show could have been good/great but it was a chore for me to get through the last 10 episodes.

Mainly because (personal opinion) for me... the ML was either a jerk/selfishly did stuff or he literally held 0 emotions... like his face just looked confused? 99.9% of the time. Also... for a high-octane thriller/gotta-figure-it-out-before-we-die type of drama... it felt oddly boring for 75% of the drama... by episode 20, I was over it and the plot just drug along with only...

(((SPOILERS BELOW)))
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"will she excel at makeup" and "will the microchip kill her before the ml decides to finally tell her what she needs to know or not?" and those two plot threads were NOT interesting enough to keep me watching for 10 more episodes... I held out and pushed through but the end was as mediocre as it was anticlimactic.

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Wanted to love it... but really didn't at all.

I really wanted to like this drama and had high hopes during the first several episodes despite the FL's weak backstory/reason for being bullied/her mom disliking her, and her allowing herself to be bullied, etc. I had hoped her character would progress and grow, but that, as it turns out, was the least of my worries.

The entire drama was disjointed and messy plot-wise. Scenes and storylines had nearly no transition phases and it was beyond me why NO ONE was smart enough to figure out she was the phoenix. Seriously though?? Not only that, but the writers/directors didn't give us enough reason to fall in love with the leads or time to really hate the villains.

There were SO many times we were led to believe a BIG pivotal moment was coming (though the build-up actually even lacked) only to get to that "peak" that only turned out to be a huge and utter disappointment. The human world wanting to kill the phoenix was so over the top and underwhelming all at the same time. The 2nd "arch" of their past lives brought nothing new to the drama and it didn't move the plot anywhere... it just felt... MEH. By the time we got back to the present via not-well-shot or thought-out fight scenes, I was already yawning at the next mediocre death scene... annnnnnd the next one!

The 3rd arch I don't even want to talk about. Makes no sense. Hated it and everything about it. What purpose did those episodes even serve? There wasn't even ANGST present to pacify me. Just... nothing. Felt like the entire third arch was a filler arch. And now... two episodes left and I don't care once teeny bit what happens. Why? Because the writers never made me care about the leads, care about their journey, or even despise their enemies. How can they make you even hate the egg??? LOL. But, they somehow did.

Do yourself a favor and skip this one.. give Love and Destiny, The Journey of Flower, or maybe Novoland: Pearl Eclipse a try instead!

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WARNING: filled with stomach-churning sexual crime scenes/violence

WARNING: I haven't seen anyone else say this but I will... you may want to stay away from this one if watching sexual crimes are something you can't stomach. I don't trigger easily but this lakorn takes rape scenes, violence, and even things that happen to children to an extreme (shows/insinuates/what you hear... it's a LOT!) ... this was a super super difficult watch and I would not have watched if I had been warned about certain scenes in this.

Acting was great, but this lakorn is not something I can recommend due to the above. My stomach hurt after finishing this lakorn.

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unfortunately a BIG miss for me...

So, I had been waiting to find this drama subbed forever... finally on Youtube with the wrong still images titled "Royal Romantic"... warning though the subtitles are not good... not horrendous, but definitely bad. Luckily, I've seen so many of these I know pretty much what was being said despite the subs.

The story could have been an interesting one... but it really wasn't. Not the politics, not the romance and not the culture or anything else. The MAIN saving grace of the drama was the MALE LEAD... he was amazing and you could feel all his emotions, his likes and hates... his love... I teared up a few times when he cried!!

Unfortunately, the storyline he was given was crap. No depth of plot and no depth of a female lead.

PLOT: The politics all tied back around to "why he couldn't be with the Han girl"... so it wasn't interesting, it wasn't intriguing, really a waste. Completely and utterly.

The romance... sigh... like I said... could have been GREAT because the ML was willing to risk it ALL for this girl ALL the time, but instead... it drove the plot around and around in circles :(

The Female Lead.... ack. She smiled very slightly and was very pretty... and a good singer. And that's all. Oh she had a few tears streaming down her cheek often.. but YIKES. Talk about wooden and no depth of character. He loved her because she was beautiful and a good singer and.... kind? That's it... past that she suffered from being "TOO". Too everything!! Too nice. Too kind-hearted. Too trusting. Too forgiving. Too understanding. Too... everything and it made her paper-thin as a character. ZERO character development, zero emotion... lots of getting bullied and getting saved (or not) and just saying it was all okay as long as the male lead "didn't suffer" BLECK!!!

and that's the plot... can't be together... no one in harem wants them together (plus all the concubines are uber evil)... all the palace peeps trying to keep her out of the harem... her sacrificing...and round and round we go... and then the ending was NOT worth the 59 episodes of that... be warned #tragedy

BUT... I adored the Male Lead???

