kdramakitty
Really good, but I have some critique
Dang this show is so good. Many people compare this to Signal, so I can’t help but do that too. This isn’t as good as Signal but is still a fun timey wimey crime thriller.The premise is really good and executed very well, and the plot is paced excellently. There are so many plot twists but they never felt needless, just the consequence of messing with time or a revelation that explains a character’s motivation. I do think that the first half of the show is better than the second. The main villains shift about halfway and I enjoyed the original villains from the first half more. The plot/conspiracy in the second half also wasn’t as interesting to me, but the plot twists continued to be excellent. I loved the ending of every episode, it was so darn good how all of them were like “wtf?!?!?!” and that really shows how good the writing is. But in part due to timey wimey shenanigans there were a few plot points and revelations that happened more than once, and they do lose emotional impact and it weirdly feels like you’re wasting time because you’re essentially watching the same scene again. Plus there’s this MacGuffin that everyone is after in the second half and that takes a while to move on from. However, the second half does a great job of tying everything together and a lot of things make sense. The timey wimey stuff is handled amazingly and the “explanation” for it is actually pretty good too.
Seo Jin had some great character development and it was awesome seeing him change throughout the show. Ae Ri... I’m so sorry, sweetie, it’s not your fault, it’s the writer’s fault. Han Ae Ri spent 25% of her time crying about her mom. The times where I had to suspend my disbelief the most were with Ae Ri’s actions; she continually made stupid choices like investigating dangerous things by herself when she knows it’s dangerous! Argh. I still like her, but it was frustrating at times. Basically her actions felt like they were plot devices, which is lazy writing. The other characters were pretty good, and I enjoyed Ae Ri’s friends in particular. It was great seeing them all team up. Oh and I loooooove the original villains of the show, 10/10. I won’t elaborate because they’re related to plot twists.
Despite the fact that I just complained a lot about it, I think this show is really excellent and I would 100% recommend it to anyone who liked Signal, Tunnel, or any crime/thriller fan. So while there are some things I wish were better, I have trouble holding that against this show because it was just so good.
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Kim Nam Gil undeniably deserved an award for his performance here. The degree to which you believe that this is a man who has seen the worst of human depravity is remarkable, and you can see this heaviness weigh on him and how it increases throughout the show. It is also intriguing to learn about the inception of criminal profiling, although to be honest I have my doubts. Occasionally in the show there were times when I thought it actually didn’t help catch criminals all that much. It’s not that their assessments weren’t accurate, but it sometimes only helped affirm a suspect was guilty when they had already been caught. I also thought it was kind of weird that being trained in psychology or psychiatry wasn’t required, although I’m sure that’s a thing nowadays. Another thing that bugged me a bit was how Kim Nam Gil’s character was a little too perfect. He was not only empathetic and smart, he also happened to be a good fighter. The fact this is adapted from an autobiography probably helps explain the extreme positive light. Speaking of fighting, I don’t love how they handled the one female detective. The kind of weird power dynamic between her and Kim Nam Gil’s character was uncomfortable and I don’t like how they undermined her competency. The autobiography origin of this story also probably explains the overall structure of the story. It has multiple serial killers, so there are basically story arcs with each killer. Since this is a 16 episode show and not a monster of the week type show, I found the pacing a little off. And to be honest, it was a bit repetitive at times. Towards the end I wasn’t motivated to finish because there wasn’t a bit culmination of things to look forward to, just another serial killer among the list of ones we have already seen. Ultimately what I think makes this show great are the amazing acting performances, and the interview scenes with the serial killers were fantastic. I don’t think this show is bad, it’s fairly good, but I’ve seen enough thriller/mystery serial killer type stuff that this didn’t do anything new for me (despite the show trying to do the profiling angle).
