Reviews

Um. Wow.
That is pretty much the only thing I can say after finishing this drama. This is a 'try to figure out who the culprit is' kind of drama and I can promise you (unless you're a genius) that you wont figure it out too easily or too early in the drama. That is one of the things that make this series so good and so worth watching; the suspense of not really knowing how it is going to end.

The music was good, the acting as well. I set the rewatch value low only because of the fact that once you have watched it, you will already know who the culprit is, which kills the suspense and joy of rewatching it.

Characters were interesting (though I feel as if they left one out, but my memory might be going bad). The ending leaves quite a few loose threads but is exciting enough to (somewhat) pull it off.

Overall, a must watch for those of you who enjoy crime/suspense/mystery shows that have you guessing for the cuprit.

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Is peace an excuse to hold on to imperial power?

If you want well-paced, fully realized world-building, well-written characters and relationships, intriguing political plotlines, and good action scenes, then this is the drama for you. It is the best chinese drama I have seen yet that fits my criteria neatly. It toes the line between classic chinese wuxia and the fantasy elements perfectly. The characters are all multi-dimensional and the plot is carried along through a fun-loving main character who doesn't lack any depth himself. Xu Fengnian is the most interesting main character I've seen in a long time. He tries to embrace both the meticulous scheming as well as the martial foolhardiness and the writers and ZRY are good enough to pull it off

The biggest plus point of this drama is the use of a rather slow plot advancement to build on intercharacter relationships. No character in this series is black and white, complete good or evil and it wrestles with the debate about what peace means in an exploitative imperialist state.

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Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth

It fell short as an adaptation of a BL manhwa, and even its attempt at being a straight K-drama became nonsensical after the first five episodes.

Great writing where? Chan Young's tennis storyline and the unresolved issues with his dad were never properly explored or explained, leaving viewers confused about his father's resentment. There was no closure.

Chan Young was so self-centered and annoying that he made the series unbearable. The straight couple were cute in the first few episodes till we realized they forgot the title of the series.

The dynamic between Heesu sisters and their lovers was explored but felt lackluster, mostly because it was hard to even understand what was going on.

Seungwon having two moms was brushed off far too easily, there was so much potential that just went down the drain. Too many open ended dynamics in the series.

Making Seungwon seem like a rebound was diabolical and insane. The queer storyline was dragged out unnecessarily.

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Enjoyable watch throughout with a strong cast. I guess wouldn't expect less when you have Kikuchi Rinko, Odagiri Joe, and Kaho among the cast. Even the foreign cast did pretty well.

About the topic, it really made me feel that Yuuko was being treated no more than a product. By everyone one even her mother. Specially her mother. Maybe the only one that always had Yuuko's well being in mind was hee father, but he didn't have enough strong of a resolve to go through with it. A part of me cannot blame him since being a foreigner there already puts him at a disadvantage.

The story mostly revolves around Mikiko who had big dreams but somehow settled for less in life when things didn't go well. However she couldn't find peace with it, and the moment a chance appeared, she decided to live her dream through her daughter. The drama shows effectively Yuuko's growth throughout the years. She started a pretty much happy-go-lucky girl but then the small problems that were growing deeper, the loneliness was burying her deeper, and the loss of innocence that made her darker. She was desperate for someone to confind into, but no one gave her the chance. "Act professional" is what they say. It's what her mother would say.

The direction here was great. I love the switch between showing the set vs showing what TV viewers were seeing. And the ending had a great effect as well.

Short watch, great performances, definitely worth to check out.

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dumb FL

First of all, i loved the series. I also love the casts and their acting.

Story started out good. I thought we would have a strong FL. And i love the angst about the ML's revenge.

However, starting in the middle of the series, FL became irritating. She got dumb and gullible. Causing all troubles and always needed to be saved.

She became the typical damsel in distress. Her character is easily lead by her emotions. One of her decisions even caused the death of one of the supporting characters.

This would fall more under romance and drama. Revenge/ action doesn't amount much. I love the ending evwn if it's not grand. hoping a different story for the second FL with her new found love.

