A misclassified docuseries

First of all, let me give a shout-out to the best thing in the drama: the ending theme. Awesome rendition by a great singer. So I didn't know what they were doing with the opening theme. Even I can sing miles better than that.

For the drama, I would say it's very clearly a docuseries in disguise as a drama. The show tries really hard to put in tidbits about law, explanations of the different roles in law enforcement, and the different methods of fraud. They also emphasized heavily on confessing your guilt for a reduction in sentence. This is a show clearly meant for the masses in China (and realistically Asia in particular) where online fraud is rampant. And so, you might find that it's simply not that interesting, especially with heavy screen time given to the higher ups in the procutorate, where you see them stuck in meetings, watching live broadcasts of police operations and whatnot.

I have talked about several flaws in terms of the script already in the comment section. First of all, the first case of insurance fraud was very sloppily concluded. There are also notable grammatical errors in the dialogue. I also think that the fact that a single case spanned the whole drama was a little too slow for pace. What I'm most disappointed with is how there was a lack of misguidance when it came to unveiling the actual antagonist. The show really could have done with more red herrings. All of which could have been a lot better executed.

That being said, I have to give props to how the production tried to make the show as realistic as possible. I am a software engineer and I have to say they actually provided very decent and layman-enough explanation on how the "malware" was injected. I might disagree with the ease of execution which was implied but on the whole I find the research well done. They also touched on monopoly and anti-competition acts by social media companies, which I found oddly satisfying given the current climate. In fact, Douyin (Tiktok's Chinese origins) and Weibo are currently engaged in a battle regarding that, though it might not be publicized.

I also thought interesting issues were raised about the neutrality of a platform, the intentions of the user, and the necessity of restrictions. The discussion on this is actually not unlike the debate on gun laws, though the web is arguably less potent a weapon. Another interesting topic brought up was about whether Xiao was really as heinous as claimed, given that he only delivered the bait, and his victims willingly got themselves hooked. I have my own conclusion, but I won't touch on it any further. It's, however, a pity that when he spoke about it during the trial, there was no attempt at a rebuttal.

On acting, there's nothing really wrong imo. I do feel that some of the calefares and guest actors need some help, but it's a problem with Chinese productions in general. It's pretty common for shows with part time actors to appear jarring because they don't sound and seem professional. I feel that Dilraba does have an elite air to her naturally, and she is one of the younger female actors who can take up a professional role, but this role isn't as challenging because she is just our point of view. And this being a drama produced by the official agency means that there is no room for creative liberties.

All of the above contributed to my conclusion that this was a misclassified docuseries. I stuck through it to actually voice my opinions on the potential debates but unfortunately I didn't see any deeper analysis from people outside of yours truly.

P.S. She is gorgeous in this show. It's interesting that a sponsored drama like this brought out her looks more than a romance show.

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This CCTV adaptation of Laughing in the Wind was heavily panned after casting Xu Qing in the female lead role because of her age and again after airing because of Li Yapeng's dissonance with the Linghu Chong role. However, taking into account the plot, acting and production, this is personally my favourite adaptation of LitW.

On the differences between the novel and the drama, I don't have a strong feeling on that because I understand that you need to take creative liberties with adaptations. It's not so realistic to have Ren Yingying appear as late as she did in the novel and it helps to cultivate the relationship between Linghu Chong and Ren Yingying by reimagining their first encounter. Other than this particular change, I don't believe there was anything too different from the source material.

The plot is actually very typical Jin Yong and even pretty typical wuxia. You can see parallels of the discussion of good and evil in Cha's subsequent novels like Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre, as well as other wuxia master's novels like Liang Yusheng's books. The story is essentially about the pursuit of wulin dominance and the things people resort to to achieve their aims. This is one of Louis Cha's most famous books so most C-drama watchers should be familiar with the story.

I actually like Li Yapeng as Linghu Chong. I don't think he's a bad actor. I watched the 1996 TVB version as well and I agree with most that Lv had the right vibes for the role, but Li was also good technically. He might not necessarily fit visually or disposition wise but his portrayal was alright. I do have gripes about his gestures because he was not relaxed enough but otherwise I found him pretty good. Xu Qing was the big surprise for everyone back then and I can see why. She was excellent. A top actor who showed that age really is just a number. She is widely agreed to be the best Ren Yingying and I concur. She was a highlight and a huuuuuuuge positive. To be honest, I don't think there is any particular misses when it came to the actors. Most of them were fantastic. I believe I commended Li Jie for a later adaptation of Legend of the Condor Heroes and he was equally good as Lin Pingzhi here.