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Everything matters in this story. Not just because of how it relates to the plot and mysteries, but because everything affects the characters. And the characters, in turn, have varying interpretations and reactions to events. The characters are complicated, but not in a conventional TV show way where they have complicated backstories that explain their present actions. They're complicated because real people are complicated. We all accidentally say stupid things, let our emotions get the best of us and cloud our judgement, we fear rejection, we lie not with evil intent but because we don't want to hurt people's feelings. The premise itself is pure fantasy, but the characters themselves feel real, so the story itself becomes that much more potent and powerful. Your heart hurts for the characters not only because of the situation that they're in, but because they feel like real people so their emotions feel that much more authentic.
This show subverted my expectations, not by throwing unexpected plot twists in but by surprising me with how meaningful and thoughtful everything was. Don't get me wrong, the plot does twist and turn, but ultimately what makes this show great is the way it impresses you with how well-crafted the story is, how interesting the characters are, how thoughtfully the time-travel is used, and how perfect the ending is. This is very justifiably being called one of the best dramas of 2020, and despite how early in the year it is, I do think this title will last.
What on earth am I supposed to watch after this?!?! I feel like ruined for watching any other show, my expectations are too high now.
Also I wrote a silly summary of this show on my blog: https://kdramakitty.tumblr.com/post/612309126870106112
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Chu Qiao is one of my favorite female protagonists I’ve seen in a cdrama. She’s smart, she’s loyal, she’s determined, and she’s a total badass. The growth she undergoes from being a slave just trying to stay alive to super skilled fighter able to take revenge on her enemies is great. She has her own goals and she will not be swayed from the path she has decided to take. I love that while the guys will sometimes come and rescue her from whatever predicament she’s in, she has pretty much handled it already (taken down 9 of 10 bad guys, cleverly talked her way out of a situation, etc) so they are just basically helping her wrap things up lol. Her character growth throughout the entire show is so interesting and fun to watch.
I seem to be in the minority in that I liked Yan Xun wayyyy more than Yuwen Yue. Yuwen Yue was fine, but kinda boring. I gave zero craps about his Heavenly Spies or wtf he was up to. He undergoes some character growth which is great but also... idk I just never really cared. Yan Xun on the other hand changes a lot and I found him and his story so compelling. I also found his and Chu Qiao’s relationship way more interesting. The things they experience together, how that brings them together, and how their relationship changes as they themselves change is great to watch.
I’m also possibly in the minority of liking the cliffhanger ending. I can see how it would be infuriating for someone who was watching the show while it was airing. But I will admit that the show suffers from some pacing issues and gets dragged down by subplots that don’t end up being important or even get resolved. That’s what frustrated me towards the end; not the actual ending, but how I felt like I was dragging myself through the last 10 episodes. I was truly invested in how it was going to end and what would happen to the characters. But because there are all these subplots and side characters, it was annoying to sit through the stuff I didn’t find interesting to get to the actual plot and conflicts that I cared about. They also low key seemed to forget about a few important plot points and just threw them in at the end.
The last episodes were also weird in that there was so much use of green screens. I generally try to not judge a show based on technical stuff but it was so distracting that it took away from the very serious and important stuff was occurring in those scenes. I’m sure there was some reason irl that they needed to reshoot those scenes or something.
Tl;dr this show has a very solid plot, an amazing female protagonist and other good characters, but does get bogged down towards the end.
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Overall, I think the show is quite good and you should watch it. If the romance was better that would have elevated the show to a 9/10, but it’s definitely a good show without an amazing romance.
P.S. why are 50 cops trying to solve these handful of murders? Do they not have other cases? Lol
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...what?
