Reviews

How to train your dragon koi.

This rom com xianxia is a barrel of laughs. It is about an ancient spirit dragon Tian Yao who falls for the wrong woman, a rancid Taoist harpy called Su Ying. She steals the guileless Tian Yao's heart and scales at the altar, dismembers him and stashes his core magical parts in different directions. A shadow of his former self, he encounters a dauntless, money loving, ousted Taoist disciple Yan Hui. They form an uneasy alliance that subjects the embittered Tian Yao to the indignity of becoming her demon familiar, a dragon koi. His plight wins Yan Hui's empathy and she vows to help him recover his shards. She soon discovers that learning how train your dragon koi is an arduous and dangerous task. Despite his deceptively benign appearance of an odd hybrid of koi, deer, pony and dragon, Tian Yao is a very dangerous creature. Apart from having deadly taste in women and friends, he also has a nasty habit of stabbing first and asking questions later.

The interference of a mysterious shadow cupid Bai Xiaosheng comically advances their romance until the enabler turns into an obstructor. It is pretty much three's company as they go on many adventures, picking up lifelong friends along the way. Despite some run-of-the mill xianxia tropes and cardboardl villains, the friendships and adventures shine and are the high points of the drama.

Zhou Ye again proves her mettle as one of the most promising young actors out there. Her Yan Hui is spellbinding. She infuses the role with that effervescent joie de vivre and passionate idealism of youth that inevitably eludes older, perhaps lovelier and more seasoned actors. She looks shockingly good with Hou Minghao, whose acting is to say the least, a work in progress. But dang, he is so drop dead gorgeous that I barely register that he looks constipated at the most inappropriate moments. In some ways, his casting is brilliant as a rather uncomplicated and overly good character that loves and hates with equal ferocity. After all, dragons, kois, ponies, deers are all creatures with bigger hearts than brains. So he does some really (let's admit it) not smart things but he is so pure hearted it's almost impossible to fault him. Notwithstanding some acting rough spots, this splendid pairing had me rooting hard for them all the way.

As for the plot, its biggest criticism is that it strays from the original beloved novel in some unforgivable ways in terms of both Yan Hui and Tian Yao's characterisations. I didn't read the novel so I won't opine on that. What I can observe is this drama hooked me from the start despite the low budget and the somewhat cartoonish CGI with phenomenal storytelling. I loved Bai Xiaosheng and found him to be a wickedly good accretive addition to the original story. Unfortunately, about halfway through the characterisations of Bai Xiaosheng and Tian Yao take an abrupt nosedive. It is as if a different writer took over and defaulted into the worst, laziest tropes out there. Although the narrative recovers from a massive hiccup in the middle, it falls well short of the beginning momentum. The writer failed to capitalised on such a fresh and unusual character such as Bai Xiaosheng and turns him into a tired trope that gets sidelined toward the end. Nonetheless Wang Yilun is hugely entertaining in this role and though not as pretty, he is incredibly charming and out acted Hou Minghao. As for how Tian Yao's character is assassinated, I have no words and although he more or less redeems himself, I wish they had not gone there. I am told Yan Hui is also diminished in this adaptation but as far as I am concerned, she is perfect in her imperfections. She elevates Tian Yao to the extent, that I can forgive his character's stumbles in the middle.

While I enjoyed this drama from start to finish, there are too many shallow sub-plots in the latter half and the theme of love obsession is over-exploited. The ultimate antagonist had repetitive indifferently narrated motivators that while hateful enough, lacked depth and complexity. In fact, Su Ying was a more interesting villain than the final boring mastermind who is just beyond meh in terms of motivation, acting and complexity. Overall, this is a humorously told story that re-hashes well explored xianxia themes with no profound new revelations. Indeed the underlying substance, emotion and message of the original works is perceptible but is neglected and abused in the telling. I had big fun and many laughs with this drama but I can see how it missed the opportunity to be a whole lot more and can only rate it 8.0/10.0. I may have gone with an 8.5 had they rolled out Hou Minghao in that spectacular white wig earlier on in the drama.

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Alternate Drama Title: The Legend of Su Rongqing

The premise of The Princess Royal is a rather unique and intriguing one, but it soon felt like I was walking along a bridge that could collapse at any moment. The bridge looks to be sturdy, but in reality is missing the most important nuts and bolts to keep it standing. I was drawn to the drama due to its lead actors (Zhao Jinmai and Zhang Linghe), beautiful production and seemingly-interesting plot. The first few episodes were enjoyable, but everything soon went downhill.

The Princess Royal is a historical Chinese drama, telling the struggle of a deep, political struggle and the romance between the Princess Royal Li Rong (Zhao Jinmai) and her consort/government official Pei Wenxuan (Zhang Linghe). It is adapted from the very well-received novel "The Princess Royal" by Mo Fei Bai. What sets the drama apart from other period series from the start is that the leads are sent 20 years back into their young selves (18 and 20-year-olds). This was an opportunity for the leads to redeem themselves and prevent past tragedies from occurring. In this sense, Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan were a lot more mature, as they had decades of experience with politics.

I’ll say off the bat that I had no problem with the acting whatsoever. The main leads, as well as the supports, embodied their characters very well. Zhang Linghe and Zhao Jinmai had a decent amount of chemistry, which (arguably) saved some of my sanity as I watched the rest of the drama. They had some cute moments, but even these scenes weren’t enough to make up for the real issue: the overall plot.

