Weak Woman With Bland Personality Is Queen For Seven Days

I could barely finish this drama. I was only able to do so by skipping most of the dialogue.

PMY was...... unpardonably irritating as the main lead character here. She was the perfect perpetual victim. That was her one character trait, to be in a constant state of agitation. Yes, her character often had legitimate reasons to be scared, but that didn't mean it wasn't incredibly annoying to watch an entire series where that is the one and only feeling her character had.

The only charcter with any depth and range of emotion was LDG. I found myself rooting for him as the villain of the piece, just because I couldn't stand the woodenness of the two protagonists. The antagonist really did his best to be a good person, but found himself thwarted at every turn. He deserved the love that was unfairly denied him, and it without it, he was driven to madness. Anyway, the antagonist was the one person I cared about, and the one character with any depth. I would suggest skipping everything except LDG's parts, as those are the only ones that are worth watching.

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Teenage Forensic Pathologist Adventures

This is a drama not without its faults, but one that I found so enjoyable that I actually watched it a couple times through (I can't think of another drama I have watched through more than once).

Instead of an emotionless FL, or a silly bubbly one, we are treated to a relatable, calm, intelligent, and yes, very beautiful one instead. This is a refreshing change and a pleasant surprise. The FL, does act rather like a teenager, but only in the way she kind of mopes a bit, but never to the point of becoming annoying. She is victimized by her family, and it does have an emotional impact on her, but she doesn't spend too much time in self-pity, which is excellent.

The story itself details how she finds herself working for the city magistrate as a volunteer coroner (not really volunteer, as she doesn't have a lot of say in the matter). Subsequently, she finds herself helped by both the magistrate ML and a mysterious, stoic assassin SML character. Therein lies the love triangle, as both the ML and SML vie for her affections.

I admit to being one of the few that really enjoy love triangles, and this one was no acception. Both male characters had equally mysterious pasts, and as she got to know them better, the FL found her affections shift from one male lead to the other. Personally, this makes sense to me, as I find dramas more interesting when the FL's affections are staked in both male leads. It really bothers me when a FL spurs the SML when he has usually sacrificed everything to be with her. Plus, FLs in C dramas often fall in love too quickly, and don't take the time to really investigate how they feel about their male suitors. I liked how the FL in this drama had time to get to know each male lead over time.

Anyway, there are a handful of mysteries that the FL and ML must solve together, on top of the main storyline which involves the FL's own family, and her trying navigating her feelings about the two male leads in her life.

The mysteries have some cliche elements to them, and some outlandish elements as well, but I liked the fact that ultimately, there was a semi-rational explanation for the crimes that were investigated (well, kind of, sort of). I don't remember skipping through large sections of this drama out of boredom like I usually do, and that is saying a lot!

The SML is a big, ripped, stoic hunk of a man, with absolutely no character, who mainly just towers over the other characters looking very jacked. I am assuming he is more of a model than an actor. However, he kind of just fit into the story, and he wasn't annoying in any way.

I sometimes forget that these C dramas aren't animated. The colours are so rich (though pastel), that in my memory, everyone and everything gets turned into an animated drama. The way everything looks manicured in these C dramas, including the clothes of the characters, makes me view it in my mind like an animated series. I remember the cinematography being very good here. Beautiful colours.

If you are looking for a female character led mystery romance, this is my favourite. I like it even more than, "The Royal Coroner", which was also great (I liked this FL better than that one).

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Mythical Creatures in Republican Era

The premise of this drama had so much potential, but somehow fell flat as soon as we were introduced to the consistantly emotionless FL, who the emotionless actress, Gulnazar provided for us. If you watch dramas solely look at beautiful, yet stone cold FLs, then this will be your cup of (cold) tea.

I loved the idea of Ancient Chinese Mythical creatures inside a Republican Era China setting. A great idea for a drama! And I didn't mind the many interwoven stories within one story either, if the drama had flowed better than it did. As it was, it felt like there were a bunch of unnecessary starts and stops to the main story, instead of all the stories intersecting in a logical way.

Anyway, this drama was not well executed, and was a very forgettable viewing experience as it was. I did like the stark contrast between morally corrupt military leaders and loving, ethical Chinese creatures. This contrast was also shown through the clothing the characters wore. Ultimately though, an unfortunate wasted opportunity.

