglomerate companies. It was dramatic and fast-paced with schemes and plots one after another, one side seemingly out-winning the other side, but actually not because there was another even more intelligent plot planned by the latter, etc. Basically to sum up the story in a sentence, viewers were just pressing on to watch how the revenge by Yoon Hyun Woo/Jin Do Jun (his name when he was the youngest grandson) would gradually and eventually have the conglomerate land in his hands.

For me, I enjoyed watching the acting of Lee Sung Min. Not one scene was boring with him. As for Song Joong Ki, I didn’t think his acting was exceptional, it was just passable, same for the rest of the cast. However, I liked that Song Joong Ki’s character was not just thinking about revenge throughout the entire drama, he had his soft side, towards his grandpa, Jin Yang Cheol and the woman he loved. I also liked the OST that was played every time he showed his soft side. It was a melodious but melancholic Korean song.

Towards the last few episodes, especially after Jin Yang Cheol passed away, the writing was boring to me, worsened by my difficulty in comprehending some of the business logic and then what with the confusing last episode, my overall enjoyment of the drama was reduced. I would say that this drama captured my imagination in the beginning, hence a 8.5/10, but towards the end, it dropped to 7.5/10 for me.

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My high rating is for the child actress

I seldom watch movies, but I decided to watch this one because I read that it was a tearjerker. I geared myself up to be touched and to cry, but things are like that, the more you expect, the more something will not happen, in the end I cried only at the last scene, which if you read other reviews, was a climatic one indeed.

Positives:

1. My high rating of 9/10 is for the child actress, Jung Seo Yeon, who acted really well, like really, really well in this movie. She was convincing as a visually handicapped given her relatively young age of 7. And the last scene had a close-up shot of her wailing, tears running down her cheeks, etc., crying so pitifully that my heart really cried with her. The male lead, Jin Goo, also did well. I had nothing to criticize about his acting in particular.

2. This movie brought attention to people who were both blind and deaf, double handicap and how to communicate with them.

3. I liked the way the director shot some of the scenes, especially that related to the little girl, some were shot from her angle, something different.

Negatives:

1. Maybe it was a movie, so everything was fast, the development of the relationship between the little girl and the male lead was too fast for me to feel much throughout the movie, except the last scene.

2. I did not quite understand what the male lead’s job was in the movie basically, but those scenes were not important because they did not contribute much to the story of him and the little girl. Again, if they were not important, they became fillers which could have been better replaced by more scenes of him and the little girl’s interactions.

All in all, I would recommend if you are looking for a tearjerker, it was touching, but somehow, I would have liked to see more interactions of the male lead and the little girl, a somewhat more gradual development of their relationship.

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