MASTERPIECE
What a masterpiece this drama is. The character developments shown in this drama is so amazing. I cried, I laughed and I even got goosebumps while watching this drama. Usually, there are fewer dramas with morals, and this drama has clearly shown us the reality check with such great morals. I love this drama for what it is. The plot twist and storyline are sooooooo great. And each character that was being portrayed was too good. The character Hyun Su was portrayed so realistically and its character development is beyond perfection. I reallyyyyy loved the aesthetics used in this drama. I highly recommend this drama not because it is good or something(ofc it is) but this drama should be watched by everyone. The one and only drama I watched so far with zero loopholes. Perfection!So I gave my ratings everything 10 because I think this drama is beyond perfections. I never heard of any story like this and I want deep and meaningful dramas like this. The story is very meaningful so I give it a 10. It taught me many lessons about life.
I gave the Acting 10 because they portrayed their character really well. I can feel their emotions and realistic of their actings. I gave the music 10 because the music vibe fits perfectly with everything in this drama. The music makes the drama even better. When the music was played, I can feel the warmth of it. For rewatch value, I gave it a 10 because I still can't get over the FL and ML's chemistry. I have rewatched this and I don't know about anyone but I still get suspicious, laugh, and cry over again. Overall, I don't think I will find any better drama than this. Again, this drama is beyond perfection!
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Love Endures, It's a beautiful tale of childhood friendships
It's a beautiful tale of childhood friendships and how they evolve over time. The journey from playful teens to complex adults is portrayed with emotional depth and relatable twists.A must-watch for those who cherish stories about enduring bonds and the rollercoaster of life.
My favorite line from the opening ost,
“From then on we had our own stories”
“The small universe in our respective orbits”
“Maybe in a city where dreams shine too bright”
“You will forget and lose those carefree day”
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First off, the story progression was absolutely great. It was nicely paced without giving everything away too quickly. A lot of things could have gone wrong with its progression but the writers avoided all my concernsl. If they changed the focus of the plot to tackle some of the slightest story lines that they left untouched, it would have hurt the overall plot progression, but whomever wrote the script is a genius.
Secondly, the cast was great. With each drama I watch, I keep saying "oh God this cast is great," but end up somewhat feeling like I forced myself to say that. However, with this cast, I instantly saw the chemistry and knew that they were having fun with it. They weren't forcing themselves to play the role. Instead, it came naturally and that's the beauty of this cast. Also, the love between all the couples was refreshing. As a dude, I would normally cringe at this stuff, but the more K-Dramas I watch, the more I become inclined to smile at a good K-Drama couple when I see one and this drama was no exception. Love was all throughout the air, and I need to kindly ask to borrow some of it (and So Nyeo if that's alright).
Music wise, K-Dramas never tend to fully grip me with their soundtrack choices, but damn, this one made all the right choices. For the first ten episodes, the dramas usage of music was flawless. The songs put at each scene were cleverly chosen, and I applaud the PDs for that because some dramas choose pretty good songs, but either use them at the weirdest spots or over use them. As the show progressed, especially in the last four episodes, certain songs were being over used, but they were still being utilized well. The OST was ridiculously good and that goes for the BGM all throughout the show, too.
Lastly, for re-watch value, I give this one a 9, but honestly I never re-watch a drama, but this one is probably going to change that. I might re-watch this bad boy during Christmas time or something, but I never thought I would ever find myself saying "oh I'm going to re-watch this drama."
Overall, ridiculously good drama. Execution, writing, camaraderie, this show has it all. If you ever are contemplating whether to watch this, stop because It's Okay, That's Love is a worthy sixteen-hour long ride,
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This drama can best be compared to Full House. Their resemblance at times was eery. Both dramas have a bickering couple, cuteness, a killer OST and a lot of repetitiveness. It's basically the whole back and forth of will-they-wont-they. The thing is you already know the answer and if you are not patient or if you don't have a lot of time on your hands you'd just want to give up.
