Reviews

A nice horror comedy drama

i’m not a big fan of ghost themed dramas but WOW this drama took my breath away! my initial thoughts upon starting this drama is there’d be scary ghosts and violent scenes but this drama put a unique twist on the supernatural genre: hong ji ah a mysterious, strong enigma who owns daebak real estate, a company that specially sells haunted houses. her abilities to exorcise ghosts were awesome ( the way she’d remove that hairpin from her hair made her look so cool ) but she always holds a mysterious aura that simply pulled you in to her character and made you wonder just what weight does she carry on her shoulders. i love the fact that the ghosts ji ah encountered all had a backstory and gave some depth and meaning to the plotline, which leads us to our other lead: oh in bum, a conman that ji ah encounters. and guess what: in bum specializes in exorcism fraud. what a coincidence.

this drama was packed with action and never was there a dull moment, and the acting especially blew my mind — jang na ra was simply out of this world! she wore a stoic expression but upon meeting her gaze you could see the deeply buried pain that would briefly resurface; when she cried your heart would constrict with her just as much as it would soar upon seeing her have a moment of happiness. jang na ra’s acting was flawless, she fit the role of hong ji ah so well i can’t imagine anyone else playing the role. another thing i loved about this drama was the characters and their portrayals. as ji ah and in bum slowly got to know each other you could see they had developed romantic feelings but nothing needed to be said: they had each other’s backs and i love the maturity they both had ( ex: when ji ah found out her mother’s death was connected to in bum’s uncle’s death and she lashed out at IB, she swallowed her pride and apologized to him, showing her maturity and that she truly cared for in bum ). they worked amazingly together as exorcist and psychic, especially their fight scenes! there was no actual romance but the drama was okay without it, the characters were still enjoyable.

the recurring antagonist, do kak sung, is one that certainly infuriated me with his horrid crimes and manipulative tendencies — the actor did will on his role as I found myself hating DKS more and more as the drama progressed. he played a large role in the deaths of many characters, IB’s uncle as well, and DKS is a prime example that when allowed, greed can poison a person’s heart and lead them to do despicable things; till the end our gang dealt with him and his evil, the ending showing DKS getting sealed away eternally — the villain getting defeated and the characters finally being able to move on well, a satisfying ending in my book. overall this drama was paced well, i found it difficult for me to say goodbye to this drama; i’ll miss the characters greatly, i enjoyed every episode thoroughly, a 16 hours well spent in my eyes. if you’re looking for a good supernatural / ghost themed plot with a steady storyline and no-filler episodes i 100% recommend this drama! congratulations to the actors + directors / producers that helped in creating a truly amazing drama and, in my opinion, one of the best 2021 dramas.

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Simply beautiful story, wonderful storytelling

when thriller / mystery dramas are done well, they leave an impact on you and man, did this drama break and fulfill me at the same time. i’ve seen many thriller movies and shows but FOE truly left a mark on my heart from how brilliant this drama is — i was hooked from the start and above all what transcended the most: a couple whose love would get tested and that showed the true meaning of loving someone and believing in them even when everything else tells you not to. hyun soo is loving, gentle, and kind to his beloved wife but in reality he’s haunted by a dark past — being the son of a serial killer and a psychopath that struggled with being rejected from society, thus leaving him scarred emotionally. yet he is innocent of the crimes pegged against him and forced to clear his name from a crime that would lead to his own wife investigating him; events that were seemingly impossible and devastating that it left me wanting to know how ji won would handle the fact that her husband was connected to the case she was handling and her choice in trusting in her husband is simply incredible. seeing ji won as a skilled, badass detective that is passionate about her work and an empowered woman that knew how to let people know she meant business without walking all over them was awesome — once again applauding MCW’s bomb acting skills!

i applaud the casting because lee joong ki and moon chae won’s chemistry as a married couple was impeccable. their romantic scenes made my heart skip a beat and i’d laugh and cry with them. i’d say one of their most meaningful scenes is when hyun soo denied ji won’s love, saying he’s incapable of loving her and her only response was “you love me. i can feel it”. that scene upon from others simply made me fall in love with them as characters from the mix of angst and love from our leads — and the acting from both LJK and MCW was astoundingly wonderful; LJK especially left me mind blown by his ability to make one feel for his character hyun soo especially his facial expressions — it was also impressive to see him completely switch his demeanor from the loving husband to a sinister man with that dark look in his eyes. his character truly had me pondering if he was good or bad at times and just when i thought i had figured him out, a twist would suddenly yet again leave me in the dark. it was quite a ride following the characters as they attempted relentlessly to uncover the true culprit, the thriller aspect shining through brilliantly. lee joong ki simply smashed his role and i will forever remember his acting in this drama as one of the best performances i’ve ever seen.