4 magical koi fish out of 10.

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A Messed-Up Anne Of Green Gables

Updated Review: I was really enjoying this, until the writers betrayed the characters in the worst possible way. Update at the end.

Episodes 1-17:

A really crazy, emotionally confusing coming-of-age story featuring a beautiful orphaned outsider and her cousin best friend. This drama series doesn't really know what it wants to be. One minute, we'll see quite realistic depictions of war, and then the next, the characters are serving up broad comedy. As a result, I have no idea what to feel about the storyline. This drama series wants to be a drama just as much as it wants to be a comedy, but it just fails at holding itself as either genre, nor a balanced mixture of both.

The FL, is absolutely beautiful, cheerful, optimistic, intelligent, and everything you would expect from an Asian Anne of Green Gables. Does she act a bit too flighty/ immature at times like just about all the FL in Chinese costume dramas? Yes, she does. However, I found her incredibly charming despite this, mainly on account of her sharp wit and bravery.

The story is both predictable and unpredictable at the same time. I really don't know what to make of it all. But I do know that I'm hooked on this drama, as messy as it is, and won't be dropping it. The character I can't stand in this series is the SFL. She's an educated half-wit Mary Sue who is always getting herself and by default others into trouble. I already know she is going to get the ML, or.... the character that I consider to be the ML. Her whole Mary Sue role is written just so she will end up with the best male character in the drama. I was actually enjoying the fact that romance was taking a back seat to the story of the two women living life on their own terms, but it looks like that might come to an end in future episodes. Both MLs are very interesting characters which I look forward to watching more from.

One very interesting character is Wu Yin, who is a male character, pretending to be a female, played by a very beautiful actress. I'm not saying that this actress does a bad job of pretending to be a man, but I could think of many male actors who could play a young man pretending to be a woman just as well, and I do feel that it's so obvious that the character is being portrait by a woman, that even with her face covered and in all black clothes like a ninja, I could still tell the character was being played by a woman. It just isn't plausible to imagine the character is a man, so it takes away from my enjoyment of the story.

The way our young romantic FL lets us into her imagined expectations of romance was a really nice component to the storytelling, and this also informs us of the main message of this drama:

That life isn't fantasy. It's as unpredictable as it is indifferent to our wishes, hopes, and dreams.
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Update with some SPOILERS:..... Where do I even begin?!!! The writers took a beautiful story featuring great actors, and have just thrown everything into the mud.

From ep 21 onwards, the SFL, who has no brain nor beauty of her own, instead of doing the right thing, she profits off of the FL's love for both herself by stealing the SML, not even asking him how he feels about marrying her now that he has survived war. The FL accidently gives away her love to the SFL out of perverse loyalty. The SFL could have gone and been a nun, as the SML suggested, but no, that's not good enough for her.... despite her having no IQ or looks, she is too good for this... somehow.

The FL gets kidnapped and held for ransom by the actual ML (wish he was the SML, unfortunately, he isn't). The ML even attempts to rape her at one point, meanwhile our FL has Stockholm Syndrome, so of course she is developing feelings for the ML, because that's human nature, and I completely understand it, but our ML, no matter his sob story background, is a brute with multiple wives, who threatens his way through life and into our FL's heart, and it is disgusting to watch. This ML is really the worst. And his subordinates are telling the FL how she needs to be nice to the ML after all he's done to her?!! This is the same ML that forced her to get engaged with him, and then forced her to marry him! He literally ruined her life! The FL's love for the SFL also ruined her life, but in a passive way, whereas the ML straight-up took a wrecking-ball to all her hopes and dreams and her future. I can't even.... aughhhh! I don't know if I can keep watching.

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50 Ways To Leave Your Lover

"There must be 50 ways to leave your lover".

- Paul Simon

Indeed, every way to leave your lover is explored here in "Lost You Forever".

What a pleasant surprise this is. I could never stand Yang Zi and her saccharine cuteness, but nonetheless, I gave this a try, and it did not disappoint! The strongest aspect this series has going for it is the dialogue, which is intelligent above any Chinese fantasy drama I have seen to date.

Yang Zi, in opposition to her usual on-screen persona, played an intelligent woman who becomes extremely skilled at life in general as she progresses through the story. It was nice to see a female main character change with time and learning, instead of staying the same.