I wish this drama could have remained the way it was introduced. A bit random but fresh with a lot of appeal. I won't say the freshness died or anything because come on, it is set in JEJU frickkin island. The cinematography was killer and the lead pair is endlessly soothing to look at. I really enjoyed the old school Kdrama style it followed at times but during others it made me want to tear my hair out.
I didn't have the will to rate it higher than a 8 nor did I have the heart to rate it lower. The second leads are terrible in the drama. The other couple (hyung and the diver lady) were the funniest till their relationship had nothing left anymore.
I want to mention the little attempt the drama makes at encouraging people to try living in Jeju- including foreigners. I liked how they have little programs for people to adjust to the lifestyle there. Plus they showed a really nice relationship of the people living there. The mayor was shown as a sweetheart to all the people and the way he went around in his bicycle was adorable. <3
Baek Geon Woo was a cutie at times and a jerk at others. I wish Lee Jung Joo could be a bit hard at times but she was too soft-hearted. A classic Kdrama heroine in short. Think of Full House and the characters are almost a replica at times. I dunno if anyone else felt that way or not but I did.
Anyway, I had a lot of issues with the drama but couldn't get to rate it any lower. Like Dramabeans says, how much I enjoyed it v/s how much it deserves- I'd say an 8 v/s 6. That's it. Now decide for yourself whether you wanna watch it or not.
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When idols don't act out their roles...
A typical idol BL where kissing is forbidden, because the actors can't commit to their roles. Again: If you do BLs do it the whole way and not half assed. The story is also quite mid, not bad, not good but the chemistry & acting was better than I expected,There is not much else to say. It's an ok production, it did not have a lot of budget and it serves for the most part as boost for the idols, because BL is an easy way. But compared to real actors it's quite shocking that in 2026 they still zoom on the lips, but there is no kissing at all. I would have been more content with it, when they did not zoom on lips or hid it completely as other show already did. They did not even manage a peck on the lips. Very disappointing.
At least we don't have cringe comedy but the script was nothing to write home about. If you have time you may watch it, it's not the worst, but if your time is limited, you can skip it and not miss anything.
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CLOSE YOUR EYES – NOW FEEL ⏯️
DISCLAIMER: I completed this a week ago and had time to collect / sit with my thoughts so please take my opinion / review with a grain of salt as I’m not here to argue with anyone.I also have not watched the Taiwanese version yet (but I will do so soon) It will be interesting to see if my opinion on the show will been alter / change. Anyways, this is just a my summary of the drama. I watched it completely blind with no preconceived notions.
The emotions you will experience while watching this drama cannot be replicated by reading a plot synopsis or watching a summary video on YouTube. I recommend that you watch it without looking at the spoilers or hating / comparing it to versions you've seen before. Just pretend it's a whole new drama.
Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Romance, Fantasy
Tropes: Time travel, time loop, doppelgängers, friends to lovers, second chance romance ,found family, friendship, transmigration (body / soul switching), soulmates.
Likes:
This drama was interesting to say the least. The cinematography was beautiful and it felt very nostalgic because it takes you back to the 90s and 2000s. The time travel plot was very well done. I thought it would be confusing but it wasn't. It was easy to understand and found myself figuring out the plot half way through. I figured the scarred man was in fact Nam Si Heon and came up with reasons how this could be possible etc. My guesses were close enough lol. Every episode had me on the edge of my seat, thinking I had it all figured out, only to be surprised by unexpected twists and turns. I had to pay close attention because of the back-and-forth storytelling, but it was worth it.
Jeon Yeo Been's performance was outstanding, especially in how she portrayed the two different characters – she was convincing in showing us (the audience) that it was in fact two different people. The especially how she shifted her personality between the characters. The way she looked at Si Heon / Yeon Jun, laughed, walked, smiled and talked – all changed with the person and the timeline.
