Completed
Dhy
10 people found this review helpful
Jan 22, 2023
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 3.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 5.5
Music 5.5
Rewatch Value 2.5

I have a high expectation but lose it all

I have read the webtoon and love the story so i wait this drama to come, but the acting of the actress and actor so bad, there is bo chemistry between them.. There a lot unnecessary suport role which make me skip almost half of the drama.
I thing the FL acting so weird she have a charming and lovely aura but bot match with the drama its
Her acting felt very forced the way her smiled and the expression in his eyes. Many scenes are very cringe, haryoung story also very unattractive and makes me want to skip it.
I feel bad for the main character they should have chosen a better and more suitable drama to act in

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Completed
GiGi
4 people found this review helpful
Jan 26, 2023
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
Kim Young Dae (Lee Heon), I want to see more from this actor with his impressive acting. I really sobbed my eyes out on this storyline. Park Ju Hyun (Ye So Rang), she was made to play this role and a very convincing actress. I applaud her. Kim Woo Seok (Lee Shin Won), I felt empathy for the character he played. KWS grabbed my heart and I was somewhat rooting for him to get the girl. His character was so loyal to the emperor. The storyline of who did it, who did what and why had me focused. What a great ending! I loved the storyline and another drama that made me weak at the knees. oh well. Thanking all the crew which includes the actors, actresses, directors, writers, and staff. You all did a great job. Another great martial arts drama.

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Completed
He Lian
3 people found this review helpful
Jan 21, 2023
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 8.5

VERY satisfying

I've watched 5 out of 6 dramas of Park Ju Hyun and I should say this drama is the one with her BEST performance. She brought out the crazy, hyperactive So Rang in the story to life with her vivacious performance.

This is a historical drama with royalty and a power struggle but this doesn't have the usual rigid by the rules of the ancient era and the imperial palace. Contrary to that the characters are funny and their interactions are much more carefree. The story seems to span out in two parallel lines, the romance and friendship in a much more carefree attitude while the court struggle being intense.

I loved every minute of it and this is a very satisfying drama to watch.

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Ongoing 8/12
love_kdramas
11 people found this review helpful
Jan 8, 2023
8 of 12 episodes seen
Ongoing 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 9.0
This review may contain spoilers

Fun show

I enjoy watching this show so much. I hate that it only has 12 episodes. I'm sad already because there's only 4 episodes left.
What I love most about it is that it isn't serious and the leads are pretty good at portraying their characters. Even the supporting actors are good.
Spoiler:
I'm super happy with what happened in episode 8 for 2 people. I hope nothing happens to ruin it and I hope the other person finds their own happiness too. Based on the preview, the next episode is going to be an interesting one.
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Completed
U-chan U-chan
2 people found this review helpful
Jan 21, 2023
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 10

Romance, plots, tears and lots of laughs, what a well balanced costume drama!

i just finished watching this drama. I didn't care for its OST at all, but the drama itself is one of the best comedy with lots of romances, kisses and plots. Very straight forward and easy to watch.

ML is super handsome and cute time to time, 2nd ML is also handsome and well played. i didn't care much of FL in the beginning but later on I came to like her. All side characters also played well. Since it is such a fun drama, i will definitely repeat watching while i watch heavy duty serious dramas. This drama will lighten up your emotion if you are watching or after you watch serious sad dramas.

If you like romance, you cannot miss this one.

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Completed
Mrs_Jacqueline
2 people found this review helpful
Feb 1, 2023
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 10
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 9.5

SUPER FUNNY and SUPER CUTE!

10 STARS!!! There are some dramas where you can watch over and over again and I have to say Forbidden Marriage will be that K drama for me. If I need a pick-me-up or want something cutesy you can’t get better than this drama.

I only picked up the drama because of the high ratings but within the first few minutes of the show, I knew I was going to love it. I’m a fan of the ML from Shooting Stars and I’m happy I got to see him in this role, I really enjoyed his torturous scenes.

The best part of the drama for me was the script. The writing is equally brilliant and 100% funny! There’s a fine line of trying to be funny and actually almost pee myself funny and this drama made me laugh out loud so hard, especially the first few episodes where they throw all the punches. The Terminator reference is awesome.