the plot in this drama stayed consistent and always left me wanting more, rushing to watch the next episode because of how captivated i was. the music that set the eerie, mysterious vibe only enhanced the scenes and truly made the scenes enjoyable — especially the villain’s subplot. baek heesong is a bone chilling villain that would make shivers go down my spine from the creepy facial expressions to when he mercilessly killed his maid — the actor did a great job in portraying his character, especially when he was dangling from the cliff, his psychopathy showing and the darkness that lived inside him resurfacing even in his last moment of life. the aesthetics and lack of plot holes made the drama all the more enjoyable and it is a true gem that deserved the high praise it received. some viewers i noticed were unsatisfied with the ending but i personally thought the drama ended well on an open ending, hyun soo may not remember ji won completely but he could properly love her and be happy with her and their daughter. the writer did an incredible job in execution and i applaud the impeccable raw talent by the actors; this is one of the best dramas i’ve ever seen and i highly recommend it to all thriller lovers out there!

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Sometimes shorter is better

This actually began nicely - I was intrigued by the story and looking forward to seeing what came next. Sometime around episode 20 everything began getting ridiculous, and then for the next 20 episodes or so there was nothing happening at all, just week after week of the same ridiculous things padded by multiple flashbacks of things that had happened minutes before. Then all of a sudden the writers realized they had to actually wrap up all these dangling plots from 20 episodes ago, and the last 6 or so episodes have things happening at breakneck speed. Unfortunately the resolutions to most plotlines were generally absurd. I've watched disaster movies that had more believable storylines.

There are genuinely funny and sweet moments throughout, even in the worst episodes there were always scenes that made me laugh. In the end, though, the main reason I wanted to keep watching was to see exactly how unbelievably ludicrous the plot would finally end up.

The highlight of the soap is absolutely the grandmother, both in acting and writing. She was fantastic both being cantankerous and when her attitude changed. The best part was that this happened naturally over the course of many episodes rather than a sudden mood-swing as happened with every other character in the show.

Production-wise, the costuming was generally dreadful, and the sets often seemed like it was just some furniture placed in front of a green screen because they had no depth.

All the same, I watched all 50 episodes. I just think this would have been better served a 16 episode drama than has a 50 episode soap.

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A fun Xianxia adventure!

I started watching because I heard that there would be a dragon as a main character and I was curious to see what would the story be like. I can easily admit that I only watched a handful of Xianxia dramas in the past, so this review is only based on what I've learned to appreciate when watching dramas of several different genres, rather than watching other Xianxia stories.
I just finished watching the last episode and I can say that I enjoyed myself.

The story starts off as a quest to find Tianyao's missing body parts, with Yanhui as a fundamental part of the plan. The rhythm at the beginning of the story is lively and addictive, the setting also feels welcoming even when there are dangerous situations. The dynamic between characters, however, takes the crown for being the real show-stealer: Tianyao's cold and stubborn attitude seem to clash with Yanhui's just as stubborn and fiery character, but they immediately complement each other and they are quick to become reliable partners, even when there are no romantic feelings involved. The arrival of Bai Xiaosheng also contributes to make the story even more entertaining: he has to be one of the most charming characters in the entire drama!
I felt like the dynamics among characters got ruined around the middle of the story. I'm not saying that this was unjustified (there are valid plot reasons for that, I believe), but a big part of what made the show so compelling was reduced to almost nothing in the span of a couple of episodes. The arc in the middle was also not very interesting, so I'm not lying when I say that at that point I was just hoping for things to get better as soon as possible.
Luckily for me, things did get better later on. On the other hand, the worldbuilding started to look a little fragile, with powers and magical effects coming and going according to what the writers seemed to need at any given moment. While it was still fun and I felt like the story was saved toward its conclusion, I also couldn't help feeling a little unsatisfied for this reason.

