WingedBean

A Story of Women, Status, Partnership, and Politics

I love when a show I'm watching teaches me something, and The Road to Splendor has a powerful story to tell. Across its 36 episodes, women are the absolute stars of the plot, navigating the heavy constraints placed on them by a patriarchal society.

⚠️Be warned, this review is lowkey an essay. Lots of words ahead⚠️

Part 1: The Women
👵🏻Tingyun's Grandmother: She prides herself on her riches and her four government-sanctioned arches. Then you learn that these arches are sustained by the suffering of women. As the layers peel back, we see how this enviable and "respectable" matriarch mercilessly exploits her daughters and daughters-in-law just to uphold the weight of family reputation.

🪙Fan Ya Ke: Blinded by the desire for wishes for recognition and riches more than anything, she signs her so-called best friend's death sentence and gaslights herself that she's innocent. She trades everything for a man who never loved or respected her, and a promise of wealth she never actually receives.

🧠Tingyun: After an unfairly ruined reputation and a failed murder attempt, she has to crawl and eat filth to get herself away from the clutches of death. Unprepared but resilient, she slowly and painfully climbs her way up from a fall from grace to become one of the most powerful women in the kingdom.

📿Madam Yu: She does everything to maintain her pride and uplift her family name, yet she is bound to two men who couldn't care less about her—a petulant, self-pitying son and a husband who uses her for her brains. She is treated neither as a mother nor a wife. Instead, she is an unappreciated strategist and a burdensome family member when no longer useful.

💢Madam Zuo: Her anger at life's unfairness ultimately leads to her death. However, despite her atrocious actions, the audience has to sit with the realization that society pushed her into becoming who she was.
She chose to stay in that filth (think of how she constantly targeted 18-year-old Tingyun and put the Ganlin girls in danger), but had the unfair rules of chastity and the arches never been a thing, could she have become who we saw? We shall never know

👩🏻👩🏻‍🦳Concubine Wu & Her 'aunty':
One is basically a starved, prettied-up slave for the highest bidder; and the other is her slave driver. Instead of supporting each other, their dynamic shows how women exploit those even more impoverished as stepping stones. Fortunately, Wu gets smart, uses her likeness to Tingyun to survive, and leaves before the house collapses.

👑The Empress Dowager: Revered by all, she is still just a woman and bound by the system. Her final wish to be buried beside her husband is denied not by him, but by her own son. The man she brought into this world holds total dominion over her resting place. Despite her immense power, she cannot choose her grave because a man decided it, and her past status as a concubine deems her "less than." Even her loving grandson cannot break this cycle due to the legal bounds of filial piety.

🪽Tingyun's Mother: Her worst mistake was marrying a greedy man who saw her as less than. Her life and, more so, her death were truly so unfair. The rules of marriage kept her with that man. No matter how much money she gave him or how silently she stood by his side, she was "just a woman" to him. One whom he eventually and happily sacrificed for his greed. I think her story is something any woman wishing for the tradwife era should take a minute to look at and carefully examine.

Part 2: Wealth, Power, and Class
Societally, hierarchy was a huge part of this story. What can wealth buy, and what will people do to keep it? With wealth comes power. What are you willing to do to keep this power, and how do you wield it?

In societies ruled by classism, climbing the ladder becomes the ultimate goal, and characters go to horrific lengths to achieve it.

👵🏻The Grandmother’s Greed: This cycle starts with Tingyun's grandmother trapping Madam Zhou to keep her arches, and eventually orchestrating the murder and fake burial of her own granddaughter. (I highly suggest googling the history of these arches to understand the massive perks that made her value them over human life).

⚔️Zhao Ling:
He starts simply trying to keep his ragtag band of smugglers from starving and hopefully bring them to riches. His friend Jin Yuan Bao almost poisons him in the name of wealth. Prompted by Tingyun, he meets the emperor - then the crown prince- takes on the salt case, and later moves to Ganlin to join the army. All this to elevate his class.

He then meets the disgusting waste of air that is Yu Jing Xiu. A man far above his station who tells him that he could try as much as he wants and even 10 years couldn't reach him. Thus fueling his desire for status.

Then he spends 5 years at war, gaining recognition but losing a part of himself. It works, and he becomes the emperor's favourite. He has power, wealth, status. A self-made man. But becomes enemy number 1. Everything he's fought for, even Tingyun herself, is in danger because of who he's become. He is embedded in a world far above his head that he slowly starts to lose himself and Tingyun.

In trying to keep what he's gained, he starts to use tactics and become the very people he's fighting - further losing himself. I love how his final act was to leave the court, going back to Ganlin.

All that wealth, power, and status that he fought for brought nothing but pain. He and Tingyun went back to the place where they were both the happiest. Far away from the court, and this time, without the weight of the emperor and his expectations floating above them

📚Yu Jing Xiu:
Ah, the waste of space himself. I had to go to Google and look up 'words worse than pathetic' because pathetic quite does him justice. Google gave me Contemptible, despicable, vile, and abominable. I think they all suit him perfectly.

I'd roll my eyes every time his stupid face showed up on my screen. He was hypocritical as fuck.

He looks down on Fan Ya Ke for craving wealth and disdains Zhao Ling for his low status. He judges his mother for using her class to manipulate situations, and his father for using connections to get him a better position. Yet uses that same class leverage to look down on others, kidnap Tingyun, and pull strings. He claims to be a detached scholar but hides behind his privilege whenever it suits him.

