Kannadin

Is it wrong to laugh out loud at the bullies getting a dose of their own medicine?

I can't help it but on the other side it makes me feel like I'm a bad person to rejoice at their sufferring. I mean... They definitely deserved what they got... But it just feels like I should be "satisfied" but not "happy" about it... But... well. Can't say I'm not happy about it... Gah... I don't know...

Xie Wei has the nastiest temper ever. I watched shorts online full of red flag romantic tension... but my God watching the show, even I couldn't root for him. Well I'm sure spending most of your life being raised by a tyrant threatening your life after being raised by a snake can mess with your head... But any sane woman would have fled in the other direction...

I think he deserves happiness so I'm glad Ning'er is nuts enough to embrace him... But I don't necessarily approve of the whole process.

Hopefully "off camera", he learned to control that nasty temper of his.

On the other hand the death of *insert character* was completely unnessary. I got "The Prisoner of Beauty" trauma... Do I now have to consider that in these C dramas, because now they're mostly avoiding tragedies and giving us HE, they feel required to kill the most likeable characters?

I'm tired of getting attached to characters that are bound to die near the end due to the "we need to give them a bittersweet ending" rule.

EDIT: AH! I forgot... I know Chinese love their dramatic scenes but come ON' guys! The last episode is ridiculous! You have several things happening at the same time near the same place, yet one side has thunder and rain POURING with an overall completely grey and cloudy sky and the other has a bright blue sky...

Not even grey... Bright blue... I was like WTF? Sometimes it happens, two places next to each other have different weather but hey, there's no walls in the sky... If it's raining here and not there, usually the sky is a uniform grey everywhere, not bright blue here and grey there.... Suspension of disbelief has its limit you know?

Also I REALLY want to know what type of fiber Ning Er and Xie Wei bodyguard's clothes are made of. They were literally drenched as if they had swam in a swimming pool but a couple of minutes later, they're all perfectly dry like nothing happenned. That's fantasy level at this point. I happened to be drenched myself a couple of time and sadly when you're still wearing the clothes in questions, it takes a couple of hours to be completely dry (especially the underwear) so I WANT TO KNOW, what kind of magic is this? (On a side note there's also Ning Er's make up but well at this point...)

Well actually not a fight for me either, but nobody knows how to talk on MDL anymore obviously. People get offended for no reason. I've given up walking on eggshells to talk. If disagreeing or pointing out the fact that it's a bit unusual for somebody to seek out a comment made a week ago hurts your feelings, just block me, I don't care.

Well I 'm not saying the reincarnation theory is wrong. My take is it's a mix of reincarnation and time-travel. I think personally that the simple fact that Se Gye dreams about his past, proves that he is indeed the reincarnation of the Grand Prince.

I personally think people are being overly dramatic in the comment section. Sure, it could have been more explicit in the explanations, but I don't think the whole drama should be thrown under the bus because of the last 4 episodes... I personally wish we had gotten a bit more silliness in the last 2... and it was mostly contemplative for sure but no it doesn't deserve a 5. But again that's just my opinion.

I don't think the writing was sloppy but some things could have been done better for sure.

Hmm... I had this wild theory when 4 or 6 episodes were out that Seo Ri and Dan Shim had switched place in their childhood and that the Prince had fallen in love with Shin Seo Ri... not Dan Shim... The theory went like this. Shin Seo Ri was indeed the reincarnation of Dan Shim but their souls were " in the wrong time", they both had switched when Seo Ri had "the event that happenned in her childhood" ( at the time we didn't know her parents had attempted to take their and her life, we just knew something traumatic had happened and she had lost her acting ability) but thanks to the commet, both could return to their "own time"... It didn't really matter if the Grand Prince fell in love with Seo Ri instead of Dan Shim because ultimately, they share the same soul hence they're the same person. So if it ended like that, it was coherent with that theory and the end was fine.

It ended up being slightly different, as Seo Ri travels to the past AGAIN, saves the Grand Prince and by some weird magic goes back to the present AGAIN. And for some mysterious reasons, Dan Shim back in her own time remembers she has befriended the Prince? That's a bit... err nonsensical? While the Prince falls in love with Seo RI/Dan Shim it makes, sense he's in love with her but it doesn't make sense that Dan Shim is in love with the Prince or that she acts like Seo Ri with the same spunk... After all though they share the same soul, they don't necessarily have the same personality but whatev'.

But since everybody was insisting on the reincarnation thingy, and there was nothing that proved my theory was more plausible than the classic reincarnation trope... I gave it up at some point... There was also some strong arguments playing in favor of the reincarnation trope, so I caved in. Only to find that my "wild theory" that I had written weeks ago, vehemently argued against by some members ( not complaining here, we're here to discuss different ideas) was indeed the "right theory".