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A Tragic Past & A Brand New Chance After Reincarnation

This is one of those Lakorns that has a little bit of everything. Romance, reincarnation, a tragic back story told in a dual timeline, ghosts, an evil 2FL, families with grudges, and more. (A legitimate lakorn, people!)

BUT somehow, I like this lakorn more than normal. After watching it a second time through and enjoying it just as much as the first time, I decided to write a review to share the reasons why I find this a "better than normal" lakorn just in case anyone is wondering if they should give it a chance. :)

What I liked about Reun Phayom:
1. The romance between the FL and the ML. It wasn't instant or crazy or super possessive even though this could have been played up because of their shared and tragic past life.
2. The little girl. Even though she's being pretty much mistreated by her villain aunt and manipulated, she's smart and strong enough to know who treats her well and sincerely and I find that super amazing in this drama.
3. The ghosts. So, this may be weird to say, but the ghosts were as human as their actual human counterparts. In other words, they weren't completely black or white. They are three-dimensional in nature. Trying to be good and protect to move on, but still burdened by their own desires of love, revenge, anger, etc. I found that I liked that the writers didn't take away their "personality" and humanness just because they'd died.

I don't know. I guess I just felt that even though there was an over-the-top female villain in this drama, it still didn't push over into "slap kiss" territory or where the villain got all the slaps in and our FL had to endure abuse for 90% of the drama. I appreciated the more complicated storyline, etc.

I've watched nearly 200 lakorns at this point and have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. This one is unique and I love loved it. The flashbacks to the past were painful to watch for sure though, just be warned! However, of the 200 lakorns I've seen, this one is probably in the top 10 of "Lakorns I'd recommend" so that shows how much I enjoyed this one. I hope you like it too. :) If not, that's okay, we all have different tastes. Check out my "custom lists" for my lakorn recommendation list there! ^_^

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If you liked "Another Miss Oh", you will like this one too!

I'll first say that I went into this show sceptically because I am a HUGE fan of the Korean drama, Another Miss Oh. I think it is brilliant and brilliantly acted. SO... I don't usually like to let myself down with subpar versions of something I adore. However, I gave it a shot anyway and am SO glad I did.

Here are a few short & sweet thoughts I had about this drama.
1. These Thai actors and the director/writer/whatever all deserve a round of applause. They kept the "soul" of the original when they filmed this one.
2. I liked ALL the actors/actresses who were picked for their roles and even against popular opinion, the ML's older mess of a sister. I liked that she was portrayed a little bit younger and a wee bit more put together than the Korean sister.
3. The famous karaoke/crying/karaoke scene between the FL and her parents did NOT make it into this version and that was probably my only and biggest disappointment. Probably because of how brilliant it was in the Korean version!
4. The Korean version is still the BEST version but I think it is mainly because ALL the actors seemed a bit more, IDK, passionate? about the roles they were acting. Their anger, their losses, their love, their frustrations, their flaws were RAW and REAL and you felt everything they felt. This version was GOOD, really it was VERY good, but it felt just a little short of Another Miss Oh's brilliance.

STILL... this drama is wonderful and I really did love it. Will it replace the Korean version in my heart? Nope! But I will be rewatching it and adding it to my top 10 Thai Drama List for SURE! :)

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This drama was a hot mess for a lot of reasons...

This drama was a hot mess for a lot of reasons, but the most glaring being the FL's "character". She was a hardened last-man-standing against an entire army GENERAL who is going back in time to STOP a devastating WAR. And from episode 2 on... she's only a frail little girl who speaks softly, worries about trivial crap, and never does anything outstanding as a LEAD. Nothing outstanding as a GENERAL. Nothing even remotely resembling someone on a MISSION to save the future. She isn't badass. She doesn't fight much. She doesn't scheme at all. She doesn't even come up with ANY real plans of her own. Disappointment is an understatement. & let's not even start on the messy storyline and absolutely incomprehensible time travel element... because this drama just uses it as a ploy and doesn't follow any type of rules of engagement. We have WAY more questions "What happens if..." now that when we even started. The only good thing in this drama was the FL's beauty & the ML's flawless acting. Seriously HATE him in Princess Agents... like wanted him to die a slow and painful death hate, but there is no doubt he's an epic antihero! He's a FABULOUS actor!