I think his ending was the best+worst thing that could've happened to him

🪙Fan Ya Ke:
Threw her bestie under the bus, insulted her daddy and his day-old rice for the promise of wealth, a powerful man, and status. Only to go to the capital and
a. have no one care for her intellect, only the man she was married to and the fake story she gave of how they met

b. her MIL controlled her allowance. She was put on a budget, and her coffers remained as empty as they were when she went into that house coz MIL took everything. She looked rich, acted rich and classy but had nothing

c. be replaced by a knockoff version of Tingyun. Not only did her man start fixating on the woman he had discarded for her, but her MIL brought in a concubine who looked like Tingyun to appease her son and his wandering eye (it was also for business but, you know)

📿Madam Yu:
Did all that for money. To maintain the wealth and status that she had and for what? As mentioned, her husband and son never appreciated her. Ultimately, she lost her mind coz she couldn't handle being a poor commoner.

Part 3: Partnership
🧠⚔️The romance isn't the main catalyst that elevates Tingyun and Zhao Ling to the new heights. Their partnership does. The story does a fantastic thing in having them be partners before being lovers. Bound by societal limits, Tingyun acts as the brains while Zhao Ling is the brawn. He is crafty, but let's be real: without Tingyun, he would have remained in Juweijiao or, at most, become a regular salt merchant with a fake license.

PS: The breakdown of this partnership about two-thirds (maybe three-quarters) of the way through the show felt frustrating. A lack of communication creates cracks in what was once a strong foundation. This then leads to a lot of the heartache, angst, and attacks that the two experienced in the latter episodes. Mr and Madam Yu might not have had the love that the Zhao's had, but they were able to land so many hits because they communicated and always planned their horrible little plans together.

⚖️Part 4 Politics⚖️:
I won't dive too deep here—it’s the standard mix of corruption, court hijinks, and salt. If you’ve watched historical dramas, you know the drill. I honestly need to go do a deep dive into why salt was so hecking vital back then.

📎Parts I didn't quite like/Would've changed📎

📌The Villain's Endings: While I am satisfied with Yu Jing Xiu's ending, his parents got off too easily. His father died at the hands of the son he always discarded, which felt a bit underwhelming—he deserved to be publicly humiliated and dragged through the courts. Meanwhile, Madam Yu losing her mind felt like an escape. She should have remained sane to consciously experience how far she fell, rather than living in a mental utopia.

📌Fan Ya Ke's Redemption: She gets a second chance, but she absolutely didn't deserve it. Tingyun could have died because of her actions. Like Madam Zhou, Ya Ke is an interesting character whose motivations make sense, but her actions are unjustifiable. Tingyun’s privilege meant she didn't see all of Ya Ke’s struggles, but that doesn't justify weaponizing Tingyun's chastity—the one thing a woman had to preserve to survive. Later, in the capital, she is constantly trying to demean Tingyun even after she pulled herself up by her bootstraps; just to feel superior is wild. I cannot accept her redemption arc.

📌The Communication Breakdown: As mentioned above, the late-game communication failure between our main duo was highly frustrating.

✔️Final Thoughts
This is easily one of my favorite C-dramas of the year and a show I will quickly recommend to anyone. I deeply appreciate how it centers women, showcasing them in all their shades—both good and bad. It takes the time to explore how the patriarchy, greed, and self-esteem shape who women become. The salt-business politics are well-paced and engaging, making it an incredible watch for anyone looking for a story with real substance beyond just romance

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They dared take a chance, and it was worth it

⛓️‍💥Two main things stand out about this BL⛓️‍💥
1. The topic - Crime/Thriller is not a thing seen before in a Korean BL. At least not that I'm aware of. It felt like a breath of fresh air. For the most part, the show managed to balance the development of the relationship as well as maintaining the intrigue of the case

2. The actors - Aside from the fact that they are quite good at portraying their assigned characters and emotions, their chemistry is magnetic. Their story starts off as a rather toxic and hurtful one to both. The actor playing Tae Son does a great job of portraying desire mixed with hate. I loathed him for the 1st 3 episodes. If you saw someone in the comment section call Ju Tae Son an adult bully, that was me.

Chae Ha actor nailed his miserable role rather well. While the drama doesn't show us much of his life b4 where the story starts, you can tell through his demeanor and the few flashbacks that he's had a rather hard life. It was riveting watching how he still sort out Tae Son, unable to resist his desire for him and the warmth he provided. This is despite the fact that Tae Son constantly hurting him with his words and actions - the sex was also probably rough as all heck but little Chae Ha likely loved it. And who am I to judge?

⛓️‍💥Unfortunately, the last two episodes are a letdown. Due to time constraints, the ending is very rushed. ⛓️‍💥

We as the audience do not get a satisfactory ending/answers to

1. The case that this entire show was based on. They built it up so much only for it to end up kinda meh and confusing. There are so many questions left and unanswered. We shall also not be talking about how everything just conveniently came together in these last 2 episodes. Everything and everyone was where they needed to be to close the case and let the mains, largely Tae Son win. Makes zero sense. The show says and shows that the case was resolved but as the audience, I am left feeling like it wasn't. Very anticlimactic

2. The resolution of the r/ship - Ep 8 dropped the bomb of the century to these two characters. Based on how big that reveal was and how the incidents surrounding the secret and their relationship affected them all their lives, the resolution should've never been that fast. That anticlimactic. We needed angst, we needed groveling and we deserved a better conversation between the two on how to move forward. Love that they got their happy ending but like...idk, it felt a bit empty. All that hate and hurt resolved just like that? Nah, I'm salty about it

Final Thoughts,
Despite the atrocity that is the last 2 episodes, I say that this is a decent BL/Crime drama. It is a worthy watch just to see the electric chemistry that these two actors bring to the table

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My God... What a Woman!

Often in a show, you know who to hate and who to love. Who to proverbially spit on and who to empathize with. Who to have good thoughts about and whose neck you want to ring. It's often clear-cut, with maybe a few grey characters here and there.

But what if one character was an embodiment of all the above? You hate to love her and live to hate her. You empathize with her one minute, and the next, you start thinking that hell really should have separate sections. We truly can't all go to the same place and suffer the same punishments..., right?

