wow. what a very very heartrending show. :( I really wanted to knock some sense into Jing Xuan OFTEN. He really was kind of an idiot and that made it hard to watch at times BUT I still liked the show for some weird reason. *shrugs*
I wouldn't watch this if you want a show with a HEA or even any amount of "happy vibes" throughout the show. To be truthful, the whole things was painful to watch with very few "silver lining/happy" moments sprinkled throughout. I don't mind a tragic ending, but I prefer a little few bright spots here and there throughout the darkness in a long show.
Still, I couldn't seem to look away. I must enjoy torturing myself(?) lol

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unfortunately a BIG miss for me...

So, I had been waiting to find this drama subbed forever... finally on Youtube with the wrong still images titled "Royal Romantic"... warning though the subtitles are not good... not horrendous, but definitely bad. Luckily, I've seen so many of these I know pretty much what was being said despite the subs.

The story could have been an interesting one... but it really wasn't. Not the politics, not the romance and not the culture or anything else. The MAIN saving grace of the drama was the MALE LEAD... he was amazing and you could feel all his emotions, his likes and hates... his love... I teared up a few times when he cried!!

Unfortunately, the storyline he was given was crap. No depth of plot and no depth of a female lead.

PLOT: The politics all tied back around to "why he couldn't be with the Han girl"... so it wasn't interesting, it wasn't intriguing, really a waste. Completely and utterly.

The romance... sigh... like I said... could have been GREAT because the ML was willing to risk it ALL for this girl ALL the time, but instead... it drove the plot around and around in circles :(

The Female Lead.... ack. She smiled very slightly and was very pretty... and a good singer. And that's all. Oh she had a few tears streaming down her cheek often.. but YIKES. Talk about wooden and no depth of character. He loved her because she was beautiful and a good singer and.... kind? That's it... past that she suffered from being "TOO". Too everything!! Too nice. Too kind-hearted. Too trusting. Too forgiving. Too understanding. Too... everything and it made her paper-thin as a character. ZERO character development, zero emotion... lots of getting bullied and getting saved (or not) and just saying it was all okay as long as the male lead "didn't suffer" BLECK!!!

and that's the plot... can't be together... no one in harem wants them together (plus all the concubines are uber evil)... all the palace peeps trying to keep her out of the harem... her sacrificing...and round and round we go... and then the ending was NOT worth the 59 episodes of that... be warned #tragedy

BUT... I adored the Male Lead???

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⭐⭐⭐⭐This will end up being about 8 stars for me. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Not far into this and I've been shattered into a million pieces & I like it. ;-) This show is so beautifully done. You KNOW where they are going in this show (tragedy x100) and yet you can't seem to look away. The acting is fantastic and the chemistry between characters is awesome. I do have some nit-picky issues with the show on a whole, but nothing worth mentioning at this point. I'm just going to sit back and continue to watch and let my heart hurt.
03/22/19 So, I've seen up to ep 48 at this point and I believe there are 4 episodes left. This (as expected) is most definitely a tragedy of epic proportions. Everything about this show is beautiful and heart breaking.
My problems with this show are as follows.
✘ The first 10 episodes are truly amazing. You see a build up, an epic crescendo, and then a crash back down to earth. The next 35+ episodes? Not so much. We see a LOT of blah blah blah our main girl getting stepped on and left out of the loop, therefore doing stupid stuff in her ignorance of what LCY is thinking.
✘ We're supposed to feel a sense of the two main characters (even with their loss of memories) building up to falling back into a deep love again so that when they regain their memories the heartache will coming crashing in all over again. However, you only feel to an extent that LCY has fallen in love with XF even though he treats her like dirt in order to protect her and further his revenge agenda.
✘ Point #2 above is a major problem because as a viewer you then have to watch episode upon episode of LCY subtly loving XF yet XF getting mistreated by LCY and therefore cannot truly open her heart to him because she doesn't see what WE as viewers see. It makes for an impossible build up of emotions that we're expected to feel because we know that no way in hell would XF fall for LCY based on her own perspective. As we know, she can't see what we see.
✘ Finally, the last issue is pacing. It seems a lot of time is spent on LCY convincing the world he loves SeSe and despises XF (again, to keep XF safe and to further his agenda) and not so much on the tragic love story we were expecting because of the AH-Mazing first opening episodes before the jump into Oblivion Falls. (no idea of the real name, but I like Oblivion Falls. LOL)
✘ On another note, an issue I also have is that I am on 48 out of 52 episodes and there is a LOT of plot points out there and I'm unsure if 4 short episodes is enough to tie off all those plots without rushing and being done unsatisfyingly (totally a word!) to us as fans/viewers. Pacing would have affected this imho.
?I LOVED LOVED the first 15-ish episodes. I've enjoyed the rest for sure. A few changes by the writers and this show would have hit my list of top 6 favorites, but it's still worth the watch for sure.?

