Looked promising with unconventional themes but ended ridiculous for the main couple

At first, it looked promising with many characters with their different level of maturity, with their feelings, their struggles, the different type of relationship they are in. Some of them wished their relationship were another kind of relationship. I had sympathy for them trying to move to something better, more in adequation with how they really feel. But halfway, the story becomes draggy and ends up rushed giving unsatisfactory conclusions.

In the end, the love stories are:

- uninteresting: the quiet guy and the sex freak : They get drunk, have sex, secretely date, break up because she wants to sleep with other guys, then they start dating again. Did she change her nymphomaniac ways. No idea.

- half baked : the two girls best friends trying to sort their true feelings for each other. It drags for so long then it is resolved overnight and nobody knows how.

- common : the two roomates working together and did not noticed how cute the other was. These two were cute but they amounted for so little in the screentime.

- last and the worst: our main couple. Made of a sneaky manipulative guy and a woman who falls in love with a guy she knows nothing about but she craves to bang him. Then she seems deeply struggling with the situation because he is not sincere and he is making her living an emotional mess. In the end, after dragging for 3-4 episodes, in one episode, the writer manages to force down our throat that the guy was always in love with her since the very beginning when she did not know him yet. Tada! All the games of pull and push, kiss another girl in front of you, the no string attached, friends with benefits, the planned misunderstandings, the butterflies, the going to her place to piss the rival off... suddenly have no meaning and no importance at all. He loved her. Of course.

This drama managed to lead me on and have sympathy for most of the characters. But in the end, it did not live up the expectations I had. I found the redemption of the main guy badly done with plenty of deus ex machina things to close the drama in a common nice but totally unlikely ending that I can't buy.

The drama was a real let down for me and I would not recommend it.

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Nice little JP drama

I watched this because I was bored and I wanted something to fill the time. I usually never watch Japanese "costume" drama.

WHAT I LIKED:
- The main girl : I loved how her story with her own family was told. Very short, very simple, going to the essential. I also liked her character and demeanor and her dedication to her work, the family she works for, the mistress and the master, how she found the courage to go through the hardships for the kids and her master. I love her will to find a way to fight the evil guy but also how she pitied him and how she finally find the right path to follow.
- The poetic and folktale side of the story which tells about a vengeance but moreover about a girl who finds her own path after her family was destroyed and she finds people along the way to help her.
- Her feelings for the master. They are very few development regarding this side of the story (just some words) but I could see she admired her master and that the duty she took from the mistress on her death bed and all the things she went trhough made her love the kids and their father and accept in the end to stay with them.
- The secondary characters: the mistress, the swordmaster, the thug, the owner of the pawn shop, the uncle and cousin. Plenty of nice characters acting in support of our heroine. The two kids were adorable.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:
- The master of the house she works for. I liked him as a person (a good husband and father)and as someone trying to improve his clan. Anyway at some points, he disappointed me a little because he took a position against his own values. I totally understand it as was to save the lives of his loved ones but still, I thought he was too much of a victim and his proactive part was too small.

OVERALL: A short and nice drama to watch like a folktale. 7 eps of 45 mns only. I totally recommend it.

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This drama is one of my favorite drama. I watched it a long time ago already but writing a review now to give it justice.

STORY:
I believe this is one of the most balanced and entertaining costume drama I have watched. It has a lot of themes and lots of characters and plots and sub plots which I think perfectly found their place with the right importance. Starting from the beginning, there is a lot of funny situtions and when the main girl is the target of many other people and often at risk, she is always saved in an unexpected fun manner. The last part where the action takes a new step and the evil ones must be defeated, it is a little less fun as expected but the drama kept being entertaining.

CAST/CHARACTERS:
One of the main quality of the drama is its numerous characters and their importance. What the drama managed to do is to built a nice structure of relationships between these characters to make eveything consistent and enjoyable.

- The main couple the Crown Prince/ the girl Eunuch were so great. In fact, KYJ and PBG new faces and their chemistry brought a lot of fun and freshness to this drama. Their interactions are so fun from the beginning to the end. KYJ and PBG gained a lot of fame with this drama and it was completely deserved as they were a super adorable couple. One little critic will be that the Crown Prince never looked really endangered but he is the Crown Prince after all.
- JJY as the rival and former friend of the Crown Prince was a great character too. He belonged to the family of the enemy and he was the rival in love but he managed to be subtle and faithful to himself and his principles. I really liked him.
- I liked KDY too as the bodyguard of the Crown Prince. The friendship between him and the Crown Prince and the Eunuch was great to watch. He had a major role and his situation was complex. He had a lot of activity and ended siding with the ones he cared the most for. I liked the actor. Not a first rank actor but he proved afterwards he has good acting skills.
- Chae Soo Bin was there too even if I did not know her at that time. They did not make her an awfull rival of the main girl. She was a gentle, lovely but also smart and helpful. I liked the amount of screen she had and how she was honest with the Prince and Ra On.
- Princess Myun Geun was fun changing to an obese princess in love with a stranger to a resolute princess meeting that same man in the palace. This couple was a great comic relief.
- Plenty of other interesting characters who contributed the right amont of fun or suspense: The little princess, the chief of Eunuchs, the parents, the colleagues Eunuch...