As Kazuko said in the finale, her life is entertaining. She is an enigma. A confusing, puzzling woman whom I don't even know if I like, hate, respect her or am wholly afraid of. Her ambition and desire to be richer than probably God himself is insane, in the best of ways. However, the things that she does to get to where she eventually ended up... Yikes.

I love how complex she was. She was never good. Morally grey at best when she was a child, but life turned her into something else entirely. I am envious of how she never let life beat her down. How she always got up, survived, and pivoted. Was it all due to luck? The men in her life? Her brilliance and conniving nature? Or a combination of everything?

Personally, I think it's the latter. She had insane luck on her side, was as brilliant as she was conniving, and was strong despite all the misfortune and setbacks that hounded her. And above all, she was a damn good con artist. But despite the evil that she was at the end, there was still some good in her. A tiny sliver of it, but it was there. I understand her, and she scares me

PS: I know the plot was about Kazuko herself, but I wish we had seen more of her family. Her sisters, especially. The sisters, especially the oldest, never liked her (and Kazuko looked down on her, too). I wonder how they felt over the years. Her brother's story would have been interesting too. Of all the family members, he was with her the most till she dumped him for her image. I wonder what his life had been like walking behind Kazuko all those years

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So Close to Perfection

I remember binge-watching the first 4 episodes and thinking to myself that this drama would be one for the books. Up there with the Japanese BL drama "My Beautiful Man" — which is the only drama (BL or otherwise) that I re-watch once a year. It had all the elements to make it perfect.

a. Opposites attract
b. Two damaged souls unexpectedly coming together to heal each other
c. Incredible chemistry between the main actors (that sick X icecream scene in episode 4 should be a study in chemistry and tension)
d. Incredible cinematography
e. A catchy opening OST

These are all things I loved and appreciated in the drama. I also love how we are shown that Hirukawa liked Minase 1st. While they don't outright tell you when it happened or why, if you pay attention to the ongoing events of episode 1, you can see how Hirukawa looked at Minase at the taps. Additionally, he noticed Minase in the corridors during their first year (2018), when Minase didn't seem to care about his existence. Perhaps he'd always had a crush, and the universe hadn't brought them together b4 their sophomore year in 2019.

Unfortunately, once we get three-quarters of the way through episode 6, things start to get shaky and eventually crumble. I'd rated the 1st 5 and three-quarter episodes a 10/10 and the last 4 episodes a 5/10. I'm not counting the special episode, ep 11, in this.

Lemme explain why

🪞The Noble Idiot
I'm taking this 'moniker' from someone else's review because I agree with them on this. Hirukawa sacrifices himself for his terrible friend. This is where things started going downhill for me. I understand he was dealing with feelings of self-loathing and low self-worth, which led him to believe that his influence was what led his friend down the delinquent, shoplifting path. That he was his father's son, so clearly everything bad is all because of him.

But hadn't we seen him all along trying to work on being a better person? Start to believe in Minase's view of him and get serious with school? It felt like he had taken 5 steps forward, and that incident made him walk 10 steps backwards. They ruined his character development.

🪞His Father's Death
Perhaps some will call me unempathetic for this one. So, when he broke down in Minase's arms that night, I expected that he would have been crying at the immense relief he felt that this monster, this shadow that had been looming over his life and making it hell, was finally gone. That he was conflicted over the fact that he was happy, horrified that he was happy, and sad that his father, who was also his abuser, died.

Now imagine my surprise at finding out that he was this broken up and ridden with guilt over the fact that he thought he was at fault coz he hadn't taken good enough care of his father, and that supposedly led to his death. I..... uuuum... I had a hard time with that line of reasoning. Rather than it impacting me how they'd hoped it would, I just got annoyed.

🪞The Break-up & the Reunion
Personally, had I been the writer, I wouldn't have had them break up. And if they really had to, it at least would not have happened in the way it did. Or maybe not for as long as it lasted. I reason this way because:

In a way, the break-up was good for Hirukawa. He was able to start a new life and get himself together. His reasoning, I believe, was based on the movie that was directed by Minase's father, and that one line they kept quoting. About how one character left to prevent the other from being swallowed up by their problems. He also wanted to become a person worthy of Minase. That worked fine for Hirukawa. He did what he set out to do.

But... what about Minase? His wound was one of neglect. His father was a big name out there, but he only remembered him sometimes. His mother remembered him a lot, but she, too, always left him behind because of her career. Plus everytime they spoke, it was never about him. It was all about his grades and this unseen future, or to complain about the incompetence of his dad.

Minase had never had anyone in his corner. Even his friends never truly knew him. Yet, finally, when he has someone who knows him, sees him, and goes out of their way to spend time with him, they, too, leave. And Minase lets him go coz that's what his life is, and as we see all along, Minase, while a little closed off, is actually a good person.

When they finally reunite, we do not get a conversation that delves into Minase's feelings of abandonment. It's all explained away by a simple 'I lost my phone while in America.' Bruh... IT'S BEEN 5 YEARS!!!! I should've gotten more than that.

I feel like while it started with them finding and healing each other, by the end, it eventually felt like Minase helped heal Hirukawa, while Hirukawa left Minase more broken and empty than he'd been before. Minase had been going through life with an empty hole inside him. Hirukawa came in and filled it, then emptied it after he left for a whole 5 years.

Their happy ending is deserved. I love that they found each other after so many years apart and that they'd never stopped loving each other. However, I cannot rate this higher because
a. I find the breakup period to have been too long and abit unneccessary,
b. the lack of a proper conversation about Minase's feelings regarding his abandonment and,
c. the bad kissing (this is an issue across 99% of JBLs)

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If Only The Latter Half Was Different

When I started this, I was convinced that it would get a 10/10 from me. I remember thinking, "Wow. This!! This right here is why I disagree with many in the BL fandom when they say that teen shows are a bore. Shows like this prove that these pple are so wrong."

