A fascinating monster saint in a fascinating cynical story about power and unjustice

This is a review of a series that has left me incredibly drained of emotion and without power. At the same time, I'm overflowing with adrenaline and a desire to share. I'm not going to spoil it because I want whoever decides to watch it not to spoil their experience, I'll just share the information that's there in the description of the show, as well as the emotions I experienced and my opinion of the production and the cast.

I don't know where to start.

Power.Corruption. A compromised justice system. Abuses. Theft. Murder. Demagoguery. Manipulation of public opinion. Vice. Fighting for justice in the midst of unjust governance and an unjust justice system amidst a parade of façade democracy.

How can you defeat evil? With good? With effort? Or with evil? The series The Devil Judge presents one judge's struggle with evil using the tools of evil. It shows how the lack of justice gives birth to monsters - at the level of the individual, at the level of the crowd, at the level of society.

As we go through the first layer of the series and its social impact, we come to the core - the soul of man. What happens to your soul as you go through suffering, temptation, fear, hate, anger, greed, doubt, self-pity, pain, pain and more pain. The decisions you make; the paths you take.

I'll be the first to share that I've been skipping this series since it came out in July because I kept thinking it was going to be something contrived; I don't like the sound of the Korean language and I don't like Koreans. However, last week I came across first a few pictures, then a few trailers and videos, and since I have a weakness for dominant men, I snapped it up for this very trivial reason. However...for me it's the show of the year of the ones I've watched and I regret passing it by for so long for frivolous reasons, just as I don't regret picking it up again for frivolous reasons.

Early on, when I started watching The Devil Judge, I found myself in the middle of a major moral conflict that made me physically unwell - tightness in my chest, heaviness in my heart, tension throughout my body. By the middle of the third episode, I resolved my moral conflict by accepting that the "Evil fights evil" formula was just and calmed down. From then on, I just followed events, at times with regret, at times with disgust, and at times with the cynical "yes, it happens often."
The series is well worth it, I don't really want to give too much away because I don't want to spoil the feeling, I'll just say that it's well shot and the characters are very well built psychologically.

All the actors do well with their roles, however the one in the lead role (Ji Sung, 44) who I'm watching for the first time is.... wow! He has built such a complex character that at first glance shows a strong and ruthless personality, but at the same time ( and this is only noticeable in the look, I mean this guy plays with his eyes) you can feel the care, love, support and iron principles behind the demonic image. In a perfect way he plays an elusive pain, I guess this will only be felt by empaths, the rest will need the visual representation to feel it.

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The long journey of two hearts towards each other

This is a wonderfully compelling story of the love between a man and a woman as they experience the pain of a seven-year separation. Seven years in which their hearts reached out to each other, seven years in which nothing was forgotten and nothing could go away, even though she was gone from him and oceans separated them.

The story shows the deep experiences of Zhan Nanxian and Wen Nuan and their beautiful longing love.
A man whose tenderness and protection is beyond the mundane - wonderful acting by Zhang Han, whom I first saw in this series and fell in love with. Usually men can't play love well, but Zhang Han's acting touches in a very special way.
Janine Chang manages to build the image of a fragile, feminine and lovelorn woman who is left broken after leaving the man she loves but has never forgotten him.

All the actors do a great job with their roles, not just the main cast.

In this series, I also discovered the absolutely adorable Ji Xiao Bing, who I can't stop watching because of his cute pure appearance.

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Sensuality meets spiritual intimacy in Forbidden Flower

A serendipitous encounter in a hair salon, a young woman hears a voice that draws her. A mature man hears a voice that draws him. They don't know each other's faces, but their hearts recognize each other at the first instant.

Youth is determined to seek its happiness, maturity resists in its fear that its soul may be swept away. Eventually this love bursts out strong, with her co-experiencing every precious moment together 'til the moment she leaves him because she is ill and doesn't want to drag him with her. But when fate is determined to bring two people together, it won't stop before bringing them together again. And it all starts again, he forgets that she left him and soaks in every second with her, she forgets that she decided to leave, unable to stop her desire to be with him. And once again her illness separates them. She leaves him abruptly, without warning, and leaves behind the memory of her frail figure, her gentle face, her fragrance, and her voice that speaks his name with awe - Xiao Han. Another half year of separation pain, a torment that is on the verge of being unbearable for both of them. And meeting again, and starting all over again. And the two's decision to stay together until the end, and the hope that she'll beat cancer a second time.

