Reviews

No depth despite 16 Episodes

Since Rowoon was so convincing as ML in "She would never know" and "the kings affection", I expected a lot. The story line around the love spells would have provided many opportunities, but it was not clear to me when or when not, why or why not they were effective. What was left was a lame love story with no chemistry, in which the ML struggled to find emotional depth without succeeding at least in parts. The dialogues are cliché and miss any opportunity for real engagement. Clichees can play an important role in a story, but this opportunity was also missed. The story, the characters and their motives did not become plausible. I know "100 days my prince" from the screenwriter, which I liked. The cast with the supporting actors has already proven how good they are in many dramas. Too bad!

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A MUST WATCH SHOW

this is not the drama you will forget for a long time. a well acted and produced drama.
the character growth most very good. the acting of whole cast made this drama very good too. the story of ML and FL was with tons of ups and down. the plot seems average but each episode will live you with many things to remember.
the show was full of comedic scene which will make you laugh like hell...
the supporting leads done a very well job too. there is a very good surprise for superhero fans too.
the second lead male make me cry and that make me laugh too.
you will never forget the performance of the cast especially when their is comedic scene .
the ost of the show was just icing on the cake.
a must watch drama which will you never forger for a long time and remembering this for it's performance.

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This is one of the best wuxia dramas I’ve watched.

I loved the plot ,storyline and how it started to make sense . I love how everyone grew physically ,emotionally and also in their abilities . I loved it when I saw some of the cast members from other dramas like word of honor etc. The romance didn’t dampen the story and every episode has something going on .
We are introduced to each character whenever they feature . There’s the friendship between the group of friends and that even gets stronger when they become guardians protecting Xiao Se(ie the 6th exiled prince). They were willing to die for him and he was also willing to die for them . At some point ,it gave me word of honor feelings and nirvana in fire feelings especially since Xiao Se lost his martial abilities ( if he used his inner or true qi,it will cost him his life) but he still takes the risk for his friends .

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More like Struck by lightning actually!!

In the K-BL era where BL series are getting better, this came across as a huge disappointment.
The story started off really well and had really good scope to develop for better but the last episode ruined it all.
It was such a rushed ending , rather,
the leads getting into a relationship was the start of the 'rush till the end' motto of this series.
I mean they had good 8 episodes span and enough time to show the leads getting into a relationship and enjoying their dating period but instead they just had to drag the story unnecessarily and get them together at the very end.
I don't understand, since they were friends from the beginning and the presumably straight lead showed enough signs of being jealous and being possessive over the other lead then why the hell they had to drag their confession until the end.
The fights between the two were also very immature.

The one and only kiss scene is also a cheat scene which made me more mad.

The last episode really didn't make any sense to me but was happy that it ended coz I couldn't put up with their dragged story anymore.

Do Watch this but with no expectation bcoz atleast the first 6 episodes are worth watching and are the reason for my overall 7 star rating.

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Better in some ways but that ending...

Let me just jump right in and say that without comparing this version with the original in any way whatsoever, I absolutely HATED both the ML and the ending in this version. I had to get that off my chest right away.

For you happy-ending lovers (which I am 99.9% of the time), never fear because your happy ending is there. But for the life of me I did not want to see them end up together. I don't think I'd need all of my fingers on one hand to count how many times that's been the case for me after watching an entire drama.

First, I'm going to review the drama as a stand-alone, without comparing it to the original version. Then I'm going to do a breakdown of what I liked and disliked between the two.

For this version, let me just say the CGI was god awful quality. I don't understand why they even tried. Like, they knew they had to based on the original version - they just couldn't avoid including any gaming completely or it would automatically be treated as a complete sham - BUT they should have made sure they at least set aside a decent budget to produce something at least AVERAGE. This was way subpar. What I DID like was that they actually showed on-screen shots of the characters playing on their computers. That version of the graphics quality was at least acceptable AND I LIKE that they used that method because, that's really what it's like in reality when we play games. We aren't actually in the games talking to other people in a virtual world like they keep showing in these dramas (including the original) so it felt good seeing a more realistic aspect of them gaming.

The FL character in this drama is one of the best I've seen in a while. She's strong and confident. I genuinely liked her. There was a period of time where her behavior bothered me a bit though, because it seemed out of place. It was when she met the ML in real life and found out who he was in game. The thing is, they'd already interacted both in game and in person before. When they'd interacted in person they were friendly and comfortable around one another. So for her to close up completely on him and be so standoffish made no sense. Yes, she'd be surprised and caught off guard, but she made it suddenly seem like just interacting with him on a friendly level in a public setting was totally taboo and such a big deal. Like WHAT? But, when she finally came around I LOVED that they maintained the strength of her character all the way to the end, and I sincerely mean that. I'll explain why later on.

