Joy of Life is now my whole personality

It's not like this show needs anymore reviews talking about how good it is, but Joy of Life has completely taken over my brain and I have THOUGHTS.
First of all, this doesn’t pertain to anything, but I’ve been waiting to watch this drama for over a year because my sister watched it, loved it, and told me there was a huge cliffhanger at the end. So I didn’t want to watch it until we had some idea of when the second season would be out. So I waited…and waited…and then heard rumors about filming and then about possible release dates. Until last week I saw it finally confirmed that the second season would come out in a little over ONE WEEK. I despaired thinking there was no way I could watch 46 episodes in a little over a week while having a job and you know, being an adult. Boy was I wrong. It’s exactly a week later and I’m done.
Not only is this a testament to my lack of social life but it’s also a testament to how excellent Joy of Life is. The plot grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go for the entirety of the show. I tend to skip scenes in most cdramas, and usually I’m not missing much, but whenever I tried to skip something in this show, I realized that I’d just skipped something important and had to rewind. That’s the whole show; you need to be paying attention or you’ll miss something.
Plot aside, this drama could’ve fallen on its face if it didn’t have the actors that it did. All of the older actors are really excellent, but it’s Zhang Ruo Yun who carries this whole thing on his back. Without him, I don’t think the show would work. For the audience to root for a character like Fan Xian the actor has to be charismatic and engaging and not smug or arrogant, and Zhang Ruo Yun pulls it off perfectly. He’s acting circles around some of the younger actors in here (no disrespect to any of them).
Yeah, so while I’m sad that I didn’t watch this masterpiece sooner, I’m also happy with my choice to wait until the new season was about to drop. That way I didn’t have to wait in anticipation for years for the payoff to the cliffhanger.

Read More

Messy and mindless, but still fun enough

This drama was so messy. It started out pretty good and I was interested enough to see how it all unfolded, but the further along it got the worse the pacing was. Not only that, but it was a little hard to like any of the characters completely when they were all pretty selfish in their own ways...and then didn't seem to really develop in any meaningful way (because I felt like we didn't see any development on screen).
That isn't to say that I didn't enjoy parts of this and I did finish it. I just think that it could've been so much better if they just developed the characters and their relationships better and then worked on the pacing overall.

Read More

Interesting Premise Executed in the Most Boring Way Possible

On Viki this drama is tagged as romance and fantasy, and it's not really either. From the little I knew about it going into it, I thought it would be an action sci-fi thriller, but it wasn't that at all. Then when I started it and wasn't getting the sci-fi thriller, I thought the romance would be strong. And while there is definitely romance, it wasn't as strong or impactful as I think it should've been.
Whenever the show did focus on the sci-fi elements, it was interesting and I wanted more of that, but the majority of the show is weirdly about the FL making her way through life and starting her career in hairdressing and makeup. The amount of time spent on the makeup drama was so strange to me. It just didn't fit in with the other world/messing with people's brains storyline.
Basically, this show took a really fascinating idea and told it in the most boring way possible. Okay, that's not really fair, because I did finish the whole thing and I didn't hate it. I just think that this could've been so much better if time had been spent on exploring the relationships between characters (Jiang Bo and his mother, Qi Lian and his father, Qi Lian and Jiang Xiao Yuan) and actually given us more of the hunt for answers (in a cinematic and exciting way instead of the slow plod that was shown. There really wasn't a moment where I thought the stakes were high and I was on the edge of my seat).
All of that said, I didn't hate it. I just wish it lived up to it's potential.

Read More

Plot Holes But Overall Enjoyable

The idea of a Death Game isn't exactly new, but I usually always enjoy them. So I did like this drama too, but I didn't love it. The writing had quite a few holes, but it didn't really bother me because I wasn't super invested and just didn't really feel the tension. It wasn't that the stakes weren't high--they were, but I think because the characters weren't developed like they should've been, I didn't care about anyone too strongly. Even Yoonseo, who's supposed to be the lead, hardly felt developed.
I also guessed they were really in a game a few episodes in (or it was all dream) just because of the way the kids lost control and killed themselves and because of the moment everyone suddenly remembered the girl who'd died in the real world. Also when Junhee suddenly came back to life. That was a pretty clear sign this wasn't real life.
But like I said, none of that really bothered me and I enjoyed the drama for what it was.