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A disjointed and WTF final episode.

Soooo I enjoyed this at first and actually loved the romance aspect all the way through, but there were some major plot, writing, and execution problems in this show, the final episode being the absolute worst.
Issues were:
1. The main plot of powers/healers/etc was convoluted, not explained well enough, and worst of all had shaky "rules". Like why her mom basically died saving someone and they said she would die if she saved the girl, but she saved her once and the protector's ring healed her. That would've been handy but it was never explained or used ever again after that one time. Handy random one time plot device, right? Also, why was his sister so fragile from using her powers but he used his even more often and wasn't at death's door? Why wasn't there any consistency in this major plot?
2. The girl who said she was a healer but wasn't really... Why was she trying to get into the male lead's pants at one point but was a "good guy" 5 seconds later and we never explored why she was so weirdly and randomly evil/good?
3. The end episode. LAWD. So many things.
(a) why did the main girl SAY that the sister had DIED early in the episode but a few moments later it's "2 years later" and the brother is obviously searching for his sister not "knowing" for sure she's dead??? why did the FML "know" she died but a little later in the same episode she would have to have NOT known that. Inconsistency, much???
(b) he only came back because he now thinks his sister is alive and living well? so, only THEN did he come back to find the FML and embrace her once again? really?
(c) these guys sending photoshopped pics and faked letters of his sister to manipulate the couple back together. she died. they pretend she is still alive and send pics to our ML. ummm, how about NO? yikes. if their love was that weak, then leave it alone already. also he can teleport to any place if he sees a pic. wouldn't he eventually ACTUALLY want to see his sister again? WTF will they do then when teleports where they are and he finds out his sister did die back two years before?
(d) the bad guy who kidnapped our girl for revenge walking up to a buddhist? temple? or? WTF is happening here? no one knows, cause it's only 1 of about 6 random and disjointed scenes in the finale. *shrugs*
(e) the ENDING SCENE is a male lead look-a-like walking up to the desk of the ML's business partner at the company. WHUT? WHY? And it. ends. there. WHYYYY? Again, who TF knows?

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My first time EVER disliking a "good" guy in a lakorn

I find this is one of those rare cases where a drama is actually a little too highly rated here on MDL. Usually, (imho) dramas are rated lower than what they deserve, but not so in this case.
First thing. What I liked. I love the actors. Fabulous acting. Great Chemistry. Real kisses sprinkled throughout. A good story base... everything needed for a great story/lakorn, right? Well....

Things went south rather quickly for me. First. This show did NOT have the story/plot structure to carry TWENTY looooong episodes. Honestly, I was well over the redundant plot by episode TEN. Ouch.

Besides the overdone plot that truly went no where and just pittered along but could have been wrapped up in 10 episodes easily... the villains. There were a LOT of them. & They were ridiculous and had superficial "reasons" for going to the dark side. Everyone was a villain. A handful of people were "too good". The stark contrast between characters was overwhelming.
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Next... & I really hate hate hate that this is the case, BUT... the ML. He was awesome for about 1/3 of the show. The next 3/4 he was kind of an ass. He lied. He manipulated. He hurt the FL emotionally over and over and over again pushing her towards the SML all for his selfish desire to "help his country". Even knowing what kind of a guy the SML was. What was worse... if that by the VERY last 20 minutes of the show he is STILL putting his "duty" to the country over the FL's feelings even though they had been married for several years. He is still disregarding her, her feelings, and their relationship in favor of "his work", basically staying true to what the FL believes (and she has a valid reason for doing so) that he still sees her as kind of in the way and troublesome if he shares everything with her. Even their intimacy. is taking a hit because he nearly falls asleep instantly due to exhaustion. He's also still lying to the FL in the last 10 minutes of the show because he "knows how she'll act" and is sure she'd cause him trouble if she was aware of his job issues. UGH. Not something a great relationship is built on, huh?