MUSIC:
I liked the OST very much specially two of three songs which made this drama memorable. I am still listening to these songs years after.

REWATCH VALUE:
I don't watch everything but when I want to rewatch the best scenes, I am surprised I watch a lot of scenes.

OVERALL:
A good drama and for me, one of the most entertaining. It does use many tropes and clichés of dramas but it is inventive and fun and the great chemistry among the main protagonists make it believable. It talks about many things: cross dressing, one sided love, gay love, bromance, obesity, freewill, sacrifice in a fluffy manner and overall the drama shows a coherent and entertaining story.

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A good drama about finding success and finding love.

STORY:

1) The journey to success:
A group of people in their twenties enter the world of start ups. They use their talent, their personality, their friendship and commitment to fight battles that they win sometimes and loose the other times. It takes them through highs and lows, helps them form or improve personal and professional bounds between them. Mishandled situations by themselves and their mentor separate them but they will be reunited again to find success together.

This business oriented plotline is instilled and developed secondary to the romance plotline. Still it was nice and enjoyable despite the fact that the business ideas developed are no innovations. They already exists in reality. Also the mentoring part was not properly done. The idea of mentoring engineers and coding specialits and CEO like yelling at a dishwasher of a restaurant who slacked is just grotesque. But if we accept that, the story stands.

2) The journey of love and lies:
A grandma schemes a plan to lie to comfort her 12yo granddaughter who is left alone. Grandma and a 19yo highschooler play fake pen friend using the name and identity of another kid her age. It has been decided by Destiny. It will be the long journey of these two of a same age finding each other despite the lies and deception.

The love story turns into a toxic situation when adult Han Ji Pyeong the writer of the letters starts to take a liking for Dal Mi and he stops at no means to undermine Do San and tries to make himself look like the real fated lover of Dal Mi. Of course she doesn't care about it but the fake love triangle lasts until ep 15. I found it was too long. But for the main couple, the love story is very natural and realistic. They looked very good together.


CHARACTERS/ACTORS:
- Dal Mi / Bae Suzy: She is the common thread. The anchor point of most of the other characters. She is a nice girl but also outspoken, rebellious, down to earth, motivated and persevering. She is fighter and a leader. I liked her personality and I liked the fact that she faced all her challenges bluntly by believing in herself and in her choices. I have seen 5 dramas with Suzy. This is her best performance for me. She was convincing all the time when she had to be professional or very emotional.

- Nam Do San / Nam Joo Hyuk : He is a bit timid, not confident, not assertive enough but he is a very nice person. He cares for others and has a lot of empathy. Maybe too much. He is people oriented. People are what makes him give his best. His growth is real but not a twist. It is even more credible. First time seeing Nam Joo Hyuk in a lead role. I found him excellent with a range of emotions larger than common actors in Kdrama. His portrayal of an over sensitive Do San but caring of others was great.

- Han Ji Pyeong / Kim Seon Ho : An orphan full of flaws that he turned as his advantage to become a self made man. He is rude, cold, inconsiderate, nagging, bullying and scheming but also knowledgeable, good natured, sometimes goofy. He has a good heart deep inside and a lot of emotions but he doesn't show it. It is his loss.

- Won In Jae / Kang Han Na: A cold older sister but a resolute an ambitious woman who will stick at her choices and prove herself by all means even if it hurts people around her. She has family values deep inside and it will help her slow path to reconciliation. First time seeing Kang Han Na. She was pretty good in that role.

- Grandmother / Kim Hae Sook : A good hearted and caring grandmother who tries her best to help and comfort her granddaughter and young Ji Pyeong but she does not always uses the best mean. Lying is not a good way. Anyway she did her best and it turned out to be effective. She is a warm and loving person. I was sad about how things turned for her with her health but she was always a positive person. Kim Hae Sook great like most usual suspects in Kdrama.