The FL's best friend was AWESOME, until she wasn't. That complete 180 she suddenly pulled in ep 8 made absolutely no sense whatsoever. None. It was completely illogical. But I'll go more into that when I do my comparison.

The SML turned out to be a decent guy which is good. More on that to come in my comparison too.

Now. The ML. I ended up hating him with a passion. He was a weak, pathetic loser with absolutely no backbone and who in no way whatsoever deserved the FL. NOT. AT. ALL. He was wimpy about approaching her in the first place so I should have caught on then but I honestly couldn't see him turning out to be this much of a douche. Early on, like when they finally agreed to meet offline, the FL kept having to be the one trying to get a conversation going. He didn't really seem to put any real effort into making things work except for in the middle there when they did date a bit and finally agreed to be a couple. But then the BS started and let me tell you how much I hated that man! He let his girl suffer alone and did NOTHING, NOT ONE SINGLE THING, to try to make things better for her. NOTHING! Not once did he protect her, stand up for her, reassure her. The man did nothing. Instead, when the SML calls him out for being the pathetic tool that he is, he responds by completely ABANDONING HER in the face of everything she'd already been enduring all alone. Bear in mind that at this point he doesn't even know that her best friend isn't even talking to her because, you know, his ass never bothered actually caring about her life anyway. When did he ever show any interest in what was going on with her? Only when he heard about her being behind on classes? Seriously? Yes the SFL may have gotten into his head but what kind of pathetic man do you have to be for her comments to affect you that way? He saw how much the FL was hurting and instead of stepping up and trying to protect her - especially after the SML called him out - his response is to drop her like a hot potato!

THEN the drama tries to convince us that he did it for her own good? Like WHAT THE EVER-LOVING FUCK! Excuse my language. THEN! He NEVER APOLOGIZES! NOT ONCE! They make HER win HIM back?! WTF?!!!!!! They even get engaged! Like, WHAT?!!!

Okay, just breathe. *Woooooosaaaaahhhhhhhhhh***

Let's just move on to my comparison.

WHAT I LIKED COMPARED TO THE ORIGINAL:

1) The FL - I don't dislike the actress in the original version. Even despite her scandal and everything that transpired after I've never disliked her. However, the actress in this was, in my opinion, so much prettier and HEALTHIER! She didn't look anorexic. She was very strong-willed and wasn't ditsy. I liked how they actually showed her analyzing her game play like a real gamer too. I liked her strength and there was a consistency to her character that caught even me off-guard at the end. Like I mentioned before there was a period where her behavior didn't make sense based on what had already happened in the drama. When she was acting cold and distant and a bit skittish towards the ML it just didn't flow with the character's behavior before. By the end though, I was actually surprised by how well they maintained the character's personality. While I was infuriated by the fact that she started practically begging him to get back together (thankfully, he pulled another dick move before she could actually go through with it, stopping just before I'd been about to go ballistic) it hit me right away that it made sense for the character to fight for her relationship. To give it her all to make it work. That's what she did and understanding that about the character's personality allowed me to accept her behavior when, normally, that wouldn't ever be something I could accept.

2) The FL's best friend - I couldn't stand the one in the original. From the beginning she grated on my nerves and it just never got any better. In this version I LOVED the FL's best friend, UNTIL ep 8. Then I loved her again in the final episode. She was one of the best sidekick to the FL characters I've come across in a while. Very supportive and gave great advice.

3) The development of the relationship between the leads, both in-game and out, prior to them getting together - I liked that, in this version, the leads didn't just suddenly get married out of the blue in game. He had her meet his friends and battle together for a bit and they got to know each other some before she finally agreed to do it. Offline too, I liked that, not only did they interact in person before actually agreeing to meet offline, but that even after they agreed to meet in person they didn't start dating right away. I like that the ML interacted with and observed the FL some before even approaching her in game and asking her to marry there. I like that they showed them getting to know one another a bit and learning to be a bit more comfortable around one another and going on dates before becoming a couple offline too.

4) The SFL was barely present - I like that we didn't have to deal with the SFL much at all. She wasn't terrible in the original version either (no that was her best friend...who, I now realize, was problematic in this version too although we didn't have to see her much at all, thankfully) if I'm being honest but she really wasn't bad here at all and she was barely present. For me, that's a good thing because I hate interlopers getting a lot of screen time in my dramas. I like that they also never made her a really bad person.

