QAS
Los Angeles, CA
Best C-Drama of the 21st century
I watched this drama later than everyone else; 16 months after the original TV broadcast. I watched the entire drama in three weeks, staying up until 3AM, to watch episodes.Nirvana in Fire is a TV drama masterpiece, that was brilliantly written and produced. All the actors in the primary and supporting roles, gave exceptional acting performances. Hu Ge and Wang Kai were the perfect casting choices for the Mei Chang Su and Prince Jing Yan roles. The costume designs and the set designs were flawless, and the music soundtrack was perfect. The directing and editing were very good.
The intricate plot flowed like an English Literature textbook. Hai Yan's novel, "Lang Ya Bang", deserves recognition in the Asian and Western literary worlds, and the TV drama deserves honors in the Asian and Western entertainment industries. All TV production houses should use the Nirvana in Fire as the benchmark for their dramas.
This is the first TV drama that I awarded 10 points across the board.
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Boring drama, bad plot
I watched every episode until #20, but the erratic mood swings of Wei Wei and Yi Du, made me feel restless and listless. I switched to watching every five episodes until I reached the end of the line.Story:
A love story/amnesia/revenge plot! Too much, too little, too boring! Wei Wei acted like a childish teenager, as she kept pursuing Yi Du, even though he treated her shabbily. Yi Du was so trusting of his friend, who was his mortal enemy, yet he distrusted Wei Wei frequently, that I wanted to slap his head. Mo Fan pursued a distorted revenge plot. Huao Xiao, Wei Wei's best friend, became needy and manipulative.
Acting/Cast
The cast did a good acting job with the bad script. Joe Chen and Wang Kai looked very attractive as Wei Wei and Yi Du respectively, but their characters were not endearing. Zhang Duo is handsome as the snake friend, Mo Fan. Derek Chang was my favorite cast member. His character, Leo, seemed the most rational, although he chased Tiffany like a puppy.
Music:
Music outpaced the drama.
Overall score:
At best, this drama should have been 24 episodes long. The plot would not have been so burdensome to the viewers and the actors.
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Handsome Prince falls in love
This was an epic drama, in storyline and length. All the actors gave memorable acting performances. The costume designs were beautiful.Poor Wei Young was targeted by every villain, who underestimated her survival skills. The Touba Jun/Wei Young romance was charming, until Tuoba Jun married Wei Young's arch-enemy #1, Changle. Arch-enemy #2, Changru, was even more dangerous and mad. Midway, the plot slowed down, and it was a great effort to keep watching Wei Young constantly being ridiculed, harrassed or tortured. My primary motivation was to see the end of the drama.
What made this epic drama effective, was the fact that 54 episodes were broadcast over a span of four weeks.
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Detective in love
Snail... was the best detective drama that I watched in 2016. The writing and production format were the equivalent of a British detective drama. The plot is very intricate, and it is best to binge-watch the drama, to maintain the continuity and focus. The detective team demonstrated the true meaning of teamwork and loyalty. Ji Bai represents the true team leader; pragmatic, unemotional, inspiring.All the actors did a very good job with their character roles. The drama villains were the Ye extended family members. Wang Kai/Ji Bai's action scenes were flawless.
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Story 8.5
The love story between a rich egocentric charming heir of a conglomerate and apoor but kind-hearted school-teacher. Jae In's grandfather acted as matchmaker/fairy godfather, to bring the two seemly mismatched characters together.
Acting/Cast 8.5
Ha Suk Jin and Jeon So Min were perfectly cast as the lead characters.
Music 8.0
Music moved the drama toward the conclusion.
Rewatch value 9
I watched this drama twice.
Overall 8.5
The weekly scripts and the leading actors' performances kept my attention, as the romance continued on the incline. I cringed at Jae In's fashion choices 90% of the time. Ha Suk Jin/Jae In looked perfect, otherwise.
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Story:
K2 is a mixed bag of espionage, political intrigue, romance, dysfunctional family and corruption in high circles.
Acting Cast 7,5
Chang Ji Wook and Song Yoon-A were exceptional in their roles.
Character assessment;
K2 moved like lightning. He should be the executive trainer of NIS.
Choi Yoo Jin had excessive mood swings. She was bi-polar, psychotic, duplicitous, ruthless, manipulative, delusional. She should be the dictator of a country.
An Na; bland! She should open a ramen shop.
Se Joon was a philanderer, dead beat father, sycophant. He should go on the talk show circuit.
Gwan Soo was the corrupt politician and K2's target. He should be attached to a bomb device.
Music: 7
The music kept the drama alive.
Rewatch value: 5
Some day!
Overall 6.5
The most annoying aspect of the production was the ridiculous abuse of Shaky Camera. The jerky movements caused the brain to readjust and lose concentration (especially when the international viewers were reading subtitles). This lowered the quality of the project, because it seemed as if amateurs were behind the camera, and in charge of the production.
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Story 6.0
It started out as a crime drama, but evolved midway into a melodrama. At some point, it felt as if the director, scriptwriter and actors played 'spin the bottle' to determine which character would gain the advantage at the end of the day.
Acting Cast 6.0
Mediocre acting by the leads! The best acting performance was given by Jung Bo-Suk as Byun Il-Jae, the despicable villain.
Music 6.5
Music was above average.
Rewatch value 1
The value should be 0. It is only rewatchable if 20 hours are shaved off the drama, and the final scene rewritten and reshot.
Overall 5
The drama title should have been "Monster Byun Il-Jae", with deference given to Jung Bo-Suk. Byun did all the menacing and plotting, and was the real Monster.
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Tombitis
Mystic Nine was my first longform C-drama. William Chan, Zhao Liying, Zhang Yixing, Ying Haoming and Zhang Mingen were perfectly cast in their roles. William's and Mingen's fight scenes/stunts were very impressive (their characters were highly skilled members of the mysterious Zhang family tree).There were holes in the plot that was not clearly defined. There was some awkward editing, too much tomb filler or repetitive flashbacks. Sometimes two scenes were intercut, causing fidgets or short attention span, to get to the end of the episode. Some plotlines seemed interminable; time stood still in the tombs. Some deleted scenes should have been kept intact, that would have filled in the blanks.
If the drama had been edited properly with the existing film footage, the drama could have looked stellar. Instead of 48 episodes, they could have re-engineered it down to 40 episodes.
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