As I said, the characters were definitely the best part. There's almost always some characters that I end up finding too annoying or boring, but that wasn't the case this time around: Tianyao, Yanhui, Xiaosheng, even antagonists such as Suying and Lingfei were all interesting and fascinating to see on the screen. Now that I watched all the episodes, I have the feeling that I'm going to miss them a lot.

The production was good enough. The special effects weren't very good, but I'm also not the kind of audience who is too picky about that.
The music was another great part of the drama. All the songs are amazing and touching, they give the story the right amount of dramatic and majestic energy it needs, making the important moments even better in terms of delivery.

This drama is definitely not perfect, but the story and the characters are all charming. They kept me looking forward to the next episode, which is the most important thing for me. I'm definitely recommending this series to whoever is looking for an epic fantasy adventure with themes revolving around trust, betrayal, obsession, and most importantly finding your own place and your own path in life.

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Not Disappointed

I watched this drama based on a review, and I have to say that I was not disappointed. Aside from being written from a very mature, adult perspective give, the story dealt with a lot of issues in regards to work, health ;physical and mental), and interpersonal relationships with family, friends, colleagues and romance.

There wasn’t a lot of typical drama cheese in the romance story line, it was very well done. The female and male protagonists had equal billing, and they were portrayed beautifully.

There is a lot of business interaction on both sides, and that too was well scripted. This was pivotal for both of the protagonists and it attributed a lot to their outlook on relationships.

This was a refreshing drama, and I will be watching it again.

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How to NOT do a daily drama

Don't bother.
At one point I was going to suggest watching the first 20 episodes then skipping to about 70 and picking up from there. But the series fell apart in the last few weeks and it's not worth bothering.

I can't believe that a writing team that HAS done a 120 ep daily before did not plan out the plot better. They could have easily fit in all the plot lines they wanted to, but instead wasted 50+ episodes with nothing happening and then tried to cram everything in at the last 3 weeks. CRAZY!!! They left plot-holes galore, undeveloped characters, no chemistry, ridiculous premises, unpunished villains, and the list goes on.

The could have saved it (Kinda) if they had the guts to make the ending sad or even bittersweet. It would at least have given the series a point. But instead they pulled a monkey out of a hat (not the metaphor I wanted to use) and came up with A HAPPY ENDING. Good Grief.

All this in addition to the worst ML character I've ever seen. I feel sorry for the actor playing this loser and I hope that he does not get typecast in the future.

The only redeeming thing in this mess was the acting of the daughter by Kim SiEun. Her growth as an actress thru this was amazing and if she doesn't get Young Actress of the year at the KBS Awards in December, it will be a crime. She could easily compete for Best Actress, period. As much as I disliked her character, it was her performance that stole the show.

So again, don't bother watching this. It's not worth it. And a curse on the writers and producers for wasting an interesting concept with undisciplined writing and poor oversight. And toss the Director in the Fiery Pit as well...

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Keeps you guessing...forever

This is an ensemble drama that had to balance so many pieces of a puzzle and characters to make a complete piece. The cinematography is gorgeous and the costume and sets are beautiful as well. This director really knows how to shoot actors, the lighting in the dark Gong residences was excellent. Instead of looking dull the actors looked ethereal and darkly beautiful. Gong Shangjue is often shot like a viper who sits in the dark on first watch, but on a second watch he looks like a lonely man who holds a lot of pain and responsibility. Ryan Cheng was a stand out for me in this show. He had to bear two weeks plus of everyone hating his character, poor him. I never doubted that he was always rooting for his gallivanting brother to get responsible and protect their family.

Esther Yu especially impressed me in this show, in LBFAD I liked her character towards the end but in this one she handles a meatier role in stride. Her crying scenes are actually heartbreaking and not grating, you get the sense that she put a little of herself in order to bring out the grief, not the persona she wears for the character. I'll definitely follow her projects after this. I must commend Lu Yu Xiao as well, in another drama she appeared in this year I found her annoying but in this one she is electric. You never really know what she wants even in the end. She kept the audience guessing, if c dramas were not so reliant on flashbacks I would have never known what she really desired or cared about. An excellent spy in that sense.