Read More

One of my Favorite Dramas of the Year

This drama was pretty much exactly what I've wanted from all of the historical/fantasy cdramas that I've watched (and not always finished) in the past.
It has smart and good characters, who go through an actual journey and have growth throughout the show. I also liked the fact that the writers never sacrificed how smart/cunning Li Ni and Cui Lin were for the sake of the plot. Things went wrong, but not because they were stupid and made poor choices.
The story itself was really enjoyable. It held my attention and had good pacing (something that lacks in a lot of cdramas imo). I also liked that while main story points were finished off and new ones took their places, it never felt forced or weird.
Even though I liked the tone of the show (it was light and serious when it needed to be, with just the right amount of angst) I do wish that characters/plots were allowed to be a little darker than they were. For example, I would've liked to see Miss Gu be more sinister and cunning to get her way. Same for the main villains--let's see them being more EVIL!
Lastly, while I really liked the ending, I do wish the climax was a little more intense. I wish that we'd built up to it more so that I was on the edge of my seat, but for what it was, I did really like it and how it played out in the end!

Read More

Had potential but felt like filler for what's to come in season 3

I can't tell you how excited I was for this season and how let down I ended up. I'm not sure what happened between the seasons with either writers, directors, etc. but something obviously changed because of how completely different season 2 was from the first.
I was actually okay with the time jump and introducing a new world/characters, but then nothing happened for like 3 full episodes other than major exposition with brand new characters that I did not care about at all. Also it was certainly a choice on the writers' part to sideline the MAIN characters for practically the entire season. It wasn't until Hyunsoo and the other OG characters started getting more screen time that I was genuinely interested in what was happening. Every brand new character they introduced was pointless to me. I didn't exactly hate them, but I just didn't see the point of devoting so much time to their seemingly meaningless storylines.
In my opinion what they should've done is actually shown Hyunsoo, Yi Kyung, and the child becoming a little family so that when it all falls apart there's an emotional impact on the audience. We also should've seen more of Eun Yoo and her interactions with the new characters (the soldiers, civilians, and the weird camping duo). In other words, the season should've centered around the main characters.
Honestly most of this season just felt like it was filler for the upcoming 3rd season and I really hated that because it had the potential to be something better and it really fell short. I actually do think the 3rd season will be really good just based on what's been set up in the last episode of season 2, and I am looking forward to that, but I was mostly just so frustrated with how this season played out.

Read More

decent and well made drama, but needs more episodes to flesh out the story

I liked most of this drama, but had some issues with the overall story. This definitely could've benefited from a few more episodes to flesh out Jiyong and his backstory. The audience does understand why he's doing what he's doing, but I think it was an abrupt escalation from assaulting bad guys to killing them. And maybe I'm just dumb, but it took me a little bit to realize that he was actually killing the bad guys. In my defense, it never actually showed him finishing them off, and it seemed like he gave some of them an option to repent (ex: the rich guy who hit the old lady with the cardboard).
Beyond giving Jiyong more of a full character, a few more episodes could've given us more depth into relationships between the characters and made us feel more for them other than a passing interest (maybe it's just me, but I wasn't too invested in any of the characters and most of them seemed a little one dimensional. Other than Jiyong's Number One Fanboy. He was great.). I think the bad guys and their evil plan could've used more depth as well, but given that it was only 8 episodes, they crammed a lot into them and it was a complete story.
Overall, a decent and well-made drama, but needed a little bit more to really flesh it out.

Read More

overall, well made drama, but my personal preference dropped the rating

Overall, this was a very well done drama. The actors’ performances, the production, and the general filming/editing were all really good. I had really high hopes for it when it started, but started to have some issues with it towards the middle/end.