I love the love Triangle and I LOVE a strong second male lead. I haven’t loved a second male lead this strong since Mr. Queen and Start-up. The cute banter between the first and second male leads was fun and hilarious to watch.

The FL is strong, funny and carries equal weight with the ML. I liked how the two main characters are so organic and have great chemistry with each other. They also need each other and I loved there was no silly misunderstandings or weak writing.

Overall, this drama is refreshing, funny and a total win.

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Completed
Giuca
2 people found this review helpful
Feb 26, 2023
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

Practically Perfect In Every Way

I am not a watcher of Korean historical dramas. I have tried watching a few of the very famous ones, dropping them during the first episode. The notable exception, that I actually finished, is Moon Lovers and that was only because I was going through the Lee Joon Ki superfan phase.

I am taking part in a Drama Discovery Challenge and the next item on my discovery list was to watch a historical drama. So I decided to watch this. I got hooked after 20 minutes and watched it all over the weekend. And loved every second of it.

So Rang is an illegal matchmaker and is put in prison for fraud. In order to get out , she pretends to channel ghosts which attracts attention of the King who is inconsolable since the death of his wife seven years earlier and therefore installing interdiction of marriage, hence the title. So Rang accepts to "channel" the dead princess and in doing so helps the king deal with his loss and fall in love again. This also brings to surface conspiracies and murders within the palace by individuals hungry for power.

This drama is a joyful ride. It is set in Joseon, sometimes in the past but that is all: not a definite year just sometimes in the past. The past, the history is just used as a setting to tell the love story of two deeply scarred people.
The king, surrounded with rigid servants is shaken to his bones by So Rang's insolence, courage, good sense and optimism. They are both traumatised by past events and together they help each other to heal. And while doing so, they are hilariously funny. I have never laughed so much while watching an asian drama. Actually, the last time I laughed so was when I watched BBC's "The Goes Wrong Show" a few years ago.

Everything is so perfectly done here: comic timing is spot on, the story is tightly woven and there are no plotholes, it is serious enough not to be boring, cinematography is beautiful and music is nicely done blend of old and new. All in all, the story is a modern one (with all the PC bits grouped together in the last episode) set in the past. If we are to search around, we'd probably find a story of a traumatized cold CEO shaken by a quirky but poor girl into becoming a nicer human being. How about Lost Romance from Taiwan? So nothing original but extremely well produced.

Kim Young Dae is handsome, talented and his slight lisp is making him irresistible (though those abs are not to be scorned at!). Park Ju Hyun was a revelation: I really did not like her in Mouse but here she is awesome. They both have perfect comic timing. The actors are all great, they have amazing chemistry. All of them! And since this is a fairy tale, they are all paired up by the end with a few BL couples as well! Nice touch!

There is one thing that bothered me, nevertheless! The tone and the rhythm of the drama was for the first few episodes very light and funny. And even though it was very predictable, the palace conspiracies introduced a darker plot which did not balance the original comedy well so I was a bit disconcerted halfway through and I did not like it! 0.5 points off for that!
This drama reminded me of Moon Lovers, as it could have been as a happy drama. The chemistry is the same, the cold prince and the quirky funny girl who fall in love. The Forbidden Marriage has that contemporary, modern feel in the way they act and speak just like IU's character in MLSHR. Even the music: often it sounded really similar!

Cinematography is excellent, there are beautiful shots in the night as well as of shirtless Kim Young Dae. The production is of the highest quality, everything flows so smoothly and that is why I noticed one thing which was jarring: the closeups of them horseback riding looked faked and as if filmed in front of the green screen. Minor I know but noticeable! Like when they fake ride cars, motorcycles etc. in other dramas: it is so obvious and does not need to be!

This drama is a fairy tale, a very funny fairy tale, where everyone gets their happy ending and where the bad guys get punished. Watch it if you need cheering up, watch it if you are bored, watch it even if you're not into seoguks. Just watch it, you won't regret it! It is light and fluffy and perfect!

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Completed
ltspada
2 people found this review helpful
May 4, 2023
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
This review may contain spoilers

I loved every minute of this perfect series



10/10 is my rating. This is a 2023 South Korean historical Romance with 12, 70 minute episodes. It is based on a web novel & webtoon of the same title written by Chun Jy-Hye.