Ahn Hyo Seop gave me butterflies and made my heart skip whenever he was on screen, he really is very handsome and I think I developed a crush while watching. Si Heon / Yeon Jun was soooo boyfriend and just the greenest flag ever, across every single timeline. I mean he did such an amazing and convincing job as he portrayed the Si Heon / Yeon Jun who longed for his love (Jun Hee) across time and space. I thought the way he could immediately tell the difference between Min Ju and Jun Hee was precious and endearing. Min Ju could not fool him and unfortunately he would never be able to return her (or anyone else’s) affections becasue Jun Hee was his one true love.
Kang Hoon proved that even without a lot of lines, one's screen presence can be pretty impactful. Also, the way he emotes with his eyes is at another level altogether.
Rowoon's guest appearance was a pleasant surprise and I enjoyed seeing him on screen even thought it was short lived.
Min Jin Woong was a very compelling villain. He nailed the psychopathic murderer / serial killer role so well. I was definitely creeped out and on the edge of my seat watching and waiting to see what his character would do next.
Dislikes:
Some aspects of the time travel phenomenon weren't entirely explained, like why there were two people with the exact same face? I also found it puzzling how Chan Yeong looked exactly like his older brother. That resemblance was truly a mystery for me but I guess it made the storytelling easier from the writers perspective. It seems like that's just how the world of 'A Time Called You' works. I did not have a problem with Si Heon / Yeon Jun and Min Ju / Jun Hee existing in the same timeline like other people. It was very understandable and if you pay close attention you won’t be confused.
What triggered me was Min-Ju’s suicide. It captured a suicidal persons thoughts perfectly but reinforced the fact that no matter what you say / do to help a suicidal person, it won’t change the fact that if someone wants to die… they will kill themselves. They have to want to live for themselves and want to heal / get better and have something to live for. I’m not saying this to be cold/heartless because I just knew a girl like Min Ju. The only difference is she'd always threaten suicide for attention (unlike Min Ju) but in actuality, being her friend was exhausting. Safe to say we're not friends anymore and she still has her depressive episodes but I’m glad I’m not around for her to trauma dump on me or act like her issues are for more important / greater than anyone else's. She used to claim other's do not understand her and that she doesn’t have the mental capacity to care about anyone but herself (at least she was self aware, but imo she was also self centered and mean spirited most of all!). I don't think it was for a lack of love or attention, because it seemed she received both, but like Min Ju she was bullied a lot in her formative years and then kept attempting to transform herself indefinitely. Unfortunately she did not realize (and still hasn't to this day) that by doing all that she was killing the person she used to be, leaving her feeling empty and full of self-hatred (much like when Min Ju claimed to be Jun Hee lol!)
Anyway, it's ironic because thorough everything I was deemed selfish and told that I just don’t understand even though I always was encouraging, reassuring and supportive much like In Gyu. Seeing such a similar occurrence in this drama brought up a flood of emotions for me, which is why I think I felt overwhelmed then slightly irked while watching it. It was insane, especially when they showed inside Min Ju’s mind, Jun Hee trying to stop her, In Gyu pouring his heart out and trying to comfort her by lending caring / supportive worlds to then hearing Min Ju claim nobody cared about her. It was even more shocking to then see her catapult / launch herself off the building, thus killing herself (bleeding to death) and In Gyu taking the blame. I had so many mixed emotions but that very intense scene left me feeling sad and disheartened most of all. I could feel the same sense of hopelessness much like how Jun Hee felt, just being a mere bystander/watcher from that cave – not being able to do anything to help or convince Min Ju her life was worth living.
Moral of the story is choose your friends wisely, try your best and be kind always. If it’s not good enough (especially to the other person) and they don’t see the value in their life then know it’s not your fault / on you. Don’t blame yourself and go to prison for someone else’s choice or twisted wishes to be fulfilled like In Gyu. As Jun Hee said it was Min Ju's own expectations of people that made her miserable and she needed to take time for herself and take care of her wellbeing.
I wish the show explained the alternate ending better, I would’ve liked to find out exactly how In Gyu saves Min Ju on time. It would also have been nice for them to tell how Min Ju gets stuck in a cave where she see through the eyes of Jun Hee and vice versa plus how they escape from it and become the main host of the body.