For me, the best part of the drama was the relationship between the three leads. Because, in general, I’ve seen this type of story told before, but what made this drama stand apart from others was the characters and how they interacted with each other.
I loved that Junmo was married and that his wife ended up part of the investigation. I liked seeing the trust they had for each other when in other stories there would only be jealousy and no understanding of the situation. This was something that I don’t normally see in stories like this. Of course, that all changed in the end, which bothered me so much. I think I could’ve handled the ending no matter what happened, if I knew that Junmo and Euijung were going to be okay. I understand that we, the viewers, are supposed to see that Junmo has changed too much to go back to who he used to be, but I didn’t want that (and obviously, this is very much just a personal preference). I guess, I would’ve liked to have seen more of Junmo changing. I know the turning point was the slaughter in the hallway; he got a little more unhinged after that, but I’m not really sure at what point he decided that he actually liked Jung Kichul enough to let him go at the end (but then turn around and shoot him? Why?). Along those same lines, when did he grow fond of Lee Haeryeon? Their relationship was a little weird/red flag to me, especially when she initially tried to sleep with him. That didn’t seem very wanted on his end.

I guess, in the end, I got myself into this one. This drama really never made any secret of the fact that it was only going to end one way and that was horribly. So my rating is mostly just because I’m annoyed by how it ended and not because it isn’t well made or acted.

Read More

Smart Character(s) and Plot

This drama was such a pleasant surprise. I started it without any expectations and was quickly sucked into the plot and characters. The plot starts out small, but quickly grows until the audience is getting more and more pieces of the puzzle.
I'm a fan of Smart Characters in general, but Yun Xiang has to be a new favorite of mine. A big reason for that is because of Chen Xiao. He was a standout to me. He was able to make us root for Yun Xiang, who's the type of character that can come off smug and annoying. One of my favorite parts of his character is that while he's constantly outmaneuvering every single character in the story, he can't save his own life when it's being threatened by martial artists. Which is where the love of his life comes in to save him. Their romance was lovely and was the perfect amount of longing/angst with happy moments throughout.
Overall this was such a wonderful surprise for me and while the filming/editing wasn't anything special, I really ended up enjoying myself a lot.

Read More

This drama has no right being this good

This drama has no right being this good!
I wanted to watch this when it first came out, but was waiting and then forgot about it. I'm so glad that I finally remembered and watched it.
Initially, it was the cinematography that drew me to watch this (I saw some gifs of it and thought it looked so pretty), but now that I've seen the whole thing, I can confidently say that it was the characters, their arcs, and their relationships with each other that really made the show worth watching.
Because it was a relatively short drama, the pacing was also very good. I'm not an expert at all, but I've often thought that the pacing in a lot of cdramas is not very good. A lot of time is spent on useless things and I always get bored halfway, but that wasn't the case with this show. It held my attention all the way through with no skipping on my part (another feat!).
My one complaint is that I thought the final episode was a bit rushed. There were a few things I wanted answered: was the Queen Dowager's crimes properly revealed and did Zhang Ping's clan receive justice? I also wanted Gu Qingzhang to have one final confrontation with Lan Jue and Zhang Ping. The relationship between the three of them was so interesting to me, and I do wished it'd been explored a little bit more, even though we have a pretty clear idea of what they all mean to each other. But I guess it's because of that, that I wanted to see them face each other before Qingzhang walked off into the mist, never to be seen again. It just felt a little anticlimactic, if a somewhat fitting end for him.
Anyway, great show, highly recommend.