I have also mentioned in multiple reviews that I prefer grand sets. Mainland productions have an inherent advantage because of their budget and the scenery that they can use. This drama is a great showcase of exceptional artistry and production value. "Realism" is huge and the sets and props actually look aged. That shows effort. My only complaint will be the hairstyles of the male characters, but it seems to be a recurring Zhang Ji Zhong production issue.

Unfortunately, C-dramas have fallen (perhaps due to restrictions which are consequences of environment protection) since the late 00s and recent productions use green screens extensively in place of natural sets. I'm still optimistic that they get better though, and I'm looking forward to more wuxia productions of similar or better quality in the future.

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I went on a Jin Yong adaptation watching spree and this was last on the list, partly because the production is relatively budget (you can see from the set and costumes) and partly because the novel itself was not one I particularly liked.

The drama expanded quite a bit on the book, understandably because this is one of Louis Cha's shorter novels. There was more screen time devoted to Qi Fang and also how Di Yun was maligned and thrown into prison. It gave more details on the backstory between Ding Dian and Ms. Ling. Unfortunately, I feel that this made the story a little too slow paced in the early stages. The fact that Shui Sheng appeared really late also adds to it because Shu Chang is arguably the biggest and most recognisable name in the cast. However, for the same reason, they extended Shui Sheng's story after she was rescued from the valley. I felt it was okay to give closure to her character in that way, but I didn't really like the change where she was trying to reconcile Qi and Di because it seemed too forced.

The most interesting part of this story is the exploration of human nature. In this show, everyone is overwhelmed either by greed or fame, to the extent that they can forgo blood ties and friendships. There is also the recurring theme that Cha likes where the bad is not necessarily evil, and the good might be hiding behind a facade. This is not one of Cha's books where there is a very compelling loveline because most of the focus is on human nature. If you like this sort of plot, you might like this drama adaptation as well.

On the acting, I feel that the male lead was very very good. Some think that he is too naive (daft) in the beginning but I feel that's is how Di Yun is because of the environment and circumstances he was brought up in. Only when he was met with misfortune after misfortune did he manage to get a glimpse of how evil human hearts can really be. That said, I know Di is not meant to be attractive, but I feel that they could have gone with a better looking male lead. Shu Chang was good though raw. The best portrayal came from the supporting characters, namely the sect leader of the Blood Sabre Sect and Hua. Just amazing. In fact, the whole battle sequence in the valley was a huge highlight in terms of story and acting.

As for the other aspects, the action sequences were alright, but the set looks cheap in comparison to then Mainland productions. I was expecting Zhang Ji Zhong levels of exquisiteness, but it leaned a bit more TVB, which is slightly disappointing. I can only assume that the novel's lack of popularity meant that they were unable to get a huge investment. Nevertheless, it is still a pretty decent adaptation.

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Best adaptation of the novel

Zhang Ji Zhong's productions are always maligned because fans of TVB adaptations look at them as inferiors. As someone who's watched both the 2000 TVB and 2007 Chinese adaptations, this is comfortably the best. The bigger budget and better natural setting gave grandeur to the end product and it really shows.

Jin Yong has a very peculiar problem in that editions of his novels always get worse. To fans of the book, it is a dream come true that this adaptation sticks to the original as much as it did, though I would really prefer it if A Jiu disappeared from the picture completely. This is also the reason why fans of the novel dislike the 2000 adaptation, because it twisted the plot and characterisations to accommodate A Jiu's character development and her nonsensical love line with the male lead. Thankfully, in this adaptation, Qing Qing's parts were maintained (deservedly). It would be better if they kept the plot point where He Tie Shou fell in love with Qing Qing, but it was not to be. The only other issue with the plot is that the actual source material runs pretty thin, but there is nothing one can do about that. There is a reason why this is one of Louis Cha's less popular novels after all.

The casting is brilliant. I would like a taller male lead to make the hugging scenes less awkward, but otherwise Dou is alright. Casting Eva Huang is a stroke of genius because she is basically Qing Qing come alive from the book. Kudos to Zhang for staying with her despite her then contractual issues. Qing Qing is not a likeable character with her pettiness but Eva Huang portrayed her extremely well. He Tie Shou was also a perfect choice (though her career has since gone to the gutters).