- Yong San and Chul San : The two others of the Three Stooges of the beginning. They are nerds but they have great interactions to bring fun to the drama. I liked Yong San personal story which was no big deal in the drama but contributed to a key moment of the story. Chul San was super annoying at times but ended quite a good guy.

- Sa Ha: Perfect woman with the perfect face and perfect body and perfect education and high standards and a prickly appearance but in fact she is just a nice girl with a romantic side. Did not know that actress Stephanie Lee before but I will be glad to see her again in another drama.

Others Characters brought their share of fun to this drama:

- Do San parents : great comic relief. They really love their kid but also are too demanding especially the father. I liked the mom and her predictions a lot.
- The cousin : Most epic moment in the drama thanks to him.
- Yoon Seon Hak CEO SH Venture Capital : Liked her 15 years earlier as a fair and professional boss and 15 years after, looking for the girl on the swing.
- Dal Mi' s mom: Super annoying at first but life teaches her a lesson. She will finally make good deeds. I liked her evolution.
- Park Dong Chun (Ji Pyung's junior): always bounced here and there by his boss but he was fun despite little screen time.
- Alex Kwon : A very competent guy and professional with his own agenda. Not a good guy. Not a bad guy. But he does his job and gives you smiles.
- Jang Yeong Shil / Yeo Jin Goo : Funny AI which can't tell the weather properly but gives tips to humans about life.

MUSIC:
It enhanced greatly the sad moments, successful moments, the nostalgic moments.. Overall it was very good.

REWATCH VALUE:
I would rewatch it to look into the details see if I missed something. Find hidden Easter eggs maybe. Too recent for me to think about rewatching but after some time yes I think it is something I would gladly rewatch.

OVERALL: Not a perfect drama because the SML was too annoying and nagging and scheming for too long without having his own arc in the narration to beef him up so that people can adhere to him. Not only to his smile and dimples and as a sad orphan . But as a real good person deep inside and a competent team leader/director. Overall it is an enjoyable drama.


ADVICES IF YOU DECIDE TO WATCH THIS DRAMA:

- Do not fall for ep1 which makes you see the SML as the most adorable person and pitiful orphan and worthy of your sympathy and he must absolutely be the ML of the drama because destiny chose him. He is not. Destiny is going to play an ugly trick on him.
- Every episode, do not focus on one character or one couple. Put yourself in the shoes of every main characters. This drama is about people. Live things like you are at their place. Do not assume what they should understand or do because you as the viewer you know.
- Pay attention to the connexions and interactions between the people. They are as important as the people themselves.
- Pay attention to the details of what is showed. What people say their words but also what emotion their face expresses .

It is demanding but it will help you understand the real intentions and story of this drama.

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Ambitious fantasy kdrama which delivers

1/ STORY: Let's be honest, this drama is more a romance drama rather than a fantasy action drama. It is the story of two persons who have opposite backgrounds and they form an alliance to reach their own respective goal but they start to develop feelings for each other while they are embroiled in a conspiracy.

1.1/ The conspiracy (SPOILERS):
200 years ago, the power of the sky materialized into a stone that brought the ability for humans to shift soul, switch bodies, absorb the energy of souls or even bring back the dead to life by summoning his soul back. These spells called "Alchemy of Souls" created chaos since one mage used them for the first time. The chaos was then solved by a Master who had the power to destroy the stone but did not.

200 years after, an elite assassin is chasing and killing mages who have banned the Alchemy of Soul. But among them, conspirators are using the forbidden spells for their own specific objective.

The conspiracy is not complex but it is not explained in the clearest way. It is unveiled bit by bit through different events and characters like the pieces of a puzzle which slowly unveils the picture. It is not easy to handle as many elements are important but they need to be understood and "digested" quickly. It needs attention and this was sometime prejudicial to how I enjoyed the story. Plus the conspiracy is unveiled and "resolved" slowly over 20 episodes.

1.2/ The romance:
The elite assassin is forced into soul shifting to save herself an ends up in the body of a weak girl and she looses her powers. She is taken as a maid in a family of mages where the rogue son is trying to become the most powerful mage. He takes her as his master to train him. But slowly romance starts to develop between a guy who is very focused and plain on what he wants and who he likes and a young woman former assassin who tries to do her part of the deal but slowly falls for her pupil as she navigates between the blurred lines of caring as a master and caring as a lover. Their story is really cute with emotions and good action when they need to protect each other. In the end ... they can finally live happily ever after. Nope. It's a joke. But the way the two of them slowly come together as an item was nice.

Beside this, there are some sub romances and plenty of love triangles. They are rather cute and not annoying. The side couples have cute scenes and cute stories. The love triangles are not too intense, not confusing for the leads or for the viewers. In fact, they mainly underline the background and personalities of the characters rather than they create angst or opposition or dirty rivalry.