I mean, I gotta respect the fact that dozens of people were like “yep, this sounds crazy, but we are gonna make this show anyways.” And I think it works out! Maybe? Watching it is a weird experience. Yes, this is a show about a school nurse who fights off jellies. The thing that makes this show actually weird is how seriously it plays it. The jellies are bright colored, sometimes cute looking, occasionally truly monstruous looking. The school nurse fights off these jellies using a multicolored lightsaber and squirt guns. But this show does not have quirky, cute music, or even many jokes. The tone is more like what you’d expect from... maybe like a show about a school haunted by ghosts. Except it’s colorful jellies. Occasionally when the jellies take over a student or something the behavior of the students can be really disturbing. But then a jelly will explode into a million cute red hearts. Like wtf is happening. (There is a bit of an ick factor, btw. Pulling the jellies out of people’s skin can look gross. Another person eats the jellies and it’s hella gross.)The main duo are great. I don’t really know how to label their relationship. Reluctant allies turned friends? They have a pretty funny dynamic but in a subtle way. They both have very different attitudes towards these events. The school nurse Ahn Eun-young is my favorite character, and is in the running to be my fave kdrama character of the year. She’s slightly unhinged, blunt, a bit cynical but still working hard to save the day. She’s a very unique character and I like her a lot.
You kinda have to turn off your brain to watch this show because trying to process the weird tone and random stuff happening is a bit much and you’re not really meant to understand it anyways. My main criticism is that they try to ram in some random plot points towards the end and they just didn’t spend enough time explaining the two different secret societies. But it didn’t really seem like it mattered anyways.
I do recommend the show as an experience but I’d have a hard time recommending it as really good.
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I think this show balances its tone very well. It's got horror elements, a mystery, some romance, some drama, some humorous scenes and heartwarming moments. It doesn't veer off too far into any of them, so nothing feels particularly jarring. I almost wish this show was a bit more dark, but that probably would've taken away from some other elements that I really enjoyed.
The two characters I enjoyed the most were Li Lan and Er Lang. Er Lang in particular gets some great character development; he's the trickster-type character, who is outwardly self-serving but ends up being sensitive to how he affects other people. Not only to our lead protagonist, Li Lan, but with others as well, which I think rounds him out well as a character. Li Lan is also a great lead protagonist; she's strong, but more in the sense of having inner strength and resolve. She's very compassionate, and while I would occasionally disagree with decisions she made I recognized that it wouldn't make sense for her as a character to act differently.
I wish this show had a slightly bigger budget so it could improve some of the special effects, and also expand upon some of the sets, which seemed kind of small (like the downtown area, which appeared to be like one street). A lot of the characters don't get a lot of development, but the show is short and it focused on telling the story, which is what it should have done. Besides, Li Lan and Er Lang got plenty of development and it was very satisfying. I loved their adventures together! I hope there's a second season so we can continue to see them go on adventures.
I made a fun powerpoint about it if you’re interested: https://kdramakitty.tumblr.com/post/190884435519
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A short, well-written time travel thriller that you should definitely watch.
Reset does a good job of keeping things relatively simple: there’s a bomb on the bus, and we gotta figure out whodunnit and how to save everyone. Things keep going wrong, our main duo die or fall asleep, and then wake back up on the bus. They keep living the same day over and over again. Despite all the loops I don’t think it’s confusing, though I did feel my head spinning at a certain point. It was interesting seeing how they handled the time loops differently each time. I didn’t like the cops in this show so I was like “ugh go away, our time travelers are trying to save everyone and you’re stopping them.” Our main duo are absolutely fantastic. I appreciate that they aren’t super geniuses or total dummies. They feel very human; they make mistakes, they’re impulsive, they get progressively tired and traumatized as they experience terrible things over and over. Sometimes they want to give up, as they don’t want to put themselves through it all again. Their relationship also builds and it’s fun seeing them grow closer. You really care about them and want them to figure things out. I appreciate that you get to know the other passengers as well. It makes them feel more like real people, so you’re even more invested in saving them. The villain is also well-written and their motivation makes sense. The progression of the story unfolds nicely, as you do learn more and more with each loop. Occasionally the loops are played for comedic effect as well. I do think this probably could’ve been a 12 episode show as it did feel like there could have been fewer loops, but aside from that I don’t think I really have any criticism about it. The ending is great as well.Was this review helpful to you?