She gets callouses on her hands in the same way she developes callouses around her heart. Would I have prefered if another actress had played the role? Yes, if I'm being honest. However, Yang Zi killed it (in a good way).

I've talked about Tan Jian Ci before when he stole the show in, "Court Lady". This guy is so, so good, and yes, I am going to mention his sexy voice one last time here. What a sexy baritone! Mmmmm

Anyway, Zhang Wang Yi was the show stealer of this drama. He is phenomenally good here. What his character embodied for me was the impending sense of loss a sibling feels during adolescence, when their sister or brother abandons them for marriage to form their own family. At least, that's the sense I got about it.

This drama explores different types of loss, including how every brother/ sister will one day lose their sibling/s one way or another. We all come into this world alone, and that's the way we leave it.

This series does have its draggy episodes, which has to do with the usual pitfall of too many episodes to fill with content. I can't lie and say I didn't skip over large chunks of it, which I didn't even need to see, as there is a whole lot of recap talked about by the characters within each episode. This could have easily been a great 16 episode drama, but I understand that writers are pretty much forced by contract to stretch ideas out to breaking point, and I can't blame them for something they have no control over.

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Belongs in an Abandoned Volt

If there was an abandoned volt we could put dramas in that are so forgettable, so utterly without purpose or art, this would be one of those dramas.

Let's look at the positives:

- TFL gave a decent performance (LOL, not FFL or SFL).
-SML was quite good with the little he was given to work with.
- Costumes were fantastic!
- Sets were pretty good too.
- CGI was Okay. Not terrible at all.

Well, that's really all I've got. If I hadn't seen the ML and FL in "Ugly Beauty", I'd say neither of them could act. I'd also say that they had no chemistry. This is the responsibility of the director, mainly. The story, other than just to say that it's a reincarnated lovers story, there isn't much to it! The SML had more character depth than the ML or FL. There is the usual Mary Sue, brainless FL character that doesn't have the ability to love (when in reality, she is missing the ability to use her brain instead). There is the stoic, cold male lead, and there is the SML who sacrifices everything for the FL, but she chooses the ML for no logical reason except that is the one and only motivating factor of the story.

I can't honestly suggest that anybody should watch this drama, unless you like the ridiculous plot point that the FL will have some sort of heart attack if she has sex, because her ability to love is blocked. Who the hell came up with this crap?

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1001 Chinese Nights

This drama has to be one of my very favourite dramas ever.

It's like a Chinese version of the Tales of 1001 Nights. It feels like someone is narrating the story to us, but that person isn't seen or heard. It's like a Chinese version of "The Saragossa Manuscript", wherein you always feel like you are peeking at the characters from a distance. This has the cinematography of a 1960's dark Eastern European fairytale wherein you always feel a little bit ill at ease. In fact, this IS a retro Eastern European film, shaped into a Chinese tale, which has many tales woven into it.

Will you be able to tell the ML and SML apart? No, no you will not, at least, not on the first viewing, but that somehow becomes part of the charm of it all. Cecelia Liu is a beautiful treasure of an actress that has been in quite a few remarkable dramas, of which this is definitely one. Everyone seems perfectly cast to me. The stylized shots with the massive headroom dwarfing the characters, with dark eerie curtains always off to the side, gives a sense of conspiracy at every turn. There was maybe too much dialogue from the antagonists and other side characters, which I just skipped through, some random characters that didn't even need to be in the story, quite frankly, but every character, good or bad, was filmed in an eerie glow, highlighted by eerie music. It's a drama that makes you feel like you are in a world ill at ease with itself, which, again, is the 60's-70's Eastern European cinema hallmark.

This dark Eastern European drama in Mandarin, will make you feel weird, as Eastern European fairytales always do, but it's a good weird!

At the same time, all the Chinese drama tropes are present here. The impressive variety of poisons. The big, round antidote "energy ball" pills. The blood spitting, the fainting, the Qi damaging and mending. The evil empress, the fighting for the throne, it's all here to proudly exclaim that you are, indeed, watching a Chinese costume drama.