I’m a very emotional / sentimental person so I did tear up while watching. If you’re the same (or worse) be sure to bring some tissues.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, each of their stories was beautiful as was the ending. Even though it’s an open and some what bittersweet ending I think it gives the viewer hope and promise of what is to come between the two main characters. While watching I felt warm seeing the kind of love that was portrayed throughout the drama. It made me feel the butterflies of a first love, the comfort of a mature love, the pain of separation and the overwhelming relief of their reunion.
The ending made me hopeful and happy, but it also made my heart hurt. I think it’s more so because of the realization that so many precious memories and relationships formed across various timelines would be lost forever, as if they never existed.
This was the kind of drama that stays with you long after you finish watching it. I still feel an ache in my heart when I think about it or listen to the OST (which by the way is just as amazing!) I think everyone who enjoyed this had that moment where they played "Gather My Tears" and tried to close our eyes and dissociate pretending we were going back in time like Jun Hee.
If this drama was a quote it would be: "In a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality – I'd find you and I'd always choose you."
It truly deserves an 8.5/10 and I will definitely be sure to rewatch it in the future, whenever "a time calls me."
If you read all this ILY! 🥹
Thanks for reading & happy watching!
˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
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It gets to a point
I want to start this rant review by saying that, if A Dream Within a Dream (or alternatively, Everyone Hates Nan Heng) was trying to rage-bait me, then it has successfully completed its task, because I haven’t written a drama review in almost a year, but this one made me do it.The premise is interesting: Song Xiaoyu, an unsuccessful actress, gets a leading role next to an A-List celebrity (Nan Feng), but her character is only a pawn to the male lead in a terrible script. She then gets sucked into the story and decides to be as far away as possible from the “God of War” male lead. Though it doesn’t sound too ground breaking, the first episode and its satirical tone of the chinese drama industry immediately caught my attention. The first few episodes were good (although a bit too corny for my taste), but it didn’t take too long for it to go downhill, and fast.
Which brings me to the first (of many) fatal flaw, the female lead of this story. I absolutely despised Song Yimeng’s character. She is supposed to be the only “real” person in a world full of fictional characters, yet somehow acts the most caricature-like absurdly of them all. Her behavior is erratic to the point of being nonsensical. She is terrified of Nan Heng one minute, pitying him the next, overconfident in between, then suddenly in love with him (?). There is no arc here, just emotional whiplash.
Also, how do you go from repeatedly dying in a scripted world without fear to suddenly being terrified of death after your situation changes slightly? The fear itself makes sense, you could argue that, since the situation has changed, she can’t be completely certain a new death scene will result in her restarting the story, but she never has a thought process that leads to this conclusion and explains her fears. And never, not once does she seriously think about going back to her real life? She’s constantly stressed and in danger, yet seems perfectly content to remain in this fictional world just because she has money and a fake family.
Speaking of which, her family dynamics? Barely explored. She immediately latches onto her fictional family without any organic development. Why not let us see those bonds form over time, rather than expecting us to care just because you told us to?
The drama tries to critique the tropes of male-centric stories where female leads exist only to further the male protagonist’s journey. But then it... becomes that exact thing. Nan Heng and Li Shiliu dominate the screen. SYM might be the protagonist, but she spends most of the drama reacting, acting ridiculously, or even, especially during the middle part of the story, off-screen. She doesn’t grow. Even by episode 27, she’s still stuck on the idea that the script is unchangeable. No progress. No inner transformation. Just a tragic family backstory shoved in way too late in a failed attempt at emotional depth and a sense of clarity that comes out of nowhere towards the end of the story that can only be described as reaching Nirvana because she saw Nan Heng mounted on a fake pegasus and dressed in white.