This show certainly has heartbreak but is also full of heartwarming moments. The beginning in particular is very hard to watch (trigger warning: suicide). It starts off fairly dark, but after that I think I don't think it gets as dark. Mostly because at that point there are characters who love and support each other, so our sad characters have someone to lean on. What really impressed me the most was the character growth in this show, as well as the excellent development of relationships. There's a lot of healing in this drama and found family, themes which I tend to like, reminding me of shows like Just Between Lovers or 30 but 17 (in fairness, I do like those shows more than this one). Characters are healing from traumatic event(s) together, and both biologically-related families and not-related families grow closer and support each other.
Is the pace of this show slow? It's certainly slower than I'm used to. I don't necessarily want to find fault in that though, because that's just the format of a 100 episode show. This isn't paced like a conventional 16/20 episode kdrama, but I do think it's well-paced. I always felt like things were happening, whether that was developments in the plot or relationships. The couples are darn cute in this show and they're a joy to watch. If you enjoy romances in kdramas and wish you got to see more times of your fave couple together, well hey, maybe you should watch a 100 episode kdrama!
That being said, I'll complain about a few things. This show focuses on multiple families, so there's a lot of characters, some of whom I didn't like or care about. So when we spent time on those characters, I wasn't thrilled, and because it's 100 episodes we get plenty of scenes of them. I honestly skipped through some scenes because they didn't seem relevant to the plot. I overall enjoyed where the story went in this show, but there were a few plot lines that wrapped up in a way I didn't like (I am SO MAD about how a certain relationship ends up). I also didn't like how jealousy seemed to be a driving factor for a couple of our male leads.
tl;dr Characters and relationships are great, it's pretty well-paced despite the 100 episodes, is heartwarming and sad in all the right ways, but does have a few subplots and characters I didn't care about. Someone please make Yoon Park the main male lead, and have a second season where Kang Shi Wol is a main character so he gets the girl.
I made a silly powerpoint review thing of this show on my blog: https://kdramakitty.tumblr.com/post/618516301745471488
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The biggest problems with the show are:
- there are so many psychopaths/crazy people in this show. Consequently, a lot of character’s actions and behaviors are so weird and make no sense but they’re “crazy” so the writers don’t have to justify anything.
- A lot of the explanations for events or decisions involve the “well, they’re crazy” excuse, but even without it the explanations for things are so weird and unbelievable. It’s honestly amazing to watch all the crazy things the writers come up with. This escalates throughout the show so it becomes more and more full of nonsense. Almost nobody acts like a real person in this show to the point that it becomes comical.
- There’s a lot of misleading plot elements of the show. The romance is a big one, of course, but other things like who reincarnated into what body was intentionally vague for quite some time that I stopped caring about it.
- The romance. There’s a love triangle, of course, but it seems pretty clear which of the guys is a better (or at least healthier) choice. However, she does not draw boundaries with the guy she is not romantically interested in and allows him to get away with anything. And weirdly enough, even after it’s clear who she has feelings for, there are still scenes with the other guy that have romantic music, like the show wants us to think it’s romantic when (1) clearly his obsession with her is not romantic and is really creepy, (2) his actions are not okay, and (3) she isn’t romantically interested in him, so she does not feel the romance in the scene. The show is trying to justify this other romance but neither the characters’ actions nor the actors themselves convey the emotion the show seems to think is happening in a scene. If they admitted that he was a really creepy dude then it would’ve been more like a dark thriller type thing but no, they push the romance instead.
- The female lead in this show is probably the worst I’ve seen. I’d like to say upfront that I do not dislike her because of the actress or really even because of who she is as a character; it is because the writers made her make the most astonishing and unbelievable decisions, and her emotions make no sense. She has this savior complex and is willing to forgive the worst kinds of behavior from the male lead to the point that it becomes painful to watch her onscreen. I started to space out every time she was in a scene because if my brain was on at all I’d start yelling at her about the choices she was making and actions she was doing. It’s impossible to sympathize with her and/or like her because she doesn’t act like any real rational human being. I feel really, really bad for her, because honestly if she was a better character that might’ve made this show at least semi-good.