Now, the writing in this show was a little wanting. I liked that all the characters were taken care of, instead of using the supporting characters as tools to prop the male lead, each of them holds weight that creates an emotional heart of the story. This always gets a plus from me, no matter how messy the main plot is. The writer/director was able to make us care about the supporting characters so that a big loss is felt if we lose any of them, even the ones we hated. The humor was not my style at all and I skipped many Gong Zishang's scenes. Sorry but she was overdoing it. The main problem I had is that not enough time is given to the part of the plot that moves the gears forward. Ziyu's actions move the plot forward, the three trials he must take are how we get to the next bit of the story, yet this part was the slowest moving part of the plot. This is why I found the third trial and Master Hua's arc wanting. Often important developments were paused after making the audience think there should have been an immediate consequence. As much as I hate to admit it, Yun Weishan was often conveniently covered by plot armour. In C drama writer fashion, the villain is revealed in a cartoon like fashion who describes their plan and declares "if it wasn't for you meddling kids!" And so much exposition. But I hardly think c drama writers will ever change this style of writing. The final act needed either tighter writing or the drama should have done the full 40 episodes. It is as if the writer was rushing to solve the mystery by writing twists in for convenience (some of which were predicted by the audience, but still). However, probably this could be justified if that ending means there is going to be a season 2. How that will work in the C-ent industry would be nothing short of a miracle. Unless all the actors signed up knowing it might end this way. If there is no season 2 then I'm afraid that ending was clumsily done.

It is absolutely worth watching even twice, the first to work out what is going on in the plot because the drama was good at leaving clues for the audience to figure out, the second time to decipher the truth from the lies. The ending will not be satisfying for all, but I thought there were great enough elements in this to deserve a 9. This is one of the high quality outputs from c drama in 2023.

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A cute story, but dragged out too much

I am currently watching this drama for the first time - I know, I'm late to the party - and I can't help but agree with the other reviewers who found the story overall cute but too dragged out.

Personally, I liked (most of the time) the two leads and their interactions. It felt quite refreshing, even today. The whole story would have been, in my opinion, adorable if the writers had stuck to the rom-com side of the story. Instead, they decided to ridiculously complicate things with all possible obstacles that might come to mind, especially the two exes. Well, the SML more than the SFL, to be honest. It really gets on my nerves how the two leads run into issues every time they are alone or trying to let their story progress.

But what I really can't understand, for the life of me, is how any woman in her right mind could possibly find the SML a good character or even feel flattered by his constant attentions and find his attitude romantic, which is something I read in several reviews (not here on MDL, luckily). The fact that there are women who would date someone like him makes me really wonder what these women or girls think a safe, healthy relationship really is.

Let's do a short recap:
1. SML was supposed to wait for FL (the way she did wait 5 years for him) and respect her time, but he keeps following her around and running into her on purpose.
2. He often threatens the ML simply because he has reciprocated feelings for the FL.
3. He constantly manipulates the FL by making her feel guilty, unfortunately, successfully.
4. Whenever she tries to keep him at a distance, he manipulates her again with questions like, "Why are you killing me with these words?" These instances where the FL falls into these traps every single time are weird, because she's intelligent most of the time.
5. When he realizes that making her feel guilty is the only way to keep her close, he attempts suicide, pointing out that it was HIM (not the ML) who even tried to keep his own life for her. It was HIM (again not the ML) who protected her father (it doesn't matter if nobody asked him in the first place). And most of all, he wants her to marry him so that he can see her suffer. Yes, you read it right. He "wants" her so bad that he wants her by his side no matter what, even though she doesn't love him and would, therefore, be trapped in an unhappy relationship forever. He believes it's the right punishment for her for basically not loving him anymore.

These are just a few moments that popped into my head, but please, fellow women, if you think this is romantic, you really have some issues for real. Talk to a therapist! This is what a TOXIC relationship is. He's the typical portrait of a man who might kill you to prevent you from leaving him.

Again, women who think those interactions were romantic should question their sanity.

My rating is therefore mostly for the two main characters and some beautifully portrayed relationships (besides FL+ML, I particularly loved FL relationship with her best friend, a character in a wheelchair that did not feel forced at all like some other show currently do; I also loved FL relationship with her father, the President).

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Too many trigger warnings to mention!