5) The SML!!!! - This one is HUGE for me. To this day, I cannot even stand to see the face of the guy who played the SML in the original version. I haven't even been able to watch him in another drama. I hated that character so much in the original version that I could never separate the character's personality from his gigantic ass chin. So whenever I see the chin I'm turned off. It's completely illogical, I know, but it's been years and continues to be the case. The SML in this one...at first I really did NOT like him. He had a girlfriend so why was he trying to get close to another girl. I also don't like guys who use underhanded means to get close to girls so I was turned off a bit in the beginning. But then he completely won me over when he told the ML off later on for being a shit boyfriend and for letting the FL suffer on her own. From there one he had my support. If she ended up with him I'd have been okay with it. Not necessarily happy, as I'm not a second lead syndrome kinda gal but I'd have been able to accept it...much better than I'm able to accept her being with the ML in the end. I honestly wanted her to just stay single and say no to both, if I'm being 100% honest.

WHAT I DISLIKED COMPARED TO THE ORIGINAL:

1) CGI - For the life of me I cannot fathom why they bothered even attempting to produce the drama without first making sure they had at least a decent CGI budget. Like, seriously. You're remaking a drama where you KNEW how critical that aspect of the production would be. This was released in 2021. A kid in high school could probably produce better CGI in his software programming class than they did in this drama. Seriously. It was abhorrent.

2) The FL's hesitancy towards the ML when they met offline - I didn't like that once they met up she became hesitant and put up walls and kept her distance. I actually loved the insta-romance in the original version but was happy when I saw the build-up before them meeting offline here. I figured at least they gave us more to work with. But then she started acting all aloof and brushing him off. It was a turnoff.

3) The FL's best friend AFTER ep 8 (I'm leaving the big guns for last) - I get that they wanted to keep the story somewhat in line with the original story but the complete 180 they pulled in ep 8 just to have the girls argue was the stupidest thing ever. There was no basis for her to become as upset as she was and nothing to even begin to explain why she'd be angry enough to completely turn her back on her best friend especially as she's seeing her go through all the online and on-campus bullying she'd been enduring. In the original version I'm sure we can all agree that the best friend's reaction there too was a bit overboard as well but 1) we could at least see and understand what had driven her to that reaction and 2) she was a bit of a flakey airhead in the first place anyway so it wasn't that far or a stretch for someone with her personality. Here though, the best friend all along had been smart, rational, logical, confident...she was pretty awesome in the first place, so this weird reaction from her was just completely nonsensical, and that it lasted as long as it did too before she came to her senses just made it worse.

4) THEY BROKE UP! - One of the things I absolutely treasure about the relationship between the leads in the original version was how completely unshakeable they were. They were both very confident individuals, both in themselves and in one another, and also in their relationship. People coming between them was a non-issue. I LOVED THAT! It's one of the biggest reasons why it continues to be one of my favorite dramas to this day. Now, you're probably wondering why I dislike that they broke up when I've also said I didn't want them to end up together. It's the fact that he broke up with her, and in the manner he did, while she was still going through hell she had been that cinched the deal for me of not ever wanting her to get back with that prick.

5) THE ML! - I HATED HIM WITH A PASSION! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Yang Yang *ahem* the ML in the original version. That unshakeable confidence of his was to die for. That presence of his and his resourcefulness. *sigh* It made sense that the FL was enamored by him, and him her if I'm being honest. She had her own confidence and resourcefulness that made sense would appeal to him too. There's no way anyone was going to mess with his woman. He'd protect her to the end. Period. He always knew what was going on with her and always took care of her. She was never left fighting a battle on her own or feeling completely abandoned. THAT WAS THE ESSENCE OF THE ENTIRE DRAMA! THAT AND THE STRENGTH OF THEIR BOND! For them to completely take away both of those factors from the original story completely destroyed this version for me. The ML here was nothing but a coward. He was weak and pathetic. Instead of standing up and gaining a backbone when finding out the FL was in trouble he chose to walk away instead. He literally did NOTHING to protect her, nothing to defend or stand up for her, nothing to even support her in her daily life, not even before things went bad! He bought her a necklace and gave her a few rides. Big whoop! He never tried to know what was going on in her life or any of that. The ML here sickens me. THE MAN NEVER EVEN APOLOGIZED FOR BREAKING UP WITH HER! She had to win his worthless ass back! UGH! I'm angry all over again!!!

I still gave the drama a somewhat high overall rating though. I'm being very generous. Mainly because, up until ep 8, I was still really enjoying the drama and, for the most part, liked it in some ways a lot more than the original. But those last 2 episodes and that ending...BOY!