And part of me still stands by this thought. The 1st half was really cute, well-acted, and the issues were very real and well handled. It also helps that the actors really did look and act like teens. *insert heavy side eye at Thai companies that keep making older actors play high schoolers or college students*

However, once we get into the 2nd half, things get very frustrating, very quickly. The series had enough drama to keep it going. Developing a relationship during the pandemic, their two clashing personalities (Tsundere x Golden retriever + Flirty x Shy boy), Cai's dad in the hospital, and the one meddling ex, all that was enough. But they just kept adding more. Plus, the characters refused to communicate. It all made the watching experience rather frustrating, taking away from the excitement of the first half.

Had they not added all those frustrating dramatics, I'd have truly rated this much higher.
PS. I never knew that hearing one word repeated over and over and over again would make me wanna yeet myself off a roof. The word 'baby' in this show should be classified as auditory torture and psychological abuse😭
Also, yaay to my 1st Filipino show💃🏾🙌🏾

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What A Ride This Has Been....

Before this drama came into my life — very unannounced btw, I was convinced that Ming (My Stand-In), was the worst love interest to ever exist in the BL world. Then Fan Xiao strolled into my life with his perfectly coiffed hair, his synced at the waist suits, and skinny cigarettes, looked me straight in the eye with a sneer and one raised condescending eyebrow, and was like ' Bitch, you thought..?'

This drama had me glued to my screen every Sunday, because in a sea of mostly fluffy and comedic shows, it offered something different. Something new. It offers up a kind of love that you don't really want IRL, but it's so engaging in fiction.

Fan Xiao (FX) - He is crazy. He actually describes himself as that in the end. He's controlling, manipulative, and cruel — a lot of which is caused by his horrendous family and upbringing, all of which thoroughly skew his view of the world and people in general. When he meets Yu Shu Lang, he approaches him through this lens, and while things work out in his favour in the beginning, they quickly unravel and crash. Because of who FX is, this unravelling and crashing of his plans and relationship lead him down a path of appalling cruelty to the person he claims to care about the most, all in a misguided effort to keep him by his side.

Yu Shu Lang (YSL) - To the rest of the world, he's just a regular dude. However, to Fan Xiao, he's the Bodhisattva himself come to life. Like FX, his upbringing was also not the best. It was pretty traumatic tbh. However, instead of turning him into some jaded scum of the earth fellow, he became self-sacrificing — especially to those he cares about. This is easily seen in how he treats his ex, his leech of a brother, and, to an extent, Fan Xiao.

🌊What I Liked🌊
1. This is a very well-told story. It's engaging and, for the most part, very well paced. It doesn't lag, and neither is the plot filled with nonsensical filler scenes that pass the time

2. The characters are very smart. FX uses his smarts to manipulate YSL and those around him for his benefit. Do I commend it? No. But you've got to hand it to the man. He knew what he wanted, did his homework, and used his crafty little brain to get it. It all bit him in the ass in the end, but I was still hella impressed

YSL is also impressive in his own right. I've been reading BL manga & manhua/hwa for just as long as I've been watching BLs. One thing I find unfortunate about the genre is how dumb the uke are usually written/portrayed.
YSL is not dumb. He might have ignored his instincts at first, but when those red flags and inconsistencies started blaring at him, bro got to the bottom of things. He's also very proactive in his life and job — he never relies on his rich, younger husband to help him out or further his career. He can stand on his own without FX.

3. Yu Shu Lang fights back - It should also be acknowledged that despite all he goes through (read the cruelty of FX), he still has a backbone. Despite all that FX does to cage and control him, YSL always fought back. Even when things looked bleak, he tried to find a way to get away from his insane boyfriend (ex, really, but FX never accepted that). Most Ukes you encounter (in books for me) usually just sit and cry. Or give up after 1 or 2 tries. YSL kept fighting.

4. The redemption - It takes a lot for Fan Xian to put a stop to his madness and finally leave YSL alone. But when he does, he follows through. Not fully — the man was truly obsessed — but he does his best. Not only does he repent, but he goes out of his way to not only try to give YSL the life that he had before him, but also to make it better and ease his loneliness and financial burden. Even when they find each other again, he does his best to leave him alone. He does secretly stalk him, so you know... gotta take what you get with this one.

5. I hear that we'll be getting special episodes sometime in the future. No idea when this will happen because, as of now, filming hasn't started. But whenever that happens, I'll be sat. I wonder how many episodes they'll give us

6. The chemistry - These two work great together. They were able to create such palpable tension. Their sweet moments — albeit largely shown in flashbacks — are beautiful to watch

🌊Things I Didn't Like/I'd Have Changed🌊
1. How The Eventual Breakup Happened - I find it unfortunate that YSL never quite managed to free himself. In his attempts to flee/leave, Fan Xiao was always 3 steps ahead of him. He got free because, in the end, FX allowed it.

If I'd been the writer of this story, Fan Xiao wouldn't have been the one to press 'send' on that email. YSL would've done it. He'd have sent that email with tears running down his face and curled up on the floor, sobbing. Because he loved FX and he knew what that email would lead to, but he'd have done it. Because at the end of the day, it was either his life or Fan Xiao, and he chose himself

2. Yi Ran, the actor who plays YSL, is very stiff — both in posture and in acting. From his actor page on this platform, he seems to be a pretty experienced actor. So I'm left wondering if this is how he acts in all the other productions or if this was a deliberate choice by the show's directors or producers. I've seen some of his clips where he's doing a live with Yun Qi floating on Twitter, and he's very expressive IRL, so, once again, I wonder where the disconnect is. Yun Qi is brand spanking new to the scene, so I'll cut him some slack. I will say, however, that for a new actor, he was pretty decent.