First I will provide a synopsis then review

Synopsis
The setting is during the Josean area but all the events and people are fictitious. King Lee Heon (Kim Young-dae) has placed a ban on marriage since the tragic death of his wife, the Crown Princess, 7 years earlier. A con artist, Ye So-Rang (Park Ju-Hyun), thinks the ban is unreasonable and is running an on the sly marriage service thinking it will escape the crowns‘s notice. When she is caught by none other than the king himself she devises a plan to pretend to channel the former crown princess. The king, who remains devastated by the loss of his wife, decides to keep So-rang close to gain closure on his wife’s death. No-one is how they seem and the king’s best friend and head of security, Lee Shin-won (Kim Woo-seok) thinks So-rang looks a lot like the girl who disappeared prior to their wedding. As So-Rang grows closer to the king she genuinely desires to alleviate his emotional pain using all her skills at deception. Will love grow in this unlikely place?

Review

I loved every minute of this heartwarming, funny, interesting historical romantic comedy. The relationship between the King and So-rang was well paced, their chemistry was really good and it was believable. Lee Shin-won (Kim Woo-seok) was a second male lead whose character you could not fail to love. If you like romance and with happy endings for all then this is a rare find. I lover it, would watch it again and highly recommend it.

*Spoilers
So-rang is one of the most entertaining characters to watch. She had so much tragedy in her life yet found a way to survive and yet have a caring heart that wants to help everyone she encounters. The room becomes more fun when she walks in. Despite her relatively low social position both men fall for her as the truly unique and utterly engaging charismatic individual she is. She was so good at fake channeling you wondered if it was real at times and she did not even realize it. The dashing investigator, Shin-won was such a good human being you could not keep from rooting for him in everything he did. I loved his relationships with So-rang and with the king. They introduced his new love interest late but she was immediately someone I liked and she was someone fitting for the lovable Shin-won. The King was near perfect he was lovable, fair, honest and yet had a strong sense for punishing criminals and rooting out evil. I liked that, when he discovered she had lied and deceived him, he was angry but only for a short period then figured out, on his own, she did it to help him. To m if you love someone you would know those types of things about them and believe in them when it counted. I thought how the King nearly lost his mind when Shin-won put aside their friendship and pulled So-rang away was realistic and So-rang stopping hm from harming his friend showed the depth of all their relationships. The two men forgiving each other and renewing their friendship towards the end was so satisfying. The evil was fully revealed and punished. We got to see happy endings for all the main characters and a glimpse of happily ever after.

#ForbiddenMarriage
#ParkJuHyun
#KimYoungDae
#KimWooSeok



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Completed
Grumpy Witch
2 people found this review helpful
Nov 15, 2023
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 8.5
This review may contain spoilers

Light & Heavy at the Same Time

This drama had been on my plan to watch list for a while, but I had been putting it off because I was worried the comedy would be too in your face or forced, which usually makes it unfunny for me. However, and even though I was watching/started quite a few dramas already, I decided to add one more to the list on a whim. This was because the ones I really wanted to watch had entered their multiple day breaks and the other ones I do have episodes available to watch aren’t keeping my interest.

During the first episode, or at least the first 30 minutes or so of it, I thought I would end up dropping this because the beginning of the episode wasn’t appealing to me and the comedy did feel a bit forced. But this soon changed as I kept watching.

For me, the comedy handled the comedy aspects of it well. Even when the comedy was too far out there, it had the right amount of angst, mystery, action, and seriousness to balance it out. This for me worked well because they didn’t overdo it on either the comedy or the tragedy. Another issue I encountered was a bad case of second lead syndrome. Don’t get me wrong, the king was endearing in his own right, but I felt the second male lead was better as she would have never have to guess what was in his heart. However, in the last episodes, I am glad he didn’t do what I was yelling at him to do and get what I wanted because the female character introduced then was perfect for oorie second male lead. She was as gentle, honest, protective, and fierce, in her own way, just as he was in his. I would have honestly loved to watch a few more scenes with them interacting, but I am glad they didn’t give him a miserable ending, of dying, becoming a villain, or eternally longing for someone who didn’t love him back, as they sometimes do in other dramas.