As the power struggle between different political parties emerged, I soon got pretty bored with the drama. The plot was progressing in the way that people were plotting against one another for political gains, but it just felt like the drama really wasn’t going anywhere. It was just the usual struggle between two princes for the throne with a few suspenseful moments thrown here and there. I just didn’t feel attached to many of the characters in this drama as there wasn’t sufficient character build-up. Because so much of the precious screen time was given to our oh-so-amazing second male lead, Su Rongqing (hence the title of this review). There was even an episode where Su Rongqing had 28 minutes of screen time (the entire ep is 40 min long). There were plenty of opportunities to cut some of SRQ’s scenes to give the audience more scenes of the lead couple, or even scenes of other characters. Su Rongqing even took up a good portion of the last episode, leaving many viewers (and especially og novel fans) disappointed with the leads’ short ending. Most of the other characters weren’t given a definite/satisfying ending as well. There were also times when SRQ’s actions just didn’t make sense. I have no problem with the actor himself, but the character and his screen time is truly frustrating. I only read part of the original novel, and found many similarities between the novel and drama, but there are some unnecessary-added scenes in the drama (cough cough, SRQ). Who knew what the screenwriters were thinking.

On the brighter side, I appreciated the emphasis on female empowerment in this drama. Shangguan Ya and Qin Zhenzhen are very intelligent and loveable characters, quickly becoming the female lead’s biggest supports. Consort Rou was also put into a major political position. Quite a few women played heavy roles in the political landscape, which contrasts greatly with other political period Cdramas. However, Li Rong still made some questionable decisions, although she had already lived a previous life. Her constant entanglement with Su Rongqing also dragged the show. On one hand, she is telling Pei Wenxuan how much she loves him, but also can't seem to forget about her moments with the SML. Pei Wenxuan has plenty of reasons to be upset. PWX's character was great overall. He, like Li Rong, was very intelligent and thought ahead.

However, I would like to point out that the overall production wasn’t bad. Many of the costumes and hairstyles were gorgeous, and the backdrops and props looked like some thought had gone into them (in other words, they didn’t look cheap). The OST was nice, but I still don’t understand why the production/editing team decided to use music in more scenes between the FL and SML than between the two leads.

In conclusion, there is real eye candy in this drama and the acting is top-notch, but the plot was just lackluster and disappointing. If you’re a Zhang Linghe and/or Zhao Jinmai fan, you could give The Princess Royal a try, but I did warn you! Otherwise, the drama really is a waste of time.

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Wasted Potential

This series had almost every ingredient that it needed to become a hit: a unique, intriguing premise, handsome actors, sweet romance, great OSTs, and beautiful cinematography. I am still in disbelief that the production team messed up the recipe so badly that what should have been one of the best BLs of 2022 turned into a dull, plotless product placement fest. It is beyond my comprehension how other reviewers are so generous. I started this series with no expectations, aware of all the criticism that it was getting, and it still managed to disappoint me. Let me tell you why.

1. Plot, or rather the lack of such.

As you will know from the summary, the story revolves around newbie colorist Talay and famous actor Puen, who are transported to a parallel universe and into the bodies of Tess, the heir of an entertainment corporation, and Tun, or Pakorn, a wannabe scriptwriter, who meanwhile are sent to Talay and Puen's universe. Overcoming their differences in personality, the two boys team up to help each other navigate their new lives and find their way back to their world.

Sounds great. Except that this is what the story should have been about, not what it is actually about. After episode two, it strays far away from the plotline and does not come near it until episode ten. For eight episodes, the viewers are treated to a mundane, cliché college story about a group of guys trying to make it as scriptwriters in the movie industry. I felt like I was watching a badly written remake of Theory of Love – which is probably precisely what it is – and in each next episode, I skipped more scenes than in the previous one because I was bored by the predictability of it all.

Furthermore, the unimaginative scriptwriters of this series have decided to rely on annoying, overused tropes, such as love triangles and female characters' coming between the main couple, to spice things up, while the main characters are, illogically, left to live ordinary lives. This makes no sense. To lose your whole life and be forced to live someone else's is stressful, even scary, but after the initial confusion, Talay and Puen seem to have forgotten that they have family, friends, and careers back home. In episode one, Talay was shown with a tight-knit group of friends to whom he was clearly attached. Not once throughout the episodes does he mention that he misses them or his family. Puen is similarly indifferent. It is true that the reason for his being so is explained, but this revelation comes much later than it should have – as does any other substantial information abut him as a character – and this makes him difficult to sympathize with through the bulk of the series.

Worst of all, there was a timeskip of one year that was introduced out of nowhere. What did the characters do for a whole year? We do not know. The story just continues, as if five, not 365, days have passed since the characters' last interaction.

2. Flawed pacing and endless product placements.

The more useless a scene is to the story, the more it drags. Too many scenes are included only for comedy. In the initial episodes, I, surprisingly, laughed many times – I usually do not buy the humor in BL series – but then the fun fizzled out, and the humor became forced.
Product placements – do not even get me started on them. At first, they were not as glaring as I feared they would be, but by episode seven they had become intolerable and were spoiling the mood of almost every scene that had the potential of being meaningful. Shame on the production team for prioritizing commercials over everything else.

3. Romance, or rather bromance.

On one hand, I am impressed by how healthy the dynamic between the two leads is. I forgot the specific instances, but I was surprised by their dialogue several times because instead of the cliché replies that I was expecting came kind, mature replies. Talay and Puen are both willing to express their thoughts and feelings and work on finding the best solution, which is essential in a healthy relationship. They also have moments of tenderness that made my heart flutter.

On the other hand, most of the time, they act more like friends who care for each other than as young men who are in love with each other. Their interactions are sweet and intimate until they have to kiss or initiate any other physical contact that is not a hug. Then they become forced and awkward. They did not manage to convince me that they are actually crushing on each other.
They also do not act like they have already known each other for a whole year. Their friendship, while genuine, seems like it has not moved past its initial stages – which is understandable, considering Puen's illogical decision to not reveal his indentity to Talay. I understand why he might have not wanted Talay to know in the beginning. However, by episode five, it had already become clear that they had grown really close and were not afraid of opening up to each other. Puen was ready to tell Talay who he is a long time ago. The production team wanted to have an illogical twist in episode ten, though, and this twist could happen only if Puen did not tell Talay, so they did not let the character do what would be natural for him to do.

