Reviews

Did you ever love me?

I waited for years for this drama. And I can proudly say that it was worth my long time of waiting.

For the one who loves xianxia and also Cheng Yi and Yang Zi, I really have a big expectation for this drama. And I am satisfied.

Story,
I really enjoyed the heartbreaking-yet-beautiful story of xianxia, so I really have big hope for the drama to have a good story. And as long as this first part, I can say that the story itself is DIFFERENT in a good way. Actually, I heard people drop this drama because the story is boring and predictable. But I think the story of this drama is really good. I feel bad to believe those rumors before watching it myself. It really satisfied my expectation because the two big xianxia dramas from both Cheng Yi and Yang Zi already have my perfect score. However, This drama rises to my number one favorite drama of xianxia defeating the big drama for both lead actors.

Acting,
I really want to give standing applause to all of the team and actors that worked together for this drama. Even though this is not perfect, I really enjoyed the result. Especially for our main leads Cheng Yi and Yang Zi. They both really have my respect. I can proudly say that I'm honored to become a fan of both of you. Not only Cheng Yi and Yang Zi, I really can enjoy all of the characters. The director and casting team really poured their best to find the best actor who can make each of the characters live. Cheng Yi and Yang Zi really engraved their talent and made me can't forget them easily.

Music,
What can I say? All of the songs really touched my heart and complete the drama perfectly. Thank you to Zhang Jie, Jane Zhang, Zhang Lei, and our main leads. You guys gained my respect! And I'm not tired to say this, Yang Zi and Cheng Yi really take a big role in the drama.

Rewatch Value,
YES! DEFINITELY YES WITHOUT THINKING TWICE! I will engrave this drama in my heart and always mention it in my top list of recommendations. But people have different tastes and favorites. But I can say that this drama really worth watching for you who loved xianxia drama!

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interesting and well-executed

This webdrama stood out to me because not only it imagines possible future but also shows less sugar coated version of teen life. A lot of webdramas take place in school setting, however the story can be a hit or miss. Here the school setting is crucial to the story, and it's not just a background.

The story was surprisingly full of twists and turns, and I couldn't really predict the direction it would go. It's almost as if the channel 찐엔딩 wants to make less obvious stories their trademark? All their past webdramas would leave the viewer scratching their head.

All main characters were well-fleshed out and had their own obstacles to go through. I liked the acting, I have no complaints. Both leads had good chemistry and that worked well to make their characters' dynamics believeable. Heejae is not a typical webdrama character to me, I liked that she had obvious flaws. Sidae's character was similar to what the actor played before but at the same time, he does a great job each time so I don't mind. Heejae's mom is a very polarizing character, at one hand she is very hard on her daughter, but at the same time she has her reasons.

I really liked the music. Shin Jihoon is a very underrated singer, and I'm glad to hear her music so prominently featured. The songs really suited this webdrama and elevated the mood.
Another notable thing is cinematography. There is no oversaturation or weird filter, everything looks realistic. The colour grading is well-done, everything is cohesive. The school rooms seem to be cold, but the little corner our leads make is warm. I liked this attention to detail.


Overall, this is a webdrama worth watching. To me, the story was engrossing enough that I couldn't wait for new episode every week. It's not fast paced so it might not be for everyone, but I still enjoyed it a lot. It's not easy to imagine the future and make it believeable. I command the cast and crew for making such thought provoking webdrama.

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"Ad astra sapientiam trans corpora infirmorum."

Back when "The Gifted" was first released in 2018, I heard many people raving about the series and recommending it to me. Although the general premise of the show did appeal to me, I put off watching it for a total of four years because I simply didn't think I would like it as much as everyone else and I didn't want to go into something with high expectations just to have them shattered immediately. Now that I have finally watched it, I am glad that I waited because I feel like if I had watched it back then, I would have undeservedly given it a worse rating merely because I would've been disappointed by it.

Don't get me wrong, "The Gifted" is certainly a good drama and I didn't feel like I wasted my time watching it. But it was just not the 10-stars-worthy drama everyone made it out to be.