The action sequences were good as well. Looking back, they were really well choreographed. I do wish that the more recent wuxia productions can put in more effort into this aspect.

Overall, a fantastic adaptation though it could probably use a bit of extra money here and there.

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Solid production and story

The crew behind Strange Tales of the Tang Dynasty is renowned for their control of pace despite lackluster material. With SToTD, the theme itself is interesting, so it makes the drama a pretty good watch. However, there is something left to be desired when it comes to maintaining the pace of the drama, and the characterisations are also very dated.

The drama is more Detective Dee than Justice Bao, which is a minus from my point of view, because the deduction and mystery solving isn't that inspiring. There's no real eureka moment, and you really don't get the feeling that the characters are all that smart. The explanations are there, but there is no real logic or connection, and thus no sense of realisation when the truth is revealed. Most of the time the focus is on the backstory of the villains rather than anything else. The pace and tempo really makes this drama, because it's comparatively fast (though not that packed), and you don't really think, you just whizz past everything and listen to what the show is trying to say. Unfortunately, towards the end when the drama is trying to tie up loose ends, the lack of a true compelling overarching theme really hurts and everything starts to unravel.

On the acting, I watched Yang Xuwen in Condor Heroes and he was exactly the same in this drama. I don't really think it throws people off since technically he's not the focal point, but I do sometimes wonder if the show could have been that bit better if they cast a more solid actor who didn't seem like a knucklehead all the time. Yang Zhigang I thought was fine. What really bothered me was how they felt that love lines were necessary. The female lead was so poorly written, obsessed with love, and only got a bit better towards the middle when they could find value in her artistic ability. They figured that they need to add a love interest for Su Wu Ming as well, which was so uncalled for. The girl could have just been the martial arts expert. This is very typical of early to mid 00s Chinese dramas though, so I guess some may like it. I didn't like the characterisations of the Crown Prince and the Princess too, but I think there are some restrictions on how they can portray historical characters so that cannot be helped. I must commend the actor who played the triplets because he was very good, so that's that.

All in all, it's a solid drama and it's a surprisingly solid production. From the costume to the colours, they are all well designed and thought out. I'm always curious why the top actors seem to get shit production whereas no-namers like Yang get cast in something like this, but I guess that's life.

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It's interesting, because the only reason why I continued watching this drama was because I was writing my own plot in my head and imagining interactions that could be interesting. The drama turned out to be nothing like what I expected, and at every point where it could have gone the right way it went the opposite direction instead.

First up, I appreciate the casting. They are both good looking, so that is some motivation. I think Mario was good. His character didn't make sense but he was good. Yaya's character also didn't make sense, but her portrayal made it more confusing. I cannot criticise their performance too much though. I completely understand if they were unable to comprehend their characters, because this show is just plain illogical.

This drama had all the ingredients of good makjang. Accidental pregnancy, a long separation, love-hate, then reconciliation. BUT, they didn't seem to be deep in love enough and they appeared to really hate each other after the seven year separation. Really, the crux of a Romeo-Juliet like storyline is to love while not being able to love. They certainly got the not being able to love very right, but the actual fondness was not there. So throughout the drama I only felt that they liked each other 5% of the time and for the rest of the duration they looked like they will end up killing each other.

Unfortunate, because the potential was there.

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Entertaining

I'm surprised that this show isn't that well-regarded on MDL. It's probably one of the most entertaining Thai dramas I watched in a long time, with very compelling chemistry, and pretty good tempo.

With Thai dramas you sort of have to accept that the male lead is a jerk 99.9% of the time. In Kha Khong Khon, he is still a jerk but he doesn't score that high on the jerk scale. When he's normal he's sweet enough. The female lead is your typical pretty female lead who's always on about her dignity and somehow falls in love with the nastiest guy in the world. In Kha Khong Khon, the female lead topped the pretty-o-meter; she is gorgeous.

The plot is really nothing to shout about, the characterization is also nothing to shout about, but this drama is just entertaining as it is. The chemistry between the actors is sizzling and they put in some very good performances (with great visuals as well). The plot moves pretty fast in the first 12 episodes or so. After that it just goes round and round, so you'll have to make good use of the fast-forward button.

I like it though. Thai dramas always have dubious plot and logic but at least this drama is great in all the other aspects.