All these romances and love triangles accounts for a huge part of the drama to the point it feels like a romance drama but it is not annoying because most characters involved are good people who are endearing and I could not throw stones at them.

2/ CHARACTERS - ACTORS:
- Jang Uk: a lout with a sad background story but he is a fun person, a good and loyal friend, He keeps his cool demeanor and manages to develop his powers but he also has to face difficult choices. I liked the character. Lee Jae Wook perfect.
- Mudeok : Naksu in the body of a maid. I liked her evolution from cold blooded assassin to smart maid doing her best to improve her pupil and fighting her own feelings. She is scheming and strong but also really fun to watch. Jung So Min nailed the role.
- Supporting leads: Yul, Dong Gu, Cho Yeon : All form a nice company of friends with their qualities and flaws. Underused at times but important in the build up of the story especially towards the end.
- Supporting characters: Park Jin, Master Lee, Maidservant Kim, Master Heo: Good hearted and caring for the leads and friends. I like their personality, actions and the funny moments they delivered.
- Other likeable characters: Crown Prince, a man of his duty and position, benevolent but can be ruthless. Heo Yoon Ok, nice niece, helpful and understanding. Joo Wol intelligence service, a good friend and helpful hand
- Annoying character: The big evil guy. His schemes are bigger than he is impressing himself. At times he looked lost and funny but overall does the job as the villain. Mama Jin weak mum who redeems herself. Papa Jin also in a different way. Jang Kang unworthy father who goes wandering around the world and comes back home not wiser. So-i, terrible person but necessary evil.

3/ OST: Very good.

4/ REWACH VALUE: 20 eps is very long and the story unfolds slowly due to many cute fun moments of humor. Rewatchable it you have time.

5/ OVERALL: Honestly I expected more action and fantasy and I was served more romance and love triangles. Still I am not disappointed. I enjoyed the story the conspiration and the romances and the characters that I found interesting and endearing and fun. Of course, it is no secret this is a part I. I thought the ending was very good with great pace to build-up the climax and deliver the intense final. It sets up perfectly the part II which will probably have a different tone. Very enjoyable drama if you take time to assimilate the details of the plot and if you like cute fun characters. 10/10.

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A good dose of thriller, dark and gripping moments and a nice romance. Hugely entertaining.

STORY:
A perfect couple with a perfect life is caught up by the tragical past of one of them. They have to admit the reality they tried to ignore, escape and forget and fight hard the dangers which threaten their couple, family and loved ones.

I see the story in 3 parts:

- The Unveiling : One has to hide the truth when the other is slowly finding clues of the usurpation. Well written, fast paced, good sub plots to bring clues and inevitably unveil the truth.

- The Aftermath: The time of daze, anger, misunderstanding, self reflection about themselves, what matters for them, what is their red line, what can they do in the name of family, love, friendship, camaraderie...

- The Showdown: After the evil from the past found them. Dark, gripping, breathtaking, with schemes and confrontations which put me on the edge of my seat.

CHARACTERS/ ACTORS:
- Baek Hee Sung / Du Hyun So : A kid broken by events in his childhood. To escape the consequences, he built a web of lies but he will be confronted to his past and to himself to admit who he is and become who he wishes to be. Lee Joon Gi amazed me. I saw sides of his acting that I have never seen before. Great portrayal of a man inbetween being a nice lie and becoming the monster they say he is.

- Cha Ji Won : A strong policewoman who discovers the truth about her husband and has to question herself to know where she stands and what to do for the ones important for her. I left Moon Chae Won an aging not attractive not interesting woman in MamaFairyATW. Here she is stunning. beautiful, classy, to portray a stubborn, strong, determined woman shaked emotionally to her core but who will stand strong.

The secondary characters had their share of depth and complexity and their great moments.
- Adoptive parent: Annoying, scheming, despicable, pitiful
- Police team : Competent, incompetent, funny, friendly, understanding, committed, a nice brotherhood
- Kim Moo Jin: Enemy then fun and courageous sidekick
- The Evil from the past: An evil hidden perfectly and slowly unveiled until it unleashes its madness for revenge

MUSIC:
Perfectly adapted to the different situations to create the right mood.

REWATCH VALUE:
Often it is hard to rewatch when the story is known and the suspense is blown up but in this drama there are many excellent scenes to make it worth. From their romantic scenes as teens to the "explanation scenes" or " I will outsmart you" scenes, "my cops my family" scenes... The ones with the evil from the past are just great.