The main redeeming quality of this show was Lee Soo Hyuk. I hope his next show is better than this one (admittedly, it’s a very low bar). I’d say if you find the dark angsty romance appealing you should check out other shows like The Smile Has Left Your Eyes or even Come and Hug Me. Goodbye My Princess might also be a good choice.
Btw I wrote an entire recap of the show if you’re curious what happens but don’t want to subject yourself to watching the whole show: https://kdramakitty.tumblr.com/post/620780309390196736/born-again-summaryrecap
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The best part of this show are the main three characters and their respective actors. I think every one of them was perfect for their role. Jo Bo Ah is fantastic; her character is a rational (though very stressed) woman who is trying to get by but is also trying to do the best by her students. I appreciate that her choices feel realistic and she acts like a real adult. I really appreciated that her character didn’t string along Kwak Dong Yeon’s character but clearly stated her feelings and drew boundaries. Kwak Dong Yeon was frickin fantastic, playing a dark and twisted man who is also deeply scarred and searching for validation and affection. Yoo Seung Ho is his charming self. He truly has great charisma and I think he’s amazing in both serious and comedic scenes. The flashbacks to their younger selves are really great as well, and are sweet and heartbreaking. And goshdarnit, the main couple is so cute it’s ridiculous. They have great banter and chemistry. The rest of the cast is excellent too and I didn’t find any characters annoying or superfluous.
The show does feel more like a melodrama in the beginning and then shifts to a more romcom/school life show as it goes on. So I can understand that if you wished the show had stayed a little more dark and more of an interpersonal conflict centered show that you may be a bit disappointed. However, while I agree that would’ve been interesting, I still do like the direction that Bok Soo’s revenge took. Instead of being directed at a few specific people, it was turned into taking down the corrupt system that failed him in the past and is currently hurting other students. Was it kinda corny? Yep. Was it realistic? Not really. But I did appreciate the messages that the show delivered.
Overall I would recommend it if the premise sounds interesting to you. If you’re interested in only the melodrama or romcom/school life parts then other shows that focus more on either one of those would be probably better for you to watch. At the very least, the show may be worth checking out to see how awesome the main three actors are, and you can drop it if you end up not loving it.
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Then, you ask, why am I giving this a 7, and not like a lower score? The saving grace of the show is its noir style. Goodness, if this show was just played straight it would be an unbelievable and ridiculous crime show where everyone is terrible at their job and characters keep flip flopping back and forth to the point where you give up trying to understand why anyone is doing what they’re doing and you’d rightfully turn the show off and watch something else. But this show’s soundtrack, lighting, coloring, setting and so on are so entrancing to watch and experience that if you just turn your brain off you’ll have an enjoyable time. It’s great to watch a show where it is apparent how much thought and craft was put into the way it looks and feels. The soundtrack is one of the best I’ve heard in a crime show. The fight scenes are well choreographed and shot well (hey directors, did you know you can shoot a fight scene that is well-lit but still conveys the darkness of the tone?) and are quite memorable. The show is often filmed at night or indoors, so there’s this lack of light and air that adds to the darkness of the tone and the sense of futility.
The main 4 characters (Doctor’s Son, Safari, Soo, and Jin Suk noona) are all such great characters to watch. They’re very unique and I think the noir style of the show is what allows them to have their interesting but complicated relationships. Like everyone else, I love Doctor’s Son and he is an amazing character brought to life by great acting. The costume department gets an A+ for all the great suits they have him wear. Soo Min is great too but less interesting than the other characters. Hyung Min is bad at his job and I hate him. Director Min is the worst and is stupid (he’s portrayed as this puppet master but like... dude he’s terrible at it).