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Poorly written script in the final 12 minutes of episode 9

Overall, I found SOTB to be excellent, with a few minor glitches from the screenwriter(s). The most disappointing 12 minutes is at the end of episode 9 - the FL marries the evil one, not knowing(?) that he is aware of her participation in the independence movement? On top of that, she definitely had strong feelings for the ML, although the ML is too blindly patriotic at the train station to meet her even when he knows she is desperately searching for him. If there is a second season of SOTB, the writers had better work hard to overcome their laziness / sloppiness at the end of episode 9, otherwise a second season will leave a bitter taste in the mouths of viewers such as myself.

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It's when you realise it's not at all about the supernatural stuff.

There might be spoiler at the bottom, i just wanted to rant 😅. I know there's so much hate on this particular series but i enjoyed it...
THINGS I DON'T LIKE:
1. There are a lot of repeated scenes, they tried to show things from other person's POV and repeated a lot of scenes. I get why tho, it also made sense but it was still unnecessary.
2. Then again "filler scenes" there are times when you'll be thinking like i didn't wanted to see this you could have just told me in 4 to 5 lines maximum.
3. The thing everybody hated "stupid mistakes" although i understand and also relate to some of them but they were still stupid.
THINGS I LOVED:
1. overall the series is cute and fluffy but with a light touch of drama.
2. Great casting, they both fit perfectly in their characters. Side cast is also good.
3. Plot - i like the plot because if wee look deeper it's not about the hearing loss or soulmate thing, it's more about the issues we face in real life. When we want to choose someone because we want to not because we have to, like real life trust and conversation is the key to their relationship.

SPOILER RANT:
So i super annoyed by the cafe and bus stop scenes being repeated 6 times over then tai's parents life story was a never ending saga, which i didn't need to know. They could just tell in words how they loved each other but had different ideas about life so they went their separate ways.
Lomfah is another annoying character in here, i really wanna punch him in the face for kissing tai, i mean soulmate or not he knew his own feelings about tien, also tai is on a commited relationship with patt.
I liked his concept of scientific reasoning to the condition and how ppl on a certain wavelength and area might be able to listen cos it makes way more sense than soulmate thing.
Tai is hated by a lot of ppl but i wanna defend that baby, he's very mature throughout the series and mature ppl are also allowed to make mistakes.

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Started Off Great but finished extremely Underwhelming

Be Melodramatic set is self up pretty strong within the very first few episodes introducing a wide range of unique characters, with a large main cast and even larger supporting cast. Early on the drama does a great job in setting a boundary between both the main cast and supporting cast in terms of screen time, however later on this boundary becomes irrelevant and the supporting cast overshadows the main cast's story.

The casting and characters for the drama was perfect, every single casting was spot on for each character's individual personalities and each cast member interacted perfectly with each other allowing for a more natural feeling. Chun Woo-hee put on one of the funniest lead role performances I have seen, I always looked forward to the next scene she was involved in. Jeon Yeo-been was great as always. Han Ji-eun, Ahn Jae-hong, and Gong Myung all also did fantastic with their roles. The concept of Han Joon-woo's character, Hong Dae being dead but still getting regular screentime through Lee Eun-jung's "hallucinations" was a really smart idea which was executed pretty well.

The supporting casting was great but it was a major hinderance later on during the drama with some of the supporting cast's romance taking over a quite large amount of screentime. There was no need for both Baek Ji-won and Jung Seung-kil's characters to get that much screentime for their romance toward the end, especially when the large main cast has to resolve their own conflicts, romances, etc.

The biggest issue which dragged this show down heavily from being a great drama was its complete mess that it devolved into midway through the series. There was far too many plot lines ongoing and too many relationships being developed which causes quite a few bits of whiplash. Another big issue was the drama spent too much time developing the relationship between Han Joo and Jae Hoon only for them in the very last episode not end up together. Han Joo going with some random guy and Jae Hoon going back to his abusive cheating ex girlfriend. Not only that but Han Joo insults Jae Hoon claiming that he was the problem in the relationship with his ex girlfriend. That left a seriously bad taste in my mouth and an almost slap to my face for the time wasted being invested in the big pay out.

One concept I did like about the ending was how Jin Joo and Beom Soo writing their final parts of the script reflecting their real life friends. Overall the story that started off so strong ended so very underwhelming and almost disappointing. The OST for the drama was great, with Your Shampoo Scent in the Flowers by Jang Beom June being an instant favorite of mine. The production quality was standard and didn't really wow me in particular.

Wish this drama followed through with the way it started it off, but unfortunately it did not. If you like dramas centered around best friends then Be Melodramatic is drama you should watch but with low expectations.