Fate also has a fingers in another story. A forty-something woman who lost her husband to leukemia lives only for her daughter, forgetting that she is a woman. Until a young man stops his gaze on her and challenges her. And here, as in the previous story, youth recognizes no boundaries and adulthood is afraid to dive into its feelings. And here separation, even before their love happens, and here longing.

The whole series is heavily saturated with a sense of subtle eroticism, longing, love, the search for the other, the struggle with the self and an intoxicating sadness. Incredibly well chosen music that immerses you in a gentle sadness, very well shot shots that convey the intimacy of each moment.

Lots of eroticism, lots of intimacy, no vulgarity.
I warn you not to expect too much from the end though. The ending will write itself.

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The story is not what it seems

A few days into planning to watch this series, I kept giving up because I thought it would be some naive nonsense - entertaining with an elementary fantasy element. But it turned out to be a real fantasy, the actor in the lead role played very well, the first time I watched him here.

I liked the story a lot, especially once it got past the initial comic stage and went to a real fantasy level.

I also watched the leading actress in Unique Lady and there, as here, she seemed a bit too comical as an image, but nevertheless, she also does well with the role.

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The Universe – a battlefield of love and chaos, righteousness and wicked ambition

The title of this drama sounds like a typical love story. Still, in fact, it is about all nuances of love, betrayal, cosmic order, honor, pillars of life, self-cultivation, perfection, imperfection, sacrifes, purity, development.

THE SPIRITUAL WORLD

All characters belong to the world of immortals. They live in three realms – the Gods Realms, the Nether Realm (where demons live), and the world of ordinary immortals. There is an Ancestor God, Creator of the Univers, a source of the chaos powers, and four true gods born of him. One of them is Chief God, being God of Chaos.
Under these four Gods rule thematical gods. As in every magical story, every spiritual being possesses certain powers, rules over specific energies, is assisted by a personal beast, and develops a unique magic weapon. Magic is innate, cultivated, and can be exchanged for other magic. Everything has a price. The price could be money, treasures, time, lifespan, etc.
All spiritual bodies have a spiritual core, which depends on the origin and magical genetics. Every spiritual being also has a soul that is reincarnated. Once lost, the soul can never be returned.
Every 60 000 years happens a Tribulation of Chaos, which requires a mighty god to take the energies of chaos over himself, otherwise, the three realms will be destroyed.
The drama starts precisely at the point of a new Chaos Tribulation, 60 000 years after the last one.

THE HEAVENLY CHARACTERS

THE FOUR TRUE GODS are the Chief God of Chaos, Shang Gu (the leading female character), the God of Fire and War, Bae Jue (the leading male character), the mightiest celestial being after the Chief God; the God of Heaven, Zhi Yang; the God of Demons, Tian Qi. Their title is “Master.” They rule the worlds together. In fact, at the beginning of the story, Shang Gu, being in a new incarnation, still didn’t gain her power of chaos and needed to cultivate. She becomes the apprentice of the mighty Bae Jue, an extremely cold being, focused only on cultivation, without any sense of affection to other beings. However, he can’t help himself and falls in love with the vivid naughty Shang Gu. Due to her fate, Shang Gu loses her life to save the worlds. The devasted Bae Jue spent another 60 000 years collecting her soul and creating a miracle, giving life back to Shang Gu, this time as an ordinary immortal goddess.

I don’t want to spoil the story, so I won’t tell everything, but the essential point is:
Bae Jue tears his original core and produces a new incarnation while sleeping for another 10 000 years. This incarnation, Qing Mu falls in love with the latest incarnation of Shang Gu, Hou Chi, while the essence of Shang Gu is being cared for in the body of Hou Chi. Both temporary incarnations of Bae Jue and Shang Gu die, and the fate collides again original Bae Jue with the original Shang Gu.

Of course, it is impossible to have a story without villains, so we have two main villains here – the Devil God Xuan Yi, and a phoenix beast Wu Huan, who becomes a Heavenly Empress and later cultivates demonic powers and turns into Devil Goddess.

The three magic realms are full of gods and goddesses, magical pets, demons, immortals. Rules, wars, battles.

THE PRODUCTION

It won’t be an exaggeration to say that this is the most impressive Chinese drama production I’ve ever watched. Visual effects beyond imagination create a magical scenery that is a treat for the senses. Beautiful landscapes, beautiful energy vortexes. I’m enchanted.

THE CAST

The cast was good, but some actors were better. Xu Kai, for example, was good but somehow more handsome than good. He played Bae Jue twice, and it’s interesting that the second time he plays Bae Jue, he is better than the first time. Qing Mu, the other character he impersonated, was cute but a little too boyish.