3. The last few episodes felt rushed - From ep 13, things started unfolding at wrap speed. Perhaps it's due to the budget, which affects the episode count, but it felt like chunks of the story were skipped over so they could complete the story within the allotted episode number. Even the last episode felt rushed. ABO Desire had 16 episodes, Revenged Love had 24. I think this should've had maybe 18 episodes. That would've allowed them to show us what all that happened from when FX went to jail till they reconciled

4. The kisses could've been better - Based on the tension and the sheer amount of kissing that was going on in this show, they could've done so much better. Part of me wants to say that maybe it's because it's a Chinese production and that's why we got what we got, but I feel like I'm settling. Not to compare but.... Revenged Love, anyone? They were so good.
Also, I feel like anyone who takes the job of making or acting in a BL (or GL) should commit. If kissing is needed, as a director, direct those scenes in the best way possible and let them shine as needed. As an actor, give it your all, or let others take your spot. Do not shortchange your audience

5. Episode 12 straight-up traumatized me. I didn't deserve that

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Beautiful Fight Choreography

Every now and then, I get tired of all the romance and want to immerse myself in some violence, mind fuckery, and death. This doesn't provide mindfuckery, but it has the violence and death thing down pat.

What I Liked
⚔️The fight choreography - Every time you watch a show, there's something that stands out the most. In this one, the fight scenes were it for me. They were phenomenal. I remember rewinding multiple times within episodes, with the thought 'How did they do that' being prominent in my mind.

⚔️The overarching story - Yes, the story does initially remind one of Squid Game. I don't think that comparison is a bad thing tbh. After all, Squid Game is the most recent and most popular show with this concept. However, this goes beyond poor people being forced to die for money and the entertainment of some rich bastards. It's a fight not just for the country, but for the characters themselves

⚔️Interesting characters - Saga is not your ordinary hero. Bro has some severe PTSD in the beginning. It's shown so well that I was seriously wondering how he'd survive the entire show, fighting all these people without unsheathing his sword. When he finally drew that sword.... Holy Shit. *standing ovation, my dude* The name 'manslayer' wasn't wasted on him
🌸Futaba - She adds an interesting layer to Saga, who sees her as his daughter. She increases the stakes of this game. You don't want her to die, even when you know that her being with Saga is a liability. It's also nice how she helps soften these seasoned killers
🌸⚔️The Kyohachi Siblings - I'm so happy that they're all headed toward each other. I cannot wait for them to eventually meet. The tension.... Oh boy. Plus, I can just imagine them fighting together. It's going to be beautiful, I just know it. I hope we see all four together in the coming 2nd season
🏹🌸⚔️Others - Kyojin, what's up with this Njinja fellow? Whose side is he truly on? Why did he send Gentosai to the other siblings? And how the hell does he know who everyone is and where they are and what makes them tick? I know he says he's a strategist, but bro knows way too damn much. I need to know how he knows it
🏹Kamuikocha - Consider me deathly afraid of anyone with arrows from now on. They highlighted him several times in the show and also in the last ep, so I think he'll play a bigger role in the coming episodes. I'll be sat for that
⚔️Gentosai - Hell no. Absolutely not😭. He's hella scary, but watching him fight is beautiful. Can't wait to see him in season 2, even though he scares the shit out of me
🔪Kanjiya - I'm sorry, but I'm glad bro's dead. He stressed me out the entire story
🔫Kawaji - I need the backstory on this scheming, cold man. I have to know where all this hate for the samurai comes from
⚔️Now, who was the guy who was introduced in the very last episode? Close to the end? The guy who killed like 5 people in seconds and proceeded to hop around like a bunny to collect tags? I really need to know what's up with this unhinged self

What I Didn't Like
It's only one thing, and that's the lack of self-preservation of the 'villagers'. Can someone explain to me why they simply stood around to watch as pple were swinging swords and at times, arrows were flying around? Especially when Kanjiya was around? He goes around stabbing and slashing any and evryone in his way, and the folks just stood there or stupidly ran towards him to escape instead of away... I🤦🏾‍♀️. I need to know who told the extras to do that so I can slap them upside the head

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Honestly, Eat The Rich

After watching 'The Elixir', I was hella sceptical about watching another zombie film. I mean, 'All of Us are Dead' and 'Kingdom' (both seasons) and 'Happiness' are some of my holy grail zombie shows, and 'The Elixir' was gonna do me like that? Nah, I was traumatized.

I didn't wanna see another non-Korean zombie show. My trust was broken. That, coupled with the fact that I've been disappointed by some of the main character's acting chops in BLs b4.... my expectations were on gasping for breath on the floor. Despite all that, I was genuinely impressed by this.

What I Liked
🧟The overall story is what carries this. As a fan of zombie shows, I love how fresh (and sciency) this concept is. IDK who worked on the script, but hats off to them. They honestly made this story so very interesting to watch. If some things were done differently, I genuinely would have rated this as highly as I did 'All of Us are Dead.'

What I Didn't Like
🧟The acting - I'll not be naming names but yoh...! I was right. Some of these BL boys.... Please send them to acting school. My two cents are these: we know that actors can get by with good looks. It's been done over and over and over again. BUT!! With Netflix investing so heavily in Thailand, and companies obviously wanting to get themselves a piece of that pie, wouldn't it be better to have their actors do better so they can represent them - and Thailand - well on the global stage? Some of these guys have been acting for years, and they are still so stiff. HOW???? How can you not express more than 2 facial expressions? Oi🤦🏾‍♀️

🧟‍♀️We lost Lilly too early - She was one of the better actors in this (one of the best TBH), and I hate that we lost her to Zombieism when we did. IMO, she should've had a bigger role.