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Female centric historical drama

I do not intend to write a long review for this one, so I'll just summarise my thoughts as succinctly as possible.

Overall:
This is a female centric drama focused on the growth of the lead character Chang'ge in her pursuit of vengeance and how she comes to find her role and aim in life.

Positives:
+ This is NOT a romance-themed drama which is fantastic for people who are more plot focused.
+ There is effort to expand character development beyond those of the lead characters. Every character has his/her own motivations and reasons to act in the way they did.
+ There is emphasis in the strength of the protagonist Chang'ge and how the fact that she is a female does not limit her in any way. Most female characters are strong and capable in this drama.
+ There is respect between the primary pairing and the male lead Ashile Sun's attitude and thoughts toward his beloved aligns with modern thinking.
+ Excellent pacing from the first episode up till when Suozhou fell.
+ Brilliant start and directing for the football match. I do love Dilraba's acting right at the start as a haughty and playful princess.
+ Great push and pull between Chang'ge and Li Shi'min when it comes to the dynamics of their relationship.
+ Above average acting and good acting chemistry overall.
+ Best OST of the year.

Negatives:
- The conflicting interests of Chang'ge and Ashile Sun means that sometimes Sun is forced to take a step backwards to the disadvantage of his faction to accommodate plot development.
- There were way too many reversals towards the end, and they were not thought out well.
- There is a repetitive plotline for the second female lead Le'yan which seemed to have taken inspiration from a similar plot point at the start between Chang'ge and A'dou but portrayed in a relatively unpolished and awkward manner.
- The part regarding a political alliance via marriage between Tang and Ashile was a very clichéd plot point and was resolved in very clichéd fashion.
- Weird styling for the protagonist.
- Unusual directing angles and shortcuts taken by using comic in place of certain heavyweight scenes.

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Inconsistent drama, amazing Jang Nara

I loved all the episodes up till episode 10, and I loved episode 12, but everything fell off a cliff after that.

Sell You Haunted House is basically an episodic series with an underlying arc being the exorcism of Hong Mi-jin. The show was consistently good in the beginning. It is actually a relatively well-written supernatural drama with good world-building. We know from the very beginning how exorcism works: exorcist + name + hairpin + medium + stab + memory. The biggest puzzle was also written down plainly right at the start. Why is Hong Mi-jin still dwelling in the human world? What is needed to exorcise her? We know what's happening and we have a direction for the story, and that's a good thing.

Every few episodes depicted the story of a lingering spirit. The pace was good, the execution was slick. I was especially impressed with episode 10, because I genuinely had a heart in the mouth moment. The action sequence was exciting, the improvisation was smart, and everything was just perfect. That one scene pushed the drama to a high. What was even better was Jang Nara's performance in episode 12. Simply legendary.

However, I wonder if this "high" proved to be detrimental to the series, because in comparison the remaining parts of the story lacked punch. After episode 12, the preview for the next episode was like telling the viewers "don't watch". Episode 12 was not a build-up, it was the climax. And so it was difficult for me to continue with the series, because I didn't think it was possible to Jang Nara to top her performance (not because of her, because of the flow of the story) and I didn't think it was possible for the series to give more excitement. I was right. I had to force myself to finish the show.

I do appreciate how the clues were given and how the solution to our puzzle was logical. However, I already guessed how the egg ghost could be exorcised, and I guessed how Hong Mi-jin could be exorcised. A better approach will be to push it further and make it smarter. The show needed a surprise, a eureka moment, but the writers failed to do that. I would prefer it if another episodic plot was added in to make the unravelling of the main story much quicker, and the quicker pace would've also allowed the writers to cover the flaws of their plot.

Overall, this is still one of the better K-dramas of 2021 though. Even if you don't like how it ended, I would say that the first half was a good watch anyway.

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Most disappointing drama of the year

The Worm Valley was one of my most anticipated dramas of 2021 having watched both its predecessors. Tomb raiding plus a good production crew is a sure-win formula in general, so I was shocked that it failed so spectacularly. I actually extended my WeTV subscription specially for this but still I did not finish the series, and that tells you how bad it is.

I have seen many domestic reviews of this series saying how it is a departure from the original novel and due to censorship there are scenes which cannot be filmed and the excitement level took a huge drop because of all these restrictions. I am not concerned about these things. I will admit that I have read the novel before, but I cannot remember anything from it so I am looking at things without bias.