BUT... even as an antihero, he had MAJOR flaws. Ones in the script, not in his acting.
((( light spoilers below )))

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The ML is supposed to be an antihero, I'm guessing. A TRUE ML antihero who isn't afraid to do a LOT of bad things to make "right" or get revenge on some bad guys. HOWEVER... that means (in this drama at least) that he is willing to USE, HURT, & MANIPULATE the FL to further his agenda. I *get* that he knows she can't DIE, however... him whipping her and hurting her physically (she feels PAIN, DUDE!) just to shrug it off, like "well you'll heal anyway & that's the only way I could think to get you out" EW.
Not only that, but he is CONSTANTLY manipulating her, using her, putting her in danger JUST for his own benefit. These traits are NOT attractive EVEN in an ANTI-HERO ML.
The ONLY way the episodes that have aired so far would work with the ML KILLING her, hurting her, using her, etc... is IF they wrote it to where he is willing to do all this because he doesn't REALIZE YET that he loves her. THEN (maybe) we could understand/connect with the ML later when he figures out his feelings and then REGRETS his past actions. This drama has left NO room for that and completely cut out the opportunity for character growth in that regard.

I WILL say that he gets better (later) in the drama, but it's like a switch flipped and weird. Not a natural transition of falling in love and regretting past actions and moving forward to love & protect. Instead, it's like... use/abuse/all for the greater good then POOF like it never happened, I'm the perfect slightly damaged ML who is just misunderstood. Such an unnatural shift that you NOTICE the shift as it happens.

Sad about this drama. Such epic potential.

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Enjoyed more than the 2020 remake despite the ending ;-)

This one is better acted and has a better flow of events than the 2020 remake for sure. Much more masterfully told, like a story unfolding through the eyes of an elder.
Although, to be fair, the remake is VERY close to this source material. Scenes and lines are almost exact in both versions. So, there are no surprises there other than the lovely "current day" scenes in this version which bring a very nice layer of drawing you into the story that the remake does not have. That's the biggest difference between the shows. That you get to see the FL as an elder throughout the show "reminiscing" and telling her & her mother/grandmother's story to her granddaughter. That's the major difference (the dual timelines)... and the ending, of course.
The acting is a little better and not quite as exaggerated as the remake as well.
The ending here is more beautifully done, but not as "happy" (I guess you could say?) than the remake's ending.
If I had to choose one over the other, I'd choose this one even though the ending is not quite what I'd hoped for after watching the 2020 version first. Still, I'm rating this one a bit higher than the 2020 version.
My issue with this show is the actually story itself which I outlined in my review of the new version. I'll quote a bit of it below.
---FROM MY REVIEW OF THE LITTLE NYONYA (2020 Version) ---
"I felt the "pay off" of the final episode did not match the heartache of 44 straight episodes of torture.
There has to be some kind of balance in a drama like this one and there wasn't any in The Little Nyonya.
At least not enough for me to appreciate everything I had to just sit through.
I guess I expected a story here where the FL had a ton of trials and torture but she not only persevered through it, but triumphed over it, carving out her own destiny in the end. And while you can see that "kind of" was tacked on at the end, in my opinion it was too little too late and not done satisfactorily. Not at all.
All that being said... I didn't hate this show. I rather liked it. Kind of. The acting was great. Chemistry between some of t he characters was well done. I enjoyed the cooking and cultural bits, though I even wish it more heavily influenced the drama, but still it was okay.
But if you're here for romance... while the romance was OK in some instances... the majority of the "love plots" were more painful and destructive than anything else in my eyes. The bad (bad characters, bad romance, bad karma) well outweighed the good.
I just wanted a wee bit more sunshine poking through all the storm clouds that The Little Nyonya was as a drama. I wanted to see some triumph at the end of the torture and in the end, I didn't feel like I got that. At least not enough to make me (personally) happy."

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Needed a bit more sunshine poking through all the storm clouds that was The Little Nyonya.