🧟‍♀️🧟‍♀️ - Why were the girlies written like that? - If it wasn't Fah with the phone, it was Mook(?) who let's an obviously unstable friend out, leading to unnecessary deaths. And let's not forget about little miss horrible, Prao. Seriously, does anyone know why she was so mean to literally everyone? Good Lord! Oh.... Also, Ning, I don't like a know-it-all. I just... If I rant about her, I'll never go to sleep, and it's already 1:20 am

🧟All the anger management issues and dumb decisions - I understand that it is a high-stakes, high-stress situation. But did we need to keep arguing that much? Not only did it waste time, but it also cost lives. In terms of dumb decisions, the pple in this show acknowledge that they've seen zombie movies before. Now, with that in mind, why would you
1. Start running after a friend who's been bitten in the name of saving them?
2. Ditch the survivor group to go find your bitten friend to apologize to them?
3. Start a fucking cheer routine in the name of trying to get your friend back? Isn't silence the ONE cardinal rule of any zombie world?
Bro... The number of times these pple made me want to punch my TV. Lawd Jesus *rubs temples*

🧟Continuity Issues - Some of those scenes needed better consistency

Random Thoughts
a. Tutor, I did not know the power that you hold. You beautiful, beautiful man. Whoever styled his hair, tell him to keep it like that, always
b. I kept expecting to see Noeul. Zee&Nunew were present, so were Keng&Namping as well as Max&Nat, so whenever I saw Boss, I expected Nouel to pop out, even though I'd gone through the cast list and seen he wasn't in it😅
c. I really would like a 2nd season. The final ep ended at a really incredible point - Full zombie son, half zombie mother, and human daughter... That is such a cool place to start the 2nd season from. Plus, let's not forget the pple on the roof. It's been a month since they were left there. Clearly, they were able to restrain Non, but how have they survived (if at all) for an entire month? What have they been eating? Will the Patron be exposed for his misdeeds? His secret is known by a lot more pple now, so I'd love to see what they'd do with the info.
Basically, there's so much good content they could give us in season 2, but... Will we ever get that 2nd season, or will Netflix make it another 'All of Us are Dead' situation?

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Criminally Ignored

It took 1 TikTok video -the only one I've seen since - for me to get curious about this drama and the first episode to know that I'd be sat for the long haul (a mere 18 episodes).

Shot in a picturesque village, it is a story that delves into themes deeply grounded in reality. We explore societal pressure, family dynamics, the beauty and struggles of womanhood and motherhood, community, perseverance, and personal growth.

I loved how the story balanced all the different elements and the emotions they constantly hit you with. One minute I'm laughing so hard that I can't breathe, and the very next scene has me on the verge of tears. Some scenes were both funny and sad, leaving me to laugh while wiping away tears - a very confusing emotional state, to be honest.

The story is also deeply cultural. From matters of bride price and child sex preferences, attitudes about out-of-wedlock pregnancies and kinship adoption, the drama opened my eyes to new topics I'd never heard of while expounding on those I had surface level infomation about.

The characters are also another stellar part of this drama; none of them is wasted. The writers beautifully gave each character depth, developing them enough to carry their individual arcs and support the show as a whole. Every member of both families is well-explored. Even the minor characters who pop in occasionally bring an emotional depth that helps the story flourish.

Personally, I would highly recommend this drama to anyone looking for something different. It is funny, heartfelt, and beautifully shot, with life lessons that will stay with you long after the final episode.

PS. While the drama is tagged as a romance, I think that's a little misleading. To me, romance wasn't the main focus. It is a family drama first. It explores various forms of love, not just the romantic kind, and shows how different characters struggle with their attachments, not just our main leads.

👇🏾The following paragraph is a spoiler - LOOK AWAY🙈


If I had to change something, it would be the romantic ending between our main leads. The story offers an open but hopeful conclusion, suggesting that they may one day find their way back to each other. It is no secret that I am not the biggest fan of open endings; thus, this left me feeling a little empty. Xiao Wei experienced incredible, admirable growth throughout the drama to become someone truly worthy of his daughter and Xiao Fang. I just wish his story after the one-year time jump had been tweaked so we could have seen them back together one last time.

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Great Premise Ruined by Poor Writing

The first 4 episodes were fantastic. Like 'edge of your seat, trying to piece everything together' type of fantastic. However, the latter half takes all that away and ruins it. The story is filled with plot holes and relies on idiotic characters to further the plot and raise the stakes - Spoiler, the stakes remain dead in the water.

I think the writers had a great idea. Combining tradition, i.e., shamanism, with technology, a killer app, and a not-so-stable friend group was a solid idea. If only they hadn't made their characters' one consistent character trait be bad decision-making.
Tbh, of the 5 main characters, the one character who (largely) made smart decisions throughout was Kim Geon U. Even Ha-Joon, who was presented as the logical friend, was only proverbially saved by the bell from adding his name to the kill list of that app

Generally, I expect such shows to have dumb characters. It's part and parcel of the genre. Frustrating, yes, but you've got to sacrifice a few for the theory of evolution by natural selection. However, when the majority of the group is dumb, the viewing experience becomes frustrating.

I wish they had given me

1. Better, smarter characters - Personally, I believe that smart characters make for a better viewing experience. As a viewer, I'm not dumb, so the writers shouldn't treat me as such. Stupid mistakes being the thing that consistently pushes the plot is insulting my intelligence. And undervaluing my time

2. Tighter plot - There are so many plot holes with the main and even supporting characters. I could list them out, but I'm not enjoying typing this out. Part of me suspects that this could have been intentional for them to try to create a hook for the 2nd season. However, that just made this season feel incomplete.

It's like buying a sandwich and finding out it's all crust and a few unseasoned lettuce leaves. Then being told that you now need to get a 2nd sandwich so you can get all the other good stuff - The actual bread, the sauce, and the meat. Why TF would I buy from you again? Not only did you make me waste my money, but you could end up giving me another crust sandwich and telling me to wait for sn 3. No, thank you.