And then, of course, the plot holes. So many. It genuinely feels like they filmed the first draft of the script with no revisions. Characters reach conclusions instantly, they contradict themselves within minutes. Basic logic? Missing. I could list a dozen examples, but here’s the one that broke me: when Song Yimeng, Chu Guihong, and Li Shiliu are “working together”, Nan Heng (disguised as LSL) denies any alliance with the Seventh Prince and even joins a plot to assassinate himself (which, honestly, I found pretty funny). But just a few episodes later, he’s throwing a banquet at Waning River Crescent as Nan Heng, casually walking around with Shangguan He. Subtlety? Never heard of it. And naturally, no one notices, because everyone in this drama is, tragically, an idiot.
As for overall character development. There was close to none. SYM, as mentioned previously, had no character development arc, NH was perfect from the beginning (the viewer just didn’t know about it), the emperor turned a switch and went from hating his son to loving him. As for Chu Guihong, I, innocently, thought that he would have the most interesting character arc, becoming a villain and all, but it just ends up being so incredibly exaggerated and nonsensical, I can't even say I liked that.
Then there's Song Yiting. At first I disliked her because she was annoying (which, fair, so am I), but this woman is vile. She's a predator who attempts to s*x**lly assault Li Shiliu under the pretense of wanting to “ruin her marriage prospects”. There is no gray area here. She drugs a man to force him into s*x and the show barely blinks. I could talk a lot more about this, but choose not to in order to protect my own sanity.
And if all of thatr wasn’t already enough, here enters the Scriptwriter character, who shows up, becomes a moustache-twirling-top-hat-wearing cartoon villain and then ends up helping the protagonists. Just like SYM, no real person attributes, just absolute idiocracy.
I know I have done nothing but complain, but (shockingly) there were things I liked.
The soundtrack, for one, is mostly great. Unfortunately, most of the good tracks are tied to Li Shiliu, and once he’s gone, so is the music. But during his scenes, the audio experience was really good.
The drama was indeed funny. There were many moments in which I caught myself actually laughing out loud at scenes, so I have to give credit where it’s due.
As for Nan Heng, shockingly, I enjoyed his character, for the most part. He carried more emotional nuance than expected and managed to steal the spotlight from the actual female lead, Song Yimeng, in what is supposedly her breaking-the-cycle-of-female-lead-being-a-device-to-the-male-lead story. Ironically, a drama that seems to critique the sidelining of female leads ends up doing exactly that, SYM becomes more of a supporting character halfway through the show.
Well, in conclusion, powering through this drama was like when you drive past a car crash. Horrifying, and yet somehow impossible to look away from precisely because it is so terrible.
Come to think of it, the acting, costumes, setting, and soundtrack all range from at least average to genuinely great. Production value isn’t the issue, the script is, and unfortunately, without solid writing, even the most stunning production falls flat.
A Dream Within a Dream starts off promising, dynamic, and almost clever. But it quickly devolves into a bloated mess of half-baked character arcs and lazy plotting (it seems that the writers wanted things to happen and characters to develop thoughts, but were too lazy to do the DEVELOPING part, and just threw the action into the screen). The very clichés it claims to satirize, it ends up indulging in.
If the goal was to criticize bad storytelling, maybe they should’ve tried writing a good one first.
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No. Just no.
I should have know this was going to be a disaster after seeing the trailer and the intro episode. I honestly don’t really like anything about this show. Not the plot (it wasn't really interesting), not the execution, not the acting, not the OST… it was all very bland and mediocre. The cinematography isn’t the worst I have seen, but the lighting and certain shots are done very strangely. The comedic sounds were horrible and didn’t really blend in.Dino & Rak: Dino looks too old to be in university and most of his “seniors” look like they are ten years younger than him. As a character, he was very straightforward but also in a slightly creepy way. I didn’t like how pushy he was at times, but also super closed off and not ready to share anything with Rak. Rak is… well Rak. There is nothing about him that stands out, he is soft and innocent. And that is his whole personality. There was some chemistry between the two actors, but it didn’t translate well most of the time. I knew Pepper (Dino) from before and I must admit I didn’t really enjoy his acting in this series. As for Kong (Rak), it felt like he had one, maybe two, expressions throughout the series. His crying was not believable, and the adorable-yet-dumb look that he wore the rest of the time was annoying.