This drama was light and fluffy, while also being angsty in the right amount and at the right time. I enjoyed watching a grand queen dowager who, albeit trusted the wrong individuals, was not a raging evil plotting monster. I also enjoyed watching that the king’s main court lady and eunuch were loyal and never betrayed him. And most of all I loved that everyone received their just desserts at the end. The OST was nice and for me this is worth rewatching.

Was it a masterpiece? No.

Was it what I needed at the moment? Definitely, yes.

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Completed
Akhil Kamal
2 people found this review helpful
Jan 21, 2023
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 6.5
Rewatch Value 7.0

Fun drama

Another great drama from Park ju hyun

Her youthful looks and charm make her a good fit for the funny, mischievous So-rang, and her positive on-screen charisma was also one of the major main thing I like about the drama

The story is quite funny , really loved the way they combine the modern idea into history and the cast was amazing.

the tension between the first and second lead was also good.

the chemistry between the male and female lead was good, the actors really did their best.

A beautiful satisfying climax for the fans.

Totally worth watching.

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Dropped 8/12
Sagey_nightowl
14 people found this review helpful
Jan 17, 2023
8 of 12 episodes seen
Dropped 0
Overall 4.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 4.0
Music 4.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

Dropped as rom-com transitioned to sad and serious

I had high expectations for this romcom after watching the initial episodes.

The first few episodes had a quirky humour and some creative ideas which kept it interesting. By and by it started getting repetitive, very unfair on the SML and kept the ML a soft, weak, foolish and naive king who was stuck in the past leaving the country to suffer for 7 years! We come to know that every year there has been murders of women inside the palace and the king has not been able to move beyond his grief to even investigate this seriously! He seems to have backstabbing ministers in the leadership positions and powerless to do anything against them. Who would want to root for such an ML?

The FL felt refreshingly energetic and creative in the beginning but began to irk me down the line. She cons people without conscience and doesn't hesitate to cheat the king himself, even when he starts to fall for her she doesn't confess to faking her way into his heart. She knows full well the SML was her fiance and has feelings towards her yet she is secretive about her past with him too, stays close friends with him and gets rescued by him constantly. This is lazy writing as it makes the viewer pity the SML and resent the FL.

There was zero chemistry between the leads. Even the confession scenes felt bland and lacklustre. As per kdrama trope land they would probably end up together but I lost the interest in following it through to completion, as I don't expect good comedy or romance from further episodes. The characters are not likeable enough to invest further time in this.

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Dropped 11/12
Xtinew
10 people found this review helpful
Dec 24, 2022
11 of 12 episodes seen
Dropped 4
Overall 5.0
Story 4.0
Acting/Cast 6.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 3.0
This review may contain spoilers

CROWN PRICE ALWAYS GET THE GIRL

I don't like the story line, in my opinion, it's stupid and dragging. A man with status of King couldn't get over the dead wife was the most idiot, not to mention he couldn't function to do his responsibilities and job as a King because of matter of heart. I want to slap his face and shout 'get hold of yourself.' It's fine when assuming the wife might get murdered and looking who's the culprit, it's ok to mourn the beloved wife and kept her in memory, it's personal choice if he wanted a Shaman to reach death world. I just couldn't understand the dragging of story to nowhere..on and on for harboring feeling after 7 years sorrow. Someone needs to tell him to 'get a grip' and give him some reality check. Well....looking forward for better story in future episodes.

The plot that I like was the 2nd ML was legally engaged 7 years before the ban edict. They had mutual feeling of their marriage arrangement and their relationship as friends were blooming after the fact. While the King was muddle-head over a dead woman...and any matters about Kingdom was ignored...only about tiring feeling and sadness. The dead queen was a boring woman too...both actors had weepy expression on their faces, teary eyes with glossy make up (BOTH OF THEM). You know what they said about Crown Prince has always get the girl. No matter 2nd ML engaged to the girl, she picked the Crown Prince instead of him - a humble minister's son but not too worry - Crown Prince's sister choose him (convenience wasn't it) well....

There's similar drama 'Blooming Youth' on air that has the exact plots. Not hoping to finish the series.

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The Forbidden Marriage (2022) poster

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  • Score: 8.3 (scored by 9,826 users)
  • Ranked: #1031
  • Popularity: #668
  • Watchers: 22,726

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