OVERALL: One of the best kdrama this year. In my top 2. Very well made, well written, lots of interesting and complex characters. Many intricate connections. A very human vision of people compared to the notions of good or evil. Totally recommended. 10/10 for being so entertaining, smart and human.

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This is dog poo

Never watched the original story so I thought this was an engaging plot with lot of potential. In the end, there is a few good thing and huge bad bad things.

1/ STORY
Romance part: The cause of the pregnancy is convoluted but the evolution of the story is interesting. It was a good and understandable progression considering the personalities of the three characters involved. The story of the original couple SML and FL drifting apart and breaking up was well presented. The part of the FL and ML getting closer was badly told and even totally unbelievable. And the end is.. omg... You would have wanted to mock your audience you would not have done anything different.

Thriller part: Very convoluted from start to ending. Chasing after a drug dealer, SML and the other cops go through events and clues which appears out of the blue. At the end, the writer gave the nice role to Kang Jae when he did wrong all that time... lol... of course.

2/ CHARACTERS / ACTORS:

Woori : Interesting character with a quiet personality and not confident. She is not assertive and let others take the lead professionally and in her couple. But pregnancy makes her take decisions and evolve to become confident about her baby, her life and happiness and her job. And suddenly in the end .. taddah!!! I owned you.

Raphael : Allegedly grew without loving parents and cured from a cancer so he is a very human guy who cares about family and wants to build his own. There was a wrong characterization of him as the writer put most of the goofy and silly tone on him when he was the ML. He appeared very inconsistent, not likeable and the actor was too wooden face to make him endearing.

Kang Jae: Not the right guy for Woori but strangely the most wholesome guy of the drama. From start to finish, he is himself: selfish, self-centered, workaholic, reckless … he does plenty of bs but in the end taddah! He is now the greatest guy ever because suddenly the writer gave him a great Deus Ex Machina background story out of the blue.. Poor guy was raised by not his father... OF COURSE!!!.

Ma Ri: Silly daughter who is an accomplice of a bigger schemer to con other people but finally has a conscience and saves herself. The most interesting character in the end who ultimately did right. I love her.

Woori’s mom : super annoying
Woori’s dad : useless character
Woori’s colleague: She is fun and supportive.

3/ OST
OK, nothing specially out of place

4/ Rewatch value:
Zero.

5/ OVERALL:
A very good idea in the beginning but spoiled and wasted by terrible directing with bad editing, scenes badly cut, convoluted situations, uncontrolled misplaced goofy cartoonesque moments. ML’s actor was a bad choice of leading actor, or they asked from him what he could not do. SML was the worst and then in the end it is a miracle of the writer, he is the cream of crop because these stupid idiot writers understood how lame they turned the ML to be so they gave the big prize to the SML...

Seriously? This drama just mocked the audience. 1/10 because I could not give 0/10. Fck them.

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A good remake

WHAT I LIKE:

- The cute story : Two childhood lovers finding each other again in a complicated confused situation.
- The FL: She is not beautiful. She is not ugly. I liked that she was just neglecting herself as she had low confidence and she improved her looks to be committed to her work. It is not an ugly duckling turned into a swan. I like her hardworking personality which helps her become better in many aspects.
- The ML: He is cold but he is also nice and caring and funny at times. And he can smile.
- The SFL: She was a bit annoying in the confusion but I found her very human in how she did not managed well the situation.
- The pace of the drama: Everything happens quite fast. It is not draggy.
- The fun: There is quite a goofy tone to it. Mostly done by the acting. I am not sure it is intentional but in the company, they were all over reacting to echo to Sato Ai's goofy side. Even the ML .

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:

- The SML: I found him too much of a rich spoiled kid working to kill the time and do pranks. He tried to woo a woman who is older than him in a very "teen" way. I found the final twist with him not very credible. He put a mask on and expected a woman to love him for who he is? Weird.
- The colleagues are support roles only. They don't have any depth. Only a few ones have a quick development in the last ep.
- The ending: too many use of time jump. It made the ending look rushed. Cute happy ending but kind of flat.

OST:
I liked it. It gave a punchy and fun vibe to the drama.

REWATCH VALUE: 8.

OVERALL: 8.5/10. It is a good drama to watch. The story is cute. The main leads are endearing as kids and adults. And it is fast paced. I watched and dropped the corean and chinese version. So I can only recommend this one.