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Why did they even use this title and why did they claim this is a “BL” when it’s not

Honestly, you will not catch me writing reviews or giving my opinions on these type of platforms however, I feel the need to do so for this. The audacity to classify this as a BL is absolutely mind blowing. It’s obvious that they used this name to get people to watch it, Like I don’t even know how this is a adaptation of the Manhwa If it literally has no similarities to it it’s just the characters have the same names that’s it. They changed everything about it. Anyways, all I have to say is this is terrible. I don’t like it and I’m actually more mad that they said this was a BL,literally bl where? I’ve never witnessed so much screen time of a straight couple in any Bl this is the first time. Why is it that a straight couple is having more screen time than the Suppose it “gay couple” Like this is a BL for God sake! Honestly, the first two episodes I was so excited and I believe they should’ve just stopped at episode two Because everything after that is just us watching the love story of a straight couple, even though this is supposed to be a BL. And with the cast, I don’t know if I’m the only one but everyone keeps talking about like oh my gosh, the BL couple is so cute but I don’t feel any chemistry between them. I don’t know if that’s just me. The acting was awkward to me and yeah I didn’t feel any chemistry between them probably because hey, I didn’t get any moments between them. I don’t feel like this “Bl” is deserving of a rating higher than two out of ten because it’s not what it says it was supposed to be.

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Life Changing

I suppose I have to write a review for GAP. I have said it in the comment section already, but this show was life changing to me. I have never seen a story that cares so deeply about representing the joy and beauty of being a woman in love with another woman, even in the face of adversity. Sam and Mon's love story is accurate to the real life sapphic experience in so many ways. From the way they show affection, the difficulty to comprehend their feelings at first, to the feeling of relief and plenitude when they finally allow themselves to feel what their hearts want to feel.
I understand if it doesn't resonate with some people the way it did with me. It can be cheesy, the situations might seem absurd and exaggerated at times, the characters actions might not be the most logical, the side characters are not the most complex. But everything made it all the more delightful in my eyes. It is ultimately a fun, colorful story, that eventually deals with some more serious topics.
Give it a chance, especially if you are a woman who loves women. Even if you don't love it as much as I did, I believe you will at least have a nice time watching these characters fall in love.

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Amazing

I can't believe I'm so in love with this reality show. One should definitely watch this if you love watching dating show. This one was unique because I've never seen gay dating show so at first i started because I thought it look interesting but never thought I will love this sooo much. (And damnn all of them are so good looking n I've got a huge crush on jeonghyeon)
I've watched episode 1 six times and that is something I never do I rarely re-watch dramas. But for this show I don't know but I can't stop myself from watching again and again.
Right now only 3 episodes are out. I can see chemistry btw few of them I don't know what's gonna happen after this but I'm excited for the further episodes.


Episode 4 & 5

While watching episode 4 and 5 i was quite disappointed by the length of the episode. But still the episodes were great. The phone call part is best. I was literally screaming from the excitement while watching it. And now I can't wait for the next episode.


Episode 6 & 7

Best part was both episode got released on same day. The room relocation was actually a good thing in my opinion. At this point I have no idea who's gonna end up with whom but yeah I have my guesses. But the pair i liked together didn't even exist i think. ಥ‿ಥ


Completed the whole show and now I badly miss the whole show. I remember when I had watched first episode how happy I was. And at that time, I didn't wanted the end to come. I wanna go back and watch this whole show again like it's my first time.
In last episode few where happy that they end up with someone they really wanted, and few where heartbroken. But yes they took this in a positive way coz they do know outside the show they'll find someone as well.

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Breathtaking Love Story About Letting Go of the Past

Ever since I began really getting into K-Dramas, the one series that has eluded me is this one. It wasn’t in the US region, and I’d heard so many things about it that I kept trying to figure out a way to watch it. Fortunately, moving to Taiwan put me in a different Netflix region, and I almost missed it again, because it’s under the title, “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God.”

My expectations for this series were surpassed in every way. I was slightly worried that the reputation of the series would somehow come up short. It didn’t. This is one of the most charming and transcendent love stories I have ever seen. It’s light, beautiful, and full of laughter and tears. In short, it’s full of Life. And perhaps that is why it has touched the hearts of so many.

The four leads of this series are all captivating and you scarcely want to blink for fear of missing something whenever any of them are on screen. Gong Yoo (Kim Shin) has the smoothest, most soft-spoken, and calming voice I think I have ever heard. He reminded me of Cary Grant, one of history's most romantic and effortless actors. He has such charm that he doesn’t have to do much to be in awe of his performance.

I haven’t seen Kim Go Eun in many things, but this is easily the most vivacious and endearing role that I have seen her in. She plays Ji Eun Tak to perfection. She has such a lovely smile and bubbly personality that you can easily see why Kim Shin is so taken with her. Despite her hardships, she simply oozes Life itself.

Lee Dong Wook, the grim reaper with a past, plays the very heartbroken and wounded soul who somehow senses that he’s done something terrible in his past. I’ve seen this talented actor in several series now. As good as Gong Yoo is at acting with his eyes, Lee Dong Wook shows us every ounce of pain that his character is going through. We feel it. We eventually know of the horrendous things he’s done, but in the end, all we want is for him to let go of the pain.