If you like 60's European art films like The Saragossa Manuscript, except with less sexual innuendos and content, or if you like those retro Czech cinema fairytales, but with better costumes and visual effects, then you will love this drama. I do recall some parts had way too much dialogue (especially when it came to exposition that we could have easily figured out for ourselves), but you can just skip those moments. I think this is a weird and eerie masterpiece that evokes the retro dark cinema of an alternative reality.

Hilarious inconsistancies (very 70's Eastern European low budget!) and things to watch for:

I had a bit of a fast rewatch of some sections.

Firstly, when the FL is magically "tied up" with CGI magic, only to wake up with what is obviously just dry straw around her, which she has to get the ML to help release her from.

The opening song and accompanying graphics are quite bad! The very last note of the song is so hilariously off-key, as well as the music not fitting the tone of the drama whatsoever.

The wigs are giving every single actor an automatic face-lift. They are so pulled back that it is quite ridiculous. Characters would have serious headaches 24 hrs a day if they wore these hairstyles in reality.

Zheng Yi Cheng makes a brief and forgettable cameo as a mystic timelord. I'm sure he only lowered his hood to raise the ratings.

FL is linked to the ML in body, and they faint at the same time, which is a very cute/ funny touch. Then, she proceeds to be knocked out just a little bit later, and he doesn't faint as well, for some reason, but does feel when she pokes a message into her hand.

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Why Did I Watch This?

I honestly don't know what I was expecting, as.... it sounds like a very annoying story idea with the usual vampire cliches, which is exactly what it was.

I guess I just needed some background noise. I think the part I liked most was the theme song "This vampire is on fire, this vampire is a liar".

Basically, whatever they could get to rhyme with vampire was thrown in, exactly in the same way as every vampire cliche was thrown into the story.

The FL is a beautiful swan-necked woman who has become a harsh, closed sort of individual. She's cold, and the vampire ML is warm in comparison, even without a pulse.

I have seen the second female in several dramas before, and they did an excellent job of making her insufferable in every way from the very first episode. Not only that, but they filmed her in the most unflattering way they could, as she is a stunning beauty normally, but they had to make sure the FL outshone her in this. The SFL was written as the archetypal wealthy "enemy of the people". In Korea's socialist brainwashing, attaining wealth is the biggest sin one can commit, so the wealthy are always portrayed in the most unflattering and undeservingly bad light. Think of Squid Game and Parasite. It's awful to think people cannot be judged by the content of their character, as neither wealth nor lack of wealth should be the deciding factor of a person's worth or output.

The SML was really good and heartfelt in his role. Yes, I was rooting for the good-hearted SML, who ironically needed a heart transplant. Not that our ML was lacking as an actor, but I felt his character wasn't developed as well. It made sense for the FL to be a closed person, but I found her to be lacking in charisma. I mean, I've enjoyed cold FL characters before, but I just couldn't bring myself to care about her, and I'm not sure why. There was a secondary female character named Rose that had hardly any lines, and yet I liked her more than the FL, because she had personality.

This drama is a waste of your time.

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Gong Jun's Doppelganger and Tigger Too!

The ML is Gong Jun's doppelganger. I mean, if they wore the same wig, they could double for each other on set. Especially the way this ML moves his jaw. I know that's a weird thing to notice, but I thought they were for sure the same person when I first saw this.

The ML can act! Yes, his character is super annoying, arrogant, unlikeable at first, but it grows on you like mold. Not sure why his character was made to be so unpleasant, but this didn't take away from the fact that this actor is really quite good.

The FL, however, is the human form of Tigger, from Winnie the Pooh. Watching her is as pleasant as nails down a chalkboard. Yes, bouncy, bouncy, fun fun fun fun fun......not! I cannot stand this FL. She is everything I can't stand in a FL, from her clingy, needy personality, to her bubbly, cutesy immaturity.

The SFL and SML are, by contrast, the best characters in the drama, along with the ML's dad. Unfortunately, I can't be bothered with caring about a secondary couple. I know that's my own failing. I just can't divide up my attention between two couples for some reason. This happens in every drama for me, I can only care about one coupling.

The actual production is well done. They wrote a smart, capable FL, but then gave the part to an actress who is the antithesis of smart, capable, unusual, or interesting in any way. I'm guessing because of her agent. What was the point of writing a smart FL, if you are going to give it to the most Mary Sue actress you can possibly find?