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This drama is a very peculiar drama but it is satisfactory on every level

1/ What I liked:
- The peculiar narration of the drama. It felt very like a comic book or a manhwa with different chapters. Each one dedicated to a specific character or group of character and them all of them in the final.
- The characters: I loved the good guys but I also some of the bad guys. It is not about good ones and bad ones, but it is about humanity.
- The dual timeline between the story of the parents and the children and how they meet in the end.
- The action which is 50% of the time made of brutality but it is a very enjoyable brutality as it is not human but superhuman. Some scene are bloody and sometime gory bit still I enjoyed them as they were like fantasy and fun.
- The story overall is really interesting from the parents ‘one to the kids ‘one told in an unconventional manner.
- The fun. Some very good fun even in the saddest or most brutal moments. It is like not intented but still fun.


2/ What I liked less:
- ML's characterization to make him innocent was pushed too far. Made him look retarded and silly. I am glad in the end he progressed fast.
- Confusing timeline with flashbacks in the flashback.

3/ OST: Appropriate. Very gripping at times.

4/ Rewatch value
So fun. I will surely rewatch it or scenes of it.

5/OVERALL
Best drama I have watched in 2023 so far. 10/10. This drama has a really great story told in a very special and nice way with endearing and complex characters, very emotional moments involving love, friendship, family love, partnership, rivalry... insisting on the human side of people facing the brutality of the real evil ones. A MUST WATCH.

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Disappointing and finally ended boring

This drama tried to look like a documentary slice of life drama with a special concept where the characters are followed by interviewers and cameras. Six "adult people" share their ideas and opinions regarding couples and love relationships while filmed during their daily life. The concept is quite refreshing but it is mishandled as they soon mix interviews and narrated souvenirs and then moments looking like living with them or recording of a reality show where every line is scripted even final closure.

Finally this Unidentified Brodcasted Object of Kdrama fails as the stories developped are in addition either mushy with annoying leads (JW/LEO aka YSA) who can't take a proper decision or too short and unsatisfactory (the 2 other couples) to the point I did not find them really endearing and I did not feel anything about their fate in the end. The characters looked immature, silly people unable to behave like adults.

Strangely there is a 4th story which came out of nowhere in the last ep looking like no part of all this documentary produced thing and it was 20 minutes but the most satisfactory story.

The big question is: Would I advise someone to watch this because it is something entertaining and worth the time? No.

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A very strange and enjoyable drama but not for everybody.

1/ STORY:

The story is simple and cliché about a woman falling for the wrong guy and things become complicated when he falls for her too. Nothing special and the story could be summarized with 50 words. The good thing of this drama is that it throws the viewer into an intimate connection with the characters using a pinkish filter and a very slow pace. The viewer is able to put himself in their shoes to understand where they come from and why they do what they do. The drama is a gallery of portraits and characters with their qualities and flaws and their understanding of the situation they are in. They are simple people stuck in their own little world but they face hurdles that force them change their point of view and open themselves to each other because they care for each other and they want to do things right in their own pov.

2/ CHARACTERS / CAST:

Very relatable and endearing lead characters. They have their flaws but these are understandable considering what they went throught. FL is the main character. She is reckless and daring but also protective and caring. ML is a loner who suffered a lot from others' actions but he is taken aback by FL. Lee Sung Kyung and Kim young Kwang did great portraying these two characters. Loved the emotions and lack of emotions they conveyed. Secondary characters are good supporting characters despite being less interesting.

3/ OST: Good without being special.

4/ REWATCH VALUE: Not sure I will rewatch it. It is very slow and it is not a roller coaster of emotions. It is more like an intimate experience.

5/OVERALL:

I loved watching this drama week in week out and I totally recommend it to the ones who are not afraid of slow paced drama and are ready to feed themselves with the words and emotions of the different characters.

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Entertaining enough

This is not the melodrama or the tragic love story I was expecting but it was entertaining.

STORY:

- First part : How ShiYi ends up the "student" of Zhou Sheng Chen and the time they spend together or far from each other. How they grow fond of each other. The part is cute and fun. They obviously have a huge age gap and different levels of maturity but it made it even more credible.

- Second part : ShiYi leaves for the Capital of the Center State to marry. The plots and schemes for power intensify and they are caught in the middle. That part looked the usual historical palace cdrama with its numerous characters and schemes. It was enjoyable as it was clear and fast paced, not too convoluted.

- Love story : It is not a Love story. These two were no lovers. Master and protégée, teacher and pupil, fatherly figure and god daughter maybe, friends and confidants... Instead, it is a story of untold feelings. I liked how their fidelity to their duty and their love for their people led them to their demise.

