Private Notebook

It is still a good watch.

It's a matter of a person. As I've said already, I like fiction. I read a lot and write a lot. And I'm always intrigued by the world building and the character build up in stories, so I like giving out reviews.

I might have had a little problem with it, but who knows, you might actually like it.😌😌

I think we all interpret things a lot different. But what you've written truly made sense and I understand your take.

As someone who loves fiction, I always want to (not to relate exatly) but to understand a character. So their background is always important so I can be able to question, find fault, and really love the character despite everything. I'm not talking about insta love or slow burn type of romance, I'm talking about a storyline where I can root for the characters in anything and through everything.

Here, I feel like we got a glimpse of their character. Not entirely everything. They're like 2 Dimensional characters instead of 3.

Alright, there are flaws.
The revenge arc disappointed me greatly.
But I loved watching this show. It was so beautiful to watch. I wished we were given more of their romance.
The actor who plays "Sun" is so pretty. He's so handsome that I just wanted to look at his face and do absolutely nothing else at all.

Sometimes here, they feel like empty suitcases where we get what is given, with nothing inside. Without character depth, we cannot easily care much about the character.

There's why, how, and where. Alright, they're trying to just love in quiet places. So WHY SHOULD I CARE as an audience.
I need a reason. Any reason. It can be to the relation of their family, occupation, or outside world. It doesn't have to be a conflict, just a build up around a character.

As a writer, that's the first question a literary agent asks and I assume it's the same for screenwriters.

I've watched all out 14 episodes.

The cimatology is beautiful. The acting is beautiful. The chemistry is beautiful.
But I think the story lacks enough depth. Something happens right now and it ends, then we forget about it. They don't build it up enough to make the audience care.
Like how I couldn't care about their courting, cause I feel like they just caught feelings, realized it and confessed in matter of seconds. It doesn't have to be a slow burn, but there's just something missing there.


But I feel like that with all the three couples. There's just different dynamics (Which are made well btw) but they all lacked depth. The story lacked flavor. I couldn’t care enough about the characters like that.

Unlike Secrets Happened on Litchi island, the storyline is bland. I only stayed watching because the dynamic between Qing Lang and Chang Yang is too good to miss. A bratty actor and a golden retriever farmer is just perfect!

With this kind of storyline, I hope they'll go all in and not sugarcoat anything for the sake of viewers. But I hope we'll get enough building and something I'll be able to watch despite the trope.
Regardless, I'm excited to see Kang Jun and Eun Jin together. They gave so much chemistry in that table read alone and the trailer was a bonus. I'm simply seated.

This drama had everything.
I'm glad I didn't expect much from it because it truly exceeded my expectations and instantly became one of the good dramas I've watched this year. From the storyline to the chemistry, insanely top notch. The love story from both the two couples were so cute, I loved them.
8.5/10 for me.

I'm withholding the remaining 1.5 because of the character depth. I think we could have received more from them to actually care. From Xihe's past life, Hua Yong's life outside the palace before he meets Xihe, Bai Shu Lin's after her run with Cui Jin Bai (They handled these two so messy and forgot about them until the last episodes)
We should have gotten more of Xiao Chang Qin's scenes with his late wife. The other princes are not even supporting characters here, they feel like objects included to fill the cast and be like "The Emperor has other kids"
So they feel 2 dimensional without any background of their own. Because we needed that to care more about the crown prince since his story slightly revolves around the Emperor's favoritism toward him.

And the mastermind behind the poisoning. After 34 episodes, looking for the culprit, the reveal was just too dull. It was "meh".

Overall. The acting, chemistry, directing, costumes, and the story itself made up for all the flaws this drama has. It's so memorable too. There are too many scenes I was captivated with that I will probably remember for a long time.

Still on my to watch list. I'll probably try it anyway to see for myself what the fuss is all about.

Damn 1 episode is pure torture.

The story was slow burn. It started more platonic until they realized they cared about each other. Reading the dynamic, it was just cute and beautiful. And the story was more raw, because Feng Tai was married so Shen Xi Rui was treated more like a mistress despite being loved. It was a long ago since I've read the novel.
They watered it down a lot in the adaptation, but the caring its still there.

you can download it on zlibrary

This is one of Gmmtv's best project yet.
We didn't get a whole blown out angst that is unnecessary and cliche. We got a journey that taught us the importance of love, happiness, giving up, and pushing.