So, overall, I'm giving this production a relatively high rating, because it at least aspired to being different, fun, and better quality than 80% of costume dramas, but was let down when it came to casting of the FL, and to the usual pitfall of too many episodes, which had to be filled with whatever clichè costume drama tropes they could come up with to fill in the time alloted.

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Starts Strong, Devolves into Madness

The main story is about one woman's quest for marriage. Then there are two seperate revenge stories interwoven around that, yielding a long list of secondary characters.

The FL wasn't a push-over, immature, or an idiot, though truth be told, she needed constant saving from those around her.

Some of the side character story archs were far more interesting than the main plot. The ML, was a philandering jackass in the beginning (Hey, I caught that homage to 1962 Tom Jones!) , but gradually became a loyal friend and then a lover to the FL. That transition was nice to see. The FL had no character developement at all. She simply used her maturity and diplomatic skills to survive court life as best she could.

The FL's story arch was one of pure survival, as she really didn't have the lifestyle to do anything but try to keep her head attached to her body. She was smart, but I couldn't understand why three men were running after her, except for the fact that she was the FL. I mean, are survival instincts that rare and attractive to so many men? She looked rather average, if I may be so bold (besides her beautiful skin, that is). The actress playing the FL either had absolutely no emotional range, or the director decided she must be stoic and emotionless for the whole drama. Are emotionless Hanfu humanoids smarter looking by default? I don't know, but I hated that she couldn't emote through her facial expressions at all, this really bothered me a lot. To me, acting is reacting, and reacting means facial expressions. She also had a really bland personality.

Prince Zhou managed to survive court life, and was a very serious character without being a completely expressionless icicle. Likewise, the crown prince was largely stoic, but still managed to emote through his facial expressions. Only the FL remained annoyingly icy throughout. Also, incredibly stubborn, since at some point she has the ability to escape court life (which she voluntarily committed to, and knew what she was getting into, so I didn't feel any empathy for her at all). She decides to go back to court, without knowing whether this will literally kill her or not, for no damn reason!!!! I mean, come on!!

That just made her unbearable and I didn't watch the last few episodes because of this. Xu Kai was excellent here, but he didn't outshine the Crown Prince and the other prince.... whose name I will look up.... Prince Zhou. Prince Zhou had more chemistry and interests in common with the FL (FL had no personality, so that wasn't even an option), so it made no sense why she would choose the ML instead, since she was such an icicle of a character that I don't believe she knew where her heart was located, and if she followed her head, she would pick the man who is most suited to her, which was Prince Zhou.

Most storylines apart from the two princes and the princess, were so melodramatic that I couldn't stand them. I mean, two of these side stories were about tricking men into gaining sexual power over them, and in both these storylines, the female character, who had shown a certain level of intelligence, at least, devolved into a perpetual victim, making one bad choice after another. This one trope of a female tricking a male character into sex with her by pretending to be someone else is nothing short of rape. Imagine if a male character did that!!! This trope needs to stop immediately!

And lastly, the love stories of the ML's brothers were super cute, and relatively simple, and less is more when you have 7-8 seperate character stories in one drama. Overall, the cinematography was excellent, the storylines were a mixed bag, but there were two cute side ones, and one at least interesting one with the Crown Prince, even though the Crown Princess didn't deserve to be pardoned ever, and I don't even care if she felt slightly guilty after what she did.

Oh, there was the best romance story of all with the ML's sister and her prince husband. But my heart was with the best character in the whole drama, which was Prince Zhou, and he was the saddest victim of circumstance of all, and deserved better than he got. Also, my god he had a low and sexy voice, completely wasted on the FL, who was supposed to be smart, but evidently wasn't smart enough to recognize a diamond when one falls in her lap, so to speak.

There were some intolerable melodramatic side character stories as well, but I don't want to waste my time writing about those. It's a tolerable series, if you skip over large chunks and entire storylines from it. It did start off really well, besides the FL having no personality whatsoever, and only in the mid-later episodes did it devolve into unrealistic melodrama. I would watch it just for Prince Zhou.

Ahhhh... Prince Zhou.... a manly man character with the sexiest baritone voice in Chinese dramaland. It was worth it just to meet you, my friend. I would give you my real phone number. Call me.

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Ridiculously Bad Melodrama

Kitchen-sink melodrama, like a hundred others with some of the most outlandish plot points and characters ever!

