ShortCircuit

So is Hyun-Jo some kind of mountain spirit? It sure seems like there's a supernatural element to this. And the marks being left even though he's currently in a coma definitely point that way too. I just hope the ghostly thing the new girl met isn't him in an astral projection, LOL.

I am a mountain lover myself. I don't know how many of the mountain rescue action scenes are CGI (probably all), but the nature wideshots look like they're real and they're amazing. I'd be watching this if only for the mountains, because "Mountains, Gandalf!!!" :D

That, and JJH looks amazing, like always. I am really interested in her character - and I definitely hope in the end there'll be some magical remedy to her injuries and that Hyun-Jo wakes up. I mean, who wouldn't like a mountain spirit who actually goes after missing people?

And maybe the villain will turn out to be a mad ranger... or a gumiho :D (after all, if Hyun-Jo can see places where people are lost, who's to say there isn't someone actively hunting down people for spiritual purposes?)

I'm all for supernatural, let's go supernatural, as long as it doesn't turn too horror or gory!

So far, so good...

I don't think they planned it that way, but maybe they had to do some last-minute changes and it turned out like this. Or at least I hope that's the explanation. I am not happy with the way the relationship between WWX and JC didn't get mended.

But the official announcement on the ban and the rumours that preceded it in the industry definitely did not coincide - another danmei donghua, "Dinghai Fusheng Records", started airing in July and then since August randomly went on hiatus, once for a full month. Even now I don't think they're releasing episodes regularly, I've no idea how many are released, I've only seen 4 or 5. So maybe the pressure was on before the donghua was released, and they had to adjust to the new demands as fast as they could, so they mangled up the story timeline.

But then, for all I know, they planned it like this from the very beginning, I have no idea...

The implied common fault of (organisation/society/some group of people/etc) is a staple trope of spy/action/police dramas. So is the large cast with each person having their own particular reasons to act like they're acting. I've seen them in better productions, I am not interested in this one in particular, as it seemed not to be certain what it wanted to be in the end (or not convincingly enough for me, that is, again, this is all a personal opinion.)

But I still expected more of this drama, particularly after the first few explosive episodes. Oh well...

I watched this drama for the same reasons I watch many other dramas - it seemed interesting, it had a good start, it looked like it was going to tell a good story.

I do not need to be lead by the hand in order to make sense of the story, if the story is logical (or not too far removed from a logical plot, I am prepared to suspend disbelief for a while).

This drama didn't manage to tell a good enough (FOR ME) story. That doesn't mean to say that it couldn't have been a good story for other people - just that it wasn't, for me.

That being said, this one sadly has not much rewatch value for me, so I won't be spending 12 more hours in trying to give it the benefit of the doubt again. I'm happy that it is very good for other people - it's just not for me.

Soo Yeon's character is meaningless. I have no idea why she's main cast.

The whole plot was random - first they're fighting the Chinese mob, then NIS moles, then a secret organisation of FORMER agents (but in the end they're very much present-day agents), the organisation wanted to get a foothold in the drug, weapons and prostitution business, no wait, they wanted to fix elections in SK, HJH was fiercely hunting down anyone he found suspicious only to turn peaceful and (parental) love-conquers-all in the end (like seriously, he TRUSTED Baek Mo Sa just because YJI said she FELT there's still good in him? What's this, Return of the Jedi? The heck!

In the last episode, everybody started speaking in patriotic and people-loving little brave speeches, like they weren't backstabbing each other every chance they got, before, and oh, ethics and morals became all-important out of the blue. Like, what?!

And then the plot armours. Dammit. HJH should've been dead a dozen times if the NIS snipers or even the mob had any leeway from the script writer. Episode 11, the factory blow-out, should have been another good action scene, instead, it felt like it was a live-action CS reunion with one MC and the rest, cannon-fodder. Even the shootout sequences sounded fake. (Also, everybody went in fully armoured, but HJH went with not a lot on him, not even head gear because he's the ML and nothing can hurt him, the heck! It was probably meant to look cool but it was not.) And then, all those top-level terrorists BMS brought with him to the bank, what, none of them held a gun before, or if they did, they never shot it?! HJH and YJI went there and just started blasting and killing off enemies, with not a scratch on them until the final dramatic moment.

The first third of the drama looked way better than the last parts. Oh well. I had hopes. A lot of people seem to have liked it in the end, so I guess it did work out for more people. It's just that it really looked to be promising but then... didn't fulfill that promise. Or at least, not for me.

Had so much potential, didn't confirm it in the end, for me.

They had the extreme bad luck to be releasing while the ban on pretty much everything danmei came into force. It's a donghua, but I guess it's one of the most sucessful IPs, so it got a lot of attention. That's what I imagine happened to it, anyway - they toned down everything that would lead to an emotional upsurge while still keeping in some parts that would have made the fandom go crazy if they were missing - like LJ getting drunk and frisky, and the WangXian title.