Finally, we have Yoo In Na, an actress I have only seen one other time in “Touch Your Heart.” She is such a charmer with that incredible smile of hers and her very youthful expressions. Only Yoo In Na can take a somewhat conceited character and make her likable and pleasing. She did the same in “Touch Your Heart” and it’s obviously something she’s a master at doing. In many ways, she’s a character who’s torn between the Goblin and the Reaper, and we somehow sense that she knows this. Perhaps that it also why, despite the pain of the past, she’s the strongest of the three because she’s actually able to let go.

While this is an absolutely endearing love story, the series’ power is its message of forgiveness. Everyone carries baggage around, holding on to the painful experiences of the past with the weights of guilt and shame for the things we’ve done. For the Goblin, this is represented by the sword. For Sunny, it’s the ring. And for the Grim Reaper, it’s his hat. And the glue that binds them, with the wisdom of living a free and carefree life, is Ji Eun Tak.

How long must people continue to suffer before we let ourselves and others off the hook? Punishment does not come from anyone or anything except for ourselves. So, how long will you continue to carry the burden? Release lies in the wisdom and power of forgiveness, which is the process of letting go. Leave all of your burdens behind.

The music of this series mirrors the series itself with light piano pieces and soft songs that always seem to mirror the story, the characters, and even the environment. I loved how part of the series was filmed in Quebec, obviously during the fall season when the scenery is at its most captivating.

The series doesn’t miss a beat with some outrageously hilarious moments. One of my favorites was when the Goblin and the Reaper are trying to figure out how to use a cell phone and the camera that goes with it. Gong Yoo and Lee Dong Wook had me laughing so hard during that scene! It was priceless.

Korean performers are masters of emotion. The tears that were shed were so powerful and convincing by all four actors, that it had you really feeling those moments of sadness and pain. That is what separates Korean actors from so many others: they make you FEEL it! When Ji Eun Tak loses the Goblin, and she begins to wail uncontrollably on the rooftop, you can’t help but feel her pain and despair. The same happens for the Goblin in the last episode. But alas, all is not lost. No one goes away forever, and that is another aspect of the story that is truly beautiful and what made that final scene so epic.

Goblin is easily one of the best series I’ve ever seen, and at some point, I will certainly wish to sit down and watch it again. Goblin is like sitting at home under a warm blanket, drinking a cup of hot coffee in front of a fireplace while the autumn leaves fall outside in the crisp air with the reminder to enjoy Life and each moment.

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what's it like objectively +the end

The drama is off to an enjoyable and interesting start with fresh elements, a blend of emotional and funny scenes with a time-travel concept it might confuse you but it's very simple.

Plot & Characters:
The second main lead Gu Shiwen is a stubborn character but portrayed in a good way—he fights back but accepts kindness from Shennan once things are explained to him without dragging, avoiding the usual tsundere trope that constantly fights back. Shennan and Shiwen have a natural chemistry and they shared soft heartwarming moments.

Production Quality:
The cinematography has that classic Chinese drama charm, with beautiful shots of rain and fields. The OST adds to the emotional moments it's my favourite part in this series too.

The Ending:
(no spoiler)
Some may see this as a sad ending, but to me, it feels more like an open ending one that could be interpreted as somewhat happy. I’d say the writing in the last episode left me wanting some explanations (not necessarily needing them). It was a bit disappointing, but not surprising-we can roll with it. Chinese drama endings are often unpredictable and, in many cases, can be sad, so this isn’t unusual.
(⚠️👇SPOILER)
The gem breaking at the end signified, to me, that the cycle of fate and time travel was over, finally freeing them from its grasp. which is the only reason I wouldn't consider this as a sad ending.

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I was in a Japanese drama slump for a really long time. But I'm really glad that I ended up watching this drama. This is most realistic Japanese drama I have seen. I came in for Narimiya Hiroki(Gokusen, Bloody Monday 1-2), Fujiki Naohito(Cinderella Story), & Hayami Mokomichi(From 5 to 9). But the story line and Misako as Momoko was amazing.

Story: 9/10 because we don't get a sick kids daycare type of stories very often. It had so much heart to this drama. But it was also surprising dark regarding a character's past. I get into the life of Momoko as she works hard to be a real caregiver. It's a story about family, working hard & trying to find happiness in what you are doing.

