The Ultimate "Trust No One" Drama

When I first came across Joy of Life, I was hesitant to watch it. I looked at the description on Viki and was like, " This sounds like it will have a lot of drama in it. Do I really wanna watch this and potentially get my heart broken by the writers?" I didn't wanna watch it, at first. Then I watched it because I had nothing else to watch and I don't regret watching it. Joy of Life is one of the best Chinese dramas that I've seen in a really long time.
Story: The story line is intriguing. I didn't think it was gonna be a guy who was born in the past, but yet he knows about future inventions and the like. That threw me off when I first started watching it. This drama kept me on my toes constantly. You never know who Fan Xian can trust 100%. A lot of people seem to be on his side or want to help him, but they're actually working against him. I just stopped trusting everybody eventually. I couldn't bear to get my hopes up that he had other people he could rely on. He has people he can rely on, but people outside that little circle of trust. I'm glad that there will be a season 2 because that ending blew my mind. I did not see that coming. I should have seen it coming, especially since you shouldn't trust anyone in this drama, but it still blindsided me.
Acting: The acting was awesome! I only looked at who played the male lead and I was excited when I saw that it was Zhang Ruo Yun. I think the first thing I ever saw him in was Medical Examiner Dr. Qin. He was fantastic as Dr. Qin. He was fantastic in this drama. I was excited to see what type of character he would be playing in this drama. He did such a good job. I loved his acting and I love the character. He made me laugh a lot. I will say that I didn't know that Xiao Zhan was in this drama until I looked up the cast list as I was watching the drama. You only hear his voice when you first meet him and it was bugging me because I recognized his voice, but couldn't place it. Then I saw it was him on the cast list and my curiosity was satisfied.
Overall: Basically, Joy of Life is a fantastic drama. It is a drama that has you questioning everyone's motives towards Fan Xian so that does add some suspense to it. It's obvious with who some of the villains are, but not all of them. I like that about this drama. It's nice to have a little mystery. I recommend this drama to everyone, but I recommend not binge watching it. There is just so much stuff packed into each episode that it can be overwhelming. For this drama, I would take it slow. It's worth it to take your time.

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This is another one of those dramas that I wouldn't watch for a while because it sounded depressing. I decided to just go for it one day and I was not disappointed.

Story: The story went along at a nice pace. It did make me frustrated and it made me cry several times throughout the series. This isn't an average love story and it's not easy to explain to anyone. I've tried to explain it to someone else before and there is just so much to tell them that I couldn't tell them everything. It was also hard to describe the complexities in this story. I enjoyed the side couples that they decided to include. I know that this was based off of a book. I read the English translation so I know that it's a little different so I'm glad that they decided to do it in a different way in the TV series rather than like it was in the book. 10/10

Acting/Cast: This series was cast perfectly. My favorite among all of the actors is Gao Vengo. I just feel like he was so great in this series. Everyone did a fantastic job, but his scenes were my favorites. I want him to play the male lead at some point (I know he will be in the sequel. Can't wait!) 10/10

As I've said previously, this drama is beautiful. The sets, the actors, and the story line are all just wonderful. I have watched this series several times already and I'll probably watch it again at some point. I recommend this drama to anyone. It is a tearjerker, but it's such a good drama that it's worth it in the end. This drama gets 10/10.

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I decided to watch this drama because I love crime dramas. They are one of my favorite genres. This series is not your average crime drama though. There is a lot less interviewing suspects and a whole lot more forensic work so if you are squeamish don't watch this or skip over certain parts. The characters themselves are funny and unique, with Dr. Qin being at the helm. He is your average no nonsense professional, whereas his assistant and the detective are more loose I wanna say. I found this trio's interactions fun and their chemistry is spectacular. The acting was great and you do get a reprieve from the crime drama part briefly when you get to see them going out to have a team meal or just what they do in their personal lives. So it's not all about the murders. I would recommend this drama to anyone who is a crime drama enthusiast that doesn't mind gruesome crime scenes and autopsy scenes. This show gets 10/10.

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I was immediately drawn to this series just based off of what it was about. I love the story line and how it's not all centered on the romance. There is more to the story than that. I loved how they included humor in this series because it does have darkness throughout the series. They knew how to lighten up the mood. The acting was sometimes over the top in certain scenes. I know that it was probably intentional, but I just didn't care for it. I felt that it made that part of the episode cheesy. You will know what I mean when you watch it. The casting choices themselves I felt were on point. I've seen a lot of these actors in other dramas before so it was nice to see them again in something new. I loved the music throughout the entire series. I actually ended up downloading songs from the soundtrack because you just can't get them out of your head. Overall, I would recommend this to anyone that likes these sort of dramas that have to do with spirits. I have rewatched it several times so I hope that people will give it a shot that haven't already. I give this series 9/10.

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This is one show that I kept skipping over when I was scrolling through shows to watch. The two reasons that I gave this show a chance were the story line and Yoon Gyun Sang. I just loved him in Doctors and I saw that he played the main character in this show so that's what ultimately made me give this show a shot.

Story: I liked how the story wasn't always serious. They put in some comedy as well to lighten up the mood. The Hong gang were just hilarious the majority of the time. The way that the story progressed was good. I didn't think that it went too slow. They made sure to cover all the characters they needed to cover in 30 episodes. The very beginning of the series makes you want to continue watching it so that you can find out what happens next. I liked that since I do need something like that to get me hooked. The story, in my opinion, gets 10/10.

Acting/Cast: I loved the casting choices in this drama. I recognized several of the actors from other dramas and they played their parts so well. Kim Ji Suk played the king so well. He was great at playing someone with the type of personality that the king has. Kim Sang Joong did a great job as Gil Dong's father and I just thought that he was perfect for that role. Chae Soo Bin did an excellent job as well. She is one of my favorites too so I was happily surprised when she appeared on my tablet all of a sudden. She was cast perfectly for that role. Acting/Cast gets 10/10.

Overall, this show was phenomenal. It will make you laugh and cry. It's also totally rewatchable. This series gets 10/10 in my book.

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I'm going to be honest with you. I wasn't going to watch this show originally. I read what it was about and thought that it just sounded so depressing, so why would I even think about watching something like that. I'm glad that I decided to watch it.

Story: The story frustrated me the majority of the time, in regards to the antagonists (you'll know what I mean when you watch it). It was a good story, but I just wanted to throw my tablet across the room a couple times because I was so frustrated with how the story was progressing. I liked that it wasn't your traditional story line where it's all happy for a long time and then it switches to depressing for only a short amount of time then went back to happy. I'm not saying I liked the depressing bits, it's more like I like how they did those parts. Since the story frustrated me constantly I gave the story 9.5/10.

Acting/Cast: I thought that all the actors did well in their roles. It didn't seem like they were overacting to me at any point. They were all chosen perfectly for their roles. If they weren't cast correctly or hadn't done a good job, I would've turned off my tablet before I had finished watching this drama. Acting/Cast gets 10/10.

Overall, this is a great show. It's not for everyone and the antagonists were constantly making me yell at my tablet. I still enjoyed the show and I am currently rewatching it. This show gets 9.5/10.

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