I enjoyed this, especially the first 12 episodes, but after that it was a series of "can it get any worse?" episodes where our FL is just battered and bruised along with ANYONE who was a decent person in the drama.
This is a show filled with (TONS of) bad guys triumphing for wayyyyy too long and worse, some of them never received their karma to match their crimes. Some do, true, but not enough in my humble opinion. Some received karma but only along with a heaping dose of "forgiveness" and a kind of happy end all because of the FL whom they not only tortured but had also previously tortured her mother AND grandmother. Ewww. They tortured THREE generations of our Fl's family. One villain in particular got some karma, but it wasn't even close to the evil she had done through all 44 episodes.
I felt the "pay off" of the final episode did not match the heartache of 44 straight episodes of torture.
There has to be some kind of balance in a drama like this one and there wasn't any in The Little Nyonya.
At least not enough for me to appreciate everything I had to just sit through.
I guess I expected a story here where the FL had a ton of trials and torture but she not only persevered through it, but triumphed over it, carving out her own destiny in the end. And while you can see that "kind of" was tacked on at the end, in my opinion it was too little too late and not done satisfactorily. Not at all.
All that being said... I didn't hate this show. I rather liked it. Kind of. The acting was great. Chemistry between some of t he characters was well done. I enjoyed the cooking and cultural bits, though I even wish it more heavily influenced the drama, but still it was okay.
But if you're here for romance... while the romance was OK in some instances... the majority of the "love plots" were more painful and destructive than anything else in my eyes. The bad (bad characters, bad romance, bad karma) well outweighed the good.
I just wanted a wee bit more sunshine poking through all the storm clouds that The Little Nyonya was as a drama. I wanted to see some triumph at the end of the torture and in the end, I didn't feel like I got that. At least not enough to make me (personally) happy.

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HOLY HOT KISSES, JAMES BOND! ツ

I enjoyed this one... The Kiss scenes were HOT HOT HOT! Yassss!
♡I really liked the ML here. He was definitely a "class clown" type but you can kind of tell it was to hide his pain. I actually found this silly friendship between the FL & ML a refreshing way to start a romance. The acting felt very natural. I liked that the ML found new artistic inspiration from our FL too!
♡The ML was nearly TOO good though and that was a little hard to watch sometimes... he was TOO self-sacrificing.
♡I Also liked the FL a lot even though I saw some people didn't like her, I never felt that way one bit. I found her smart, crazy, funny, but serious and level headed when appropriate. She felt real & human.
♡Hate, HATED the SFL from start to finish. What a biatch! Her "change of heart" in the final episode was not convincing enough, but it was expected from a Lakorn.
♡Skipped some of the side couple/side story parts--okay... ALL of them. -_- I didn't care about a single side plot. At all.
♡HOWEVER I still thoroughly enjoyed this Lakorn and would even possibly do a re-watch for the FL & ML interactions. They were too cute together!
♡I felt myself grinning stupidly a LOT while watching this one. You should give it a go for sure if your on the fence.
P.S. You can find this on DailyMotion subbed (missing 1/2 of episode 8? I think though)

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Still... it was cute.

This drama had all the elements that were needed to be a GREAT romcom, however, I'm sorry to say that (for me) it fell very flat.
The plot fell flat.
The romance fell flat. (truly truly FLAT/non-existent)
The comedy started out decent but fell flat quickly. (there were some cute/funny moments, but I expected so much more here!)
The acting was wonderful, especially by Bomb, but it wasn't enough to carry such a long show.
Still... it was cute. I teared up and I laughed a few times as well. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't amazing either. The 14 TWO HOUR episodes drug it down so bad. The plot was way too simple to support such a long drama. At the very MOST this show should have been (14) 45 min episodes instead of (14) 120 min episodes. By episode 7 I was well "over" the plot. I wanted romance. I wanted shenanigans. I wanted to laugh. & unfortunately, I had to begin FF'ing instead to "just get to the end".
Sad Panda.

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My first time EVER disliking a "good" guy in a lakorn

I find this is one of those rare cases where a drama is actually a little too highly rated here on MDL. Usually, (imho) dramas are rated lower than what they deserve, but not so in this case.
First thing. What I liked. I love the actors. Fabulous acting. Great Chemistry. Real kisses sprinkled throughout. A good story base... everything needed for a great story/lakorn, right? Well....

Things went south rather quickly for me. First. This show did NOT have the story/plot structure to carry TWENTY looooong episodes. Honestly, I was well over the redundant plot by episode TEN. Ouch.