To add insult to injury... all that time the FL keeps helping him, loving him, forgiving him nearly instantly. To be honest, I wish that final scene did not play out that way. There's NO way he learned anything important that easily. He needed to feel the sting of possible loss to make him wake up to what he was doing wrong. He didn't. & their relationship would still have major issues.
By the end of the lakorn... I disliked the ML. My first time EVER disliking a "good" guy in a lakorn. No raping. No abuse. No slap-kiss... and yet, I somehow found him a wee bit more dislikable than an antihero who at least learns a hard lesson by the end of their journey. BOTH leads in this show did NOT go through any kind of self-journey. ONLY the SML did. UGH.

I guess that's my main gripe with this lakorn... ALL that they went through in those ridiculous amount of episodes, and the leads never had any REAL self development. The ML never had a "ah crap, I did wrong" moment. No moment of fear of what he may stand to LOSE. Not once.
Everything that happened to him and he never changed even a little bit? Really? MEH.

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Oh boy.
Rating this one is super difficult for me. I'm going to say this ends up about 7-7.5 STARS (for me). ⭐⭐⭐
If I could ignore the final two episodes all together or pretend they were tweaked to be written in a way that didn't absolutely destroy the last bit of like/respect I had for the Main Male Lead, then this rating would be at least 1 point higher.
The GOOD:
⭐The acting. I loved ever single actor/actress. They did such a wonderful job!
⭐The unique storyline. For "base" of the story, it was nice and enjoyable and fun to watch unfold.
⭐The mature look at romance and all the complicated feelings that comes with, dealing with tragedy, and living with guilt.
The NOT-SO-GOOD:
⭐50 episodes. This show ONLY became boring because the storyline was super super stretched out over 50 hours of episodes. This show would have been phenomenal at 24 episodes, 30 MAX!
⭐Because of the above (too many episodes) the great story began to wear thin quickly. After all, the plot was very specific, the bad guys were pointed out early. The things that needed to happen to "clear things up" also all happened within the first 26? episodes. After that, it was much of the same thing. Characters scheming ways to "stop" from getting caught and characters scheming to "make the bad guys pay" and also the hours and hours of angsty "I love you so much I'm willing to suffer in silence for you" plot point that was literally beaten to death in the show. Take out half of that and 10 hours worth of filming could have been trimmed. *shrugs*
⭐The twin sister. I wanted to love her. I didn't. I also didn't love her relationship with the Dr. because it was awkward in a weird and not cute way. I also HATED how they kept making a comparison of her to her "pretty" sister. -_-
⭐This one was blatant and annoying, but... We all know ALLL these characters were flawed, but our FML did not deserve HALF those slaps NOR half of her bowing her head and apologizing to people, ESPECIALLY to the girl who stole her husband. ICK.
⭐The FINAL & WORST to me was two-fold. I always rooted for her hubby to win her back, but by the final two episodes, I was actually unhappy with her going back to him. Why? (1) Because the 2nd male lead had to point out SO many times WHY the ML was being an asshat and HOW he was misinterpreting his WIFE. How he wasn't really "seeing" his wife's pain or heart. and THAT tells you, my friends, that her never REALLY knew his wife to begin with. Not like the 2nd male lead did within those 4 years. (2) In the 49th episode the male lead is an asshole. After all his talk of never letting go of her hand again and protecting her and loving her no matter... the first time she does something she NEEDS to do, he fucking drops her and is so petty as to not visit her for a year and treats her like literal dirt for the whole episode. I HATED the episode. I HATED how she basically just put up with it and it destroyed everything I had been rooting for for FORTY-EIGHT episodes ?The WORST OF THE WORST being that he KNEW WHY she didn't tell him. For. Him. For his familial relationships. For his heart. And he still... UNGH!
Anywho... I enjoyed it and even loved it for about 24 episodes. I trudged through the rest because the acting was so strong and I hate to quit, but those final two episodes were like a slap in the face EVEN WITH the "Happily Ever After".
(but don't get me started on their argument the morning after their reunion in the finale.) *gives nasty side-eye*