Tanrak was in a cage from the beginning. His only goal in life was to do by God so he can go to heaven. He did everything he can to earn him points for the ticket, but love came and crushed all of his hardwork.
But, love didn't only crush his hardwork. It also made him question himself, doubt himself, and question the God he was serving. Most of all, it set him free.
He was able to love God in his own terms without feeling trapped in religion. And he found the happiness he deserved.

We have religious people telling us that homosexuality is a sin. And we have 20 other queer stories that deals with homophobia. From the beginning, this story was about Tanrank's internal conflict. Despite him accepting himself that he's gay, he found it difficult to balance that with religion.

If you're watching this for the wrong reasons, you'll most definitely not enjoy it. Because this is not Bl, it's a queer series that shows us a young man struggling between duty and love. And it showed us that it's okay to be selfish and choose what makes you happy.
I have no complaints.👏

This was very enjoyable. I mainly watched because of their insane chemistry, visuals and acting. They really did so good and they were extremely convincing that my heart broke when they broke up. They remind me of high school romance! Nostalgic...

Regarding the storyline though, I think they tried hard to woven all the romance tropes in one drama that it easily took away the core plot of the drama. The depth seemed to be cut brief, we're never really given a chance to digest before something unnecessary happens (mostly involving Wan's mother, Xi Xiao's father or the SML).

I wished their break up could have been over something truly hurtful, not like the way they did here. The hurt/comfort trope missed here, even though they were trying to patch it in. Most of the time it felt like the scriptwritter kept getting lost and when she finds the main lane, she goes and goes until she gets lost again, then she'll have to look for shortcuts to go to the main lane again. it was meh. exhausting at times.

As much as this was an enjoyable watch because of the actors, it's not a memorable watch for me. There's nothing much that stayed with me, it was very forgettable and I'm sure I'll not miss it much in the coming weeks.

Which general public are you talking about? kdrama are marketed for both Korean and western audiences, unlike Chinese dramas. The ratings are still high in Korea which made it a hit, and cdramas which has complications twists and plots have a lot of ratings in the mainland.
I won't talk about idol dramas like POJ and HL, there are mainstream dramas that are popular within the general public.
And general public ≠ western audience.

They might only want dramas to relax but to the point where a little plot twist has everyone tugging their hair and calling it an unnecessary storyline? Worse when the storyline is handled well because I don't even see that much twist to mind blog the audience in MRN.

One thing I have realized is that kdrama writers are writing storylines for dump people mostly. There are a lot of hiccups in the story but everyone is complaining about the storyline wrap because you all were expecting another cliche storyline like the 100 previous ones.

You guys would never survive cdramas because there, you truly need to think. But kdrama fans are mostly lazy to do that and call the plot unnecessary so you can go ahead and give it 1 stars.

It's on my top spot of my letterbox and I wonder why it's that. this is a film I can rematch and rematch without getting tired of it.

As it is pride month, I hope everyone within the community can love freely and love proudly too. Love is never a sin. ❤️

These recent episodes were mind blogging and I'm coming here only to see that people are riding a hate train on the plot. So far it's clear that everyone was expecting the cliche time traveling story like the 10 previous ones. He finds out they're somehow connected, they cry because she might go back to the past, it's triple angst because they want to sacrifice for each other.

But no. this was unique and differently written. I'm here wondering if she really traveled to the past when she was younger and grew up in Joseon but she may have lost her memories in the process and now her soul has just came back to her original body in the modern world and she's remembering everything that has happened before. I won't lie and say it hasn't kept me on my toes!

After hearing the racist and misogynistic stories surrounding the original writer, I was feeling disappointed because I liked it. But we forget and we move. I'm black so this thing of Koreans making it seem like black people are being racist towards them to the point of saying the n word looks like an excuse to feed their delusion.

And the rape accusations. They could have found another way to show that the power of social media can be dangerous to the society. But showing through false rape accusations when women are dealing with not being believed for these things in their real life is a root of misogyny. It's like saying women have privileges (of being believed) over perpetrators. A full no episode.

What I will not go against is bullies getting beat up. in everything you could have a problem with, you have a problem with a bully getting beat up? Those are not children, they're animals who prey on the weak and strip them off their power, a bit by bit until they're completely vulnerable. I'm sure most victims wish this kind of system can happen in their real life. Being bullied is not only a school stain or a childhood stain, that thing gives you a lifetime trauma. It affects you as you grown, in your daily life, friendships, family relationships, work life, etc. It does not start and end in high school. So bullies can die for all I care.