Besides the overdone plot that truly went no where and just pittered along but could have been wrapped up in 10 episodes easily... the villains. There were a LOT of them. & They were ridiculous and had superficial "reasons" for going to the dark side. Everyone was a villain. A handful of people were "too good". The stark contrast between characters was overwhelming.
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Next... & I really hate hate hate that this is the case, BUT... the ML. He was awesome for about 1/3 of the show. The next 3/4 he was kind of an ass. He lied. He manipulated. He hurt the FL emotionally over and over and over again pushing her towards the SML all for his selfish desire to "help his country". Even knowing what kind of a guy the SML was. What was worse... if that by the VERY last 20 minutes of the show he is STILL putting his "duty" to the country over the FL's feelings even though they had been married for several years. He is still disregarding her, her feelings, and their relationship in favor of "his work", basically staying true to what the FL believes (and she has a valid reason for doing so) that he still sees her as kind of in the way and troublesome if he shares everything with her. Even their intimacy. is taking a hit because he nearly falls asleep instantly due to exhaustion. He's also still lying to the FL in the last 10 minutes of the show because he "knows how she'll act" and is sure she'd cause him trouble if she was aware of his job issues. UGH. Not something a great relationship is built on, huh?

To add insult to injury... all that time the FL keeps helping him, loving him, forgiving him nearly instantly. To be honest, I wish that final scene did not play out that way. There's NO way he learned anything important that easily. He needed to feel the sting of possible loss to make him wake up to what he was doing wrong. He didn't. & their relationship would still have major issues.
By the end of the lakorn... I disliked the ML. My first time EVER disliking a "good" guy in a lakorn. No raping. No abuse. No slap-kiss... and yet, I somehow found him a wee bit more dislikable than an antihero who at least learns a hard lesson by the end of their journey. BOTH leads in this show did NOT go through any kind of self-journey. ONLY the SML did. UGH.

I guess that's my main gripe with this lakorn... ALL that they went through in those ridiculous amount of episodes, and the leads never had any REAL self development. The ML never had a "ah crap, I did wrong" moment. No moment of fear of what he may stand to LOSE. Not once.
Everything that happened to him and he never changed even a little bit? Really? MEH.

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#surprised

I had this on my "not interested" list forever due to other comments/reviews I'd seen somewhere, but decided to try it anyway out of boredom. I'm actually REALLY glad I did. I feel like it would have been better at 12 episodes, but I was never bored, so there's that. CRAZY Lakorn but I truly enjoyed it.
The acting was fabulous, especially from the FL and the chemistry between leads was on point as well.
The story never felt super draggy or boring or had any characters/subplots I felt I needed/wanted to skip through and THAT is a miracle (for me) when watching Lakorns... there's almost always a side character's storyline or plot that I hate and skip through. There wasn't any on this one, imho.
Sure, this might have been better at about 12 episodes instead of 16, but isn't that usually the case? Even so, I didn't FEEL like they'd overly stretched the plot or had to throw in tons of random plot devices to prolong the show either, so I'm pretty impressed.
My vote? Love a good revenge Lakorn with a lot of evil stuff going on, some great acting, and a dollop of crazy on top? This one is better than most! Give it a go. :-)

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there are WAY better dramas to spend your time watching...

UPDATED after episode 90 -_-
Yeah. This went NO where really fast except when it went into that one plot device I hated. UGH. 50+ episodes of the same scene on repeat. :( I am soooo sad this drama failed ALL expectations. Revenge? Failed. Romance? Failed. Any actual PLOT? failed. I had hope as you can see below in my original review. Complete letdown. The ONLY reason to watch this show would be to see Go Se Won suit porn. #sexyman #sexysuits Otherwise... NO.
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If you love a halfway decent slow burn, revenge-driven show with some great characters, some slightly ridiculous characters, and can let go of unrealistic expectations for a soap opera... this show is for you. Watch it for the fun of it and don't overthink it and you'll be just fine. This isn't something you can watch with your overanalyzing panties on. Come for the revenge and drama. Go when you want to watch a show with a bit more substance. I'm personally enjoying it and am absolutely shipping the ML+FL before this is all said and done. (pretty please?)
I may update this review once 60+ episodes have aired and then again once it's finished.

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This show was cute enough, but...

This show was cute enough at the beginning but there was 0 plot to be found after about ep10 or so? After that, I skipped through tons of scenes. I enjoyed it but it would have been 1000x times better if the episodes were shorter or perhaps there were only 10-12 of them at this 1hr+ length.
The thing I did love about this show is that there were NO over the top evil chicks/bad guys (love interests or mothers/fathers) trying to keep any of the couples apart. However, that also was a part of the problem for me. Because there was NOTHING really keeping the ML & FL apart, the storyline of them not just getting together and the lack of conflict dragged on for no apparent reason for several hour-long episodes and watching became tedious.
STILL. It was cute and the acting was really very good, so that was a plus.

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