He Lian

Hands down, the BEST season of Arthdal Chronicles!!

This is the second drama that got a 10/10 from me for the year 2023 so far. (The first one being Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938)

This season is totally different from the other three seasons, from different actors to, a much more developed background setting, directing etc. The storyline is also more powerful and engaging and keeps you on your toes until the end. This season starts 10 years after the end of 3rd season and talks about how Eun Seom, Saya and Tanya, the sword, the mirror and the bell worked together to capture Arthdal from the tyrannical Tagon.

And if you are worried about the change of actors in this season, trust me Lee Joon Gi and Shin Sae Kyeong, playing the roles of Eun Seom/Saya and Tanya were AMAZING!! They were the perfect Eun Seom/Saya and Tanya that Arthdal could ever get!!

For kdrama lovers who haven't watched the previous season, it would be very difficult to directly watch this season because everything that happens in this season is one way or the other connected to previous seasons. So I would recommend watching the previous seasons before watching this. Although the only drawback would be, in my opinion, the previous 3 seasons of Arthdal Chronicles were relatively boring and frustrating.

The OST was perfect.

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Whether or not u will like this drama depends on how well you can handle a slow romance. The romance is slow but its a teasing type of slow like any other love after marriage dramas.
The Sword and The Brocade is a well produced period drama. The story is well written and sweetly manage to balance reality with fiction.
The fact that having several concubines, the harsh reality of a concubine's and legitimate daughter issues, all portrayed in a logical aspect and amidst all that is our heroine trying to overcome one challenge after another while trying to survive in a family with a trillion rules.
With a supportive husband who trusts her implicitly, the two make and unbeatable team against their adversaries.

This drama made me realize that Seven Tan is a queen of chemistry!

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Although it's already the 15 episode, I'm not even excited about what will happen in the final episode.
It's watchable but I wouldn't recommend this as a must-watch.
If you have nothing to do and still want to watch a decent drama with good acting and good quality then this is the one for you.
The drama is basically about exorcism mixed with a mystery involving 2 generations. Just consider this as the introductory guide to exorcism and ghosts. (lol) anywho this is predictable but still watchable.
I only watched this drama because of actress Jang Na Ra. ( this is better than her previous drama oh my baby )

EDIT
finished watching the final episode...

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Unique

This drama is definitely one of a kind and in a different league than other dramas. The bizarre story, along with good directing and synchronized acting, gives this drama a different vibe from the usual Korean dramas I've watched. The main key point while watching this is don't try to use a lot of brain cells to understand it and just enjoy whatever the drama throws at you.

To summarize the story, it's about a woman who is close to a Radical feminist who looks down on men and a guy who has trust issues with women and looks down on women. Circumstances led each other to fake-date each other, and they agreed despite their contradicting feeling for the opposite sex. Both of them aim to make the other person fall in love and later break their hearts. Little did they know that things won't go as they planned. Little by little they end up understanding each other and get rid of their prejudice against the opposite sex and learn to respect each other. Eventually, they end up facing hardships together as a beautiful couple. The story is laced with many misunderstandings. The way that the actors portrayed their characters was truly very refreshing. The leads are strongly supported by the second lead who also did an amazing job.

The female lead's feminist ideas can be very extreme at times to a point that she is paranoid but her mindset is created after growing up under a very sexist father and seeing her mother greatly wronged by his sexist ideas.

The male lead's revulsion towards women stems from an unsuccessful relationship.

The OST is good, the vibe is good and I binge-watched it through the night. A beautiful story (although unrealistic) and enjoyable. Def worth my time.

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Took me to a whole new dimension for a brief 6 episodes.

The plot is brief, concise and presents the main points of the story in 6 short episodes. There were no unnecessary plots, it portrayed, the cause, the effect and the final result in the most straightforward manner.
I saw some people say the lack of emotions of the characters was a drawback but I think the characters were just perfect. Given their situation in a post-apocalyptic world, if they start crying and bawling at the deaths surrounding them, then that's when they will go out of character. They weren't inhuman, they were just surviving, and no matter what they needed to go ahead with their lives.

I like this fresh idea for a post-apocalyptic drama and a nice change of scenery. The cast was perfect and yes Kim Woo Bin nailed it!

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The story overall is ridiculous to no end

To gloss it over I'd say the story is interesting enough to keep you engaged but let me be honest, the story is just too dumb. A CEO part-timing as a detective to uncover the murder of his mother and a girl who has supernatural hawk-eyes and can see for miles ahead of her. Oh and the girl is just too nosy btw. They gang up with the CEO's lawyer friend who is a part-time hacker to uncover the mystery. duh! (rolls eyes) The only normal person in this drama would be the girl's bestie who runs a bakery......

Oh and there is some underground(I think it's underground) secret lair for the gang as well. This story reminds me of those children's detective stories I used to read when I was a kid..... extremely childish and not very realistic.