4. Acting.

Jimmy is not as bad as some viewers complain that he is. Compared to Bad Buddy, in which he did not deliver a good performance, he has improved. There is even something charismatic about him, and his gentle, slightly hoarse voice is pleasant to listen to. However, neither he nor Sea handle negative emotions and intense scenes well. Their acting becomes lackluster. They should both work on their facial expressions.
Edit: Episodes eleven and twelve were a notable exception. Although they had inconsistencies and unnecessary drama, they were breath-takingly romantic. The emotional scenes had depth because Jimmy and Sea's acting suddenly improved a lot. I do not know what caused this improvement, but kudos to them. If they had been on that level throughout the other episodes, this series might have been a success. They, and the ending, which awakened the hopeless romantic in me, made me raise my rating.

Overall, the production team of this series bit off more than they could chew. Vice Versa would have been much better received by the viewers if it was just a sweet college romance with a body-swap trope, without the alternate-universe plot. It would have also been great if all the time that was wasted on unfunny comedy, unnecessary conversations, and product placements was used to show how Tess and Tun are doing in Talay and Puen's bodies.

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This series is awful and pointless

Boy, the other reviewers are very kind.

The only positives to this are that both leads are very attractive and they are both very comfortable with kissing scenes.

The acting is not good, which is surprising, because Green is a fantastic actor - one of the best in BL - and Chap is... well, he looks extraordinarily good with his shirt off. The side actors are generally unmemorable - not terrible, but noticably acting.

The story is so stupid it's not really worth spending time on. It's not so much a plot as it is a string of cliched tropes. There's nothing so stupid that they can't do it twice. There are two accidental kisses, and two times someone falls into a body of water. In fact, in what seems to be an attempt for the Stupidest Series of All Time award, they even combine these - an accidental kiss caused by both characters falling into a bathtub. Accidentally. Somehow. The second immersion has a character fall into a pool - there are about 50 people there, and nobody does anything about it whatsoever except stand around and wait for the main character to notice, except this takes him more than 15 seconds and this is a BL, so the guy drowns. But is revived and is fine. I don't think he even really coughs - just spits out a mouthful of water and then carries on with his day.

It's a typical enemies-to-lovers scenario, except they go so overboard with how awful Satee is that you hope he dies alone, and then the transition to love is so abrupt it feels like someone flipped a light switch.

One of the leads is an angry agoraphobe who needs to get to the tailor's shop. Besides his fear of leaving the house, he also hates the tailor, so the author has written herself into a corner. But she comes up with the ingenious solution of having the assistant lightly tap him on the back with a small hollow glass scupture, which knocks him out and they somehow drag his body to the Tailor. Problem solved.

I normally wouldn't nitpick the wardrobe choices, but the theme of this series is about a picky guy finding the best tailor for the best suit, so I would expect the clothing to reflect that. Everyone spends the entire series wearing dark, wool three-piece suits, which is more or less insane in Thailand. Nobody expires due to heat exhaustion - only being tapped on the back with a hollow glass scupture or being immersed in water for 15 seconds can do someone in.

But the clothing is all really poorly tailored! The trousers are too long, the jackets don't fit well, and the styling is terrible and unflattring. Also, the suit in question is not even a tuxedo, it's a boring ill-fitting blue business suit. The tailor does wear a tux to the main event - it is so horrible that it looks like something a guy might wear to a prom who waited till the last minute to rent his tux and so ended up with... whatever that was. The waistcoat was so over-sized that I wasn't sure if he was going to a party or volunteering for the defense of Mariupol.

The theme song is by Jeff Satur, and even that doesn't help. I'm surprised they paid an actual artist for something (or kidnapped his family and forced him to do this), but he only had to write two bars, which they play over an over again. It's a particularly blaring love ballad which becomes unintentionally funny because thy fire it up at a moment's notice whever something happens that is supposed to be romantic.

I'm shallow and I like attractive well-built men with their shirts off, but I have to say that Chap's body is so beautiful that it will catch you by surprise - and he knows how to use it - the way he stands and moves... That's why I gave the series a relatively high rewatch value. I have already watched his first shirtless scene several times and will be returning to it.

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I have finished this Kdrama on it's first airing. It was quite a sensation back then. Goong has 24 episodes all in all. The setting was beautiful, you can see the Korean culture in a splendid way. The cast were also great, sound track just perfect for every scene and the palace was definitely nice. This drama was taken off from a Manhwa which is considered as the Korean comics. They have used the plot almost similar to the original story line, I say almost because as the usual way of every drama/movie makers which takes stories from books, they mangle a lot of things and change it unnecessarily. I hate it when they do a lot of changes from the original story. It ruins the original writer's thoughts.

The beginning of the show was really cute, and Yoon Eun Hye as Shin Chae-gyung the leading lady role was just funny. Her character was a normal teenage high school girl who was clumsy, a bit stupid, always smiling, getting into tons of trouble and yet has a pure heart. Her life drastically changed after meeting Shin, the crowned prince and over hearing him propose marriage to a girl. Then she was thrown into an arranged marriage with the crowned prince after finding out the marriage agreement which was done by her grand father and the king's father when they were born.

This is a show where I started liking Eun Hye as an actress. Joo Ji Hoon who played as Shin, her leading man was also gorgeous for a Korean guy, although his eyes is too squinty for my taste. I still liked his character, the seemingly uncaring guy, but deep inside he just thinks too much of others.

Kim Jeong Hoon who acted as Lee Yul (Shin's supposedly cousin who wants to take his throne away) was cute and my heart went out for him as he was that guy who had to endure an unrequited love when all he wanted was for Chae Gyung to love him back that's why he wanted to be the crowned prince. Lasty Song Ji Hyo who acted as Min Hyo Rin was just perfect. She was the girl that Shin first proposed to before getting married to Chae Gyung, she seems to be the cold girl who acted like there was nothing that could ever bother her, but deep inside, her heart is crumbling to pieces as she watches Shin fall in love with Chae Gyung little by little.