Now that I’ve discussed the strengths of this show, I’ll comment on the problems, which include: everything else about it. The plot gets more and more ridiculous as the show goes along, with constantly shifting allegiances and characters revealing hidden identities to the point that it becomes a bit absurd. I lost track of characters’ agendas because of all these switches. The antagonist keeps changing as people’s hidden identities or allegiances are revealed, so sometimes I was unsure who our “good guys” were going after. The characters continuously make bad decisions that still end up being fine in the long run, like walking into an obvious trap but they escape so it’s fine, or a cop shoots another cop but there ends up being no consequences, etc. The show keeps a lot of characters’ intentions in the dark to the point that it becomes confusing rather than intriguing, so I gave up trying to figure out what people really wanted. Occasionally the editing wasn’t great; for example, I would get confused over how much time had passed between scenes and I think that’s due to the abruptness of some cuts. The end of the show was a bit messy in terms of editing and also just the plot itself. This was actually where the noir style failed a bit to me; noir has a cynical view of the world, but despite the character deaths I thought the show ended on a pretty happy note. It focused more on eliminating a few evil people, rather than the city (you know... the “cruel city”) and its corrupt systems. Also I thought the choice of the characters who died was weighed more heavily on those that would have more emotional impact on the viewer, rather than imparting the sense of loss of innocence and naïveté at the hands of a cruel world.
I’d love it if there were more crime shows that embraced this kind of noir style, so I have a hard time discounting this show because it really does stand out. But I just rewatched it for the first time since 2013 and it unfortunately did not hold up well. I think we’ve been blessed with enough excellent crime shows since then that now I have higher standards (you know... like the plot making sense). I still think very fondly of this show, but I unfortunately think that it’s not as great as I remembered.
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Ahem. Wow, I did not see that coming. This was a short, beautiful, tragic love story. I generally don’t see myself as a fan of tragedies, but there’s something about knowing that a story will end tragically that makes it compelling to see how it gets there. And of course, you’re rooting for the possibility that perhaps fate will change. After all, this is a time travel(ish) show, so surely the timeline can be changed!
I really don’t want to spoil too much of the plot, but it is super solid. I don’t think that this is a huge spoiler… but you essentially have someone continually moving backwards through time. That is, the first time he time travels is closest to present day, and the next time is farther away, and so on. I think this is an interesting and compelling set up, especially because you know this story ends tragically. The romance started off as mostly a plot device for me in the beginning, but by halfway through I was rooting for our main couple so hard. I don’t think the actors have incredible chemistry, but narratively they fit together so well and they clearly care about each other deeply. There is also a secondary couple who are very sweet. The relationships and characters are all interesting and compelling. I really don’t want to spoil anything but I thought it was everything from the plot, character development, and relationships, were executed very well. The only reason this show isn’t a 10/10 is because there are a few small plot contrivances. They are not a big deal whatsoever but do prevent me from saying this show is 100% flawless.
I found this show continually heart wrenching, and yet I still loved it for breaking my heart. Please do yourself a favor and watch it.
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The production value is certainly high, the cinematography is great, and the fight scenes are amazing as always. I think the scenes with the zombies are still the highlights of the show, just because they are so well done. I was surprised about how much I enjoyed the political angle this season. That was one of my complaints about the last season, that I didn’t enjoy the politics as much, but I think it helped that in this season there was more payoff to the things set up in the previous season. The Crown Prince stepping up and inspiring people and looking out for them was great. The question this season was less “wtf are these things” but rather “wtf are we going to do about them,” and seeing our characters try to tackle that question was interesting, and that did involve the political side of the show. So while I felt like there was less zombie fighting this season I still really enjoyed it!
I think the show did a better job of developing the characters this season, though it still feels a little lacking. There was one major relationship focused on and it is good that they chose that one because they had (mildly) developed it in the previous season. It is a bit frustrating because I can see how these characters have potential, and the glimpses of their backstories are interesting, but they still get very little focus. This show is very plot-driven rather than character or relationship driven, which is fine, but perhaps I’m just used to getting a bit more depth about the characters. Perhaps in the third season (if there is one) they’ll be a bit less busy and can get around to exploring the characters a bit more.