I really wanted to give this series a chance, hoping I would at least like some of the side characters. I know that there are three more couples in the Buddy Line Y Animal storyline, so I thought at least one of them might interest me to watch its future series. Yeah, this was my one and only try at it because the rest of the characters were very meh as well.
I honestly ended up skipping a lot of the scenes, mostly because it got boring and kind of repetitive very quickly. I don’t fully understand what they were trying to do by dragging this series out into 10 parts when the storyline could be done in a much better-rounded way in less episodes. It would probably be less boring too.
I dropped this on ep 7, mostly because I couldn’t force myself to watch any more of it. Even with skipping big chunks of it. It just wasn’t an enjoyable watch.
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O Crocodilo e o Pássaro Tarambola
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Karma was absent for 90% of this series. Romance decided not to show up at all and social reasoning and common sense responses/reactions was often napping while filming.
Again I wouldn’t recommend this to a mature person, it would be appalling and ridiculous to them. If you can stomach clingy females, ridiculous reasoning, wishy washy people and whinny bits you’ll like it, however for me this was a big No no.
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Drama is so good
Oh my goodness, this drama is so good! 🥺😭🤍Daily dose of sunshine is my new favorite drama! Even though Daeun's first day is already stressful it was a heartwarming drama. I found myself getting quite attached to the characters from the psychiatric ward because they had their own personalities nurses, physicians, guardians, and patients.
I enjoyed how each episode's narration and the patient's perspective on mental illness were portrayed. It was also entertaining to watch the love line between Go Yoon-da-eun and Yoo Chan-da-eun Yeo Hwan-deul-le!
One of the best of the recent Netflix originals!!! ♥️
Mental illness is an unpredictable illness that can strike anyone, anywhere, at any. I'm thinking a lot about this line.
**
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A fun, light-hearted watch for the rom-com lovers
As a die-hard fan of the webtoon, I was over the moon to see the drama adaption finally coming out!It's the contract dating / marriage trope that fakes it till you make it once again. Cliché and exaggerated at times, but still extremely entertaining. In fact, rather than being pure cringey, I love how the screenwriters just absorb the clichés like a sponge and turn them into A+ grade comedy. It's a fluffy rom-com that hit all the right spots, making you laugh and swoon like there's no tomorrow. And the editing is just spot on with the fun and comic-like transitions.
We have an interesting cast here. It's a little scary how much Ahn Hyo Seop fits right into the ML's role with that side-parted hair and dashing suit, like he just steps out of a webtoon. The way he slicks his hair back gives me major What's Wrong With Secretary Kim vibes (I can almost hear Park Se Joon yelling "Aura" in the background). I like Kim Se Jeong's singing but I have yet to see her in a drama. Oh my goodness, she got me doubling over from laughing so hard when she called Ahn Hyo Seop an Archaeopteryx. And don't even get me started on who's Samantha and Rachel. Their blind dates are absurdly hilarious and you'll wheeze in laughter before you know it. It's a bit different from how I envisioned Shin Ha Ri would be, but definitely a refreshing twist for the webtoon fans.
On the other hand, Kim Min Gue is the ideal secretary sidekick for the ML. This is the bromance I was most excited about, snarky but sweet. Seol In Ah plays the free-spirited bestie for the FL, one that you always wish for yet never have. Together, they make up one of the most iconic second couples I've ever seen. They're so scandalously cute in their own way. It's great that not only each couple has its own arch but we also have so much bromance and sismance energy here. The grandfather is so loveable with his outrageous marriage "project", a quest to find blind dates for his workaholic grandson. It's a bit hard to believe this was also the mad king we saw in The Red Sleeve. And that makjang he's watching really hits home for me, it's like they're watching their own drama unfolding.