As the story progressed, there where some draggy moments that I have overlooked because the setting and music was just beautiful, and I can't just help my self but watch it even if the lines have been too redundant. The ending was gorgeous for me because of the setting once again, but story line wise it was quite bland for my taste and went way off with where the whole story was really supposed to be. It gave me a sense of confusion which I didn't really like. Although I felt this way towards the ending I am still giving it a 9 for compensating with other areas in the drama that I have already mentioned which is also essential for making this a top rated Kdrama.

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A decently entertaining drama despite its undeniable plot holes. The drama is the epitome of a drama where objectively, is probably not the greatest drama out there, but subjectively, could become your guilty pleasure. You should only check out/watch this drama if you:
1) Are a fan of one or both of the lead actors (Yang Mi and Huang Zitao)
2)Like noona-dongsaeng romances
3) Are interested in a brainless drama to watch to pass your time (I used it as a brainless stress-reliever in between studying for midterms, which was fun)

Story:
It tells the story of Xie Xiaofei, a seemingly bratty, annoying and childish young man. However, he turns out to be someone with a good heart and certain opinions/ideas that you may agree with. However, he is quite bratty, although also likable, but also annoying. He's quite bipolar, and a very conflicting character. I had an intense like/hate relationship with his character. However, after the big thing with his family, he kind of starts to mature, so there is change. May not be the amount of change you’d wish he had, but decent enough.

Tong Wei, is a closed-off, serious, strict, career woman, whose life is turned upside down when Xiaofei enters and causes a series of funny and not funny mishaps in her life. However, the pair is very likable, and probably the only likable parts of the drama. I know that most people were kind of put off by the age gap, but they do mention it in the drama that the woman is older.

What I liked:
1. The main couple is very cute (until the last like 3 stressful episodes)! Especially if you like noona-dongsaeng romances.
2. The drama is pretty well-paced. Despite the plot holes, I still found myself wanting to watch the next episodes.
3. Yang Mi’s fashion/clothes in this drama is A+++!! Literally loved most of her outfits
4. That it kept itself together (for the most part) longer than Les Interpretes. It got extremely frustrating for the last 4-5 episodes, but hey, at least not the entire latter half of the drama like Les Interpretes
5. Tong Tiantian was annoying as hell in the begining but redeemed herself about halfway through
6. There were some decently funny parts!!
7. I really like the OST songs

What I disliked:
1. The supporting characters my goodness. Most of them were annoying for a large portion of the drama (although Tong Tiantian and Shang Bichen were more bearable as the drama progressed and Tong Wei's aunt had a reedamable moment LOL)
2. Tong Wei selling her house to make money to help pay Xie Xiaofei's mom's medical bills??? Like girl......I wouldn't do that if this wasn't dramaland
3. Lawyer dude Qin Tianyu was annoying as hell sometimes. Like Tong Wei told him quite a few times that she didn't like him, yet he was still so persistent LOL
4. Zhao Chenxi............my goodness where do I start with this annoying supporting character!!
5. The story did have its plotholes throughout, and were quite bearable most of the time. UNTIL the last like 5 episodes I was basically riding on the wildest rollercoaster ever I was so confused and frustrated lmao.
6. Tong Wei's best friend was such a hassle and obstruction sometimes LOL. Plus she is the kind of women I would NOT want to be.
7. The whole Tong Wei and Shan Shan's tragedy thing in the last few episodes.......I won't say more because that would be too spoiler-y
8. The drama is called "Negotiator" but there really wasn't THAT much negotiating LOL.......maybe they should change the name.

Acting:
So I would say that the overall acting was okay by the entire cast. Many of you may have seen Yang Mi in Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, where she showcased brilliant acting. Her acting in this one was okay. The character itself is very serious and work-oriented, but her character livens a bit more as the drama progresses. I liked a lot of her crying scenes, but even those, she didn't cry like crazy because of how reserved her character was. I especially liked her crying scene when she was arguing with Xiaofei in front of Chen Xiaoxi's house, as well as that scene where she found out about Shan Shan's fate. 

As for Tao, he posted on Weibo when the drama just started airing that this was the first drama he's ever filmed (even though his other drama aired earlier) and I feel that as a debut drama, he did pretty well. I do think his emotional/crying scenes were better than his angry scenes. He makes me laugh when he's angry LOL but his crying scenes were actually pretty good.

Setting aside how annoying their characters were, the supporting actors in this were actually okay too. I must say, Dylan Kuo being the only Taiwanese-accented person in the entire cast threw me off a lot at the very beginning because his pronunciation was SUPER obviously different LOL but I guess I eventually kind of grew used to it. The guy who plays Sun Hao......does not sound like he was dubbed.......his voice sounds really raspy(??) and kind of annoying LOL or maybe that's just me but he's not in the drama that much so it's okay.

Also you may be annoyed by dubbing at times (I thought it was fine since I love dubbing lol). They had issues passing SARFT the first time, so their characters were all dubbed after stuff was changed. The English dubbing might feel kind of whack too since the actors were saying Chinese and then they were dubbed over with English. But I mean......at least there wasn't TOO much of those parts, and it's not like the actors can speak English very well LOL.

Music:
The instrumental music was sometimes quite bothersome….they were kind of too loud at times (which is why I docked off some points)?? But the OST songs I really liked!!! I listen to a lot of Chinese music, so I really liked the opening and ending theme songs, as well as the other OST song sung by Yisa Yu. I have all 3 of these songs on my phone and have been listening to them quite often these days.