CHARACTERS / ACTORS:

- Zhou Sheng Chen : I liked the character. He is a great general but also very human and caring for people. He has a nice personality despite the fact that he almost never smile. He is a man of his word. His priority was always his duty even before ShiYi. He had affection and feelings for her but he keeps them buried inside as he must do. It is his role and his fate. Allen Ren is a good actor and I liked his portrayal of Zhou Sheng Chen

- Cui Shi Yi . At first I thought she was someone smart and a fighter but no. She is just a little bookworm smitten by a great hero's figure. She slowly develops feelings for him. But she is also a filial daughter and she agrees to marry for the sake of her family. I always had the feeling that her love was more made of admiration than real love as she was always calling him her master. Bai Lu is great as a strong female or as a nice weak protégée.

- Other characters were interesting. I liked General Hong and General Cui's story. This was the real love story. General Feng and the monk were cute together.

MUSIC:

It was good but one thing really annoyed me. Why they used so many songs to create a mood and atmosphere but the lyrics were louder than the dialogue at very important moments? That totally spoiled these moments for me.

REWATCH VALUE:

Maybe not but it does not mean it is not good.

OVERALL: 9. It is a good story. Not Romeo and Juliet but the two leads are cute and endearing. Both from their own side, they were really torn between their duty and their affection and feelings. Their ending is tragic as expected but it is well made for both of them to the point you will shed a tear for sure. The ending is well done and the story is nicely wrapped.

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Unbalanced and ending really not satisfactory

WHAT I LIKED:
- The main female lead Han Shi Yi. It takes some times to like her as for the first episodes her bahavior is quite questionnable as he is pretty rude. But you grow on liking her as she has a real backstory, she is intelligent and fun and behind the appearances, there is depth and complexity in her character.
- The main lead 5th prince: I really did not like his frozen smile on his face he has for the whole drama. Anyway his interactions with the FL were good and they had good chemistry. And the way he dealt with his rival/enemies showed him as a smart thoughtful and caring person for his girl anf for the people.
- The story: Another gender bender but this one is well made. The girl as a man looks like a man and as a woman she is beautiful. It gives credibility to the story and to the journey she lives from her arrival to the capital to the ending. It is fast paced and enjoyable.
- Wang Xi Yuan: she was annoying, funny, strong, dumb, genuine, pitiful sometimes. Overall she was a nice character.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:
- The rival in Love Wang Zhong Yu : basically he is a mom's son who can't oppose anything to his rotten father because he is a coward and too busy to be obssessed by his crush and writing plays while his dad is having people killed for his family's greatness.
- The quatuor of evil : The Empress/The Wang AnLi/the 5th prince's bother/The cousin : They have plenty of schemes but overall they were not very smart. They just shared the evilness.
- The ending : Han Shi Yi : towards the end when the final conflict it set in place, Han Shi Yi becomes a very weak and dumb charcater who looses all her guts, genius, intelligence, ability to question, her confidence in herself and in the one who helped her and who went through so much with her. Disappointing from her part.
- The endig: open ending. The drama ends in a way that cannot be called an open ending. Open ending means it announces rather good events to come. Here they just missed each other in the street and that's it. Very disappointing.

MUSIC: OK

REWATCH VALUE: No, although I liked the main couple and their adventures, the ending makes me unable to rewatch that.

OVERALL.
Could have been good. A 9/10 if not for these last very crappy episodes where the FL turns against the ML. I would have excused that if the final was good and it just left me thinking "what the ffffc ?".

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Such a long wait for such a poor result

STORY:

1) Business part: 7/10
Lei Yu Zheng deals with people who want to remove him of his position as CEO and take over his company. Their inside man manages to do the job and Lei Yu Zheng falls into disgrace. After some times in limbo, he recovers and find a way to fight back. The part is quite entertaining with good protagonists and schemes coherent with the world of business investment, without being too complicated. Fun A-team concept to fight the bad guys.

2) Romance part: 3/10
Nice part between Xiao Su, Zen Rong. Their meeting and their dating as a couple is cute. Yu Zheng appears caring and unbiased. Then Yu Zheng deals with Xiao Su after the tragedy. Their past together is unclear and don't justify their antagonism. Their confrontation is short lived for no reason. Yu Zheng just suddenly changes his attitude towards her in the most unexpected manner and it makes no sense. Them getting close seems forced with the usual tropes (bet, drunk, old story, I misunderstood you, using kids of course... ). Their relationship is made of push and pull and lack of communication that make no sense compared to what they do for each other. They have few moments together for a long time. Only in the end there is a little bit of spark between them.