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This is one of those dramas I'm unsure how to rate. did I love it? not really but I also didn't hate.
One thing for sure is that the acting was FANTASTIC.
The storyline had great potential, but the writing left a bit to be desired, particularly with the middle daughter's story. Did we really care what happened with her? Not really (her character was flat and entire story uninteresting) and luckily we didn't, because she falls off the radar completely & randomly in the last few episodes and her "ending" is mentioned in passing by another character. oh well.
I ADORE Bae Soo Bin, so I was hanging in there in the show for him, but his character had too many MAJOR flaws to be as redeemable as they made him out to be in the final episode. He spied on his wife, murdered animals in a rage, had people beaten, put toxic chemicals in food, "set examples" of local small businesses he was pushing around to amass his empire, and that's the tip of the iceberg. He was utterly ruthless. Hot? Oh yeah. But as a character, he was a psychopath and he'd have been kept far far away from my kid.
Also, I didn't really care about ANY of the other side character's storylines either. Most people in this show we absolutely horrible people and who wants to watch that all day long? Makes for loooong/uninteresting drama what should have been 16 episodes instead of 26. *shrugs* I was only was (barely) interested in little sister and the Ajhussi with the little boy as side characters.
Anywho... I wish I could love this one more, because the actors were EPIC and I wanted to love it, but, alas, this one will be uber forgettable even though Bae Soo Bin's acting was fantastic.

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Will keep this super short since it has so many reviews already. This show was adorable and romantic with a great chemistry between the leads. I loved that she was a fangirl. I loved that I felt myself grinning through the whole show. I loved that there wasn't cliche exes and such manipulating and tearing the leads apart and I also loved that there wasn't the cliche 100 misunderstandings to keep the leads apart. The show was very well written in that regard. The acting was fabulous with some of my favorites, including the main lead actress and the lovely woman who played her mother. LOVE.

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Quick review.
I wanted to love this show, but it fell short for me. The characters ended up one note and boring by the halfway point of the show and I actually didn't care by the final episode that the ending sucked.
I was more interested in Hong Joo's transformation and story and even though I believe she grew the most as a character and became the stronger as a result of all that happened, I couldn't help but feel she got the short end of the stick with that ending.
I mean, really? I felt like everyone else walked off into the sunset holding hands and she just ended up let down and alone again. Ick. I almost wish for a Part Two JUST about her so we can see her with a HEA at the end of all her trials. But that's probably just me being petty. ;-)
I also want to make note of one thing since I saw people blaming the main female lead for being the one who actually broke their marriage because "he didn't actually betray her until after they divorced." UMMM NO.
Nothing happened in Hong Kong. Fine. BUT The point isn't that he wasn't required to sleep with her for that money.
The REAL POINT is that he stayed behind ASSUMING he was going to sleep with her for the money. He let his wife leave THINKING he was going to have to betray her for that money. He was SURPRISED he didn't have to. So... he was FULLY prepared to betray his wife for that money and THAT, MY FRIENDS, is what broke their marriage. Just because (oh sigh of relief) he didn't have to is a side-note and besides the point.
ALSO... him staying longer ($3?) to have "fun" with her before returning to his wife is in and of itself the worst kind of betrayal. His wife was 100% right in assessing the situation. Him seeing her after HongKong and then going to work with her just to test his manly resolve? Stupid, Childish, and the final straw. *shrugs*

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I'm not sure I'll ever watch another historical that will ever compare to The Rise of the Pheonixes for me. This is one of the most moving shows I've ever seen. Not just compared to other Chinese shows, but to any show I've ever watched. The acting is superb. The cinematography, the writing, the emotion, the costumes... everything is absolutely breath-taking. This show stuck in my mind long long after the last episode ended. & although I'm not happy with that ending, I did anticipate that is was coming and it is so well done that I don't believe it took away from how enjoyable the show is on the whole. What I wouldn't give for an alternate ending though. ;-)

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Enjoyed more than the 2020 remake despite the ending ;-)