First of all, the anthology-esque narration style utilized in the first few episodes has both its pros and cons. On one hand, it allows you to dive deeper into each character's psyche and develop a better understanding of each of their potentials and their corresponding downsides. However, this kind of narrative only works well if all of the characters are equally compelling to watch, which they, at least in my opinion, weren't. While I thoroughly enjoyed Claire and Punn's episodes (Episode 4 and 5, respectively), I could barely get through Namtaan's and Korn's episodes (Episode 3 and 7). But there were also some episodes that I felt rather neutral about, such as Ohm and Mon's (Episode 2 and 6). So, what differentiates these three sets of episodes, and what makes some better than others?

Claire and Punn's episodes are immersive and engaging because they actually succeed in presenting a thoroughly crafted character study. The characters start out with very clearly defined characteristics and while they don't suddenly turn into completely different people by the end of their episodes, you can definitely see them grow out of the negative aspects of their personalities a little bit and learn from the drawbacks of their potentials. It makes you root for these characters throughout the rest of the series and not only makes you understand them but also their relationship to each other better.

While Ohm and Mon's episodes succeed in conjuring up an overall impression of the character, their personality and imperfections, and potential, they do fall a little bit flat in comparison to Claire and Punn's episodes, simply because their storylines are not as exciting to watch. In their episodes, you can easily tell where the story is going to go from the first few minutes and in Mon's episode, it's even directly spoiled at the beginning, which I wasn't really a fan of.

However, no episodes were as bad as Namtaan and Korn's. Their characters are so flat and one-dimensional and they don't change at all throughout their respective episodes. I quite liked the overarching storyline of Namtaan's episode and its mystery flair and it did end up being important for the overall plot but instead of making me sympathize with Namtaan, it made me annoyed with her and her reckless curiosity. The fact that her actress, Lilly Nichapalak Thongkham, is also easily the worst actress in the series and her expression never really seems to change, didn't make it any better. I understand that the actress was a novice at the time but so were most other actors in this series and she really did not sell the role well for me. As for Korn, while I did not have any real issues with the actor, I found his character to be insanely boring. He is depicted as kind and caring and a good friend in Claire's episode, which made me like him for a while, but the fact that he instantly turned his back on her after being rejected by her and his character did a 180 and turned into just a basic lonely, sad boy didn't sit well with me. His episode starts out with him being miserable and ends with him being just as miserable, essentially rendering his episode pointless.

I also don't understand why the show almost completely forgot about the twins, Jo and Jack. I'd much rather have watched an episode about them than Korn since their potential was barely explained besides them being synchronized perfectly and it seemed like it had the "potential" to be interesting.

Furthermore, I don't think the story is anything special and I also don't think it's particularly well-written. The concept of students being divided into different classes based on their intelligence or some supernatural powers has existed for a very long time in various iterations. At first, I thought the show would try to stand out from other shows revolving around the same trope by really taking its time and slowly building the conflict while primarily focusing on its character-driven narrative. But that never happened. In fact, most of the previously established characters ended up being pretty much unimportant for the finale. And the two characters that did end up mattering, Pang and Wave, had simply not been invested as much time in as they should've, resulting in two pretty shallow characters.

Especially in Pang's case, the only things we really learn about him are that he is academically ungifted but can somehow do the mental gymnastics to construct his plan for the finale and that he is driven by the ideal that all men should be equal. He is framed as this boy with an immensely powerful potential and the only one who could possibly defeat the evil director but it doesn't exactly take a genius to come up with a way to defeat both of them. The story should've at some point invested some time in developing Pang's potential to actually become stronger than, let's say, Punn's potential because as it stands, Punn could easily just copy Pang's potential and use it against both him and the director since technically, he doesn't have the same potential and they are therefore not immune to him. This could be easily solved by, for example, establishing that Pang's potential has developed in such a way that he can now also shield his brain from being manipulated by others or by simply not giving Punn the ability to copy others' potentials.