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Needs a Season 2 - Best of Hyun Bin

This drama has the best Hyun Bin visuals 🔥, absolute banger of a plot, Great VFX & useless romance. Top tier underrated show. Love the ending & I have a theory about it.

This drama has best Hyun Bin visuals, Great VFX, absolute banger of a plot & useless romance. Top tier underrated show that should have a Season 2.


Regarding the controversial ending, I LOVE IT & IT TOTALLY MAKES SENSE. Seju explained that only master in the game can create a place from himself to hide. So he's (Hyun Bin) hiding in real world unless someone finds him on the game which is released till level 25 only. He is above level 100 & the game is RESET.

Now imagine, Jin Woo hiding in abandoned Hostel Bonita all this time. While Heeju & Seeju both plays the game to find him(Hyun Bin) & bring him back out of the glitch. She should have been a competitive character from the beginning that teams up with Jin Woo to find her brother, the creator of the game.

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Drama is drawn out very long and becomes a bit boring

This drama seemed cute but then the overall plot becomes boring. I think the biggest issues are that the chemistry feels very slow for 20 episodes, and you already know the empress dowager is bad very early on. It should not take 40 episode to resolve.

Once FL becomes an official she is happy, but agrees to not openly marry ML. Of course none of this ever happens in historical china, so there are a lot of modern themes in the drama. The only interesting side character is the widow Princess . I also don't understand why Zhuohua was a talented doctor and then becomes an official..?
Overall the lines of script were feminist thoughts all the time,(not that that is bad), but gets boring hearing it repeatedly. The leads would look very sizzling together...if there actually was much courtship? The man is very passive in this drama.

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They make you hate the main characters from episode 1

I honestly don't know what the writers/show-runners were thinking. From literally the very first episode I was actively rooting against the main lead. It didn't take long to start disliking the others. How can they start off making you care about characters only to have the main characters come in from out of nowhere and ruin their lives / kill them, and then expect you to care what happens to those main characters later on? And no, this wasn't the sort-of redemption arc you see in Western shows like Game of Thrones - at least in GoT when a character turned from generally bad to sort of a sympathetic character, they had multiple episodes of character development in between. Not here, no. They just expect you to immediately be on the "good guys" side because they're the "good guys". I finished the show after several months - but only because I hate to leave shows unfinished. I honestly never cared about any of the mains or their romances or whether they lived or died. the sacrifices they made for each other throughout the show, the losses, etc. none of that hit home whatsoever because I just didn't care.

Not to mention the sets, the costumes, the actors, the lighting/makeup, none of it was top quality. I've seen that set used on multiple ROC-era shows and it never fails to look fake. I suggest don't waste your time.

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Second lead won my vote

I loved this series so so sooo soooooo much. honestly it was so refreshing to see her embracing her beauty, her friends embracing her too. And the men around her seeing her beauty with and without makeup.
Now I have to be honest that I was so split on the last few episodes, which was such a twist. I love Han Seo Jun, I loved him the entire series. There was no "questionable" moments that usually comes when learning about the second male lead that pushes you to root for the male lead. He was sweet, tough, funny, and his love for her was selfless. He fought to protect her, didn't care if he was teased for his constant care and wasn't expecting anything in return for his love.
I honestly had this momentary hope that instead of running to "stop" Su ho, she would walk towards the entrance then stop and race after Seo Jun and find him crying. Embrace him and they can reminisce about how much they grew together over the years. How he was more of a partner to her, supported her and loved her over the years.
Yes, I know Su Ho was set in between a rock and a hard place when they broke up, but their relationship was a high school, first love romance. They didn't really go on proper dates or grow together since it was a constant battle from the get go, that excited rush of the honeymoon period. So to have them instantly get back together just seemed a bit cliche since it was Seo Jun who gave her the care and love, spent years as her friend and built a real foundation together.
Don't get me wrong, I know the heart wants what it wants, sometimes you just don't have those feelings for someone. Su Ho is a great character and I do like their love story but I just rooted for Seo Jun a bit more in this. RaWr.
I also was in tears with his singing the song in the end, his raw emotions. I just wanted him to have a happy ending too.

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Don’t Bother

If you want great reviews, write great. If you want this review, write like you did. The actors did what they could with this romcom that for some reason didn’t have a rom. Quickly the writers appeared to start a campaign regarding the lack of romance and began calling it a com rom…and this was just the beginning if it’s stupidity. Watch it and see! This was a murder mystery with slapstick. If the writers would have been honest about the genre, I definitely would have rated it higher, but then I probably wouldn’t have watched it. Their you have it in a nutshell my friends.

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