Acting: 10/10 because Misako as Momoko took me by surprise. I haven't seen her in anything, but she was great as Momoko. I could relate to her in some aspects of her life. Hiroki as Asahina was amazing. He is amazing as a father. Trying to interact with his enstranged daughter no matter how much she ignores him. Momoko's family. . . let me just say. . . is evil! That's all I can say without spoiling it. The other characters were good. The children were cute to watch. Some of the children get character development & there were moments where I was crying my eyes out. Misako & Hiroki have great chemistry. There is a lot of character development.

Music: It fitted the scenes, but not as memorable. I was too invested in the story to listen to the music.

Re-watch value: 8/10 because I watched it twice & still liked it. Some of the scenes in the drama were too sad to re-watch.

Overall, if you like child actors/actress, comedy, romance, slice-of-life, the actors/actresses, dramas that have lot of heart & life lessons, then this drama is for you.

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an intriguing journey

If you are looking for a perfect mix of mystery, suspense and romance, this is for you!

After finding out this drama was adapted from Ding Mo's novel, I knew I was going to enjoy this and it did not disappoint.

The story had many twists and turns which kept me guessing and for me that on edge uncertainty held me until the very end as I wondered how things would wrap up.

Besides the mystery component, the romance was really nice. I love how the main leads relationship was depicted in a mature way, both had a great understanding of each other when facing through difficult situations. In addition to that, the music is well fitted especially with scenes of the leads finding their way back to each other from the time travel. The lyrics of "find you" and "try to remember the kind of september" still lingers on my mind.

The acting of this drama was good and the characters portrayed from the actors was brilliant. I was especially impressed by the main leads amazing chemistry.

My Deepest Dream kept me engaged the whole way throughout with the intriguing plot and it is worth a watch!

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Reality is What It is

I started watching this because of FL, Zhou Ye. However after I started, I was totally drawn into the story of a FL being a villain desperately seeking redemption.

It’s my first time seeing the ML, Wang Xin Yue. I am impressed by the CP’s chemistry and ML’s mature acting skills despite his young age. And Zhou Ye is fantastic in this role.

The story…warning on spoiler.
Begins with dark setting, where the FL, Hua Qian(HQ) who was on a run but was caught by official. Her family, Hua family, had done lots of misdeed, hence her father was executed by the emperor and both her mother and elder brother were also put to death. HQ, FL was on the run but soon was caught and badly beaten up, injured and fainted.
The next scene HQ woke up on her wedding day, which was 2 years ago. So here we get a background set up on FL’s time travelling back to her past. But as we understand C regulation of censorship, this story has a twist.
FL, HQ with all her knowledge of her past, is determine to change her and her family’s fate. So she went on to plan to undo her marriage with Zhong YanLan (ZYL) which she obtained through unscrupulous ways. She tried to gather her father’s misdeed and attempt to make him change his mind and retire early to country side.
In her previous arc, she was a villain who manipulates and plot to marry ZYL. She is one track mind deeply obsessed with her love to ZYL. She lies and broke up ZYL and his childhood love with Mu Yao (MY). MY and her family were victim of Hua family(father)’s scheme to gain power. MY’s family is on exiled. MY was rescued by ZYL, so with his help in the previous arc, she found evidences, she exposes HQ and brought down Hua’s family, which we saw at the beginning of ep So HQ knowing all the likely events, she attempted to reverse her fate.
To redeem herself, in this second arc, she decided to tell ZYL the truth and her misdeed, she plots to divorce him and brought ZYL and MY together. She rescued a beggar, Hua Rong Zhou(HRZ) who became her loyal admirer and protector. Her revealing her true self caught ZYL’s attention and interest. As she lost interest and divorce ZYL, Zhong Xi Wu (ZXW) ZYL’s junior became bolder and decided to confess his long hidden love for her, which put HQ in a dilemma. As HQ would never imagine herself in Zhong’s residence and fighting with women politics. So she accepted ZXW’s mother offer to fake death.
With HQ’s changes, she made peace with ZYL and MY, knew about ZXW’s love for her. But her brother still died protecting her. And her father’s misdeed was still revealed but they weren’t executed, instead retired to a small town by ZXW’s order. ZXW realised at the end that he can’t keep HQ and make peace by letting her go.

Which we were brought to the end (last ep., major spoiler ahead): the plot twist - it’s all HQ’s dream. So after ep. 1, she has been in coma, for 2years, ZXW rescued her and have been nursing her, he manages to convince his Mom to let him manage the business and also take care of the comatose HQ. Finally she woke up but fainted back into the dream as grief stricken of the reality. Then hearing ZXW talking to her in her sleep, she decided to wake up and say goodbye to HRZ who is actually a symbol of herself in the dream state. She makes peace and woke up, calling ZXW’s name, and the story ends.

