Park Hae Young is indeed a good writer since she wrote characters with depth and complexity.
But I utterly despise Yoon Nan Jong's Because This Is My First Life. It is a mess of a drama and the relationship between the leads are just toxic -- esp the FL and her passive aggressive behaviors towards the ML everytime he didnt behave according to her narrative. The message that the drama wants to send at the end is just wrong in all levels. FL was very manipulative and emotionally abusive -- she broke the ML to a point that he cant no longer stay in the house the he loved so much then comes back into his life after she think he had learned his 'lesson' that he cant live without her. I was so disgusted tbh. :(
This is why probably I would never talk about dramas to random people / friends since some just couldnt appreciate the nuance or brilliance storytelling when they do not paying attention when they watched the story. Like C-historical dramas has so much micro detailing that it will all lose in translation when people thought all characters either look the same or the story is just too complicated in general. So no matter how brilliant is the script, they just couldn't see it lol. So to save you from heartache, no need to recommend anything to people with no interest on the subject imo.
But once in a while, a truly magnificent dramas that is so awesome like Joy of Life/Nirvana in Fire for an example come around and I will shamelessly recommend it to anyone since it is just too awesome. Or dramas with brilliant ending like The Bad Kids so I can discuss on the ending on whether they managed to catch it or not. :D
5/10 - The original novel is so obviously written by a teenager so you can expect a very one-sided romantic plot where mostly all the romantic scenes are done by the ML ONLY. That at one point of time, I have no idea why he falls for her in the first place. Not to mention this drama is also just full of nonsensical plots. At the end, I really felt bad for the ML. He deserved better. When the FL opened his wound and confront his sad past forcefully, it him who has to run to win her back in the rain. And until the end when he found that she lies about her identity and everything (not to mention his money?), it is him who has to run to win her back, AGAIN.... ??!! I just couldn't understand how this logic works. I really feel bad for him. I love to watch a balanced love story where the leads actually give equally in the relationship but this one is seemed to be written as a dream fantasy by the author thus it ended looking one sided like this.
9/10 - This is totally an awesome crime thriller drama. I love everytime a mystery drama does this -- you think…
And for those English speaking watchers, they didn't translate the wording at the end. It basically said both Yu Hai & Shun Yun got 1 year prison sentence and Tian Peng got death penalty for the multiple crimes that he did.
No, its not. Its her sister. You missed the best part of the drama where the plot twists are revealed! Its more interesting than simply kidnapping game. It was so messed up that you wonder how everything going to turn out. Such an excellent crime drama
9/10 - This is totally an awesome crime thriller drama. I love everytime a mystery drama does this -- you think it is just simply a kidnapping case but the plots revealed to be much more than that with even more gripping and mysterious plot twists. The editing was structured to make you confuse where you question technically everything but bit by bit, but every clue, every item, every conversation & every character later made complete sense. For someone who loves details in script and notices everything, I'm just surprised on how everything is addressed at the end with no plot holes or questionable storyline -- everything just made sense.
I love the fact that they show us the outcome first before telling us the story on how it comes to that -- so every interactions, every development between the two leads put more depth and meaning which make the whole thing more heartbreaking -- since you know what will happen in the future or is it that way? This style of ambiguous writing totally blew me away so the revelation gives more impact and felt more emotional.
As usual, Zhu Ya Wen is just a fantastic actor. He made Yu Hai so broken yet at the same time so brilliant. Every pained smile, every helplessness that he felt, its just show on his face that you can literally feel whatever emotion he supposed to feel in each scene. You know he is missing something in his heart when you look at him or the games that he designed and the FL comes into the picture and give that one thing that he is missing that changes everything.
And the ending scene! I'm sure no one could ever predict that. It just made the whole drama more awesome that it already is. The whole thing was foreshadowed in the story Shen Yun told Yu Hai about the Lies & Princess story and how once he collected the true hearts and confesses to the Princess, she rejected it since the Princess herself is a 'lie' as well. It hits me at the end on how everything turned out exactly like the story she told. ;_;
I wonder why the ratings here are so low. This definitely deserved 8.5/10 and above since the script quality, directing and editing is just top level. This is how an excellent crime drama should be -- it tugs to your heart string and the impact will be bigger when you are not spoiled on anything and just watch where the truth being unrevealed one by one. At the end, it highlight on many thing such as desperation, guilt, redemption, sacrifices & the length one go through for the one they love -- whether it is love between lovers or father to daughter.
''Being a fictional story is not the main point about how they got around the censorship. ''
My comment regarding the censorship is when compared to the novel (source material). They dont have those and the drama writer only put the university student's fictional story to pass the CCP censorship.
But agreed on everything else that you said. The drama is brilliant in so many levels that I can go on and on on how layered, clever & masterpiece is the whole thing.
What an awesome article! You must spent a lot of time writing it. Its one of my fave Cdrama for this year after Shining for One Thing. I love the arts that Shen Yi drew in his journal for each case. Will definitely check the 2nd season if they decided to do one. I was curious who is the one who tear up his portrait in the last scene as each case and theme has been solved at the end.
I don't really care about the music in dramas, you could play anything and I wouldn't notice as long there is…
But music in asian dramas is like one of the things that made it so great. The lyrics are actually the POV of the characters and when it played during sad scenes for an example, it made the whole scene even more heartwrenching. Thats why streaming sites also translate the lyrics of the songs as well since its one of the highlights.