The show is certainly well paced and I think the twists in the plot are very good. Nothing feels too predictable but it also doesn’t feel like they’re trying to trick you. There were moments where I was like, “oh no... oh noooo... *gasp* that’s so bad... I can’t believe they did that...” (if you’ve seen the show, you can likely think of several times when that happened). Some of the twists involved the choices that characters made, and that was really interesting (a benefit to not developing your characters means we have no idea what they’re going to do! (Sorry, that’s a joke, I swear)). The ends of each episode are great little cliffhangers, which is a nice little example of how good the editing and/or script is. The cliffhangers at the end of this season did have me rolling my eyes a little, like I frickin should’ve expected they would do that. Though if there isn’t a third season I think the way they ended this season would still be pretty satisfying. Tbh I don’t fully understand why the Crown Prince made the choice he did but oh well.
I pretty much have to give this show a 9/10 because the story is so good, it’s so well made and the zombie scenes are amazing. I would love to give this show a higher rating but the way it’s been rolled out (seemingly split in half, the cliffhangers at the end of each season that are genuinely a bit frustrating) in addition to the fact that the characters feel underdeveloped brings it down a bit.
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I would say one of the show’s strengths is that it is pretty well balanced. It’s got romance, tragedy, conspiracies, schemes to claim the throne, revenge, jealousy between concubines, etc and all of these are interwoven fairly well. That way if you get tired of scheming by the empress you’ll soon switch over to another conspiracy going on, or the development of some characters’ relationships. The palace drama builds gradually so part of what may make it more interesting than usual is that you have a greater understanding of all the players involved and what their goals are. Despite the fact that this drama isn’t fast-paced I still felt it didn’t linger too long on certain plot points. While some plot threads do wrap up at different points it always still felt like things were moving forward, so I was compelled to keep watching to see how the rest of it went. This was also one of the few cdramas I’ve found that actually consistently had episodes end on a cliffhanger, so I definitely wanted to keep watching!
I really liked Xiaofeng! I find that dramas often take a naive silly female protagonist and over the course of the show make them more cunning and more ruthless. Even as Xiaofeng does mature and become smarter she still remains foolish because of her tendency to blindly trust people and her incapability to lie or be mean to others. She wants to see the best in other people, and although that means she makes foolish decisions it’s almost heartwarming to see that she still believes that people would treat her with the same sincerity and kindness that she is showing to them. I really liked how her upbeat personality and kindness persisted despite the terrible things that happened.
All the male leads can piss off. Okay fiiiine I may not like the main male leads but they are interesting characters so that’s good. I unambiguously like all the female characters, empress included. Can someone please inform some of these characters that murdering someone’s family *is* a good reason for them to hate you? Thanks.
The costumes were legit 50% of the reason why I started this show and they did not disappoint. Not only did they differ from other shows I’ve watched, they were so incredibly detailed and there were so many! They also made a masterful use of colors. For example, red is Xiaofeng’s color, but as she comes into the palace she wears primarily pink, which helps show how her personality is muted or has to be toned down to be there. The sets were amazing too with lots of unique architecture (the throne room for example) and beautiful details. Even side character’s rooms will have beautiful paintings in the background.
Tl;dr this show is a tragedy, but well balanced enough that it doesn’t feel constantly depressing and terrible, and the plot and characters have quite a bit of variety so it remains interesting throughout. Despite the fact that I think other cdramas have some better parts (the romance in this show was good enough, but definitely other shows have better couples) this show was consistently good at every level. I think it does rank among my top cdramas because I watched all of it and enjoyed almost every part of it!
A slightly more comical version of this review can be found here: https://kdramakitty.tumblr.com/post/616487078421757952
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