3. A better villain - Honestly, I'm lowkey tired of the whole 'insecure bully from a broken family' narrative. When the show started, I had hoped that the backstory of the app would be quite sinister. They classified it as horror after all. However, learning that all this happened coz one girl wanted to bully her one genuine friend... *insert hard eye-roll* come on now. Kwon Si Won being evil for the sake of being evil is just... meh

PS. Actually, I don't mind a villain who's evil for the sake of being evil. But they need to face smart and resourceful 'heroes' for the story to stand out and keep me hooked.

Three Extra Thoughts

a. I will say, the most memorable thing was the eye in.... was it episode 3 or 4? That eye made me jump. I think it (and the 1st time we see Do Hye Ryeong slit her throat) were the only parts of the entire story that felt like they fit adequately with the horror tag

b. There is a lesson here about choosing better friends. About not staying friends with mean people simply because of history. About not trying to save everyone because (again) of history or coz you're a nice person

c. If they were to announce a 2nd season, I suspect that Na Ri would be the villain in that one - based on the after-credits scene. I, however, will not be tuning in. Netflix hasn't had a great track record with sequels, even when they had strong 1st seasons. Look at shows like Sweet Home, BloodHounds & the 1st 2 seasons of Alice in Borderland. Strong starts that were butchered later. This show didn't even have a strong start. I'm doubtful that the 2nd season will be anything good.

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Comedy is Subjective

Comedic Thai stories are usually a hit or miss for me. This, unfortunately, falls into the miss pile as the comedy didn't quite land for me. I wish the story had more heart and less comedy. The fight scenes were also not that well choreographed tbh. I could tell that they were fake. That they weren't quite hitting or choking each other. I shouldn't be able to tell that as a viewer.

The kiss scenes also aren't the best I've seen. They aren't the dreaded dead fish kisses, but something was missing. With that said, I think the acting is pretty decent. When the comedy is pushed back, allowing for more serious scenes, you can see the actors' acting skills shine. For rookies, they are pretty decent, I'll give them that. No one was stiff or unbelievable in those scenes.

I have their upcoming series 'Roommate Chaos' on my To Watch List, so I look forward to seeing more of their work then. I liked the comedy in that trailer, so hopefully that will land. And the kissing shall be better

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*flings imaginary papers into the air* I give up

This is a rant.

Often, even when I drop a show, I usually have something nice/decent to say about it. With this one, idk. Maybe there will be some good buried in here somewhere underneath all the things that frustrated and left me wanting

The Characters

🧚🏻He Si Mu - I found her boring, indecisive, and one-dimensional. She is so obsessed with humans, and for what exactly? The fact that they get to suffer through life and die? Or does she want the life of a noblewoman? To spend all her life pampered but sheltered, only to be married off for some familial/political/business purpose n live in the shadow of a man? Forgive me, but the thought of an all-powerful ghost supreme lamenting that she's not a human is annoying AF to me

🏮She is bored with her long 400-year life, and I feel like this is her fault. Honestly, I feel like an immortal who gets bored with their existence is at fault for the mundanity that is their life. Maybe this is me applying my 2026 brain to some (fictional) historical world, but.....
Do you know how vast the world is? The multitudes you can encounter if you manage to leave your backyard? She leaves the spirit world to go to areas that are essentially her backyard. Of course you're bored, babe. Humanity changes, but not that drastically. You can 'whoosh' yourself to literally anywhere, leave your people, and go elsewhere. See if you're bored then

🏮Her indecisiveness with Duan Xu is also off-putting. You want love, but also don't want it. She kept changing her mind on how close she wanted this mortal man, which gave me fucking whiplash. The entire plot, at least till where I reached, is a fucking push and pull. 2 steps forward, 15 steps back. Ma'am, I'm tired. Make a choice so we can move on. Let him go or pick him, and let both of you protect each other and your love for one another

🏮One-dimensional - I thought that perhaps her love with Duan Xu would change her or something. make her care. sure she smiles more and is carefree when with him. I liked that bit, but all other areas of her life remain the same. She is bored with her job and the supreme, bored with her subordinates, bored during the fight that comes about every 100 years, bored when people try to assassinate her, and sad that she isn't human and can never die.
Girl.... I'm bored too. Give me something to work with! I wanted to see her get mad for once and act on it. Let her go crazy or something. Let me see another side of you, other than detached boredom and perpetual annoyance at your subordinates and their scheming.

They could have made her so interesting, but this is what they chose to give us... UGH!

🤺Duan Xu - I actually liked the fact that he was a golden retriever puppy around her. It gave a good contrast, giving me that grumpy-sunshine trope that I adore (especially if the grumpy character is the woman). However, I was let down by the fact that he doesn't fight much. I remember how impressed I was back in ep 10 when he infiltrated the enemy camp, threw everything into chaos, and killed their general.

I was like 'yes!!! The puppy finally shows that he is, in fact, a mad dog underneath it all.' It gave such a wonderful layer to who we'd seen him as by that point. Unfortunately, we don't see that side of him again. The man was a trained assassin since he was a preteen to his late teens, and we just get to see him walking around holding the hilt of his sword for the majority of the plot.

He is relegated to a love-sick puppy constantly chasing a woman who wants him, but won't claim him, and having petty (but sometimes hilarious) jealous spats with Yan Ke and any other man (un)fortunate to get close to si mu. Yan Ke was right in calling him a love-lorn husband. An absolute waste of a character

Yan Ke - What a boring villain. There is nothing as unimaginative as a man whose sole purpose is to possess a woman who doesn't even want him. All-powerful and all he wants is to have the more powerful being to be submissive to and stare googly-eyed at him as they share tea. I dislike him on principle alone

Jiang Ai - I did actually like her at first, but the fact that her weakness was not money as I initially thought it'd be, but love (love+hate? ) for a man who was basically Yan Ke version 1.0 is disappointing to me

The Cinematography, The Set, The CGI, The Makeup

🎥The cinematography & Lighting - Lord, is it bad. It gives bland and old. I remember leaving a note after I completed ep 1 and stating in part, 'The colour palette for all of episode 1 was grey, black, and white with some touches of red, blue, and yellow. It's giving depresso' (Ha! I'm funny.) The world, especially in the 1st arc, feels cold

The cinematography in this is flat and doesn't evoke any emotion. Unlike my experience with POJ, I never once felt like I was a part of this world. I was always a spectator. The look of this show doesn't make you look forward to watching it.