The finale also just overall felt very disjointed in the context of the whole show. I actually liked how up until around Episode 10, everything was decently predictable in the sense that it had been foreshadowed at some point before, making it so that certain plot points didn't just appear out of nowhere all of a sudden, but there was still enough kept hidden so you would be excited to see how all of the details would unfold. However, by the last three episodes, it had just become an amalgamation of plot twists stacked together in a huge messy pile, essentially resulting in a game of "I made this plan to overthrow you." - "Well, I expected you to make this plan, so I made this other plan to sabotage your plan." - "Well, I expected that you would expect my plan, so I made a counterplan to the plan you made in expectation of my plan." and so forth. The way every single Gifted character besides Pang and maybe Wave was also remarkably passive in the last three episodes and some of them suddenly acted completely out of character at the end, didn't make it any better.

I also felt like some plot elements were sort of unnecessary. Aside from Claire and Punn's relationship, which I really loved, all of the romance plotlines felt discardable to me. I didn't think Pang and Namtaan had good chemistry at any point in the series and I would even argue that whatever Namtaan and Wave had going on for one episode was slightly better, although I also did not like it very much. Unlike a lot of other viewers, I also didn't really see a whole lot of chemistry between Pang and Wave and the little bit I did see seemed very one-sided from Pang's side. Even Chanon and Pom's storyline seemed more romantic to me than Pang/Namtaan, Wave/Namtaan, or Pang/Wave. I cannot say I cared for Wave's tragic backstory either, it just failed to get me to feel for Wave and there were lots of other parts in the show that made me sympathize with him more than his weird middle school crush on his teacher. If these parts had been cut out and instead used to develop Pang, Wave, and the twins more, the story could have been infinitely better.

Overall, I just think "The Gifted" really suffers from having such large quality differences between different episodes that while some are really good and could be worth 10 stars, others are just so boring and poorly written that it really drags down the entire show's rating for me, which is why I gave it 7 stars. I can see why other people really like it and it's an enjoyable and lighthearted enough watch to be a good introduction into the paranormal/supernatural mystery drama genre but if you are already into this kind of stuff and have seen quite a bit of it, it just doesn't hold up as well in comparison.

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Sort of dark?

I have recently just finished watching Love Class and honestly I really enjoyed the plot. I like how it deals with scary situations in non-glamourising way, like most dark BL's do.

I personally think the acting, wasn't all that great, but it didn't put me of the series. I think the two MLs genuinely had great chemistry with one another, and the side characters stories were really nice, and interesting.

Although I was interested in Yuna's story, her character was really not my favourite. I feel she exploited Ji Woo's feelings and took advantage of him, which I understand is what made it interesting. The whole stalker thing, I really enjoyed, it showed how stalker impact the people around you, as well as yourself.

Ro A's character was really nice, and was always there for Ji Woo. I really enjoyed the poem he read out, it was really nice and I understand how Ji Woo ended up liking him, as he takes care and pays attention to everything Ji Woo does.

Overall the drama was really really good, I would definitely watch this again as I enjoyed it very much.

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Scarlet Heart meets Meteor Garden

This is one of my favorite dramas ever. It follows the same story of Scarlet Heart with the girl time traveling back to the Qing Dynasty and getting entangled with the princes and palace intrigue. Mixed into the story are plot pieces pulled clearly right from Meteor Garden. Some of the princes make up the "F4".

The overall story is good and kept me interested. It can be silly and goofy at times but I find it enjoyable. There is one area around I want to say episode 10 where they send the female lead to take care of a tomb and that part is kind of dumb and I just skip it during rewatches. I have rewatched this drama at least 2 times. When I finished this drama I was depressed and in a show hole for months!

The opening song was so good it just touches my soul. I do like some of the other songs too.

The cast is great and Yang Mi is my favorite Chinese actress (make sure to watch her in 10 Miles of Peach Blossoms and Legend of Fu Yao too!)

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Not worth watching all episodes...

This was okay. It wasn't the best but it wasn't the worst either. There were many issues such as continuity of other couples/characters as they were either hinted at or added to episodes that had nothing to do with them, leaving us, the viewers, wondering about them or their story. Some episodes felt incomplete even with the open ending, which sometimes can be annoying.

