Hime

Where did you watch it? I have watched this drama way before you wrote this comment and all the episodes were subbed.

Ok. Give me a few minutes. I will send you a message with some recommendations based on what you told me.

I am watching in a facebook group too. I will send you the link in a pm. You just need to answer the questions and the owner usually accepts the requests pretty fast. If you are interested, she is also currently subbing the dramas Unexpected (this one has not been updated for a month because of some issues) and Time Teaches Me To Love. She has also finished subbing several other chinese dramas. She has a weekly posting schedule and she usually uploads around 2 episodes per week for each drama, sometimes more, even though she does all this by her self.

I have watched all of the dramas you mentioned and they are some of my favourites.I also like strong and smart female leads. Innocent and kind female leads are good but I have seen so many that it got tiring. Do you only watch Chinese dramas or do you also watch other asian dramas?

There are no subs. I tried watching ep1 and it was raw. Have you actually watched this drama with subs there or you just thought it was subbed?

Thank you. I have made a request to join the group. Hopefully they will approve it soon.

I am currently watching a lot of dramas and have watched almost 1000 dramas in total, although only about 800 since I joined MDL 2 years ago. So you have to be more specific in what kind of drama you feel like watching for me to be able to give you recommendations.

About Ming Lan, I have also though about dropping it more than once, from the super slow pace to the male lead already having a "wife" and 2 kids before he met Ming Lan as adults, ...
I honestly am only going to finish it because I like both main actors and skipping a lot of scenes has helped me to keep going. But yeah, it definitely did not live to my expectations.

Oh ok. I guess it depends on the drama. There are some dramas on Viki that are subbed pretty fast and others that have the raw episodes added but the subs take a while. I usually only go to Viki when its hard to find the drama somewhere else or when they have subbed episodes faster.

I am also watching Ming Lan, I stopped at episode 44 since I am waiting for the rest of the episodes so I can binge-watch it. What is the name of the group that is subbing it? You can send me a pm if you don’t want to reveal it here.

Viki is not airing it yet and I am not sure if they will at all. The status has been like that for months. Someone has subbed some of the episodes but there are no recent updates. I guess we just have to wait.

Where are you watching it? This is still airing so it is impossible for it to be fully subbed like other dramas. Viki has over half of the episodes subbed (29/50 when I wrote this comment).

And once again it all goes down in the second half. There were many issues with this drama, which I believe will cause the rating to go down in the next few months.

I think one of the main problems with it was that they presented the drama as if it was centred in mistery and revenge. But it turned out that there is not much mistery with things being revealed too soon and the revenge is secondary to say the least with the male lead always "forgetting" about it because he is too busy chasing after the female lead. The misunderstandings are also solved way too early and it turns out this is just another rom-com with a melodrama vibe in the last few episodes that tried to focus more on the corruption and revenge since there was no more development to show in the romance department.

Don’t get me wrong. I mainly watch dramas that have romance (about 99 per cent) and preferably plenty of it. And the romance between the main leads was pretty good, not the best but still good. The problem is that I did not get what I bought. When I started watching this I wanted to see mistery, big revelations, maybe some plot-twists, the male lead being smart while trying to get his revenge. The romance would be just an extra thing to make the drama richer, but not necessary. What I got was a drama that had more romance than some dramas that are actually focused on romance. With the romance also happening fast and the misunderstandings being solved early, there was not much to keep me invested in the second half. I already knew who the bad guys were, I already knew who would change sides at the end, I already knew what would happen next, so what was the point of watching it?! I still forced myself to end it but it took me several days when I am the binge-watch kind of person.

Conclusion: It was not a bad drama. But it could have been an amazing one, which did not happen because it did not deliver what was promised and it was not memorable.

I liked the way it ended and that is pretty much it. Leaving the controversies aside I hate seeing people getting into a relationship when they are already in one (even if they break up later and are honest with the person, meanwhile it’s still considered cheating on their partner) and hate as much if not more people dating people when they like someone else (it is unfair to the person they are dating and everyone always gets hurt).

Unfortunately this drama had both so even if the romance between the main leads was sweet (more like bittersweet), I could not fully enjoy it as other people were involved in their already complicated relationship.

I see situations like this very often in jdramas, also cheating and adultery, all things I hate. This frustrates me since I got into watching dramas after many years of watching anime and reading mangas, so it is ironic that the dramas I like the least end up being jdramas. I have watched some pretty good movies tho, better than the ones other asian countries make.

Wow, I am quite surprised at how much I enjoyed it considering it is a simple plot and I even prioritized other dramas until I finally watched this one because I thought it would not be that good. It is very rare for me to enjoy dramas with such a simple plot focused on the lives of characters that could really be actual people. The drama was very realistic but very relaxing to watch at the same time. I watched it as if I had all the time in the world to watch it and never felt like skipping scenes (ok, that would be lying, maybe 1 or 2).