I hope this doesn't bode ill for the next season of Scum Villain's Self-Saving System, when and if it comes... I want to keep watching that so badly, it's my second-favourite MXTX story.

Wait what, the bromance partner dies instead?! NOOO! :(

Edit, wait, Bai Lu's in it. Dammit. This is getting harder to resist...

Thank you for the rec! I actually wanted to watch it after finishing Handsome Siblings, because I felt Hu Yi Tian got short-changed with his character's plotline in that drama, but somehow I mixed it up with Ancient Detective (I think... I'm pretty bad with remembering drama titles, LOL) and that one turned me off anything detective for a while. Then other dramas got in the way :D I'll just have to give it another try :)

If you pinky promise they don't die, then I'll try at least the one with Xu Kai (just because it's him :D) Thanks for the rec!

You wouldn't have heard of it, because it might be a Freudian slip, LOL. I obviously meant You Are My Hero (I'll go correct it now). I feel so guilty now, LOL, like I've betrayed all the other actors I like :D

Zhan-ge, I didn't mean it!!! But Bai-ge is also so good looking, I couldn't help myself :D

There are main female characters, though they're not the main leads of the story (they are credited as support characters, but they're definitely very important to the plot). If by the end you've not empathised with YanLi and Wen Qing's storylines, then there's no help for it, LOL.

The BL is toned down due to censorship to just great bromance, so if you're not into actual BL, you could just ignore the 'ship and pretend they're just really good friends.

This is one drama that actually is worth the hype that surrounds it, so you could just give the first few episodes a try. Don't let the first two stop you - they're introducing a storyline that will follow the first half of the drama, and you need to give it time to get to where it's going to.

If you still decide to drop it, but still want to watch a nice historical/wuxia/xianxia cdrama...

- Joy of Life - very smart characters, plot comes first, good actors, pretty good development. There's some romance, and it's all straight.

- The Romance of Tiger and Rose - historical rom-com. It's not supposed to be too deep, but it's still highly entertaining. Also straight romance, and female-centered in more than one way.

- Ashes of Love - melodrama, love triangle (straight), very beautiful actors, excellent cinematography, great music.

But you could still give The Untamed a go - as a person who really digs wuxia/xianxia, there's still a huge difference between how this drama was shot and presented to most all of the rest of them, particularly in regards to how women are expected to act and speak, come to think of it. Have a go at it :)

I wanted to try a Republican era cdrama, but they have this bad habit of killing off MCs. I can't stand to fall for a great chara only for them to be wiped out in a blaze of glory, dammit. I've yet to read a spoiler that says this or that RE cdrama hero actually survives!!

My top ten... Well, I like romantic stories, good plot, character development, nice cinematography if they can have it, good music. So...

1. The Untamed (nothing compares). The story is amazing, the OST is extraordinary, I've never wanted to visit China more than when watching this drama - except for when watching The Wolf. I swear The Wolf's cinematography and filming locations are a whole character in and of themselves LOL. The MCs of TU are complex, lots of character development, and it doesn't hurt at all that Xiao Zhan has a killer smile and is a great actor (though TBH, WWX's story is so interesting, I think nobody could have failed to make him unforgettable.)

2. Love and Redemption. I didn't even like it in the beginning, and I still don't like parts of it (like the whole plotline of the sister and her lover. Though the bad guy involved with the sister did have a nice development in the end.) But it eventually won me over, mostly with the ML's story and with the soundtrack. It is a grander story than most other xianxia, and I still revisit it from time to time despite some problems I have with the last arc of the story, LOL.

3. Ashes of Love. This, mainly because of the Run Yu plotline. I like the MLs in the beginning, and even cared that they should end up together, but for me, in the end, it's all about Run Yu's story - that, and the soundtrack. "Upwards to the Moon" is a magnificent song.

4. Ever Night. I didn't expect to like it so much, in fact, I almost dropped it at first. But then... it grew on me. And I still remember the whole hilarious debacle of the Chicken Soup Letter, does anyone else? :D The soundtrack is also amazing, I really like the chemistry of the whole cast, and I definitely didn't expect for it to have such an impact on me.

5. The Sleuth of Ming Dinasty. It killed me dead with the cuteness. Imagine me flailing my hands around trying to find words to describe how cute it can get at times. Other than the cute, it's a good story (still waiting for the novel to be completely translated, not long now), and has extremely lovable characters. Even the genius/lecherous doctor gets extra points for being a nice guy. But my love is definitely reserved for Wang Zhi, Tang Fan and Sui Zhou, in that order. (One can never sing Wang Zhi's praises enough.)