After thought:
The novel is slightly different and gave HQ a time travel arc, where she gets her redemption and gain her freedom, save her parents and she lives quietly with HRZ in that village. But in this drama, we knew in order to pass C regulation, the screenplay has to be changed to show that reality cannot be changed, and there is no possibility for time travel to reverse your wrongdoing. Hence this story has to add the dream concept and she has to wake up to face her consequences. I understand and felt overall this drama is quite well done, just felt such cruelty on HQ’s story. But with the end is a new beginning, and we knew ZXW will be there for her.

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Live up to disappointment

From the synopsis and even the trailer, you'd think this would be a drama about people going to Beijing to follow their dreams. And in retrospect, it did start off that way in the first quarter of the drama. So of course, I was intrigued. I wasn't expecting them to all to actually get their dream bby the end of the drama but I was fully content with watching their drive and the motivation the characters had to reach it. But unfortunately, the writer didn't have the same idea as me.

Throughout the drama, there was a common theme that became redundant and ridiculous after a while. One of the characters would get a chance to live out their dream, be it singing, acting, writing....and the writer would snatch it away and then repeat the same thing over a few episodes later. It's like letting the characters get a taste of success and then stripping it from them to prolong the story. It made it so the characters would do jobs outside of their ideal profession to earn money. That's understandable but after a while I started to notice that it was steering away from the core reason of them coming to Beijing in the first place and the premise of the story was diminishing from my eyes. But I don't even know why I was surprised because they jumped the shark numerous times with all the gang violence that didn't even fit the scope of the drama at all.

This next part is a spoiler and why I hate this drama and would never recommend it to anyone. So, don't read the next part if you don't care for spoilers.

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The way the screenwriter wrote Jelly Lin's character and the 2ML's characters to be miserable was infuriating. Those two were the happiest at the start of the drama and became miserable by the middle and had the worst ending possible. Jelly Lin's character out of everyone grinded the hardest to reach her dream as an actress. We watched her get her second fl taken away from her then she got the third FL role and that was taken from her as well. Then the writer had her sleep with an investor to get acting jobs, the same investor (an old disgusting guy) ended up getting her pregnant, she had to quit acting because of the disgust she was getting from her costars and special treatment she got from production, her mother disowned her; until finally she got some semblence of happiness when she married the guy who always loved her (2ML), they moved to Paris, and a couple of years passed and they were happy and in love only for the writer to give her husband a tumor and six months to live.

As one would expect. Her husband died, and she ended up alone in Paris for 20 years until coming back to China. And what makes it even crazier is that the ML actually got to become a screenwriter (He was the only one out six that got his dream) and produce movies, but somehow getting Jelly Lin's character to be an actress in one of his movies wasn't an option? Even in the drama the ML said if his scripts where able to beome movies or dramas that he'd cast her and that never happened. I'm so annoyed.

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Honestly this was one of the better dramas this year. The story was refreshing and sorta original: strong female joins politics for selfish reasons at first but then decides to take a stand and make a change, no matter how many times she falls she never gives up and stands up again. Many Kdramas right now are full of cliches,m and repeating story lines but this one wasn't.

Another thing that was refreshing was that SeRa and Go Myung, stay together since they get together. They work as a powerful team to bring down the corruption in their city and in the end they manage to beat it no matter how many hardships they face. Also the actors were so natural and comfortable together those kisses: wow!

Plus the takedown of the villain at the end is one of the best, I kinda even felt a little bad for him, just a tad lol.



YET

Aside from those positives I just listed, I really struggled with this drama. I had huge problems with the lead characters while yes the characters go on their journey of development I couldn't connect with them in the end. it was just they were so exaggerated in one end of the spectrum at first then boom change that I really didn't feel SR & MY growth.

I also felt like the story was too boring at times. It was a drag to watch the last few episodes. I noticed that I just finished it out of obligation not really because I wanted to.

It's not a bad drama, as many enjoyed it, it just wasn't for me . Like I said I guess I couldn't get past those negatives at the beginning to really enjoy it.

The soundtrack wasn't memorable imo, and neither was the supporting characters. Aside from SeRa's friends and family I found all of the other supporting characters annoying.

One thing I did enjoy though, was how the writing showed the struggle many women go thru when entering into politics not just in Korea but all over the world imo. For that reason it was important for Into the Ring to be made.

Overall I give this a 7.0 for the reasons I mentioned. I probably won't be rewatching this but for those who enjoyed it by all means do. Maybe some can see more of the positives rather than the negatives.

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