Shang Gu, played by Zhou Dong Yu, was a little too childish to me. I couldn’t feel her as a mighty goddess. On the other hand, she was, in fact, a diety girl destined to grow up early and to have a life full of hardships, so maybe she should look this way.

I liked a character that is not among the main cast – the Devil God Xuan Yi. Excellent performance of Edward Zhang, I will look for other dramas with his participation.

Another good actor is Leo Lai, a High God and he felt like a god.

And of course, the acting of Jenny Zhang, who impersonated Wu Huan, was outstanding.

Actually, there were many diety characters presented very good by the actors.

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Beautiful but poor screenplay

Nice actors, poor screenplay. Absolutely no chemistry between the main characters. I've got the feeling that she is a robot and not a girl. How can you kiss a boy like Yang Yang and be so indifferent? ;) The boy characters were very cute and sincere but there was no story around them. The girl characters were just present, also no story around them. Nothing happened with the rival male character, no development at all. No intrigue, no tension, no big achievements except in the game.

I evaluated the acting with 8 points but the main female character was an acting desaster.

However, although I'm not a fan of games, this drama managed to make it interesting for me.

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A charming modern fairy tale with a fresh love story

I refused to watch Goblin for a long time, kept skipping it until it finally ended up on my "Not Interested" list. A few days ago I came across an article about it, the topic was Korean fantasies on Netflix, and this time it piqued my curiosity and I decided to give it a chance. I didn't regret it.

What did I like so much about this "Goblin"? It wasn't the main character by any means, though he was a nice guy. It wasn't the chemistry between the couples, which was teased in the story of a larger-than-life fate that brings two couples together over several lifetimes, because I didn't feel that chemistry.

I'm a fan of the fantasy genre, but I wouldn't prioritize this series as fantasy because I missed it driving the main thread of the story.

And the love story was kind of weird - no strong passion or heartwarming scenes.

Finally..... Without hesitation, I rated "Goblin" a 9/10.

I wonder, I really wonder, how this series won me over. Now, as I write it, it may crystallize for me. First of all, the two main female characters were just adorable - sweet, pure, sparkling, gentle, with a fragile feminine air, though not fragile characters. The "goblin bride" was such a fresh image - a woman-child oozing energy that floods you with good feeling. Actress Kim Go Eun (the second season of "Yumi's Cells" is currently running with her) is super cute. The other lead actress whose performance I liked is Yoo In Na, who later starred with the same partner in "Touch My Heart".

The men, aside from the sole villain, were gentlemen with a history of tragic bad guys - a king and a general who endure punishment while living the lives of a goblin and an angel of death. However, the viewer sees nothing wrong with them. They are so considerate, caring, sensitive, sacrificial - every woman's dream men. There was also a cute minor character - a young boy, a third generation heir, who added spice to the story without his character actually undergoing development.
Aside from the king's uncle and the main character's aunt, the typical spiteful, ugly, morally repugnant lost Korean souls that are so stifling in any series were absent. Two cursed enemies become good friends, outgrowing loathing and revenge.
There is no shortage of humor in the crisp dialogue between all the actors.

All in all, this is a drama of pure relationships and genuine people - like a brochure of life as we would like to live it, labeled "Feel good story". There's no intrigue, no attempts at someone wanting to take someone else's man/woman away, no parents opposing the relationship - well, there's no intrigue overall, but I didn't miss it. And the ending was nice - I won't spoil if anyone hasn't watched it.

Overall, I recommend anyone who hasn't seen it and likes romantic fantasies to give it a try. It leaves a nice feeling in the heart and is watchable in one breath.

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Young, ambitious, tireless, in love

I'll start by saying that this show is not a love story. It's the story of a couple of young people who have graduated from university and embarked on careers. A story of conquering heights, finding themselves, hard work, survival in tough business conditions, resilience, creativity and challenges.

Of course, there is also love. Where would you go without love? But it's not the main focus of the script and remains in the background. While in the background, however, it is pure, supportive, carrying and strong.

Outside of the business tricks, it's a refreshing change that no one does anyone's tricks, female and male rivals behave with dignity, friendship means something, and there's no morbid infatuation with the subject of one's love.

Also a refreshing change is a strict but supportive parent. I envied the main characters for having such father :)

The series also showed me a whole business that I had practically no idea of. It's about e-streaming as a way of e-commerce. I really learned a lot of things that I can use outside of internet sales.

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The difficult task of preserving yourself while climbing the career ladder

A drama that follows the difficult path of a woman who wants to avenge her father's ruined business and pursue a career that will make her powerful and untouchable.