For an example for Cdrama; Shining for One Thing, the lyrics are more like foreshadowing of the future events in the drama and it contains lyrics such as 'star shaped engraving on the left side of your arm' which the ML has in the drama. :D
For me, to rewatch dramas, it need this 2 factors:
1) Dramas with smart script such as Joy of Life or Nirvana in Fire. Chances for this type of drama to taint the already perfect memory of them are pretty low but instead you will ended up with a better ratings after you finished it for the 2nd time since all the foreshadowings, gestures, secret and ambiguous scripts all made sense. And you realized how clever is the script since you start noticing all these small thing that contribute later to the overall plots.
2) Your comfort dramas -- dramas that made you happy simply by watching it. Usually, this type of dramas are silly with high entertainment value and it got plots that you already know the direction so instead of feeling anxious on what the plot might go, you just simply enjoying the ride, again... :D
What is her secret? His secret is truly a secret like the hidden robot message, the box full of memories and the hidden message that he wrote on her school book. What was hers aside from the diary entries?
i dont remember but im pretty sure its something like i like you, can u tell me where i'll go check
What is her secret then? His secret is truly a secret like the hidden robot message, the box full of memories and the hidden message that he wrote on her school book. What was hers aside from the diary entries?
I just cant stand how she bases every life choice on what the ML does. Like when the ML is kinda a jerk b/c he…
I have a problem with this too. And she is lucky the ML is kinda perfect and see how wrong is her thinking. But her being pissed off when the ML said that to her was really weird as he is right. And her reply 'what do you know about love'? I was like? ?!!! haha
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But I utterly despise Yoon Nan Jong's Because This Is My First Life. It is a mess of a drama and the relationship between the leads are just toxic -- esp the FL and her passive aggressive behaviors towards the ML everytime he didnt behave according to her narrative. The message that the drama wants to send at the end is just wrong in all levels. FL was very manipulative and emotionally abusive -- she broke the ML to a point that he cant no longer stay in the house the he loved so much then comes back into his life after she think he had learned his 'lesson' that he cant live without her. I was so disgusted tbh. :(
This is why probably I would never talk about dramas to random people / friends since some just couldnt appreciate the nuance or brilliance storytelling when they do not paying attention when they watched the story. Like C-historical dramas has so much micro detailing that it will all lose in translation when people thought all characters either look the same or the story is just too complicated in general. So no matter how brilliant is the script, they just couldn't see it lol. So to save you from heartache, no need to recommend anything to people with no interest on the subject imo.
But once in a while, a truly magnificent dramas that is so awesome like Joy of Life/Nirvana in Fire for an example come around and I will shamelessly recommend it to anyone since it is just too awesome. Or dramas with brilliant ending like The Bad Kids so I can discuss on the ending on whether they managed to catch it or not. :D
I love the fact that they show us the outcome first before telling us the story on how it comes to that -- so every interactions, every development between the two leads put more depth and meaning which make the whole thing more heartbreaking -- since you know what will happen in the future or is it that way? This style of ambiguous writing totally blew me away so the revelation gives more impact and felt more emotional.
As usual, Zhu Ya Wen is just a fantastic actor. He made Yu Hai so broken yet at the same time so brilliant. Every pained smile, every helplessness that he felt, its just show on his face that you can literally feel whatever emotion he supposed to feel in each scene. You know he is missing something in his heart when you look at him or the games that he designed and the FL comes into the picture and give that one thing that he is missing that changes everything.
And the ending scene! I'm sure no one could ever predict that. It just made the whole drama more awesome that it already is. The whole thing was foreshadowed in the story Shen Yun told Yu Hai about the Lies & Princess story and how once he collected the true hearts and confesses to the Princess, she rejected it since the Princess herself is a 'lie' as well. It hits me at the end on how everything turned out exactly like the story she told. ;_;
I wonder why the ratings here are so low. This definitely deserved 8.5/10 and above since the script quality, directing and editing is just top level. This is how an excellent crime drama should be -- it tugs to your heart string and the impact will be bigger when you are not spoiled on anything and just watch where the truth being unrevealed one by one. At the end, it highlight on many thing such as desperation, guilt, redemption, sacrifices & the length one go through for the one they love -- whether it is love between lovers or father to daughter.
My comment regarding the censorship is when compared to the novel (source material). They dont have those and the drama writer only put the university student's fictional story to pass the CCP censorship.
But agreed on everything else that you said. The drama is brilliant in so many levels that I can go on and on on how layered, clever & masterpiece is the whole thing.
For an example for Cdrama; Shining for One Thing, the lyrics are more like foreshadowing of the future events in the drama and it contains lyrics such as 'star shaped engraving on the left side of your arm' which the ML has in the drama. :D
1) Dramas with smart script such as Joy of Life or Nirvana in Fire. Chances for this type of drama to taint the already perfect memory of them are pretty low but instead you will ended up with a better ratings after you finished it for the 2nd time since all the foreshadowings, gestures, secret and ambiguous scripts all made sense. And you realized how clever is the script since you start noticing all these small thing that contribute later to the overall plots.
2) Your comfort dramas -- dramas that made you happy simply by watching it. Usually, this type of dramas are silly with high entertainment value and it got plots that you already know the direction so instead of feeling anxious on what the plot might go, you just simply enjoying the ride, again... :D