Rewatch:
I would rewatch the parts with the main leads!! I really thought they were cute, and I’ve already rewatched quite a few of their scenes. But nothing else aside from the main leads LOL I watched this drama because I’m a big fan of Yang Mi and I often times enjoy noona-dongsaeng romances (thus fulfilling the two bullet points I had listed at the beginning of this review).

Lastly:
I used to think Huang Zitao was kind of annoying (me being a semi-kpop fan and all) but throughout the past month of watching this drama and scrolling through Weibo, my view of him as turned from annoyance to neutrality and a bare liking. His Weibo stories of him watching the drama were quite funny.
I'm hoping Jaywalk Studio can pick better modern cdramas for Yang Mi and her talents in the future.......I feel like they always pick up awful modern cdramas LOL it really wastes the potentials of their talents!! ://

In essence, a guilty pleasure drama XD

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Expectation Vs Reality

This drama is not for everyone and certainly not for me. It's hard even to say that I appreciate some of it coz there is no point. The ending doesn't outweighed the journey itself.

It's a hard debate but I found myself feeling disappointed because I felt cheated. I felt that I wasted my time. This whole time for nothing. I felt that the main characters gave up way too easy. But maybe only me coz many seems to like it, even praising this drama as a beautiful-slice-of-life-growing-up story. For me is like no-good-ever-going-to-change-me story. The main characters, no matter how wonderful they are in the beginning are just being selfish. There, I said it. It's true. Don't deny it. You can disagree with me all you want but that is what I got from their so called 'beautiful journey'.

Not that I can't appreciate a break-up story; If it was good and done right, I'd be crying a river. But this drama doesn't. It felt rushed and a cop out. Without any-I-gave-it-all-effort from both sides, they just threw the towels and called it quit. If you can't commit then why even bother to start. Relationship needs work. It's not always a walk in the park. It needs comprimise, sacrifices, give-and-take-effort, hardwork and understanding. When you stumble upon hurdles in your journey together, you overcome it; You don't stop and turn from it right away. Never have I feel so numb in my life. I didn't feel sad when they parted ways, I just felt numb. Empty. Annoyed actually.

Imagine this. You are presented with this wonderful gift. A box which has decorations of many pretty flowers, enchanting ornaments, crystal gems and sparkling ribbons. It has all the beautiful things that you can ever imagine. But then, when you open the box, you find it to be empty. Zero. Nothing. Only a void of space. And that's what this drama represent. Yes, you may keep the 'beautiful' box, but how do you feel about it? Please be honest.

The casts are amazing. The chemistry is off the chart. But the end result is just soo bizarre. It's a shame. What a waste!

There is an old proverb in my native language that says "Hendak seribu daya, tak hendak seribu dalih" which translates; When you really want something badly, you'd give thousand efforts, but if you don't want it, you'd give thousand excuses. That proverb really fits well to this story.

"It doesnt matter where it ended, what matter is the journey". Boohoo! That is such a lame excuse. For me, the journey is what shaped the end, both matter. Period.

As always; Do I want to watch the whole drama again? Hell NO.

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Biggest waste of time ever. I gave this drama a 3.0 and I’m still wondering if I rated it too highly. I know this is going to be an unpopular review and I’m sure many will disagree with me, but I could not go past giving my POV. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I voice mine in the hopes that someone might think twice before watching Love O2O or at least not have the high expectations that I had before watching it.

Now another reviewer expressed much of the drama’s problems quite accurately and I have to say that I’m glad I’m not the only one that felt its many shortcomings. Let’s start with the plot…


Story:
As someone who has previously played MMORPGs, I was excited to watch this one. And I actually enjoyed the first 1/3 of the series. But it must have been around the 11th episode or so where it all went downhill for me. One of the huge points that bugged me was that just because you marry someone in the game, you are automatically dating? Not in my book! (And as someone who has married my characters in an online game, this is ridiculous to assume). What would have been great to see was their interest in each other develop and grow over time. Otherwise it just looks like they are in love with each other’s characters. This was also around the time when the story shifted away from college life. As a huge fan of Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo and her college experiences, I was really disappointed that Love O2O completely moved away from that setting. While some parts of the story were an alright watch, others were downright boring, slow and lacked depth.

And before some of you jump up and down saying that it is based off a novel and they were just trying to stay true to it, I wish they had not. Many series divert from their original stories and this should have been one of them.


Acting/Cast (with a focus on the main two leads):
So our main female lead, Bei Wei Wei, seemed to be a strong female lead who stood up for herself, but was very quickly shown to be a dull, simpering girl who could never best her boyfriend in anything. I found her admiration for the male lead irksome, thought she was full of herself (not in an endearing way), and really was not all that likable. She did minimal things on her own and more often than not she needed her boyfriend to pick up the slack and come to the rescue. Though this may be popular in dramaland, I felt duped that she ended up being weak like so many other leads. The actress was also waaay too skinny, to the point of looking unhealthy, and was far from the beauty that the story depicted her as. Not that she was unattractive, but I was certainly expecting more. In fact, I thought her best friend, Er Xi, was prettier.

As for the other lead… Xiao Nai must be the most overrated male lead I have ever seen. The only thing that was alright was his appearance, and even then it wasn’t earth-shattering. He was stiff, incredibly boring and had NO personality. I mean, none. You could have placed a cardboard cut-out of him on the screen and you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. And it was very irritating how he was good at EVERYTHING. And not in a cute I’m-good-at-lots-of-thing-but-I-still-have-flaws kind of way. In a perfect, inhuman kind of way. I could not relate to it nor could I enjoy it. One of the best parts of watching characters in a drama is to see them learn, grow, fall, and pick themselves back up again. I experienced none of this while watching Xiao Nai and even when the bad guys tried to fight back, they were easily overcome. Made things very anticlimactic.

Now put these two boring characters in a relationship together and you get one tiresome series. The boyfriend is always better at the girlfriend at everything they do and she just smiles like an idiot. He didn’t come across as this “sexy wolf” that they try to make him out to be, but rather forceful, arrogant and robotic. And their chemistry was really lacking, such as the number of awkward kiss scenes. I couldn’t wait when their screen time was interrupted by any of the boys at the office, or really any other character in the show.

