Knavery

Production value is high you won't find anything that decisively surpasses it. The acting is alright and I don't really have a criticism of any of them.

There are a lot more moving parts than most other stories. It is kind of slow like Nirvana in Fire. But there is some light magic/prophecy/destiny stuff like some more fantasy wuxia stories. The problem is NIF and almost all other period/wuxia dramas... the focus is one character or one couple or one cause. There might be scenes without them but they're clearly side characters.

Tribes & Empires is a lot more like Game of Thrones or American shows like Heroes. They have multiple main characters and storylines and only near the end will they truly converge on each other. For example they focus on Tribe-Boy these last ~4 episodes (38-42) with only a handful of scenes for the other 2 main characters. But the previous episodes before 38 had a much heavier focus on the 2 other characters and almost no Tribe-boy scenes.

The description is a little vague but you have 3 men as the main characters.

One from a tribe out in the prairies. One abandoned as a baby because of a prophecy but who comes from the most powerful military family in the land. One from the royal family, a prince who is an outcast because of a prophecy.

Each has a woman attached to them. Tribe-boy has a princess who treats him like a pet but eventually starts to fall for him. Military-boy has a girl he saved when they were both children. Prince-boy has a girl in some crystal ball who is a 'spirit' like his mother was.

The 3 men each have a prophecy about how they will conquer and rule. 1 of the girls has a prophecy (she will be Empress).

And essentially you have a really slow paced show that kind of skips between each of the 3 leads and their journey to achieve (or avoid) their destiny.

Not bad. A little weird how events transpire but a good message, especially at the end as she watches the video of herself where she's so happy and free with him where she can never be as the mistress of that boss. Part of me is glad they didn't end up together and he left because of how he lied to her to live out his fantasy for a day.

The problem is he looks dumb and he acts dumb. He got his family killed. He got his wife and her family killed. He has and will get more of his friends killed.

There is nothing about him that would make me believe this guy could unite and conquer anything.

It's probably challenging enough for the character to conquer putting his pants on in the morning and doing his shoes. "King of the world", lol. There's confidence and then there's delusional. The writers may think they wrote a confident character but it's plain as day they wrote a half-wit who is arrogant.

He's dumb. He's not very good at fighting. It's the worst possible combination for a supposed "conqueror". At the very least you want a smart character who can make tactical decisions, read a situation and respond quickly. He hasn't done any of that.

The best episodes are still the ones without Shuofeng in it.

A feel good drama without a lot of realism and depth but sometimes these dramas are a needed break.

I have no idea how Weightlifting Fairy has 9.0/10. It ended in 2017 so does it count? Or start date has to be in 2017?

The Empire of Japan had ruled over Korea for a few decades. 1931 the Japanese staged an 'attack' on a Japanese owned railroad in Manchuria and used it as an excuse to invade them and expand their empire.

The Japanese have a long list of war crimes. Read the description of the show. Soo Ji is looking for a matchmaker to get married. What kind of problems could a single non-Japanese woman face?

It's 1930s Korea - I guess the description doesn't say that. If you know a little about history - you should have an idea of what is going on in Asia at the time. That's the dark background.

I wish he wasn't a main character. Spoiled and stupid brat grows up into stupid and whiny man. He's worse than useless. He seems to get anyone close to him killed through his own stupidity and unwillingness to listen to others.

Any character trying to do the right thing or help him: "We shouldn't do this"
His response every time: "WHAAA UNFAIR I WANT TO DO IT ANYWAYS SO I WILL"

I'm almost certainly going to start skipping through his parts. The character is an annoying abomination up there with the women who are second leads in Thai Lakorns. Bad job by the writers.

Yeah. The background of the story is pretty dark but the story itself is your typical one where a guy reluctantly helps a girl and falls for her.

It depends. I thought it was good and I can't wait for the next episodes. The acting of the leads seems to be good. I kind of wish I waited now so I could binge watch the whole thing at my leisure instead of anticipating new episodes each week.

She's played some really different characters in her acting career so far. I'll give it a go.

He didn't pay anything for her work though. She waited in line to get the item and he decides to pay nothing because there was ketchup on it? Ketchup he could likely wipe off easily? It would be one thing if it was scratched or it was something more corrosive that would damage the packaging but we're talking about ketchup.

She only threatened to damage his necklace after he accused her of stealing it despite her denials and then threatened to sue her in person and got his company lawyer (her brother) to start a lawsuit.

He's not allergic to ketchup or being reasonable. He's mostly to blame.

Not really. The domestic audience is always the most important and they speak English.

Shows produced for an American or British audience about ancient Greece, Egypt, Rome, Renaissance Italy, France, etc... and even early period of England use modern 20th/21st century English.

Not too many people want to watch a movie with subtitles.

I would also question how similar 2017 Mandarin is to whatever form of Chinese language was spoken in the 6th century. Language changes.

Slow but steady. I like it. The production values, cinematography are super high quality.

It's your typical Chinese webdrama in terms of format. I think most of the way it's a decent story but then towards the end, things go off the rails a little bit.

You have two souls in a body in ancient times. One is a demure girl from a prestigious family who belongs in her time, the other is a saleswoman, a real estate agent if I remember right.

So of course the modern girl gets in to all sorts of trouble and comedic situations because she doesn't know the etiquette. If that appeals to you - go ahead.

It's hard to know for sure with only 1 episode but it seems like a comedy-romance and a potential love triangle.

The main character, a super genius math teacher is introduced in the show helping his best friend solve crime... so I would say it will play a significant role in the show.

Now it seems like the woman has some skills such as appraising and knowledge of the art and jewelry industries so maybe she will begin to play a role as well. She gave us some flashbacks that suggest she might play a significant role in crime-solving in the future of the show.

I thought it was a pretty good first episode but since it's only episode 1 of 15, there are no guarantees.

The father and the stepbrother have to be the two dumbest businessmen and people ever. They never tell the son/brother anything and criticize him relentlessly. It's like if I prevented a student from studying, failed them and went "well this is your fault".

I understand episode 1 shows he's kind of like a trust fund kid who shirks his responsibilities but any time he tries to show growth - the father and stepbrother are actively trying to harm his attempts. It's bad. It's just not good business or good people skills.

I still think it's a stretch from speaking to acting in the language. I suppose if she works hard, memorizes the lines and only needs to focus on her expressions and tone of voice she'll be alright. I guess the big thing here is they want some appeal to China instead of getting a more unknown Asian or Chinese American/Brit/Canadian.

The obvious comparison to make here is Aladdin where the main cast and majority of all the cast is from America/UK or they were born in the Middle-East/Turkey and have lived longterm in Europe and have excellent English skills.