The story overall is ridiculous to no end and the plot is so so. I wouldn't actually recommend anyone to watch this.

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*All in all, was the story successful??* Ummm.... nop.

*First of all, does it need 18 episodes?* Not really. They could have told the story in waaay less episodes than that.

*Police vs shaman? was the synergy successful??* Again not really. It was already hard to find a midpoint in the harmony between police and shaman to catch criminals and the shaman here is really just a profiler and a hacker.

*Is comedy successful?* tbh Seo In Guk did an amazing job of trying to bring out the humour within his characters and maybe the shaman team did a good job but the police team failed miserably and so when taking the entire story the comedy fell short.

*Characters?* again Seo In Guk did the best out of his characters, but the female lead failed miserably. or maybe her character was really annoying in the first place. Han Jae Hee is a self-opinionated woman, who just believes what she wants to believe. And she is caught up in her own guilt for her brother's death, which also was a result of her own bullheaded personality. And she always screws up Nam Han Joon undercover projects.
The first few episodes are like Nam Han Joon goes undercover --> Han Jae Hee discovers him -->Han Jae Hee screams Nam Han Joon name as loudly as she can --> The bad guys discover that something is fishy --> Han Jae Hee ends up revealing herself as an undercover cop while also exposing Nam Han Joon.
This was soo annoying tbh.

*All in all, was the story successful??* Ummm.... nop. This is sad for me to say really, cuz I'm a huge fan of Seo In Guk and I just feel sad that he choose a project like this. I know he did his best, but the overall story was a failure.

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This is summary of what happens after the drama according to the novel. ( season 2 of the novel.)

This is not a review for this drama but a summary of what happens after the drama according to the novel. ( season 2 of the novel.) After the cliffhanger ending I badly wanted to know what happened after the frozen lake so I look the luxury of reading
the novel and just noted down the important parts of the story. The novel never mentions any jianghu related stuff unlike in the drama.

After the frozen lake incident Chu Qiao is saved by Yan Xun but she cut ties with him. Yuwen Yue too survived the frozen lake incident and later become the King of Qinghai.
The real fall out between yan xun and chu xiao hapened when YX killed lady Yu and Master Wu and becomes a full out tyrant king. CQ's xiuli army and YX's imperial army engaged in battle and CQ leaves. She gets trapped between yanbei border and the wei borders and saved by Xiao Ce and Yuwen Yue.

Xiao ce now the emperor of Liang take CQ back to his kingdom. From there onwards CQ travels around the world.
During this time CQ meets YY and they professed their love to each other but soon parted promising to meet each other again.

Years later CQ comes back to Liang after XC managed to defect a coup against his reign. But soon after XC is assassinated and Liang state falls into chaos. ( XC dies in the arms of CQ and entrust the state in her hands before his death ). CQ saves both Liang state and XC's 2 sons and help stabilize the Liang state under the rule of XC's son.

After that CQ and YY gets married. (XC had already prepared a dowry for CQ way before his death ) .Soon after that Wei emperor dies and Wei empire falls into its chaos. Taking this opportunity YX attacks Wei and captures it. This is the start of Empire of Yan Bei. The Wei emperor's son Yuan Che establishes a new Wei state in the norther regions.

CQ and YY now has 2 sons and 1 daughters. ( they are such a lovey dovey couple.)

Finally Yan Bei, Wei , Liang and Qinghai is faced with a common enemy and so all the 4 states joined forces under the one leadership of CQ and defeated the barbarians. Later the 4 states entered into a peace treaty and everyone lived happily ever after. Oh and Qinghai become the Qing empire with YY as it's emperor and CQ as the queen.

(YX love for CQ never dies but he choose to be the a**hole he is ).

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Chaotic yet heartwarming story

The story of a small town called Samdal-ri where there are no secrets lol. Cho Sam Dal, the only successful Samdal ri native to make it big on the mainland comes back after a setback. What met her was her chaotic town people who welcomed her with open arms and warmed her already cold heart. Although being the gossipy town people they were, they protected their own. Although the story rotates around the Samdal-ri star cross lovers Cho Sam Dal and Cho Yong Pil, it also peeks into the beautiful lives behind the other town forks, their pain their love and their ordinary lives.
The entire 16 episodes don't let you get bored telling the story of their boring lives and instead make you laugh smile and sometimes even cry.
An absolutely beautiful story brought to us by an amazing cast, director, producers and writers.

And I personally feel that Ji Chang Wook finally found his perfect role after many long years. And Shin Hye Sun worked her charm into her character. Ji Chang Wook, Shin Hye Sun created the perfect chemistry between Cho Yong Pil and Cho Sam Dal. The Five Powers Rangers, the Haenyeos, the weather forecasters, and the entire Samldari town created a heartwarming yet chaotic story of Welcome to Samdalri.