So why keep watching it? Aside from not wanting to leave a drama unfinished when I had already seen so much, I really only wanted to see my OTP in the series, Hao Mei and KO. I was pleasantly surprised to find a BL pair in this drama (though we only get hints of it). Between their sweet interactions, sulky behaviour, and protective moments, I was completely hooked. My only complaint was that they didn’t get enough airtime.


Music:
There was maybe one song that I liked. They weren’t particularly memorable nor did I find myself rushing off to YouTube to listen to the OST.


Rewatch Value:
If it wasn’t obvious already, I would not watch this drama again or recommend it to anyone. If I could give this section a zero, I would.



So even if you decide to watch it don’t believe everything that others say about it. There are many flaws that should not be overlooked. Go into it with your eyes wide open. Or better yet, steer clear of it altogether. Really wish I had.

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Why is the rating so high?

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the cast/actors. I think like most reviews here, the actors did the best they could with the script that they got.

The story is crap.

Quick Plot Summary:

Nubsib has been in love with Gene since they were kids. Now he's grown up a bunch and is a BL actor, and he stars in the series The Bad Engineer which is written by Gene. Gene, for whatever reason, doesn't recognize Nubsib. Eventually, Gene finds out who he is, they begin dating, pictures are taken, and drama ensues when the shippers are angry that the writer of the drama and the main actor are together and not the two main actors. The company forces them to "break up," and then in the end they get back together.

Why it sucked:

1. Nubsib falls in love with Gene when he was around 5-6 and Gene is 5 years older putting him around 10-11 years of age. So basically a 1st grader falling in love with a 6th grader or middle schooler. Though Gene in the drama never admits he was in love with Nubsib at that time, it sure felt awkward the way they shot their scenes together as kids. With the age gap, they looked romantically involved, and it was made to seem that both of them had feelings for one another. So much so, that Gene's father questions their relationship and seems to send Gene away to separate the two. This felt weird and wrong. I could understand Nubsib falling in love for Gene, but I would have much rather liked them either being the same age, or a year apart. It would make sense in that situation for both of them to be mutually falling for one another, but yet still have that innocence of young kids not knowing why they have those feelings. That could have been explored, but instead we got a weird feeling of an older kid playing with a kid much younger than him, and essentially becoming best friends, and romantically in love. It just felt weird.

2. Nubsib recognizes and knows how Gene looks like, yet Gene never knew what Nubsib looked like after growing up. That also felt weird because their parents live next to one another (even though Gene moved away, his parents didn't. And neither did Nubsib's). Their moms are best friends. I can't imagine Gene going home for holidays and not seeing pictures of Nubsib, or going over to say hello to Auntie Orn, if their families are so close. Even if Nubsib was in the USA, there would be pictures of him everywhere. It just seems a bit strange and farfetched if you ask me. Also, I know people's faces change as they grow, but not enough to where they're completely unrecognizable (without surgery of course).

3. The company forcing them to "break up" was stupid because it wasn't even a break up. They just had to avoid being seen in public. They turned it into a huge deal like they had to cut ties completely. It made no sense. Even if that were the case, Nubsib made such a strong argument throughout the whole series that he had been in love with Gene since he was a kid, and that he could not love anyone else; yet, he let Gene decide that it was best for them to separate because of the faux drama. Both families are extremely rich, both Gene and Nubsib have multiple homes. Neither of them need the careers they have chosen. So obviously, if they loved each other that much, there was no logical motivation to break up. All they had to do was give everyone in that room a middle finger, stand up, and leave. The end. I think if they were both average living people or even poor, it would have caused more tension. Then, it would have been, this is their livelihood. This is their source of income and ability to live. Without these jobs, they can't support their families, they can't live freely. And then, the responsibility to earn that money, and push aside their love for one another would have been justified.

There are many other problems with the drama, and I don't want to nitpick it to death. I think these were the major 3 things that made me think, why did no one sit down with the writer and explain a basic plot diagram? The tension in dramas don't always have to be external, frivolous, sudden, outrageous BS. As a gay man, when I watch BL dramas, the thing that pulls me in the most is the internal struggle. It's scary coming out. It's scary admitting to yourself that you might be gay. It's scary thinking that you might lose everyone around you, and that your life might disappear. Even now, as a married man, my husband and I are scared sometimes to show affection in public (we live in the CA, USA). That's because of the fear associated with coming out. These are the topics that could have been explored in much depth in this drama. We know that a majority of BL actors are straight men, to appeal to the female readers who like shipping two men together. They're straight men who although do fan service by kissing other men, or pretending to be romantically in love with their counterpart, still project straightness to garner love from women. So in a drama like Lovely Writer, that was supposed to shed light on the problems within the BL community, they could have explored something as simple as, having a fear of really coming out and being a BL actor. There aren't that many openly gay BL Thai actors. (I'm not saying they need to come out if they are, but my point being that some people are still afraid of public perception). That could have been an internal struggle for Nubsib. Instead, we got a confident gay. Which is fine, but what happens is there was just no tension. Let's compare it to "I Told Sunset about You" where the main character Teh, is constantly struggling to acknowledge his true feelings.

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How to survive as a woman in an aristocratic household

The first reaction for most viewers is, “So many wives and concubines!” Many simply cannot tolerate such polygamous relationship and drop the drama. This is rather unfortunate because in real life, polygamy was the norm in ancient Chinese society. Therefore, this story has realistically portrayed life in wealthy and aristocratic households, and captured the suppression, and relentless in-fighting and conniving among wives and concubines in the harem, and interfamily feuds among various clans.