If I were to rank each episode from best to worse it would go like this
6 (Boom and Peak's story was the more cohesive of them all IMO)
1 (Santa and Earth were really really good with their chemistry)
4 (Prem Boum had a nice story and I liked the dynamics of all characters)
3 (this GL could have been soooo good, but the script fell flat in most areas, still better than the last 3 on my rank)

Wow I just realized that my least favorites ones were the straight couple.
2 (I LOVE YATCH...but I didn't like their story at all. Though the "mean girl" actress was really good.)
7 (I like Perth, but this was so bland)
5 (Plan put me off and I couldn't watch this without cringing. He spoiled it for me)

Cons
Acting of some of these actors was horrible. I mean Plan has been in the acting field for years now and still he comes off as a newbie and uninterested in his roles. Doesn't appear he even has a passion for acting, so I wonder why he takes these roles. Guess cash money...
Oreo---I love Oreo he is so adorable, but his acting as a bully just seemed illogical or unconvincing. He's adorable though...

Story:
GL....This one started off strong and by the last fifteen minutes, it just fell flat. It was promising and they could have really done a great GL story if the script wasn't so weak and scared to go there!

All of the straight stories were FLAT AF...no idea why, but it was just boring and uninteresting. Those episodes could have been condensed and given that extra time to the other stories that could have used more development.

Director New sucks, there I said it. He has no rhyme or reason and probably needs to go back to film school or something. His works have always left something to be desired, but I wish he would give more care to storytelling and not to stylistic filming.

Pros

The cinematography was beautiful. That is the one thing that New knows how to do, He takes care in catching the right lighting and sounds. I wish he put more care into the script/story/acting.

5.5/10

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A masterpiece!

If this is your first BL, don’t see it! Because if you do, you will use this as your measuring tool for the rest of the BL shows that are out there. This is the best story I have ever seeing. The shots were incredible! The acting was on point! The story is so real that it must have being part of somebody’s life experience.

Compare to other series endings, this one ended perfectly! You will not find sex scenes like others nor major kissing parts, but you will find a clear story of how love is born. I can tell you that there was so many scenes that made me cry like no other shows. But at the end, I was on my edge to finally hear what all the community is talking about. Finally, we have the answer that we all wanted to hear.

One hour is not enough for this series. It makes you want more. But Im really grateful, as many, that they decided to make the show this long.

Truly a masterpiece.

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Consent Is Sexy

I have rarely seen, if ever, such a mature, openly communicative with consent and comfortableness for both partners at the forefront relationship portrayed in a kdrama. Conflicts, fears and issues between the leads never festered but were discussed and solved as quickly as possible (starting noble idiocy of ML aside.) They were affectionate, playful and compassionate with each other, as well as also challenging each other to become their better selves. They had an adult relationship that did not stop at holding hands and blushing which is still rare in kdramaland and openly discussed their needs/wishes regarding intimacy while always heeding the others boundaries.

The way the drama handled consent and how much importance it put on it... it is sadly the first time i have ever seen this in a kdrama to this extent. (Dali And The Cocky Prince comes to mind here too, but it wasn't as integral as it is in TLC) Which honestly, makes me sad as it should not be the exception but the rule and the way the drama subverted typical romcom tropes and viewers expectations regarding that was well-done. It was clear from the start that this is the story of the two leads and their journey of overcoming the demons of their past in order to find together above all else. Since the drama is obviously home in slice of life romance genre more than anything else don't expect a complex law drama nor plot. So go into watching with the correct expectations of it being very character driven instead of having a heavy plot. Slice of life, as said.

And yet the drama managed to address a wide range of social issues in the out of court cases that are still prevalent in today's society, Korea or elsewhere. (Especially the SA case was handled with the gravitas and framing it needed to be) Each of the cases were also mirrored with what the leads currently struggled with, to let them grow alongside in handling it. It never got too dark, no matter how heavy the social topics were because in between situational comedy gave much needed levity. And this without ever ridiculing the issue at hand. The main plot is the weakest link in it all and drawn out too much, but overall that took little away from the refreshingly modern take on the writing of the leads/their relationship for me. The side characters are lovely too and i enjoyed my time with them (minus uncle, however well acted)

I can only hope that other writers of romcom kdramas take note of this one here in regard of how it handled consent, because implicit clear consent is sexy and we direly need more of it in this medium/genre in the future.