The OST --> loved it!

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Came for Kim Soo Hyun stayed for Kim Soo Hyun

This is the perfect example of how a mediocre plot/story/screenwriting can become a masterpiece with the right cast.
Queen of Tears is your average storyline, more like the stories of the 2010s, revolving around the traditional plot lines of, a rich girl and poor boy, terminal illness following the ML and FL rekindling their lost love, finding a miraculous cure and finally a happily ever after. Add to that there is the typical villain who is manipulative and makes your teeth itch wanting to beat them to death.

There was character and story development, but in the end, it all was just average. But oh BOY!! didn't the cast do a brilliant job?? Like every actor /actress was amazing, taking out their full potential to bring out the oh-so-average characters. If this drama was acted out by anyone else, it would not have been as successful, so kudos to the cast. It was a Brilliant performance.

This is one of that rare moments where I came for the actors and stayed for them cuz the plot did not engage me as I was hoping it would be.

This 8/10 from me is entirely for the cast and none for the plot/screenwriter.

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Worth your time

It's already a known fact that after the epic success of "The world of the Married" there has been a sharp increase in similar dramas. But for me, this is so far the BEST of them. Like really something good to watch after so long. The story is intriguing, the villain is extremely hateful, and the love story is sweet. I think the main leads manage to bring out the emotions of their characters in a profound way that you can't help loving their respective characters. This is one of those good, handsome, capable CEO who is not a jerk falling in love with the poor mary-sue character. This story is not too dark or not too light and at the same time despite making you want to strangle the villain, they still give you a few sugar scenes in between.

I would recommend anyone to watch this drama cuz this is definitely worth your time.

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The entire story in a nutshell -->

A genius mathematician high school student is suffering from psychological trauma after the passing of his roommate. Not knowing that he is suffering his parents keep pressuring him to study harder. At this point, he meets a teacher, who recognizes both his talent and his pain and gently guides him to overcome his trauma and helps him find a newfound love for maths. Unbeknown to the teacher, the kid starts to slowly fall in love with his teacher. But good times don't last long when both teacher and student get dragged into a power struggle with the Schools's top student, her father, and the High school principal. The young maths teacher, on discovering all the underhand schemes behind the glorious Math Olympic Programme organized by the school, fervently fought for justice on behalf of the genius kid. She won but she also lost. Because in retaliation the evil high school principal destroyed her marriage and her life.


3 years later they meet again, the genius kid is now a famous mathematician. Both of them looked like they moved on from the past injustice done to them. But only they themselves knew, how long they've been waiting to get their revenge and to prove their innocence. Once again the teacher-student duo forms a team to reveal all the corruption behind the High School administration. In the process, the teacher also falls in love with the now grown and mature ex-student. Finally, they succeeded and got the justice they deserved, and proved their innocence.

The first 5- 6 episodes were rather slow, but the story picked up after the 3-year gap. The maths parts were hard to understand and you can only stare with your mouth open when they start talking about theorems.

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Lee Jae Wook Strikes Again in a Heartbreaking Historical Masterpiece

First and foremost, after Lee Jae Wook’s last historical drama Alchemy of Souls, he did not disappoint. In Dear Hongrang, he returns as a skilled and agile swordsman—disciplined (or perhaps not entirely)—bringing intensity and emotional depth to his role. Unlike the character Jang Uk, this time he sheds the humor and embraces a darker, more brooding presence. Lee Jae Wook, alongside Jo Bo Ah and an ensemble of elite actors, made this drama a truly memorable experience for me.

The story is dark, often sorrowful, and just when it gives you hope, it tears it away. While the narrative centers on Hongrang, it's not solely about him. It delves into the twisted ideologies of human nature—greed, jealousy, and how the innocent are caught in the crossfire of the wicked. Yet, it also speaks softly but powerfully about love and friendship.

The fight scenes are exceptionally well-executed, with choreography that impresses without feeling overdone. The plot keeps you on edge, weaving suspense and emotion right up until the final moments.

This drama is a heartbreaker—but one you won’t regret watching.

P.S. - the OST is AMAZING!!

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Slow torture

14 episodes spanning over 3 months. This drama was a slow torture not because I have to wait every week for one episode, but because this boring story never seems to end.

The story, mind you was intriguing but yet again, the cast delivered it in a way that got me dozing while watching. It makes me very sad to say, that the only contribution Cha Eun Woo managed to throw in, was his dazzling handsome face, his acting has a waaay further to go. Fighting! Cha Eun Woo! You got this!

But yeah, how can they make an interesting story boring is waaaaaay beyond me, but as a person who watched it just to see the ending I was just disappointed. They should have just broadcasted it and got it done with instead of dragging it over for months without any real gain.

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