tsuyoi_hikari

This drama is definitely the best romance sageuk in my book. :D

The main reason that makes the drama special is the pure & innocent love story between Seung Yoo and Se Ryung. Honestly, I have watched tons of K-dramas love stories before but I have to say that this one is one of the very best ever written. It is so well developed right from the start; their sweet and beautiful courtship, misunderstanding, reunion, betrayal, and their heartbreaking sad fate and longing to each other is just painful and agonizing to watch. You can truly see why they fall in love and remain devoted to each other no matter how cruel the circumstances between their families. It is so well told and beautifully portrayed by both of the leads -- their exceptional and explosive chemistry is absolutely compelling with unparalleled eminence that for the first time in my life, I actually feel heartache watching a love story. No matter whether it is happy or sad scenes, watching the two of them just breaks my heart. Kudos to the writer for writing such a memorable love story, I’m expecting it to be good but I got more than what I asked for. There’re plenty of romantic unforgettable scenes between the two of them. I find myself watching them over and over again since they are beautifully shot; be it their first meeting, the date at the market and river, the horse ridings, the sudden confession, the hug scene in the shack, the kidnapping scene, the romantic scenes at the forest nor the marriage scene in the hut (I can’t believe they pulled a Cold Mountain here XD). The two of them really look like they are deeply in love with each other just by the look in their eyes or how they touched -- it is just simply beautiful yet heartbreaking to watch at the same time.

9.5/10 - I watch this drama knowing it would be good, but it never crossed my mind that the story will totally blow my mind away. I love almost everything the drama has to offer; the mesmerizing leads, excellent written script, brilliant directing, beautiful cinematography, heart-wrenching soundtracks, deep and angsty storyline, mind-blowing on-screen chemistry, and most of all the moving and pure love story of the lead characters.

I truly enjoyed watching this. Like other Jang Hyuk's post-army dramas, it is high quality with engaging plots equipped with excellent acting from all the casts. I enjoyed the 10 episodes where the mystery is about to be revealed one by one (my fave part in watching Kdramas where its all fun and awesome -- not too sad or too tragic) before it become more addicted in the remaining 14 episodes. Before I knew it, I become attached with lots of side characters and cried when they meet their ends (especially the Crown Prince's death). I guess this is a bonus point I have to give to the screenwriters for writing engaging side characters that you feel attached and sympathise with. I didn't feel it with The Slave Hunter but I definitely feel the opposite in this drama.

9.5/10 - Penned by the famous writer of Jewel in the Palace & Queen Seon Duk, this drama is guaranteed to be amazing and it certainly didn't disappoint. It is honestly one of the best written script I have ever seen from a Kdrama -- it is clever, intriguing, interesting and heartbreaking at the same time.

This drama has one of the most awesome scripts in the history of Kdramas for me. I personally like this better than Six Flying Dragons. But both are excellent in term of script quality

7/10 - This drama is great tbh. It has everything that a good show should have; good directing, good script and plot, excellent acting, attractive actors, great cinematography and not to mention a really awesome and amazing figting scenes.

However, when the writer decided to go full head to make the main character as sad and tragic not to mention pathetic as it can be, the drama went downhill in my opinion -- it is no longer fun as the first 10 episodes. Not to mention when it start focusing on other sub-characters which we the viewers didnt really give a damn especially the political people slow conversations, I find that the drama lost its spark and I started fast forwording scenes that I never done in my 15++ years of watching kdramas. Come on, when you make the main character as engaging and full of depth as Dae Gil, would you like to watch how the drama spent half of its air time on other side characters that you don’t really care about?

By the time it reached the end, I actually wish Dae Gil to die since his fate is just too cruel or should I said ridiculous. It never happen to me before but this is a first time for me to wish the character that I like to just die and end everything.

No. The Untamed has very satisfying relationship between the leads while this drama has one of the most frustrating and sad relationship between the leads. It scarred me till this day lol!

There's a big different between stupidity and forgiveness and what she & other characters did in the drama is just plain stupid. You dont forgive a serial murderer who is wicked to the core thinking that they're going to repent. Its the same with the Head Priest -- how many times your daughter need to commit crimes before you actually stop her (in the past and in the present time)? I mean, not only they forgive the villain but they also appoint her as the Head Priestess later. Can they be anymore dumb? Yeah, you guys deserved all the horrible things that happened lol.

The only silver lining in this drama is Mark's character Krit. His sincerity, gentleness and kindness are the only one that saved the drama for me. I loved that he never play any games and always straight with his feelings. The female lead didnt deserve him AT ALL. Right until the end, she didnt deserved him. I mean, she didnt even seek his forgiveness after all the bad things she thought of him which none of it are true in anyway. The love line was too one-sided with the guy doing all the work and confess his feelings repeatedly and unconditionally while the the girl act cold, prejudiced and 'guarded' around him all the time.