3) Family part: 0/10
During the second half, the drama becomes dripping with good values, good morals, good people who behave nice with the parents, the elders, the friends, the wife, the sick one, the family.... bla bla bla... It is like the writer decided to lecture the audience with BS good moralization. And the worst in this, it is that to convince the audience, he is going to change some key characters' nature in a complete U-turn. Meh.

CHARACTERS:

- Lei Yu Zheng : the guy cold and business oriented who suddenly starts to woo his ex future sister in Law. Makes her his gf, then he hides everything to her in the name of Love. That tortures her but he comes to say sorry. Cool. Shawn Dou did quite well. Just that the character sucked as a boyfriend. He showed good comedic sense in the last part. Should do comedy drama.

- Du Xiao Su : I liked her evolution from daring girl totally in love to fighting and persevering working girl to independent business woman. The story with the younger brother (two best friends in fact) is credible as she idealized him too much and they got together too fast. Her story with the older bro would have been credible if it was not farfetched, out of the blue and became a torture for her and for the viewers. Li Qin did well portraying a kindhearted and hardworking character.

- Shao Zen Rong : Poor bad guy.
- Jiang Fan Lu : Poor spoiled daughter becomes the perfect wife.
- Zou Si Qi: Terrible friend and a gold digger who left her boyfriend to date a playboy in the face of her ex to be awarded with 1500 USD handbags.
- He Qun Fei: Poor guy who took back his gold digger gf because she is the only woman he ever had in his bed.
- Lin Xiang Yuan: super playboy and great buddy and sidekick for Lei Yu Zheng . My favorite.
- Liu Si Yang: One cool guy from the A-team.

In short, most of the secondary characters were either uninteresting or just annoying because they took a huge screen time when I could not care less about their life, their story or their moralizing speeches.

MUSIC:
OK overall but terribly bad during the long speeches about behaving to be nice with the parents, the elders, the friends, the wife, the sick one, the family.... bla bla bla.

REWATCH VALUE:
- 6/10 but it means : No.

OVERALL
- Waste of talent of Shawn Dou and Li Qin who looked a very cute couple on screen and they showed good acting skills for me. The romance was too poorly written full of clichés and usual tropes. No surprise. No sparks. I don't recommend with drama.

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An enjoyable drama thanks to the two lead characters and a good plotline.

1/ WHAT I LIKED:

- The "thriller": Dealing with a case of "unexplained death" in a drama full of colorful eccentric silly insane people is not easy as the elements of the plot can be easily convoluted. It was not the case here and the plot is well handled. The drama introduces a mystery and then keeps a good pace to slowly unveil and describe the huge scheme behind, the schemers and their final fate. The way the "thriller" part was solved and how things panned out was good as one guy who looked unredeemable turned the table in a surprising twist.

- The romance: The romance works very well thanks to the two lead characters Da Li and Moo Hak . They are very well written. FL is naive, knowledgeable cultured elegant damzel but also an hardworking dedicated boss who fights for her people. ML is loud and not so bright but he has a good nature and good values of life even if money matters first for him. They are so different that they definitively attract each other. Their path to being together is not easy but it goes smoothly with no terrible dilemma. And when they are together or trying to be together, they are just too cute but they also look quite a realistic and modern couple.

- The bad guy: He contributed greatly to the drama by being so sneaky and despicable. The good thing is his bad deeds are slowly discovered to unveil his true nature. I only regret that in the end he had a punishment too light for what he did.

- Da Li's brother , Won Tak : Althought I wished his part was more important especially the "cop" side of him, I liked the relationship he had with Moo Hak and the way it evolved to become really funny. I also like how things ended for him. He who barely washes his hair still finds a new friend in the end.

- Ahn Chak Hee : She looks dumb and spoiled annoying girl at first but she becomes quite endearing and she has an happy ending as she moves from a sad situation to become independent.

- Yeo Mi Ri : Moo Hak's goofy secretary, lieutenant, guardian angel...


2/ WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:

- Moo Hak's family: Terrible people. The step mother should be shot and fed to the pigs :D . Moo Hak's brother is a weasel who makes stupid choices when he is not taunting Moo Hak. The father is no better. He never treated Moo Hak right and in the end, he is still so selfish.
- Some character did not have very likeable personnalities: mostly the employee of the museum, the uncle and his son...
Annoying people who did their annoying but useful part.

- The time jump at the end of the drama caught me by surprised and I was a bit annoyed. But the ending was finally good and artistic.

3/ OST: Very good with some several good songs to contribute to a very original athmosphere. I had not noticed such a good OST since IOTNBO.

4/ REWATCH VALUE: Some very cute and funny scenes to rewatch.

5/ OVERALL: A good and entertaining kdrama with two colorful main characters who are lovable. 9/10

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