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Great overall!

The cast was great. I saw Moonbin on the thumbnail and decided to try this webdrama. I was surprised at his acting. The storyline was quite odd and almost each relationship had a plot twist (<- which I don't really like). Identifying the protagonist was quite hard for me as the screen time for each of the main characters were pretty much the same. Since that is expected of webdramas, I think this can be in my top 10 webdramas. Although the ending is rushed, it is as expected of a webdrama. This drama is light-hearted and not too heavy; perfect for late-night binging so your eyes aren't bloated from crying the next morning and yours abs don't hurt from laughing.

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A big let down.

After hearing so many good things about this drama, I decided to give it a shot as I've been in search for something new to watch. The synopsis was interesting, and I really liked the cast, so I expected I'd end up loving this drama. The beginning was gripping, not gonna lie. Even though I started watching late at night, I devoured the first 4 episodes and found myself wanting more. Unfortunately, the show started going downhill quite rapidly.

I expected it would take the leads the majority of the show to come in terms with their feelings for each other considering how Myeol Mang treated her in the beginning, and not to mention how he supposedly cannot feel human emotions, let alone love. I thought this was going to be more of a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers, but the romance was strangely rushed. Surprisingly, not even 6 episodes in and they are declaring they are ready to die for each other. Nothing else happens in their relationship. They love each other to death, but their fate is tragic. That's all what happens for the rest of the drama.

I can't tell you what happens in the next 10 episodes to save my life. The show kept doing in circles, repeating the same events over and over. She runs away, he brings her back. She chooses to erase their memories of each other, he remembers her. She decides to die for him, he dies for her instead. She kept making decisions regarding their relationship herself, and he had to go and save the situation every time. It's like all the tragic tropes were condensed into one drama. By the end, I couldn't bring myself to sympathies or feel anything for them anymore . They separate one episode, the next episode they decide to face reality and stick together, but then they separate yet again. I kept sighing and skipping all the crying and goodbyes because, frankly, I didn't care anymore. I'm not joking when I say it took me 3 days for get through the last episode.

The dialogue for the most part felt unnatural, and half the events that take place don't add anything to the story. And don't get me started on the contract and the whole wish thingy. Their contract doesn't make sense, and I thought her precious wish that she holds on to until the end was going to play an important role. It honestly seemed like the writer added the wish as an afterthought because whatever she decides for her wish, Myeol Mang apparently cannot fulfill, and in the end her wish didn't help their situation at all. You're telling me there isn't ONE wish she could have made to improve their situation even a little bit? What was the entire point of it then?

While the second couple's love triangle was a bit draggy, I actually enjoyed their story a lot and found myself caring more for them than for the main couple. I practically finished the drama for them. I really loved Ji Na's character and Joo Ik's voice, even liked Hyun Gyu and Dong Kyung's brother and aunt's presence on screen a lot more than the main lead's. Kevin added absolutely nothing to the story, aside from diversity points I guess, and that one interaction between him and Dong Kyung, you know which one, was, as much as I try to avoid using this word, cringeworthy. It gave my a heavy dose of cringe I had to turnoff my laptop for a few minutes.

The music was on point. One of the few things I liked about this drama. Especially loved Breaking Down by Ailee; I've been listening to it on loop for a week now.

Overall, I'm disappointed with this drama. The potential was there, but unfortunately was short lived. It dragged on and on, going in circles. I really wanted to love this drama, but it ended making me feel nothing but annoyance.

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EXTRAORDINARY

Actually I don't really like esport dramas, some of the esport dramas I tried to watch, but I only lasted the farthest until episode 8.
according to the esports genre, the story is certainly not far from games and matches, then it was added to the disputes of several members. Obviously quite boring for audiences who don't understand and don't like this genre (e-sports).

But!
I finished this drama in just 7 days. When I saw their poster, I was attracted to watch because of the main character, so I tried to watch, the first episode of the drama really caught my eye. this is really an exciting drama. since the drama is still ongoing I decided to wait.