Last time I enjoyed such a "normal" drama was with Fight For My Way. I had the same feeling I had then: that I did not need any supernatural, time-travelling, plot-twists, mistery and intense things for me to be able to enjoy a drama so much. I smiled, got angry and even cried (yeah, I did, I am pretty sure I was not the only one).

Part of me wished this was longer since I was liking it so much. I would not mind seeing the business grow even more and their struggles to keep going, but then I guess it would turn into a daily drama. XD

The other part of me is glad that they kept it short with only 12 episodes instead of 16 or even 20. That way they were able to keep the story enjoyable and not draggy at all.

I understand some people might not think much of this drama since it is so "normal" and not amazing or over the top, but 7.2 (at the time I am writing this) is definitely not right. Some of the not so good kdramas that came out last year have better ratings than this one and they had so many negative comments.

Ok, the re-watch value might not be that high (I rarely re-watch dramas anyway) but for a first time watch when you want to take a break from intense dramas this is just what you need. I hope the rating goes up later since this is a pretty recent drama, and if it goes down or stays like this then I will definitely think it is one of those underrated dramas. (This is why I do not give much importance to ratings before I watch a drama and would rather read detailed comments and even spoilers and decide for myself if it is my kind of drama or not).

When it comes to dramas, makjang means that the drama is "ridiculous", with situations and acting that seem exaggerated and that are supposed to cause emotions to the viewers, most of the time anger, pity, and feelings that most people don’t like having while watching a show. This is why makjang dramas are not for everyone.


Examples of things that can happen in makjang dramas and that are often seen in kdramas of this genre are:

-birth secrets (like swapping babies and one leading a better life than the other with the one that leads a better life usually becoming an awful person);

-cheating/adultery;

-terminal illnesses, amnesia, blindness and other health problems;

-accidents (usually caused by the so well know "truck of doom" and that a lot of times cause the people involved to die);

-absurd plot twists that can either be surprising in a good way or make people so angry that they decide to drop the drama

-rape (although this happens more often in slap and kiss [thai dramas]);

-possible incest situations (that thankfully most of the time turn out not to be incest at all).


Not all makjang dramas cause you to feel awful, some are ridiculously funny with over the top characters.

Hope I was able to help you and anyone else who reads this to understand what a makjang drama is all about.

True, including the characters skulls. XD

I am actually quite surprised. The first episode was not that interesting but the way it ends makes you want to watch the second episode and then you keep watching. I have watched 4 episodes so far and before I get to the 5th one I want to say to give this a try.

It is not amazing or anything but it is pretty entertaining and definitely has more watch value than some of the kdramas that have been airing these past few months. The female lead like several people have pointed is presented to us as someone who has pretty much given up on life and dreams and seems quite selfish but soon enough, and like I said I have only watched 4 episodes so this is not really a spoiler, her conscience starts to work and some of her plans backfire on her which is pretty entertaining to watch. And again, like someone else already said, the male lead is one of the nicest male leads I have seen in dramas in general (not just kdramas).

I think this deserves at least a try. Also, the actress playing the main lead is actually quite good, which I was not sure about before I decided to watch this. I know her from the first season of Produce 101 and she stood out to me at the time for her effort and incredible improvement in dancing/singing (which honestly she was not good at all at first). I was not sure how her acting would be but I guess since she was originally a trainee learning acting through her agency and thanks to her bright personality and persistence it turns out she is doing quite well for a beginner. I can’t say anything about her other roles since this is my first time watching her acting but one thing is for sure: she was able to pull off this character.

Well, as far as I have watched he seems to really love his kids. He is going to great lengths to find his son and he seems to care for his daughter, even the female lead gets along with her. Also, when he married her he did say that his kids were important and that he loved them and hoped she would be able to get along with them (or at least his daughter since the son is missing). But yeah, I imagine once he has children with Ming Lan, even if he does not mean to, he might love them more and the other kids will suffer with that. This is why I think all relationships should be monogamous and you should be careful with what you do before you marry. A lot of people have kids before they marry someone else and then have kids with that person and the kid that was born out of wedlock is always the one who suffers the most.
A lot of people these days are not that different from people in ancient China, they do the same things except now it is not called having concubines, its called cheating and they try to hide it. - . -

First of all, thank you for taking the time to explain it. And phew, I feel better knowing that he took the concubine but did not sleep with her (hope it stays that way).

Wait what? Concubines in Ming Lan? I was already tilted enough with him having had a "wife" and 2 kids before he got into a relationship with Ming Lan, but at least it was BEFORE they married. I have watched 44 episodes and am currectly waiting for it to finish airing before I complete it. Does that mean that concubines come into the picture somewhere between ep 45-6x? I mean, he already has 2 kids and I am sure Ming Lan will give him some too and its not like he is an Emperor so why is there a need for concubines. Ugh, I hate how often this happens in chinese historical dramas. Can you explain about the concubines? I don’t mind spoilers.

I know right? They totally got me at the "monogamous relationship despite their imperial status". Hope it gets subbed and that the summary is correct or I will be really mad later if a bunch of irritating concubines come into the picture.