Along the way to realizing this dream, she meets and falls in love with a man who both loves and helps her, but also betrays her, causing her to make mistakes and compromises that cost her dearly.

The drama shows the challenges in the business race and asks the question, is it worth losing yourself, your dignity and your love for the sake of success.

The actors in the lead roles did well.

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Love, revenge and instant karma in a lifetime (full of spoilers!!!)

I just finished the Japanese mini-series of four episodes Kenja no Ai.If I can find the book, I would read it. It's worth going through the emotion of every single character in this story, which is completely impossible to do in a series. The series was heavy and was a vivid illustration of how instant karma works within a lifetime. It's an interesting cycle of action/karma/action/karma. Everyone was both victim and victimized.

It all starts when a family with a 13 year old girl, Yuri, moves into the house next door to another 13 year old girl, Miyuku. Yuri is deeply unhappy because, in her family, her parents are each minding their own business and no one is paying attention to the three children. Miyuku's family, on the other hand, is happy and everyone takes care of her. Yuri becomes jealous of Miyuku and wants to live her life. She insists on toys, jewelry, and possessions from Miyuku. He also reaches out to people. When they are 16, a promising young writer, in his early twenties, lives in Miyuku's house under the tutelage of her father (publisher and editor-in-chief of a literary magazine). Miyuku's crush is on him and he reciprocates her feelings. Yuri sees them kissing in the garden and decides that the writer (Ryoichi) will be hers. She also wants Miyuku's father. One night she sits on his lap and throws herself into hugging him. For a moment he is willing to give in, but nothing happens in the end. At that moment, however, Miyuku comes in and sees them. Her father can't get over the guilt and shame and kills himself.
First Villains: Yuri /wanting to take his girlfriend's father away/ and the father /impulse to give in to the advances of his daughter's 16-year-old girlfriend/ First Victims: Yuri, though a villain, is also a victim because he ends up assaulting her, though not fully realized; the father - loses his life and Miyuku - loses her father.

Six years later, Miyuku is 22, now a redhead to Ryoichi and with hopes of a future together. Yuri seduces Ryoichi, telling him it will only be a one-off because she is betrothed at her family's expense and says she doesn't need contraceptives because she is at the part of her period when it is safe. She is doing it with the clear goal of getting pregnant. She manages to achieve her goal, sits down to talk to Miyuku and tells her "You're my best friend, give me Ryoichi, I had sex once with him and I'm carrying his child. Miyuku gives up his love in favor of his girlfriend. Second villains: Ryoichi /compromises his feelings and has sex with Yuri/, Yuri /cheats on Ryoichi and takes him away from Miyuku/. Second victims: Ryoichi and Miyuku. As Miyuku feels betrayed by both Yuri and Ryoichi.

So far we notice that the main villain is Yuri and the main victim is Miyuku.

Yuri and Ryoichi's child is born, who turns out to be a boy. Yuri, wanting to have complete control over Miyuku, asks her to give the boy a name. Miyuku names him Naomi after the story of a novel from which she gets her idea of revenge. The story in the novel goes like this: a man raises a little girl as the perfect woman to then become his emotional captive. Only he falls in love with her and ends up being the captive. Miyuku decides she will do the same with the boy. She basically raises him as a parallel parent and gives him the feeling of having both the perfect mother and the perfect lover. When he's eighteen a relationship begins that is extremely unhealthy for both of them. They're extremely intimate, she teaches him everything she thinks he needs, they bathe, they kiss, but outside of that she remains distant, he's not allowed to stay sleeping with her and they never have sex. Miyuku plans for the sex to be a one-off, on Naomi's birthday when he turns twenty, and then for her to keep him around on a short leash, for him to keep wanting to be with her without getting it. And so it goes. They have sex once and Naomi tells her that she is the perfect woman for him and he wants to marry her. Miyuku refuses. She even finds him a young woman to have sex with while she herself continues her obsessive relationship with him, with no sexual relationship and no future. The first time Miyuku brings the girl and announces it as a gift to Naomi, Naomi has a severe crisis, hurts himself, and inadvertently hurts Miyuku by leaving scars on her neck, which Yuri /his mother/ later believes are from Miyuku's new lover and hires a detective to follow her. The idea is, if the lover is her husband /as she suspects because she knows perfectly well that they were in love and sees that there are feelings between them even now, to do something/, and if it's another man, to take away her new lover as well. The villain here is one: Miyuku. The victims are: Naomi / spent his entire childhood and teenage years in emotional captivity/, Yuri and Ryoichi.