What I got after watching this drama was unexpected. cast, music, story, action, emotional, is an extraordinary totality. If you think this drama is only about games, that's wrong. realizing dreams, struggles, never giving up, local wisdom, lifestyle in its time, friendship, kinship, betrayal, romance, mystery. This is what they describe perfectly. I really got carried away into it, so I'm always looking forward to the next story.

This is not a melodrama !!! but my tears suddenly came out very easily in some sad scenes even ordinary sad scenes. even the melodrama doesn't make me so emotional like this. Emotionalism actually entered my soul, so I really enjoyed this drama minute by minute, scene by scene. I always shed tears even for the small and emotional things in this drama. cry then laugh. they perfectly created this situation, even for small feelings. the excitement of the match is no less fun. I really feel brought into the story, their acting is good, the shooting is not inferior. I don't know what magic could make this drama so emotional.
Even because of the good story in Xiaofeng and Lu Xiaobei's life, I feel that esports is a sweetener in this drama. I really like the character Xiaofeng, Luhan's acting is really amazing. wulei is no less great. them and other players make esports fun and exciting.

That I need to emphasize
this drama is not all about games, their stories are more exciting than that, not boring at all. When you finish it you will understand that this drama is amazing, and I look forward to the next season, I even hope that the stories of the two main characters are made into their respective dramas.

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If you are hesistant in watching this due to the negative comments & criticisms, like I was in the beginning, but still want to watch it for Ian Yi & Yu Cheng (cough cough, he was my favorite character in this XD), then maybe this review can help or enlighten you if this show is right for you or not!! Keep in mind I have not watched the donghua of this, so this is purely from a drama watcher’s standpoint.

This is your typical average show, the storyline itself is pretty straight forward, nothing extravagant. The premise of this drama follows as; In order to keep the balance and peace in the country, the tomb sect was divided into two. One comprising of the Tomb Guarding; which just like its name, its duty was to protect and guard the treasures in the tombs while Tomb Raiding; raids but distinctively states that they never rob or steal from the tombs. However, their harmony with one another soon gets threatened when a rumor goes around insinuating that the leader of the Tomb Guarding Sect had robbed the very tomb they were suppose to be protecting. As tension and friction starts rising between the two sects, thus the journey and battle between the sects begin.

Bromance? Yes it does have bromance, but its not the main focus. The two leads each have their own respective lover so its mostly focused on the couples than on the bromance. DISCLAIMER: if you hate annoying, whiney, high pitched females than be weary of Shui Yao’s character. She is not only one of the most useless characters in this show in my personal opinion, but her personality had left much to be desired. She’s always throwing tantrums and acting childish majority of her screen time; honestly I dont even know how i sat through 32 episodes of it. I truly believe even if they completely took her character out of this, the story would primarily still be the same because her contributions overall to the show was so minuscule. She was basically there so the main male lead had romance. But on a positive note the other females were cool headed, intelligent and strong!

Fighting scenes were pretty good! Those were probably the most fun parts to watch, however I will say that I felt like the main characters won too easily and too often half the time…considering they were going up against some tough veteran fighters…but I digress. The one thing I really enjoyed about this story is that there were a lot of gray characters. There wasn’t a fine line of black and white, good and evil. Even if some were portrayed as evil, when you see their point of view or hear their story, you begin to understand them, their actions as well as their motives where you really start questioning about morals. In an effort to benefit the nation; they all chose different routes which they each believed was the only morally right way. It was super interesting to see how each side executed their plan. The rush against time to see who can outsmart the other and be cunning. The irony of it all was that their goal was all the same; to help the country; unfortunately due to the difference in motives had them be on opposing sides ; some leading to more devious schemes.

As for the ending, I truly believe this one is really up to the viewer themselves to decide if its a good ending or not. To me, it was an unsatisfying ending, but maybe to others its a decent or good enough ending. All in all, go in with low expectations and you might actually be surprised! If you don’t have much to watch and just need a drama to pass the time that doesn’t require much thinking, then give this a shot =)

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