My alternative title could have been "How to survive Confucianism as a woman". As Confucianism was widely practiced during the Ming Dynasty when this story is set, self-restraint was valued highly as individuals endured all things, good or bad, thrown at them without retaliating. It’s indeed hard for modern viewers to empathize with such value which was then considered as virtue. Women were suppressed, and were born to serve the men – fathers when they were unmarried, husbands when married, and sons when they became mothers.

When Luo Shi Yi Niang (Tan Song Yun aka Seven Tan) is forced into an arranged marriage to Xu Ling Yi (Chung Hon Leung aka Wallace Chung) to "replace" her deceased older sister, she has attempted to run away. Circumstances prevent her from doing so. As she thinks she would never fall in love with a man who has multiple spouses, she falls in love with him because indeed he’s a very decent man who treats her well and loves her above everything else.

Tan Song Yun is one of my favorite actors. She can be a very convincing teenager and I love most of her other dramas. I like her too in this drama, but somehow, I have a hard time in fitting her into the story, either because of her aura or something else. Perhaps for me, I can’t see her playing a meek role here, submitting to her fate; I have always seen her playing characters that don’t conform and always hit back when pushed.

Xu Ling Yi is a good government official bound by tradition and duty, and has a heavy burden on his shoulder in holding up his large household as well as performing his duties as an upright incorruptible bureaucrat who loves his country and loyal to the Emperor. Chung Hon Leung has a natural stiff upper lip and fits well into the filial pious Xu Ling Yi character who speaks few words and never shows his emotions. His portrayal is good and convincing. Filial piety as virtuous as it is, can also quickly become an impediment to progress, critical and rational thinking. And here, he’s made to take in multiple concubines by his mother, the Matriarch, in order to propagate, only to add on more heartaches and hatred within the household.

As much as the story wants to portray a suppressed society, it also tries to placate viewers who would have preferred a more just world with love and retribution, hence here we are given a true love, one-man-one-woman story for an ending which may feel a bit banal.

My Verdict
Overall this is quite a realistic story - no love at first sight, no firework romance, both the ML & FL are intelligent and mature with same family values built on love and trust. There is fighting but no wuxia, a lot of conflicts in almost every household (realistic aristocratic family portrayal of the era) and in politics (true historical event of banning of sea trade that had led to hardship and piracy), strong Confucius values and philosophy permeate daily life. The actual story (plot) is nothing to be excited about, but the portrayal of life during the Ming Dynasty under Confucianism, the shooting (camera work), screen writing, costumes and editing are quite good, hence my 9/10 rating. I have rather enjoyed this drama.

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Mild angst, major miscommunication.

Can I even call it miscommunication? Was it not just a reverse delulu - Shirasaki Yuki truly lived in his unfounded convictions and denied any possibility of mutual feelings between him and Hayama Asami. The only thing left for me to do was keep watching and keep sighing - little guy was chickenblocking himself.

Truth to be told, I actually loved the plot itself. I'd just tweak how Shirasaki Yuki was written to make him a bit less frustrating. His character effectively lowered my rating with each action he made. Dude kept acting as if he was rejected without being rejected. At some point his explanation of Hayama’s actions became so illogical all I could do was laugh. What the drama failed at was convincing me there was a valid reason for him not even thinking there is a chance Hayama might like him.

I do appreciate how it led to a nice pinning and angst from Hayama Asami tho, which was in fact the highlight of the show for me. With just two episodes focusing on his point of view, I somehow believe I understand his character and reasoning far better than Shirasaki’s. His hesitation made sense. How cautious and at times passive his behavior towards Shirasaki was - it was well explained and it was the most fun part of the drama to watch. I’m a connoisseur of mild angst and I was quite pleased with what I’ve got from 25 Ji, Akasaka de.

How about the chemistry ( which is undeniably important in romance driven shows)? Depends on which scene we are talking about. The first kiss the part shared was atrocious. It was not even a dead fish kiss. It was not a cute peck, they literally just put the lips together, barely touching, and stood there. The context of this scene made it even more ridiculous and I almost dropped the show when it happened. Luckily it only gets better from that point, so don’t give up hope (not that it could get any worse).

For the acting - it was good, just not my preferred style. I did not quite connect with Shirasaki Yuki’s character and Niihara Taisuke’s acting did not help either. I would not even say Komagine Kiita did an outstanding job either, but I just prefer the subtle ways emotions are shown, and that’s how the character was written and the performance directed.

Production wise I did like the drama a lot. Not only they wanted to present a cohesive story, but they wanted to do it in a visually pleasing way, that’s always a plus in my book.

Overall, it’s a nice show, but it’s not something I’m going to talk about and recommend after some time. I enjoyed it as it aired, and will have no issues quickly moving on to other new titles.

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Bad acting from FL and BAD STORY

I am very surprised that A LOT of people object to this drama's love triangle. After watching the trailer and reading the synopsis, there shouldn't be any surprise about the love triangle being part of the plot.
Although I am not against the predictable love triangle story, I find myself concurring with the majority in objecting the love triangle for a few reasons:
1) the FL is really not a good actress. She cannot emote feelings through expressions and eyes acting. Her eyes and face are expressionless, not because she's a stoic character, but because she cannot express her character's emotions. She's supposed to be a complex person: she has been abused by her mom, she's poor, she wants to get ahead; on other hand, she has feelings for the ML. She's not supposed to choose love and yet she did!

I tend to feel sorry for this type of character; and yet, I don't feel sorry for her. I feel sorry for the MLs though ... because they act out their characters convincingly. So far, she's not convincing.

You can do a comparison (for example the scene where she is being harassed by the gangsters) ... observe Tae Oh and her ... what a big difference. His face, eyes, and body are natural. Hers looked unnatural ... I couldn't tell what she was feeling.

2) There is so much going on with the MLs and their backgrounds that the writers didn't spend enough time to develop the FL's story. The blending of her into the team is not smooth. Maybe they should have let her join the team in a capacity of a smart girl who has some skills to help out. And then the romance starts to develop as the guys understand her better.