It turns out that Ryoichi, who still has feelings for Miyuku, is aware of his son's feelings, and also, not only is he aware of Miyuku's revenge, but as a writer, someone well versed in literature, he is aware of exactly which book the idea of revenge is borrowed from. Meanwhile, Naomi, who finds it unbearable not to see Miyuku, agrees to continue his relationship with her, without sex or commitment, and to have sex with the girl Miyuki has found for him. However, this proves difficult for both him /when he has sex, all he thinks about is Miyuku/ and for Miyuku, who realizes that she can't bear it because she is also in love with Naomi. It becomes clear that she's going to give up on the revenge idea and take the risk of having a real relationship with Naomi.

Ryoichi, Naomi's father, tells him the whole story, he also tells him about revenge, but Naomi answers that he doesn't care what the reason is that brought him and Miyuku together, as long as he's with her it doesn't matter. He agrees to everything. That Miyuku is 43 doesn't matter to him, all he wants is to live with her. He and his father have a serious fight. The detective Yuri hired shows her pictures of Miyuku and Naomi while they kiss. When she finds out that Miyuku is with her son, she decides to take him away from her by killing him with an ice pick. She makes an attempt while he sleeps but fails, only slightly injuring him. Yuri invites Miyuku over for a talk and tells her that she found out that Miyuku is getting revenge. As in the conversation she had earlier with Ryoichi, Miyuki confesses that Naomi was the revenge she's been cooking up for twenty years. She also says that she never wants to see Yuri again and there's no way they can stay friends. Yuri is horrified and tells Miyuku that she gave up her son just to remain her friend. However, Miyuku refuses to be her friend, it's all over for her now.
Since she has failed to kill her son, and is left without Miyuku, Yuri decides to cause an accident in which the two die together. However, Miyuku does not die in the crash, but becomes paralyzed, killing Yuri. This is now the final fulfillment of karma. The curtain falls. Yuri dies after first seeing her son fall victim to the desire for revenge and losing Miyuku. Miyuku becomes paralyzed in the crash and receives her karma. Naomi is repaid for what Miyuki did to him by paralyzing her, and at the same time gets what she wants - the paralyzed Miyuku lives with him, he takes perfect care of her, and she depends on him.

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Good police case, good love story

A love story set against the backdrop of the solving of two criminal cases. Very good acting, very well developed characters, not only the male and female leads.

I believed in the love and strength of the protagonist who selflessly put himself under harassment by the mafia, once to help the police, and a second time to protect the woman he loves.

The second leading male role was also given to a worthy man, who did not let his personal feelings lead him and behave hostile towards his rival in love, on the contrary, stood by his side and helped him.

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To fall in love ahain and again in the same person

It's a series with a very interesting case study; something that can only happen to individuals around the world, not a common occurrence. It's about love amnesia. When you are in some peak feeling of love, your brain shuts down and you forget the person you love. Kind of like overloading the RAM of a computer.

I don't know if this problem can be solved like it is in the show, which is to fall in love with the same person every other time, but if it's possible, it's interesting. Emotion makes you forget and at the same time emotion leads you with your internal memory back to the same person. In general, nothing has a stronger impact on us than emotions.

This drama tells the story of a difficult love. A man who forgets the woman he loves three times, then falls in love with her again because his heart is drawn to her. The situation is especially difficult for the woman because she is in the situation of being forgotten three times and fighting for her love. In fact, the first time she did not want him to remember, but remembering once, she was no longer able to give up his love.

Both actors in the lead roles are beautiful and one watches them with pleasure and tenderness,

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It's more of a funy than a romantic story

At first I thought it was going to be boring, but as the action progressed it became really entertaining. It went through several stages. In the first, the viewer was watching an interesting psychological case study, and there were suspicions that it might be about taking on the personality from a previous incarnation, but it turned out that there wasn't such a complex plot.
The second stage looked at a conspiracy within the company's board of directors, and finally between rival companies. If the psychological case was entertainingly presented, the business cases were not successfully presented, and by the end I never managed to grasp the story as a romance, even though it was one.
The acting was nothing special.

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Very funny story

Very fresh and enjoyable series, funny, with lots of misunderstandings and comic moments. I didn't expect that I could laugh so much.

The idea of a cross reality between a tribe of savages and people from civilization is very good. In the lead role we see a modern Amazon woman who falls in love with a modern opportunist from the big city. Love at first sight, naive and innocent. A woman leader who protects her man with fists and a crossbow; a man who protects his beloved at the cost of everything.

The actors are very cute, the pairing worked out great. The story is romantic, the truth is it's told comically and sweetly, but there's not really chemistry between the actors, it could easily pass for a Disney teen series and be watched by ages 7+.

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