The biggest issue about this show is pace. The show spent about 8 episodes getting into the tomb. Mind you, the length is just 16 episodes. Literally half the time was spent dilly-dallying on things which are not supposed to be the focus. What was more outrageous was that the tomb exploration itself was lame. One episode fighting an invincible worm and another episode fighting a cluster of monsters, with very basic background digging and puzzle solving. There is no excitement at all. It drained my interest in the lore, and the fights were just run and gun.

The next thing which bothered me was how deliberate the jokes were. They were so not funny that it became awkward watching all these scenes. The romance subplot was another thing that turned me away. Hu Bayi and Shirley Yang should not making long eye contact inside a crashed plane. The romance subplot should be subtle and natural. This is NOT a romance drama! There is no need and no place for inconvenient, cringeworthy tropes. These are recurring scenes in the drama and I had to fast forward through all of them.

I am not sure what happened, because the show is wrong on so many levels. It is perplexing because I had so much faith in the cast and crew. Unfortunately, the drama was a huge let down. I still have my fingers crossed for the sequel though.

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Top visuals in a sweet romance drama

Gu Man is pretty well-known for being a hit generator. All her previous works like Boss and Me, O2O and You Are My Sunshine were wildly popular in Mainland China. I won't say that I'm a fan of Gu. I've only read You Are My Glory out of all her novels, and I've only finished Boss and Me and YAMG out of all her drama adaptations. The only reason why I even read YAMG was because the casting news leaked. I will confess that Gu's writing style does not particularly appeal to me. Frankly speaking, I was curious and also apprehensive how everything will translate to screen given the length of the story dedicated to gaming and reactions of netizens. To be brutally honest, I feel that Gu Man is an okay writer, but she's not a great scriptwriter.

The major minuses I see are: 1. extension of the gaming and aerospace engineering plot lines which did not contribute to the pace nor story development (I liked the ending though), 2. inability to fill up blanks in the novel dialogues and insufficient visual direction, 3. stereotypical portrayal of the entertainment industry. The gaming part was fine, because I do game a little, so I get the gist of what was being said, but the aerospace engineering aspect was a snooze fest. There are parts of Yu Tu's career story which I just fast forwarded through and will never go back and watch again. I applaud Gu's dedication to make the story as professional as possible, and stuff like electromagnetic interference are basic Physics concepts that most people can probably understand. She's also careful to not make Yu Tu look like the smartest person in the lab. Objectively this isn't bad, but it's just boring, and boring cannot be helped. Also, if you noticed, the script is almost a mirror reflection of the novel, but there are some parts which are awkward and needs more dialogue to fill up the interactions. It's okay to have blanks in your novels, but it's not okay to have them in a drama. Even Pan Yueming was sort of awkward in some scenes because the interactions weren't fully fleshed out.

Still, I like the story overall. I liked how there is almost no angst, I liked how the love story was slow burn, and I liked the ending. I think the launch at the ending was what the drama needed, not whatever she added in the middle. I liked the characterisations as well. Yu Tu is actually a very typical Gu Man male lead, a smart and handsome classmate/school senior (who happens to be facing some life decisions). Qiao Jingjing is a stronger female lead than the kind Gu usually writes. She's successful, confident, smart, brave and straightforward. She knows what she wants, and she is also very perceptive. I also think Gu has a knack for writing sweet snippets and witty dialogues, but in a way it's also a slight negative because some may find that the show is not as eventful as what they may like.

On to the cast. I've actually written a few posts on what I think of the leads. Just a disclaimer, I really like the two of them. I think they are beautiful and they can make me watch anything (the two of them, one isn't enough). However, I don't think they are great actors. This is especially evident in the first half of the drama. I've said it before, sometimes Dilraba doesn't give me the emotion I expect or she gives something less. Yang Yang was just extremely stiff at the start, and I was disappointed in his scenes with Guan Zai as well as his mentor in the restaurant.

As the show moved on though, both of them got a lot better. Dilraba is very comfortable with cute and bright roles and when she wants to be she's just the most adorable person ever. Yang Yang is okay when he's not being emo. He was very good during the second proposal scene as well. I was also surprised however with Dilraba's speech delivery, because in the trailer her voice was a little too soft at times, but she's really good in the drama. Yang Yang swallows his words a lot though, and you can hear how he links his syllables in the scene where he drove Jingjing around at the launch site. It's a little hard to get used to two words becoming one and I think he needs to cut out on that habit. Despite my gripes, the cast was the best thing that happened to this drama, because they fit the characters to a T. They also have brilliant chemistry. I don't know why there are people saying otherwise, but they complemented each other perfectly.