The OSTs are also overwhelmingly sweet, almost to a diabetes level. My absolute favourites would be Love Maybe by MeloMance, You Are Mine by VICTON and Spring Breeze by New (The Boyz). All in all, it was an extremely witty script with as many unexpected turns as there are clichés. If you're a fluffy rom-com lover and don't mind a bit of silliness to de-stress, then here's the perfect pick for you!
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Renascence Means Revival
There is a reason for this show to be titled Renascence. It’s about vengeance fulfilled, doomed love revived..... and bad editing redeemed (at the very end).Renascence is adapted from the graphic novel, “The Cry of the Phoenix that Reached Ninth Heaven”, but deviates somewhat from the original plot, according to a number of readers. This is a serious historical drama with sombre themes, intense acting, and a largely experienced cast and crew. Director Liu Hai Bo helmed the exceptional The Rise of Phoenixes while the supporting cast comprises some notable veterans. Even the leads like Chen Zhe Yuan had performed so well in Handsome Siblings. I don’t know much about Li Mo Zhi but looking at her filmography, she seems experienced enough leading dramas, so I had a really high expectation on this one.
In most historical C-dramas, we dread the tragic or open endings while constantly hoping for a happier and positive outcome. Here, we were continuously worried that the conclusion, in any form, would not even be given to us.
What went wrong?
The EDITING, primarily. The show was cut from the originally planned and filmed 70 episodes to 36 episodes. We know why it needed to be cut (new industry regulations, I would think rather than censorship reasons), but why 34 EPISODES CUT, only heaven knows. This affected the entire storytelling and pacing, as well as creating plot holes large enough to inspire viewers to glean invaluable answers from various BTS footage. There were scenes that didn’t make sense, characters that appeared from nowhere and story arcs that suddenly concluded without warning (or concluded too quickly without much satisfaction gained).
There were some acting and casting issues with various characters but that would be nitpicking so I’ll leave it at that.
What went right?
The ending, obviously. Fortunately the producers didn’t destroy the one thing left for viewers to hang on to – a happily ever after ending that mostly ties up the loose ends, which thankfully wasn’t edited out. There were real fears that we would only be shown 30 seconds of that, if at all. Although the final episode did feel somewhat rushed, it’s the closure that counts, and what an end it was!
Chen Zhe Yuan is another redeeming factor for this show. His acting was on point, and he delivered a totally different character in Prince Su here as compared to his previous effort – he was restrained and stoic in comparison with his more carefree and laidback character in Handsome Siblings, and that’s due to his versatility and range. His emotional scenes were convincing, and there were many. Although he doesn’t come close to Cheng Yi - who does anyway? - he did deliver a commendable depiction of the tormented lover who had to see the love of his life abandon him to marry his own brother. Twice.
Initially I wasn’t too convinced with Li Mo Zhi as the FL. I felt Eva Cheng was better suited to lead but, she proved me wrong by gradually growing into her role and showcased such remarkable character development as the show progressed. At exactly the halfway mark (ep. 18, 24:05), she dramatically and majestically turned into an epic badass, giving off serious Zhao Yao, Shen Lige, Chu Qiao, Fu Yao vibes in the process. This was truly the pivotal moment where our completely transformed FL was finally unleashed. It’s interesting to note that Li Mo Zhi bears such an uncanny resemblance to Chen Chiao En (Joe Chen). At times I felt like I was watching the Taiwanese drama queen on screen.
The many plot twists were major talking points throughout the show. New conspiracies and machinations kept coming while numerous villainous characters were introduced and deliciously evolved at frightening frequency. The remarkably fast pacing was no doubt a result of the reduced episodes and lack of fillers, which isn’t entirely a bad thing if only they hadn’t cut the important details out as well. Even till the final stretch of episodes, still the screenwriters kept cramming as many new side plots as possible. This drama truly never ceases to amaze at nearly every turn.
