gatalito

Oops.. you are right. I've messed up the nicknames. I though that it was nix that replied to me.
Anyway... don't feel guilty for spoiling anything to me as I'm very much into reading the book and watching the series simultaneously. So I'm progressing pretty fast. Just give me a few days and I'm going to review both the series and the book as I'm big fun of science fiction and on philosophy as well. So I'm not unfamiliar with the concepts that the book and the series deal with. Both between the lines have more substance than a mere sci fi story.

Regarding the Cultural Revolution I consider it criminal on the way it dealt with Chinese culture and intellectuals. Chinese culture is one of the older ones ( along with the Greek one - and I'm saying that because I am Greek ) and this damn stupid concept of the Cultural Revolution ( better say destruction) was the worst thing that Chinese could have ever done to their culture. And it is somewhat tragic that they don't even want to talk about it, even up until now.

So they shouldn't have remove the most unpleasant scenes from the series because the series due to its subject can appeal to younger people who don't know and can't even imagine what happened from 1966 to 1976 in China.

But anyway... the book criticizes indirectly to say so that period of Chinese history.

Someone wrote on a review that this series is a piece of propaganda but it is not. Neither the book nor the series. In fact the author of the book passed with a very clever way his criticism towards the Chinese regime.

Don't tell me because I haven't reached this point yet on the book or on the series.

Yes but the book starts with what happened during the Cultural Revolution and how Ye Wenjie ended up at the Red Coast laboratory. It describes how her father was killed and how she fell in disfavor and she was jailed etc and how she ended up by chance to the Red Coast laboratory.

So they probably had to show her talking harshly about what happened to her back then, but talking is different than depicting what actually happened. These are the first 3-4 chapters of the book, it is actually the introduction to the plot.
I've said that about the first chapters because you mentioned on your review that there are 30 episodes of different duration each , so they probably filmed each chapter as an episode excluding the episodes that are about the Cultural Revolution which are the 4 first chapters. There were left 30 chapters and this is how they came up with 30 episodes.

Anyway... the book is a great read because it incorporated a lot of the Western and Eastern philosophical subjects into the Sci Fi plot and I'm delaying watching the series because I want to finish first the book. I found the book by chance and then I realized that it has already released in a TV series.

If you haven't read it yet I recommend to do so. And I'd be glad to send it to you in an .epub file if you are interested to read it.

I would advise you to read the book, if you don't want to keep watching this drama, because your review is inaccurate.
As for what the author of the book said, keep in mind the most intellectuals in China say in public what the CCP wants to hear and not exactly what they are actually believe.
And that is the reason why this author's book was translated in English and has already three on screen adaptations, this one, one upcoming from Netflix and one in a 3D animation movie.
We wouldn't be able to read this so interesting book and watch this series if the author was stupid enough to tell them what he actually thinks. But if you read the book you are going to see that he gives a very negative description of the Cultural Revolution on the first 3-4 chapters of the book that they were omitted from this adaptation.

I've started watching this drama after I've started reading the book. The episodes of this drama are following the chapters of the first book excluding the first chapters that are talking about the Cultural Revolution that seems to be a taboo subject in China.
So the first episode is actually the fifth chapter with flashbacks to the story of Ye Wenjie that is the character whose background is more related to that Cultural Revolution though I haven't been able to find out yet what is the connection of her background with the plot though I have already read almost half of the book.
Anyway..my point is that there are 30 episodes that each one corresponds to a chapter of the book. The Cultural Revolution chapters never happened!! lol

It is not though that good for a nation to feel ashamed of its past and never mention it.
Anyway ... this is a great drama and I foresee it getting my ultimate 10.

The theory of the Marksman and the Farmer is actually a retelling of Plato's Allegory of the Cave that you can read it here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_cave

I'm currently reading the book that is translated in English and I'll start the series after finishing the book that is a fantastic read!

Yes... Japanese are trying hard and they are more willing to change their attitudes in order to retain their relationships with foreigners.

I don't follow SJK's doings to know more about his father's behavior, as I don't speak Korean in order to read the Korean media. But I have an idea of what was probably going on with this actor and his family, his divorce etc. Gossiping is something like a national sport in S. Korea! lol

I had already read that comment of yours and I've upvoted it because I agree 100%.
Generally speaking I find the Korean society and attitudes extremely backward and I'm saying that from my experiences with S. Korean people while I was working there. I could have even had at some point a more personal affair with a S. Korean guy, but I didn't even consider it, for this exact reason. He came out as very backward and with some very shitty ideas about women, marriage, children, personal affairs etc etc. things that I had never encountered in my country and into the environment that I was raised. That happened of course 20 years ago, but as it is obvious their attitudes haven't changed that much in between time.
Regarding this actor... well ...it would be wise by his side, to keep his new family away from S. Korea, for the reasons that you've mentioned on your other comment. As she won't give a crap for the S. Korean attitudes the cultural conflict will come into play pretty fast and it will probably expand into their personal relationship. S. Korean families tend to interfere way too much into their children's personal affairs, marriages and grandchildren. And they consider this very normal to say f.e to their 40 y.o son what to do with his wife and his children or interfere to their household and such things. You have to see that in order to believe it!
The funny thing btw is that Japanese are more progressive in such matters! A bit obsessive for European standards but by far more modern - to say it so- compared with the S. Koreans.