Aside from 'Pursuit of Jade', another example of a show that makes you want to look at it is 'Veil of Shadows'. I couldn't tell you what's going on with the plot (apparently, you need to understand a decent amount of some specific Chinese mythology to understand the story), but it's quite pretty to look at. VoS gives 'feed of a beauty and lifestyle content creator with a very powerful camera'. Compared to those two stories, this one is just...meh

🏠The set - It's fine when we're in the mortal world, but when we move to the spirit realm..., by God is it horrendous. Let's take He Si Mu's throne room as an example. It looks like something I'd expect to see in a show that aired in perhaps the mid 2000s to the early 2010s. Her throne itself looked like it was made of plastic that got coated in bad gold spray paint... why? Also, the big eye that was in the streets of that world... It's just big and plastic-looking. I just... they really didn't care about this, did they?

💄And can we talk about how the people in hair and makeup couldn't be arsed to make the actresses' natural hair colour match the wig? All through the 1st half i couldn't get over the fact that her hair had brown tones in it and the wig was jet black... how in the entirety of hell was that missed?
Can someone tell me why the supreme leader of the ghosts sometimes had the same complexion as people who were quite literally alive? It made sense when she was paler than those around her, but when they were all the same shade... girl, lemme go laugh.

Storytelling & Worldbuilding

Considering what the story gives us (as per ep 28), I can for sure say that this story did not deserve a 40-episode count. The plot, romantic, political, or otherwise, doesn't have a lot of figurative meat on its bones to justify this length. We spend most of the episodes watching the characters not do much to further the overall plot. They are kinda just going through the motions.

The world-building is also rather weak. A lot of things are left untold/unshown. Some examples
a. Duan Xu's sword - We are told that a man gave it to him. Who was he? How long had he been carrying it? How did he manage to hide this sword that so many wanted? And what did he see in Duan Xu that made him hand it to him

b. The eye in the spirit world - What did it do? What was its purpose? Aesthetics?

c. The obsessions - We are told that if an obsession is powerful enough, a human will turn into a spirit upon their death. Once this happens, they only die if a more powerful spirit offs them or they ultimately and willingly let go of their obsession to ascend.
Now, Duan Xu was in love with He Si Mu to the point of obsession (if his 'dreams' in that prison were anything to go on). So if he was that obsessed, why not love each other till he dies a natural death (you know, unless something bad happens on the battlefield and she cannot for some reason save him), and he can then live as a spirit with her instead of the never-ending back and forth?

d. Why was there a curfew at night in the spirit world? Was it better for them to go scream and wail in their houses than do it all up in the streets?

All in all, this story dragged with more filler than plot or answers, very mid cinematography and lighting, and bland characters. If you love the actors in this, perhaps it'd be best if you went and found some of their other works coz, this ain't it.

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Bored? Wanna laugh? Give it a go. Also, somebody call HR

Is the story good? Well... Have you ever come across those billionaire romance stories that are all smut and aggression? If so, then... That's the vibe here. Is the acting good? I mean..., I wouldn't tell anybody about them.
Are the music choices good? They are largely annoying and had me wondering about copyright laws

But.... I don't know the last time I laughed so hard watching something. This story is so absurd. Like it's so bad that it's good. IDK how to explain it, man. It keeps you engaged. You wanna find out what other random out-of-pocket thing they'll throw at you

PS. For anyone who cares, there's A LOT of kissing. Nothing that will go in anyone's slank bank, but their lips touch a whole lot

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Watch It For What It Is & You'll Likely Enjoy It

Aka, manage your expectations.

The best advice I got before starting this drama was (and I'm paraphrasing here) 'This drama does not care about politics. Do not expect a story that cares about political intrigue or machinations. The story knows that its idol drama audience is here to simply look at good-looking people being good-looking and falling in love.'

That helped me better manage my expectations. I knew that:

1. We had a smart ML and FL. They would win against their adverserives but we would not see the process. A bad guy appears, the FL and ML quickly find out about it, and 3 days later, the bad guy has been apprehended, exposed, and confessed. They win, and we move. No long explanations on what happened. We don't even see the bad guy getting apprehended or investigations happening. Everything just falls into place as needed, and the main characters come out of it unscathed and victorious. Overpowered final bosses, these ones.

2. A cold FL, a harem of sorts, and a puppy ML - Everybody wants her, and she couldn't care less. The ML *really* wants her; they are best suited for each other, but she would make him WORK for it. This is my favourite trope, so I had a lot of fun with it. It reminded me of the drama 'Glory' that I watched earlier this year. That too had a harem, a cold FL, and a puppy ML. Gimme 15 dramas with this trope and I'll eat them all up.

Knowing these two factors, especially point number 1, allowed me to enjoy the drama a lot more than I would have otherwise.

Side note: I know we are supposed to love Hua Yong and Xi He the most. They are our main characters after all. However, I will say that the couple that stole the show for me was Cui Jin Bai and Bu Shu Lin. I found myself smiling every time they were on my screen. Their dynamic was so good (and hilarious) that they overshadowed the main couple. I wish we had had more time with them.

Ps. The fact that they did it once and ended up with twins?!?!?! What kind of fertility rates are these? Bu Shu Lin needs to make her man wrap it up, or she'll end up with a litter, and then her civil service dreams will be dashed. Now that I think of it, what did they use for condoms way back when🤔? Lemme go google

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