Well... Lesson for the future: Next time, I'll only trust myself instead. I might be completely wrong, but better be wrong because I guessed wrong than be wrong because I followed everyone. Especially since it gives a satisfying ending on my part, though this ending might be understandably frustrating for some viewers.

Anyway I really loved most of the show, but I do think it lost some steam for the last 4. Still, a solid 8.5 for me in spite of some plot points given up halfway and some illogical nonsense. It was still mostly entertaining so I'm giving it a pass. It was great for 10 episodes... Mid for ep 11- 12 and some good and meh for ep 13-14... Didn't finish with a bang but still left me with a smile.

1. MY GOD! You went to look for a comment written a week ago! That's err slightly obsessive don't you think?

EDIT: OK. Now I remember the comment in question and that I told you I answered below and what did I wrote? :

https://mydramalist.com/788412-brave-new-world#comment-26449640

"Nah Se gye is fighting... They've hinted at it when we see him being questioned at the police station. He's hinted that somebody is behind his misfortune and proposed a deal with the policeman... We've never seen the aftermath of that. Also, a couple of episodes again while talking with his secretary they mentioned the fact that they're gathering evidence but that now wasn't the right time to use them or that they didn't enough at the moment. "



So exactly what hapenned. Not that Se Gye wasn't doing anything. The show had already hinted that things were happenning in the background,.. unlike what you wrote actually, saying Se Gye wasn't doing anything... So I don't really understand this answer of yours... It's got nothing linked with the spidey sense you talked about... and for the other part you were actually wrong.

2. I haven't watched the last two episodes yet and have avoided this page to avoid spoilers so far. Fortunately, I don't remember which comment you're talking about . Could have been a big spoiler on your part... I can deduce you were disappointed though...

Well. I'd argue that the show was overall pretty nice in spite of a less than stellar ending. It wasn't enough to ruin the whole experience ( or so I hope since at the time I'm watching this, I've yet to watch the end).

Well I ended up binging it.

Honestly I liked that for once I didn't have to commit to 40 episodes for a C drama and also the fact that appart from the two first episodes, each episodes is around 30 minutes, opening and ending included (except episode 8 which is 40mn if I remember well).

It's a solid 8 for me... Most ratings on MDL are inflated but this is one instance where I think people have been pretty unfair with the show ( to be fair 7.6 isn't a bad rating per say, but given the ratings habit of the MDL community, no drama which overall rating is below 8 can be considered "good").

I liked it though I'm removing 2 points for episode 10 to 12... Too rushed, had to rely too much on suspension of disbelief with one character taking weird decision given their profile, another surviving God knows how etc. I felt that for these 3 episodes, they should have made the episodes longer, or add 2 or 3 to make it more coherent...

I also didn't like the fact that one character was carrying guilt they weren't responsible for. One such guilt was never truly clarified with the other so their stance at the end was a bit weird.

All in all, for a 12 episodes drama, they did pretty well but the drama would have been better with a slightly longer length.

Still it was different from your usual C drama fare, so just for that, I would recommend it if you're craving something fresh and short.... Just be aware that although it ends with a hopeful message, most of the stories in this show are pretty tragic, so don't watch this when you're feeling a bit blue.

Well just started this one so I'm holding judgement until I've completed it. It's been a long time since I no longer bother with MDL ratings esp. on C dramas.

I love my C drama historicals and wuxias but it's nice to get something different from time to time. It's sad China doesn't produce more of those but I guess it's more difficult to navigate censorship with that genre.

Ooooh... I really didn't see that twist in episode 4! Well done show well done!

Can't argue with you on that point... I haven't read the original material.

Your first answer, as well as lanya's and the previous comment that was erased is missing the point of my initial comment which I detailed in my following answer so I won't repeat what I already wrote. Your second answer is more on point and while I agree when you write:

___________________

"What I disagree with, though, is the idea that a breakthrough hit automatically means an actor should only take main lead roles from that point onward. That's not really how the industry works. A successful breakout project creates opportunities, but what matters just as much is what comes after it: the quality of the projects chosen, the directors, the scripts, the genres, and the long-term career strategy.

In fact, choosing a more serious historical drama with heavier and more tragic themes can be a much smarter career move than simply taking the first available main lead role. Not every lead role is equally valuable, and not every supporting role is a downgrade. Strategy matters."

__________

The truth of it is... while it's theoretically true, most actors who have a breakout role tend to stick to first lead roles. Rare are those who are going to still go for 2nd lead roles unless the whole casting is made of A list stars ... This is regardless of how the role has been written, i.e the 2nd role being more interesting or not.