If you are a Mark fan, I personally think this drama is a must as Krit/Areeya is one of his best characters to date. Krit is like a dream guy for any girl tbh. My eyes just lighten up everytime he comes into the screen. Plus, I know Mark is always handsome, but he is extra dashing and charming here. And whatever the hideous hair (lol) they put on him for the past life scenes, they made it up with his fashion for the present world -- either the matching shirt & pants, the suspender or the all white outfits. And the earlier parts of the drama are so much fun and they're a bunch of really romantic scenes that tickles your hearts. I just wish the writer wrote a better character for the girl and made her less unlikable and prejudiced. Since the whole time, you have no idea why Krit falls for her when all she did is being cold to him. Its like his attachment are due to the fact that they are soulmates from the past alone.. It could be a beautiful love relationship with the connection to the past, karma, merit & soulmate that attached between the 2 of them. The writer could explore so much more with that storyline. But instead, their relationship stuck with her questioning his love and him having to comfort her and reaffirm his feelings & love. That’s literally their relationship in a nutshell.

5/10 - Its a crime to be stupid. PERIOD. This drama has potential to be such a good drama but the writer really ruin it with all the characters' stupidity. The first few episodes were so much fun but all turn the ashes when the drama reached the middle. After that, its all elaborated evil plans by the villain and how everyone fall into her plan and how the good guy never win except due to good karma. Very frustrating to watch since the whole thing was so one sided and basically, the good guys have stones for brains lol. Why would the writer think it is such a good idea to write such plot is beyond me -- literally no one in this whole world would want to root for a stupid protagonist.

Here, we are presented with one of the most frustrated female lead ever. Not only she is prejudiced, cold but she is stupid as hell as well. And she literally have zero character development. She is the same as she was when the drama started -- still as prejudiced, cold and stupid. When she forgave and let the villain roam free even after the villain killed her unborn child, commit multiple murders, practice black magic, commit treason which is all a capital punishment by law, I had enough.

From my experience, historical dramas are usually much better than normal modern/romance dramas (in term of script quality & tightness). I esp love the mind games they are playing with each other -- the intensity of those cat & mouse games are esp great! You should give it a try and it may be your new fave genre. :)

Oh yes I know. Thats why I put OR -- 'historical / XianXia' since this 2 genres are my faves. I know Luoyang is not XianXia since they do not have deity/immortal elements in the story. I always consider all historical dramas is wuxia though (lol) since this 2 always go hand in hand.

Yes, the subs are fast since its Iqiyi original drama but its not really popular though since its not even in the trend list. OTL I guess not many people like historical dramas in general.

My favourite genre in the whole world is Chinese historical / XianXia dramas so I'm looking forward to this. Looking at the trailer, it seemed like a really high budgeted production that are meant for movies -- I'm truly impressed! The problem when I start watching this type of drama is that I will be obsessed and will finish the gazillion episodes in 1 week's time so I always reluctant to start watching this long dramas lol

I'm watching Young Blood now (which I enjoyed since the male lead is kind of hilarious and smart) so I will probably picking this one next. :D

They are in fake relationship but have biological children together? Doesnt it mean that the relationship is real?

I'm not trying to convince her but just interested to know when she deemed the camera quality for Jdramas are acceptable to be watched. Because tbh, I didnt find anything weird on the camera quality on old Jdramas. Or did she mean picture quality? Like old Jdramas has 360p instead of the new ones with 1080p / 4k?

Yeah I totally understand. Its like I could never watch black & white movies. So despite Casablanca & Citizen Cane are very famous, I have yet to watch it. ;_;

So your cut point for Jdramas are only dramas released year 2005 and above?

As an avid Jdramas lover, the quality of Jdramas from the late 90's and early 00's is the best. They completely leading the drama world at that time with their tight script and quality content. I found many gems during that era and it remains iconic in my heart despite all the times has passed.

I esp love pets in dramas. Out of all, the one I love the most is Jung Haein's dog in When You Were Sleeping. Robin is just utterly one of the cutest things I have ever seen. He lights up the screen everytime he appears. He's the same level as Baby Yoda in my heart lol!

I do agree that the ratings is too high for this drama. I usually feel like ppl are more generous with rating for Kdramas but this ratings is too high for such a plot lol

I actually love C-romcom in general and contract marriage plot has always been my favorites but this one is totally a miss for me. For starter, the plot is not believable that I had to rewind scenes just to understand how can it comes to that lol esp when ML was convinced that he didnt need to marry the FL for his father. And it missed from the usual contract marriage plot sweetness that made the usual contract marriage plot fun and special. I gave it 6.5/10 and this is low for me since I'm usually generous with my ratings