Some good things to say:

- The male leads were decent enough. Not anything particularly great. ML was an annoying little boy in a man's body, SML was the really good, but stoic guy, and for once, the best guy got the FL (hurray!).

- I liked the FL here. She was beautiful, smart, skilled, and her character became more mature with time, which was excellent character development. The only female character who wasn't easily manipulated and acted like an 8 year old. She did, however, need constant rescuing by the SML, which was unfortunate. She couldn't survive 5 min without him. I, unlike many, am very fond of love triangles where the FL has feelings for both MLs. It is more realistic that a FL would have feelings for one ML, and then start to have feelings for another ML, as she goes through character developement. It also keeps you guessing as to who she will end up choosing.

- A lot of money was spent on the cinematography. A lot of wasted aerial views, unfortunately, but a few nice ones of bamboo forests. Some nice angles and framework, and the colourization was decent too.

Why do I waste my time of these badly written Chinese costume dramas? To see hot guys in Hanfu, of course.

The negatives:

- The whole plot is crap. Sorry, not going to break down the plot, it was literally all the worst "revenge" drama plot ever. And the actual revenge wasn't even for something bad that happened to the antagonists!

- The antagonists are the weirdest bunch of psychos ever in a C drama, and that is saying quite a lot! They were also all so incredibly annoying.

- The acting of most of the protagonist characters, I'm sorry, but their acting was crap. Even the FL, who I liked, didn't act that great here. I'm going to blame this on the director. But points given for one of the only FLs in a Chinese melodrama that wasn't a bubbly, saccharine, 8 year old inside a woman's body.

Go ahead and watch this, if it is playing in the background, whilst you do something else.

I watched it for the hot and kind SML, the love triangle, and the expensive crane shots, but I skipped most of it for my own sanity.

I give this 2 out of 10 roosters.

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Three Kingdoms Thriller

I've heard many people mention that if you are really interested in the three kingdoms period, you are better off watching "The Advisors Alliance", as that is a more gritty, realistic series than this one, and the secondary characters of this drama are the primary characters of that one.

However, this is an excellent drama on its own merits, and whilst I really tried to figure out who everyone was in TAA, I just couldn't grasp it within the first two episodes, and it bothers me a lot if I can't figure out who the characters are and which one is which (same reason I dropped Nirvana in Fire, because I couldn't get my head around it, but I will definitely try again). This drama takes you by the hand and introduces you to each character slowly, one at a time, and this is how it avoids character confusion, which I really appreciate.

This is a thriller about political intrigue, war and conspiracy. It's been a couple of years since I watched it, but what I remember of it is that it had beautiful cinematography, interesting characters, and the story itself was extremely engaging. The acting was very good, no annoying characters, and the episodes breezed by with little to no dragginess.

If I remember correctly, there wasn't even an evil antagonist, as every character was complex in their allegiances to their state. Even Cao Cao was human and had his reasons for what he did.

Yes, I liked this drama very much. Not as gritty and raw, somewhat more romantic in cinematography and tone than TAA, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. If you are looking for a simpler, less raw, bloody, and gritty Three Kingdoms costume drama, then I highly recommend this one.

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Unusual, Offbeat, and Engaging Dark Fantasy World

If you want to see a different, unusual, and dark fantasy drama series, this is the one. Characters were interesting because not so much was given away about them, which can be a plus or a minus depending how you look at it. Acting was good, as far as I remember (watched it a while back).

Thinking about it, I wanted to get to know more about the characters, especially the secondary characters which were surprisingly intriguing, but there was an issue with timing. The screenwriters made an error with timing, and it resulted in the last few episodes becoming rushed, to the point of the very last episode being an action-packed blur of an episode, and when the antagonists were beat, there was this awkward pause, as if the characters had absolutely no idea what to do with their lives now that the enemy was vanquished.

The "slight romance" could have definitely been explored further, as there was almost a love triangle hinted at, sort of, kind of, but it wasn't explored more than a few seconds or a comment or two in that direction.

8 is more generous than I would usually give a drama, but I appreciate seeing something different, and I really felt engrossed in this whole other dark fantasy world. I generally liked all the characters too, and the actors did a great job. Definitely, I think this is a good drama if you are looking for something unique and dark.

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