Read More

Compelling Court Drama

This review is way too long, but I have a lot of thoughts.
The first 25ish episodes were fantastic! They were compelling, twisty, and smart with morally grey and interesting characters. There were several times that I stayed up too late because the plot took off and I had to see how the Emperor was going to get out of the trap laid for him.
But then we hit a lull and for like 15 episodes Qi Yan was suddenly sidelined because he got stabbed like 5 times and was apparently dying. He moped around in his flowy red robe like an ailing Victorian child practically the whole time. Not only that, but for these stretch of episodes he seemed to get kinda dumb (as in: his plans weren't well thought out and he was being fooled by everyone else), which really undermined the character he was presented to be at the start of the show.
Also, I'm not sure I understood why he was dying. Maybe it was the translation, but when the doctor was like, "You may die in five months or five YEARS," I was lost. I don't understand the huge time gap there. I thought he was only stabbed? Did it get infected? Was it poisoned? Am I actually too stupid to follow what was going on?
It was at this point that I started to skip because they felt like filler episodes. But I kept going because I was already invested in the plot and the characters.
The romance didn't really work for me, but I didn't hate it. I just thought they had no chemistry, and no offense to the FL, but I didn't think the actor fit the the part or played it well.
The Duke was a good villain (I think this is due to the actor), but there were times that it felt like he wasn't as smart as we thought and was mostly just lucky and too firmly rooted in his position to give it up easily. I also wish that he and Qi Yan had more time to stew with each other. I wanted to know more about their relationship before it went sour. Also! Completely unrelated, but when the Duke goes feral at the end and whips off his robes and his hair goes crazy, I died laughing. Which I'm sure wasn't the intended reaction.
Lastly, I'm not sure what to think of the ending. There seems to be some confusion about whether Qi Yan is alive or not. To be honest, I assumed that he'd faked his death, but we didn't really get that much of a confirmation, so I'm not sure. But in either case (him dying or pretending to fake his death to live as an ordinary person), I don't really like it. I know that he didn't want to be Emperor and it brought him nothing but pain, but at the same time it felt a little cheap for the audience to sit through almost 50 episodes of him STRUGGLING to hold onto the throne only to give it up (or die) in the end.
I'm complaining a lot, but I actually really liked this drama. It's one of the few cdramas to hook my attention and hold it through almost the whole thing. I tend to give up somewhere in the middle, so the fact that I finished this is amazing for me. Which really speaks to the plot and characters of this drama. I just wish that the fat had been trimmed story wise and that the Emperor had actually been allowed to be the MAIN character throughout the whole thing.

Read More

not as good as the first season, but still worth watching

This season of D.P. felt like a completely different show from the first season. Suddenly, we have a Big Bad and a looming conspiracy that the good guys are dealing with. Suddenly, Junho feels like a different person and is apparently Jason Bourne in the last two episodes. I still loved Junho (and the rest of the gang), but he just felt different in this season. It was like he had a ton of development that the audience didn't get to see and was more confidant than the last time we'd seen him. Though, I should mention I have only seen the first season once and it was when it first came out, so I might be forgetting things.
This season also seemed less grounded in reality than the first season, which felt gritty and very real and knew exactly what kind of story it wanted to tell. This season seemed a little more out there in terms of reality and like I said the whole train/Jason Bourne thing was kinda wild.
All of that to say: I still watched the whole thing and was interested to see how it would all turn out. Plus it was nice to see all of the characters back on my screen (all of the actors were fantastic). I just think this season was a little lazy and not quite up to par with the first season.

Read More

This drama started strong for me, but ended in such a unnecessary place. I'm not sure I understand what the show was trying to say or accomplish.
Personally, I think they should've cut the whole 2023 storyline and kept the focus on the kids. I didn't hate the 2023 storyline, but it was distracting. Also I strongly feel that they ruined Go Yoo's character in the future because they wanted to keep the audience guessing on which boy it was.
I also think they should've cut Han So Yeon's character. She only added conflict to the story, which is usually a good thing, but in this case it was more frustrating than anything else because I loved the relationship between Go Yoo and Joon Hee and she was only getting in the way of them. In fact, their friendship and brotherhood was the best thing about this drama and truly the driving force of the whole thing. Which is why in the end, when Joon Hee leaves (after experiencing more headaches that are never explained) it makes no sense! Why would he stay gone for years and years? He wouldn't.
Lastly, since everyone is talking about Sehun, I want to throw in my two cents: I think he did a really good job. I went into this having seen a few of his older dramas and not being very impressed, so I was pleasantly surprised. This was a great role for him. He had great chemistry with all of his co-stars and was, in my opinion, the heart of the drama. I would love to see him take on more roles like this one in the future.
In the end, I'm disappointed with this drama, but it was short and had enough heart to keep me watching until the end.

Read More