6. The Romance of Tiger and Rose. Because it actually is funny, despite everything. The theatre of fruits is to die for!

7. You Are My Hero (Oops!). I like Bai Jing Ting. And the drama is pretty good, too. It tended to look too much like Descendants of the Sun from time to time, but it managed to be its own beast in the end.

8. Word of Honor. The censors were all asleep LOL. And Gong Jun really did his everything, and it shows. I've yet to read a Priest novel, but Faraway Wanderers would probably be the first, if I do... but now I'm scared the WKX in the novel is not the WKX I've come to like :D

9. The Legends. Because Bai Lu and Xu Kai have amazing chemistry (she tends to have amazing chemistry with her ML in all the dramas I've seen her in). The ending is a bit of an editing mess, but I did like the drama a lot.

10. Love is Sweet. Well, Bai Lu AND Luo YunXi, what's not to like? And everybody likes a good rom-com.

The Wolf and Douluo Continent should be in that list, too, but I've sweat tears of grief over them and left them out this time, LOL.

So looking at the top 10, I'm definitely a wuxia/xianxia lover more than a watcher of modern cdramas. Can't help it, the most interesting stories are historical fantasy ones :D

Doramas are just dramas, but it's a term used specifically for Japanese dramas. It comes from the way they pronounce some English words, LOL. There's quite a lot of English words that are pronounced definitely different in Japan, and it sounds cute in anime/doramas, and I imagine, in real life :) Things like sararii-man (salary man :D), aisu-kurimu (icecream), waifu (wife) and so on and so forth :)

That being said, I've heard quite a lot of Japanese people speaking in perfect English, so I don't know if it's just a culture thing or something that naturally comes to Japan due to the way their language is structured and/or their words are usually pronounced.

Animation: donghua (China), anime (Japan), aeni (SKorea - though I think most Western people still call it anime)
Drawn art: manga (Japan), comics / graphic novels (the US), manhwa (Korea), manhua (China)

Danmei refers to Chinese BL novels (mostly web-novels) though it might expand to their drama versions too.
Yaoi (Japan) is a much larger umbrella (it's a genre that includes BL under most of its forms - novels, manga and anime. And I guess, movies and doramas, lately.)

Wuxia is a genre of stories that involve martial heroes and are set in ancient China (usually in a recognizable historical period). The world of wuxia stories is the Jianghu (sometimes in dramas they translate this term as "the pugilistic world", which is mighty confusing for a Westerner, because pugilism in the West is boxing). Heroes might be vigilantes - or at least try to help "normal" people who are not martial heroes, and they try to follow a code of action. The fact it's supposed to have some relation to reality doesn't preclude them from ignoring the laws of physics (like walking on water and jumping from the mountain tops unscathed.) One of my favourite wuxia movies is Jet Li's "Hero" - it almost seems an historical movie, but there's all the martial arts in it that definitely moves it over to wuxia.

Xianxia is rather similar to wuxia BUT with a major difference - it involves the world of the immortals or gods too. They get introduced and act as major characters at times, and there's a plethora of supernatural or at least not-quite-natural characters in these stories. "The Untamed" (or at least Mo Dao Zu Shi, the novel it's based on), "Ashes of Love", "Love and Redemption" etc are all xianxia.

Bonus: the BL genre media is usually aimed at women (yes, men are not explicitly excluded, BUT the main target are women who like the idea of BL). Those women are called fujoshi (Japan) and it's not a nice nickname, though that's changing. Men who like BL are called fudanshi (Japan). In China, they're simply called "rotten women", LOL, which is basically the same thing. (I've seen that in a few TL novels.)

It was glaringly obvious by now that he was the one who shot his colleagues. The only question is why. Also it was annoyingly obvious that he and YJI are still working together.

As everyone's phone and each corner of every street seems to be bugged, it makes me almost mad nobody bugged their appartments - they have all their ~secret~ convos in the middle of one of them, at random.

But to be honest, I kind of lost interest since they veered into catch-the-hidden-mole and reduced action scenes to basically zero.

Right now, it's becoming again obvious that Dr. Kang should be the mastermind, because he took himself out of the circle of suspects but HJH is serving him everything up on a platter. If it turns out that it IS him, well...

Finally managed to watch ep 9...

No. Agent goes missing by his own device, comes back with his memory erased and starts looking for moles inside his agency. The enemies are political and among the top dogs of the agency, there's not much personal relationship development, it was all based on action scenes in the beginning and now it's turned into spy-catches-spy-catches-spy twists and turns.

So nope, nothing about what made TBDAW good.

Only The Wolf, and as we all know, they removed basically all supernatural references from that when it went through censorship... But thank you for the rest of the list, I'll have a look :)