Instead she is reduced to being a cliche female in a love triangle ... It's ridiculous that in 2024, women are still being treated as a sidekick ... she's attending the best college in Korea, she's smart ... I don't see why she is being typecasted into a plot of a love triangle.

And I don't see why she has to depend on a man to move up to a better life???? Unless Korea as a society doesn't give women opportunities.

Disney should re-examine what they show on their channel! So much for their support of equality. The cinderella story is still being perpetuated in 2024!

Eps 3,4
Ep 3 is confusing ... things are just presented like a bullet points ... The whole episode is set up so that they can show the machinations of the stepmother and son #2 ... and how ML choreograph the take over step by step. Surprise surprise ... the FL continues to be a bad actress.

Ep 4
I don't like the way the story is presented. The viewer is tricked into believing a bad scenario only to be surprised that there was a plan that made everything ok again. You can only do this trick once ... They employed a couple already ... made the story flow confusing and disengaging.
Now the surprising conversation reveals the ML#1 cares so much ML#2 ... maybe something is lost in the translation ... "You are the reason ..."
If I were ML #2 I would be asking why ????

Ep 5-6
Story is getting predictable. Plot of double-crossing is getting old. Inha's father gave the biggest clue of all: Inha is like his father. LJY is a very good actor in this drama. His eyes ... wow ... show the psychotic and unpredictable tendency. It's easy to act as a straight good or a bad person. But harder to act as an evil/amoral person. He almost gives that Anthony Hopkins vibe in the Silence of the Lamb.
At this point I am indecisive as to continue to follow this drama any more ... It just doesn't make sense to me about the FL's fear of her mom. Maybe I don't understand Korean culture.
I don't feel the relationship between the ML1 and FL is logical or emotionally developed. There doesn't seem to be chemistry between them. I feel it's contrived.

7-8
OMG, I couldn't imagine the story could get any lower but it did. Nothing makes sense. Everything is contrived. Going to drop it NOW.
FL continues to be a drag. The only good actor is the 2nd ML who acts his role so well.
8-9
At this point I am just FF through to see how bad it can get. OMG, the actress is so bad at acting that I couldn't tell if she was hurting or happy when she discovered HTO had escaped the prison ... I thought ohh, maybe there's something there ... NOPE, just bad acting!
As predicted from last week, the Chairman came to the rescue.
My prediction this week: the chairman will wake up ... he's has 9 lives!

10-12
Sorry I had to go back and lower the score to 6 so that I can save some people from watching this ridiculous drama. I just saw the last 2 eps and omg, don't these writers know how badly the story is written? I hate it. It just doesn't make sense ... Yeh right ... like the heir miraculously turned to be the hero who is not related to the Chairman by blood. When does that happen IRL? NEVER! We are talking about Korean family run business here! And then that CM lives on forever... he has 9 lives ! As predicted (and this drama is so predictable) he wakes again!

FL remains the sore point all the way to end. Not sure what her role should be? Why do women always have to focus on themselves and stay lonely to get to higher places??? OMG, we are in 2024 right now and still have to choose either career or love???? This doesn't make sense and so outdated!

Another thing that's wrong with the ending is the suicide of the ML. Korean society already have one of the highest rate of suicides. Why put this in the drama ending to emphasize that dying is the only way to redemption. NO! Redemption is done through serving time in the prison!

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OCN shown once again that is the right network to choose if you want to watch a good crime/thriller.
In my opinion this drama was more characters driven than plot driven, and the cast did an awesome job in portraying a plot that was unnecessarily over complicated. The writer took us on a very long detour to keep us engaged but at the end he failed to delivery the “twist plot” we all were waiting for.
When you take down one enemy after another, but there are still episodes to air, it is very easy to see, between the suspects, who is still standing.
I really would love to give this an 8 but despite the great acting, the wonderful soundtrack and some thriller/dramatic moments, I didn’t appreciate how the writer play with us.

Plot: unnecessarily complicated, full of thrilling moments strategically placed to grab the viewer, but the overall consistency of the story was lacking, the ending was predictable. Most of the plot focus on the corruption within the police/justice SK society.

Characters: well-written, the story was characters driven, each member of the team has his own story, all of them show the true colors of human kind, the trauma they suffer affected them not only psychologically but also physically, and bring them to make decisions that not always are the rightful one.

Acting: superb, the cast did an awesome job and save a lot this drama.

Soundtrack: wonderful and perfect to give the thriller vibe and dramatic vibe when necessary.

Personal opinion: I am more into pure thriller where the enemy is a psychopath than into corruption plot, but this can definitely be added in the OCN best work.

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Who needs a plot?

There seems to be a spate of plotless Thai BL dramas. There's really not much to say about this series - the author apparently couldn't think of anything to write so she just used whatever she did that day. Everything that happens in this is mundane day-to-day activity - largely eating snacks and bubble tea.

There is zero romantic chemistry between the leads - it's not clear what their age difference is, because they're both children at the same time, but later Park is a doctor, so that would put him in his late 20s, while Tin is either in high school or maybe college - it's hard to tell because he never seems to go to class. I was surprised to hear he goes to school when it was mentioned in the finale. Tin behaves like a small child almost all the time, so there is something kind of creepy about their relationship, only saved by the fact that the actors are similar in age.

Since there's no plot, there's no dramatic tension - and it looks like the writer realized she'd reached the conclusion without any drama, so she threw in a long series of fights over absolutely nothing between Park and Tin - which likely cemented the feeling the audience had that they really shoudn't be together. Except as parent and child, maybe.

There are lots of side characters, but they're all pointless and their stories never go anywhere.

I didn't think it was possible to have less of the story than Physical Therapy, but apparently it is. I rated this a 3 because while it's a total waste of time, it's not aggressively awful.

I'd skip it.

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