Overall, it's a sweet romance drama with an exceptionally beautiful cast and great rewatch value (I rarely rewatch dramas). You'll find yourself going back to replay their interactions over and over again.

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Faux-makjang where nothing actually happens

I honestly would classify Mine under the makjang category. Unfortunately, it's not good makjang in that it's neither memorable nor entertaining, and 15 episodes in nothing struck a chord. There is some resemblance of a story but it's so frivolous that you just cannot get engaged. (The funny thing is, even Kim Seo-hyung thought the show made no sense at the start.)

In a nutshell, the theme of the drama is about discovering your real identity and finding your true self. However, the story does not serve this purpose. I feel like this is extremely similar to another currently airing tvN drama that gave me the same feeling in that they have good intentions but horrible plot and execution that leave you thinking "okay, if you say so".

The amazing thing about drama as a medium of expression is that everything is being played out in that small screen that is like a parallel world to real life. Nevertheless, most dramas fail to show what they want to express and eventually have to resort to plainly voicing out the underlying themes. This is exactly what Mine did and I really really dislike it.

I hope to see our two leads in better projects. Adiós.

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The show is just absurd.

Let's start out by getting the terms of the contract straight. Dong-kyung has terminal cancer and 100 days left to live. She thoughtlessly wishes for the end of the world, after which Doom approached her to enter into a weird contract. The contract stipulates that she has to wish for the destruction of the world in return for a painless 100 days before her death. If she goes back on her end of the deal, her most loved one will die in her place. Oh, and he will also grant her an additional wish on the side, presumably a loophole for her to break out of this conundrum. What are the fine prints? How is this contract enforced? No one knows, perhaps we can just take it for granted. Wait a minute, if the world is doomed, how can she and her loved one survive? Well, good question. From any logical point of view, it seems like this is a dumb contract to enter. In fact, even the truck of doom there to grant her an instant death seemed like a more viable alternative. There is a "reason" for this though, see what happens next.

She figured that she can wriggle around the terms of the contract by finding someone else to love. She also has the perfect target: Doom. She doesn't really care that after she falls in love with that person, she most definitely will not want to wish doom upon him as well. I mean, drama characters have the right to be ultra short-sighted to push plot movement anyway, so we need to accept her rationale behind this for drama sake. She's also dying, and that desperation means that she can't think straight. We should really forgive her even though the decision makes no sense. And who would've guessed? This plays fantastically into Doom's plan because he's tired of being Doom anyway. Brilliant! Now, our leads have motivation to force themselves to fall in love with each other. The writer proceeds to cue all k-drama tropes. *roll eyes* What's the point of the contract did you ask? For them to fall in love of course!

They do so very quickly. That's natural, right? Even though it's forced, even though the relationship build up was skimmed over, it doesn't matter. This is just fan service after all. What now? Huh? Falling in love is not a good idea anymore? Okay. It's a good idea again? Okay. It's time to spend a few episodes deliberating to love or not to love. In the meantime, write some Chicken Soup for the Soul-esque lines and have the characters engaged in intentionally "profound" dialogues about the meaning of life and death, fortune and misfortune, yin and yang, North and South, positive and negative... you get it. It's important to emphasise to our viewers that this drama is not just a frivolous fantasy romance, it's a thought-provoking philosophical drama and we want to send the audience a message. A message that's been told a thousand times over and is nothing novel. *glance*

Follow me. One step forward, one step back, side to side, side to side. Okay, the story is finally done with the flip flop and faux dilemma. Our leads realised that their affection for each other is strong, despite the fact that they've only known each other for a very short time. They confess their love but gets hindered by a god-like being. We don't know what's the reason for that, but there must be a reason, and we'll discover it sooner or later. We do know one thing, that love, not 42, is the answer to life, the universe and everything. We can rest assured that our leads will romance more. Meanwhile, we should not doubt or be perplexed, because this lends to the mysterious vibes of the drama. This is why character motivations are vague. This is a fantasy drama after all, how can you expect answers at the start, even if they have everything to do with understanding why people do the things they do? Of course, the best epic dramas do world building, lay out rules and laws, and leave engaging puzzles. Basic creative writing 101. This drama is different, we're not gonna tell you what are gods, what do gods do and whatnot. This is a departure from normal dramas, this is different, this is how it should be.