This one is better acted and has a better flow of events than the 2020 remake for sure. Much more masterfully told, like a story unfolding through the eyes of an elder.
Although, to be fair, the remake is VERY close to this source material. Scenes and lines are almost exact in both versions. So, there are no surprises there other than the lovely "current day" scenes in this version which bring a very nice layer of drawing you into the story that the remake does not have. That's the biggest difference between the shows. That you get to see the FL as an elder throughout the show "reminiscing" and telling her & her mother/grandmother's story to her granddaughter. That's the major difference (the dual timelines)... and the ending, of course.
The acting is a little better and not quite as exaggerated as the remake as well.
The ending here is more beautifully done, but not as "happy" (I guess you could say?) than the remake's ending.
If I had to choose one over the other, I'd choose this one even though the ending is not quite what I'd hoped for after watching the 2020 version first. Still, I'm rating this one a bit higher than the 2020 version.
My issue with this show is the actually story itself which I outlined in my review of the new version. I'll quote a bit of it below.
---FROM MY REVIEW OF THE LITTLE NYONYA (2020 Version) ---
"I felt the "pay off" of the final episode did not match the heartache of 44 straight episodes of torture.
There has to be some kind of balance in a drama like this one and there wasn't any in The Little Nyonya.
At least not enough for me to appreciate everything I had to just sit through.
I guess I expected a story here where the FL had a ton of trials and torture but she not only persevered through it, but triumphed over it, carving out her own destiny in the end. And while you can see that "kind of" was tacked on at the end, in my opinion it was too little too late and not done satisfactorily. Not at all.
All that being said... I didn't hate this show. I rather liked it. Kind of. The acting was great. Chemistry between some of t he characters was well done. I enjoyed the cooking and cultural bits, though I even wish it more heavily influenced the drama, but still it was okay.
But if you're here for romance... while the romance was OK in some instances... the majority of the "love plots" were more painful and destructive than anything else in my eyes. The bad (bad characters, bad romance, bad karma) well outweighed the good.
I just wanted a wee bit more sunshine poking through all the storm clouds that The Little Nyonya was as a drama. I wanted to see some triumph at the end of the torture and in the end, I didn't feel like I got that. At least not enough to make me (personally) happy."

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this drama is not too bad!

This show is OK for a melodrama. & honestly, I enjoyed the FL and adored the ML (yum!) I actually didn't find the drama too terribly long or drawn out, surprisingly, since I usually do on these types of shows.
Man did they give us a character to hate though, am I right? I hated her guts and wanted to throat punch her SO bad SO often throughout the show.
Also, though I liked the ML... I couldn't LOVE him, mainly because he fell for such a you-know-what of a 2nd FL! I mean... why? how? and can we trust a guy with that kind of taste in women? I think NOT! lol
and finally... SPOILER SPOILE R SPOILER BELOW, but...
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OMG I hate a "give the evil bad b*^ch a disease at the end of the show to make everyone forgive/forget her epic evilness through the whole show like it never happened plot device". UNGH. Yeah, that happens. -_-

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I really enjoyed it. If you watch any Japanese Manga-to-Live Action shows, you know what to expect. This had all of the "flaws" (imho) that they usually do, but it also had some BETTER qualities than most do as well.
♡The Good♡:
1. The main female lead. Adorable. Great actress. Written in a strong and commanding way. She didn't "shrink" away from every.little.thing like most FML's do in J-Dramas. She was smart, tough, and no shrinking violet. I LOVED her character.
2. The side characters. ALL of them were great. No idiots, no over-the-top characters. No backstabbing friends/Ex's. It was a nice change.
3. The pacing. A problem I have with these micro-dramas (20ish minutes each episode) is the pacing is usually always weird and WAY too fast/choppy. The pacing here was not perfect, but MUCH better.
♡The Could've-Been-Better♡:
1. The male lead. He was WAY too childish for his role. Not much romance experience? That's OK, but I believe in attempt to make him seem younger and her to seem more mature to shorten the age-gap issue, they wrote him a bit too immature.
2. The parents of the FML. NO way they wouldn't be somewhat concerned about their 16yo daughter and this 26yo man hanging out like they were. I don't care what country you live in!
3. The ending was cute but I am SO hoping for a season #2, 'cause it just felt like build up to not much of an ending.
♡SO, overall, I PERSONALLY think the "good" outweighs the "not-so-good" in this instance and it's a J-Drama I didn't roll my eyes at or want to fast forward. I really, rather, enjoyed it!♡

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One of THE best Thai dramas by FAR.
So well done. I grinned. I cried. I melted. I skipped nothing.
Such a wonderful show!
I watched other variations of this show and this one is definitely my favorite. I loved all the characters, acting was wonderful, and all around easily one of my favorite Thai shows. This one has brownie points for being re-watchable as well. If you've been on the fence, get off it and dive into this one. You won't be sorry. I really appreciated the subtle tweaks in this show compared to the other variations as well. The characters (imho) weren't quite so over the top as the Korean version.

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