Sep 2023
I had read various reviews, but a friend with similar viewing tastes to me, said it was actually a really good story... warped and shocking, but excellently done. So, in I stepped.
Along with the captive, Makoto, the viewer is assaulted pretty quickly.
Chained to a gurney and bound, so begins a relentless regime of horrendous sexual abuse, using a variety of sex aids and the captor's own fingers.
Makoto is kept clean, spends a lot of time alone and is quickly allowed to move around enough (though chained by one ankle), to reach a toilet and table containing water and nutrient / vitamin tabs; no food is given.
Beyond the scenes of assault, we learn what lead Katsuragi Makoto to attempting a drunken suicide, from which he is saved by his captor, Yoda Ryoji.
We also learn why Ryoji appears to be numb to the suffering his intolerable levels of abuse cause, for what he sees as a therapy to awaken Makoto's senses and make him want to live.
It surfaces that both are suffering crushing levels of guilt for similar reasons.
Over time, Makoto begins to form a weird but inescapable bond with Ryoji; it's almost like he has become addicted to the intense pleasure he ultimately experiences, even though at the same time, he is visibly disgusted, shamed and hurt physically by it (for obvious reasons ~ he's a straight guy, so it's going to hurt).
As time goes on, however, and the pain diminishes, he seems to lose the shame and humiliation he felt, too. Ryoji tells him that his desire to live is there (basically, suicide should never have been an option ~ he didn't really want to die).
How this ended, I kind of saw coming and wasn't surprised.
Whilst Ryoji sexually assaulted Makoto multiple times, he actually raped him once and that was the culmination of his 'therapy'. He was then left alone and realises it appears he is able to leave.
The ending is poignant and I find that utterly bizarre; yet it is.
I mean, this should be an impossible piece of work to watch. I actually hate scenes of intense bullying and/or where a character is walked all over and too weak to do anything about it. I've dropped dramas like that, which are actually like a kid's programme compared to this.
So I cannot explain why I felt I just had to finish this and, more to the point, could!
Perhaps it's because there isn't any actual cruelty from Ryoji. He is calm throughout, and explains his actions, even though what he's doing is appalling. He never verbally humiliates Makoto and is totally clinical in his attitude. There is no violence with the sexual acts at all; he does not go out of his way to hurt Makoto (in fact there's an instance where he himself was totally vulnerable).
It really is the most visceral, disturbing and yet compelling thing I've ever watched.
It is not simply BDSM porn, that's for sure.
Totally and utterly warped, but it gets away with it. Just.
I could never watch it again though.

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"The sunset was so gorgeous; its clothes were made of clouds."

This series is so beautiful that I eagerly waited every day to watch it on time when a new episode was released. The actors all performed exceptionally well, bringing their characters to life in a way that I won't forget for a long time. I loved how everyone from Wufeng had their own story, and you could empathize with them. I was able to feel both sadness and happiness with the characters. The relationship between the two gong brothers (shangjue and yuanzhi) was what I liked the most in the series; they found comfort in each other and helped each other to keep going.

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AMAZING PLOT TWIST

There are so many plot twist that I can not say but were truly shocking imo. I love the chemistry between both couples, second couple was more subtle in expressing their feelings but I thought they were cute. Main couple's chemistry is EVERYTHING, the way Zi Yu protected Wei Shan no matter what was such a green flag even after he found out. Honestly, Zi Yu teaming up with Shang Jue was so clever. I don't know why they only revealed that they planned it all at the end, but I think that's what made the last two episodes a shocker. Im curious to see how the next season will be like because there's going to be a season 2 right?? There has to be.

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Immature and Silly With No Plot

Honestly, I do not think this series was deliberately trying to make itself look bad, but it sure ended up summarily looking that way. There seems to be a whole host of reasons for this. A bad script. Unchallenging acting. Really bad editing. And a story that is so full of stereotypical, overused, trite behavioral patterns that all it seemingly did was repeat itself over and over again. The characters never grew. Never matured. And the plot simply went from one silly scenario to another. Sadly, this series played everything ‘safe’ and therefore went nowhere. The same silly plot and triteness spun around and around.

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Intriguing drama

When I first read the storyline,I was excited very much.After watching the drama,i felt it was the most different type of genre and plot that I've ever watched of all my 60 Chinese dramas of different genres.
The plot is quite interesting.
Jing tian portrayal of Si teng is probably one of the best performances.Her way of portrayal of emotions,costumes,her attitude and her pain , everything about her was excellent.
This drama has all-horror,emotion,betrayal,mystery, determination,love.
It kept me hooked from the start.
The story was unpredictable.
Vin Zhang and the other star cast performed well.Everything else was good.
This drama haunted for me a long time,that I could not forget it's scenes when I went on a forest trip
Overall an excellent watch👍

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