As someone who got bullied through middle school (though not as much and as terrible as the bullying I've seen in countless K and J dramas)..I have to say... NO WONDER people love this drama. It is SO SATISFYING to see. Almost wish this could exist IRL.

What I mean is they just confirmed the cast officially but it probably was confirmed months ago. It's just that these press releases are timed to have the best effect.

Announcing that Heo Nam Jun is part of the cast as he's enjoying the same type of rise that Byun Woo Seok has gone through ( i.e a drama which success people didn't expect that steadily got more viewers through word of mouth and a character that viewers just love) is bound to raise more interest for the drama in question.

If they had confirmed the cast before the success of My Royal Nemesis, lots of people wouldn't necessarily have tuned it. Heo Nam Jun is the current "it" guy that everyone is talking about so it makes sense to confirm his casting now.

BUT, his agency would probably have not accepted A lead role for this drama instead of THE lead role ( doesn't matter that his character is a fan favorite, he's not the main love interest and that's it) if he had been casted now. They would have waited carefully for his next project as a lead. He probably signed the contract for this drama before MRN aired.

EDIT: Btw, I guess you can't put the same drama twice in your "drama challenge" because MRN does countain of truck of doom already...

They just announced the cast, but it probably had been decided WAY BEFORE. Otherwise I doubt Heo Nam Jun would have taken a 2ML role. It's fine.... Probably one of his last role as a 2ML. He's only gonna get lead roles from now on. Next time, the only chance he acts as an 2ML again is he acts next to Hyun Bin or Lee Dong Wook.

I think it depends on the size of the operation and on how difficult the operation is. In my country, most operations are done locally for teeth. I did 4 heavy operations with local anesthesia... BUT for my wisdom teeth, all of them had to be removed in my case and they did general anesthesia back then... That was more than 20 years ago though, so I'm not really sure my country's current health system would still go for general anesthesia this time.

EDIT: Also Se Gye is filthy rich, and hospitals in SK aren't free, he can afford to pay for general anesthesia... I don't think people with less money are given a choice.

Close to the end and I couldn't help but spoil myself the ending because the Empress was really getting on my nerves...Sadly, I think her ending is a bit too easy given all the harm she's done... I can't forgive her for ruining her second son's marriage just because she's a b*** basically. The one who should have been consort ended up being a concubine and the other who is the official consort, is now stuck in a loveless marriage for life... Ultimately, there's still the possibility of divorce but the humiliation it would bring on her family probably forces the poor girl to stay in that marriage.

The Empress didn't deserve any of her children.

Better that than what happened with "Let's Eat" Season 3 where the main actor had to leave DURING filming. The whole series had to be shortened and since he had postponed his enlistment date several times already there was no recourse possible which completed butchered the last season.

I remember I was waiting for the last season to finish before starting the series, only to read the ridiculous amount of complaints from viewers and deciding that I wasn't going to bother.

Lol that's for dramas in general but that wasn't what the original commenter was hinting at.

Ha! All that philosophy about Qi An is all great but let's be real here. This is an Isekai... A genre which is written mostly by men for men ( women tend to prefer reincarnation plots for some reason). And what type of story do you usually get? Some looser IRL enters a new world in which he can finally reach his full potential and while IRL women usually ignored him, in this foreign land, they all literally ovulate at his sight because now, he's powerful and handsome, the best of the best, women all want to sleep with him and other men all want to BE him.

I'm not familiar with the novel, but Qi An IRL ended up doing a job that wasn't what he aspired to. His life, while not the worse, was definitely not the one he wished for. BUT in this new world, he quickly rises to the top and fights for justice... just like what he truly wanted to do in real life.

No need to dive more into it. It's a classic male fantasy, just like having the perfect boyfriend who always do or say the right thing and is always supportive of the FL AND has only ever fallen for ONE specific girl is a classic female fantasy.

As for the rest.. I personally think there's no need for romance in this adaptation. I'd rather they removed it all together. I thought the romance aspect was the weakest thing in the first season. Also Tian Xi Wei has gotten a bit too big since this drama aired... I don't think her agency would accept giving her such a small role again... And nobody likes a hero that goes from one woman to the other, even if it's only one per season. Makes you wonder if he truly likes any of them.

Maybe it's interesting characterwise... But it doesn't change the fact that most viewers would HATE it to the point of dropping the show so better avoid this whole mess and just not bother with romance at all.

Well I've been to Korea... And I don't know for the truck of doom but from my experience, if you're living in Seoul, which is where most of this story is taking place, you're more likely to be run over by a food delivery scooter than a white truck though.