I have the notion that you are not that well informed. Gong Li is married with Jean Michel Jarre, the famous composer to start with.
Michelle Yeoh with Jean Todt.
Yuan Li is married with Blaine Grunewald and if you do an online search you will find countless other Asian celebrities that are married with westerners.

As I wrote on another related discussion, I have the notion that the South Korean celebrity relationships' environment is quite toxic . Their relationships and marriages become a public talk, there is a log of gossiping, their public image can be destroyed by rumors, their divorces carry a stigma and such things. So I think that there is a very good reason why this time he went for a European woman. Europeans and generally speaking westerners don't have such issues. They can date and split, marry and divorce with nobody pay that much attention.
And also by marrying a British woman he will be able to acquire British citizenship by marriage that will give him some good acting opportunities as he will be able to work at any of the Commonwealth countries and stay there as well without the need of visa or anything else. It will be easier for him to be cast at any role because the paper work for hiring foreign actors does matter for the production companies. Those with double citizenships are the most hire-able.

Half of the cases that the super unlikable character of Shim Eun Seok judged could be easily declared as mistrials because she got involved in the investigation and the prosecution that is not allowed to be done by judges in order to prevent them from being biased. She accused her superior of being biased and for manipulating the trial of the leaked examination papers, but in reality SHE was the most biased because she got involved into the investigation and the prosecution of the juveniles that she had to judge. Which is illegal too.
Is she Judge Dread or something? lol
Anyway... the FL character is completely unlikable and things are worst by the way that it is depicted by Kim Hye Soo who is unable to give a decent acting performance for the reasons that I explain on my other comment below.
I can't help but wonder why this drama got such a high overall raging. The plot is unrealistic and the FL actress is a very bad actress.
Dropped after episode 7 . 4 out of 10 from me.
The stellar reviews are misleading.

Obviously!

Interesting drama but the FL's face is so ...."processed" that non of her features moves except her eyes. She has constantly the same expression that looks like a mask. unable to express very basic feelings.

I don't understand why such an experienced actress with such a long career in her bio prefers to mess up her acting this way, instead of accepting that people do get older. It is inevitable and it is not that we don't know her and we would expect from her to be the epitome of eternal youth for ever and ever.
I would personally prefer to see her having some wrinkles and be able to express all these feelings that her character is supposed to feel, her anger, her sadness, her interest etc instead of relying to her lines in order to support the self inflicted inability to move her facial features.
It is so off putting.

Dropped due to incomprehensible subbing! ( probably auto subbing)

If all these celebrities do really care about the people that live in such conditions, they should call out publicly the S.K government and demand from it to offer decent accommodation to all those who can't afford it, instead of letting them live in such kind of conditions, in this slum district. And that because if the money that they donate could reach the people in need, that slum district wouldn't even exist in the first place.
Personally I have to say that SK government and officials ought to feel shame for the existence of this district. Particularly by the time that they boast about how developed is S. Korea and how rich country it is and the achievements of S.K people and so on.
A country can be considered developed only when it can address the problems that are not visible at a first glance, as for example how it treats its more vulnerable citizens. Elders, poor, homeless etc.

Who Kang Ki-young? What has Kang Ki-young to do with the fact that Asian people in general can tan without this being considered offensive or blackfacing as some accused them here?

I'm sick and tired of those who try to find something to get offended before even watch a film.

In her woke mind !
Tanning is copyrighted nowadays and it is considered blackfacing....! lol I wonder why they haven't made yet a skin tone chart in order to inform us how dark we are allowed to tan in order not to offend anyone! lol

Yes but what was the point to release her into the body of another humanoid by the time that she found immoral the way they treated the type C type of contracts for preserving their conciseness?
It doesn't make any sense. If she wanted to free her mother from this, she should have deleted her completely in order to spare her as well from the grief of losing her daughter.
And the film doesn't explain at all why the got in the trouble to try to make Jung E work for forty years by they time that they had already alternatives . It wasn't that the Jung E concept was public in order to satisfy the public that considered Jung a hero and it wasn't that they needed that type of humanoids to win the war, that was either way towards its end not to mention that they didn't need either way the conscience of Jung in order to develop this technology because they had already other person's consciences to use as they had done with the doctor.
So what exactly they were doing at this laboratory and what was the concept of their research that would justify the efforts, the expenses and the trouble that they got into by trying to make Jung E work in combat conditions?
Totally stupid plot. And a classic case of way too many CGI into a plot with no substance because the plot doesn't justify the actions of the characters in order to justify their reactions and feelings too.

Yes because they can get that dark. And in order to tan all over they probably boost it with a couple of hours at a solarium because this way they can avoid tan lines.
I'm living in Greece that is visited by plenty of Asian tourists ( Korean Japanese and Chinese ) that come here as white as milk and leave as dark as mahogany wood. Not a single one of them ever complained for sun burns as so often happens with British or Scandinavian tourists who end up red like lobsters when they over do it under the sun.

All Asians when they want to tan they can get as dark as they like without side effects because they are brunette.

Is it not politically correct now to be brunette and tan under the sun? Or perhaps having tanned or darker skin if you want to, is illegal like it is copyrighted by African people only?