Extraordinarily bad.

Satire aside, there are some huge problems with the drama.

1. The premise is weak. We all know that romance dramas need a reason to bring our leads together, but the reason here is too obvious, too lame and too unconvincing.

2. World building is non-existent. The first two episodes should lay down what are the basic laws of this fantasy world that the writer has created, but we got none of that. The writer is treating the laws of the universe as mysteries the viewers should uncover, which isn't good story telling. This means that the drama isn't grounded and viewers are left scratching their heads why people behave in a certain way. Also, because there is no ground work done, these mysteries are not enticing but frustrating.

3. The deliberately cryptic dialogues. Usually, when a drama wants to relay a message, it uses a sub plot to tell a story and let viewers come to the conclusion themselves. DAYS is very peculiar in that its story and scenes contribute very weakly to the sort of message the writer wants to tell. Instead, it tries to emphasise the messages indirectly with the dialogues instead, and then you're left thinking: "Oh, just this? Meh." It doesn't resonate with the audience. It reminds me of the short stories I wrote in middle school with really basic plots and an underlying theme that was executed awkwardly.

4. The story development is slow. In fact, I'm not sure what exactly is the story. If they want to talk about the romance, then our leads have fallen in love too quickly and what's left is separation and reunion on rinse and repeat. If they want to be philosophical, then the script just falls short entirely.

5. The detached side plot is jarring. At the present moment it doesn't contribute to anything (except the tug-o-war between the fans of the actors).

On a personal level, I find the drama extremely pretentious and trying to bite off more than it can chew. I rated it a 1 to balance out the actual ratings, but to judge the drama solely based on its quality it's a 5/10.

EDIT: Also, don't assume that I don't understand what's going on in the drama. I do, I just don't see how it's deep or meaningful in any way. I also understand Korean, so there is nothing lost in translation for me.

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Draggy investigations

I'll keep this review short.

Story: Detective Dee is a legendary official in Chinese history and many of his dramas involve the likes of him solving mysteries. However, the difference between Dee and Justice Bao is that Detective Dee's mysteries often have a fantastic element, as opposed to Bao whose cases are much more realistic and down to earth. This TV adaptation isn't really well thought out in terms of the mini-arcs, the masterminds use really OP equipment and all. Things are also very drawn out, but I'd say that it's entertaining if you can keep going.

Acting: I personally don't like Ren. I think he's really objectively unattractive and looks like a scrawny kid. But he and Jiao (Empress Wu) have some strong chemistry. Unfortunately, them being based on historical characters meant that that aspect cannot be explored. The female lead was forgettable, a romantic interest for the sake of having a romantic interest.

Music: Not much to talk about, but I liked the opening theme a lot.

Overall: An okay watch if you like Ren or Jiao. Otherwise, it's unnecessarily draggy and needs some help shedding all its fat. Kudos to you if you can get past the first 20 episodes.

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A fluffy story where nothing much happens at all

I actually watched this drama while it was airing, but I didn't think about leaving a review because I neither hated it nor loved it. Frankly speaking, that just about sums up the show. It's neither here nor there and overall just a forgettable drama.

On the story, this is the weakest link of the entire drama. There is no conflict at all. There are slice-of-life dramas which are executed brilliantly and entertaining, but 20th Century Boys and Girls is a romcom that tends toward slice-of-life in terms of the lack of conflicts. Pretty much nothing happens. In a nutshell, it's about first loves slowly getting back together, but there was really nothing in their way and all it took was a confession. The side plots were dull and the second male lead added zero competition. At the end of your watch, you are unlikely to recall a single scene that had left an impression.

However, I find myself going back to the drama because I quite enjoy the dynamics between the leads. I especially liked the characterisation of the male lead: sensible, capable and sweet. It's what you'd like real life romance to be like, but it's not enough to sustain 16 episodes.

Precisely because the drama lacks a plot, there isn't an opportunity to the cast to display their acting prowess. Again, it's neither here nor there. You can't say that the acting is good, but there's nothing really lacking or jarring too. I do feel that they have decent chemistry and scenes are not awkward (except with the brother).

If I were to use one word to describe the drama, it would be "invisible". I feel that epitomises how forgettable and pedestrian this drama was.

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