The OST here is outstanding. I’m glad the music wasn’t affected by the editing in the show. The opening theme, in particular, is very good. Track list as follows:
1.叶倾君 - 金润吉 (Ye Qingjun-Jin Runji)
2.涅槃 - 陈哲远 & 李墨之 (Nirvana-Chen Zheyuan & Li Mozhi)
3.春知 - 刘美麟 (Chun Zhi-Liu Meilin)
4. 一诺 - 晏紫东 (Yinuo-Yan Zidong)
It’s worth mentioning how captivating the Emperor’s voice has been in this drama. As commented in the discussion board, he was voiced by a notable voice actor, Bian Jiang (边江) who also dubbed Wang Yi Bo in The Untamed.
Confusing elements?
Concerns and confusion were regularly voiced out by viewers regarding the “soul switching” and usage/ abuse of the bodies in question. The horrendous editing and resultant plot holes, as well as the inclusion of an amnesia arc, all added to the uncertainty of what exactly is going on and WHO the FL actually is. With the plot of the drama deviating significantly from the novel, it was left to the screenwriters to then devise an alternative outcome to the story.
My take on this is that from Day One, it had always been Mo Xin who took over Mo Wan’s body. She did lose her memories at one point, but it was still the amnesiac Mo Xin in Mowan’s body. The person whom Prince Su was attracted to and fell in love with (again) had always been Mo Xin in the guise of Mo Wan. And so it proved, right to the devastating end…although I wished it could have played out a little differently without that tragic sacrifice…
Overall
Regardless of the problems this drama faced, and the confusion it caused because of the poor editing, I still enjoyed Renascence very much. The unpredictable twists and turns in the plot kept things interesting, and because everyone was informed of the impending happy outcome at the end, it balanced out the (minor) angst and frustrations from certain events in the show. I would recommend that you give this show a chance, enjoy it for what it is and really suspend disbelief for as long as you can (hopefully till the end).
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Action, pizzazz, bromance and a whole lotta stupidity.
As far as entertainment value is concerned, Bloodhounds does have a lot of it. The drama is full of hot oppas kicking ass and a wholesome bromance between Woo Do Hwan and Lee Sang Yi- who give you both Men in black and dumb and dumber energy at the same time.WDH shines with his Alpha bunny presence and owns the role. The action scenes are snazzy, the comedy is great, it has a lot of interesting characters, the villain is charismatic, the friendship theme is at an all time high and it’s a very addictive and watchable bite sized show.
That said, the writing is painfully stupid. Like it’s just really fucking bad. The characters do such mindlessly idiotic shit just for the sake of conflict that you can’t take this seriously at all. It’s just 8 episodes of plot holes, meaningless deaths and 0.0001% common sense.
It’s junk food without substance and nothing too deep. However, it did bring me outta a super long slump and I did have fun watching it which is why I am not giving it a 4- which is where I think the writing’s at.
Cause what they are trying to sell you is essentially that a killer who is more or less the underground mafia who has killed samurais, hardened criminals, professional killers, gangsters and has the country’s richest and powerful in the palm of his hand can only be defeated by two goofy millennials who are still wet behind the ears and know how to throw a punch…
It’s hard to buy the BS, you feel me?
Anyway, overall a nice time pass and good for some swoons and giggles.
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Esta resenha pode conter spoilers
Plot who? We don't know her!
I waited impatiently for months for the series only for my excitement to be replaced with disappointment as each episode aired...The Good:
Acting.
For a majority of these actors, this was their first ever series. Despite this, I felt that overall, the acting was extremely solid and great! Biggest props and kudos to Bible, who in my opinion was definitely the scene stealer of the show. Also BibleBuild as a pair, despite the plot line that their characters had, blew me away with the amazing chemistry and tension that they have every time they are onscreen throughout the series.
Cinematography.
This is no Korean Drama, but for a Thai BL, the cinematography is pretty great. Though towards the end of the series the quality of this did start to drop... BUT then again, the cinematography of Thai BL's in general this year have improved significantly... so having good cinematography is honestly nothing special anymore...
The Bad:
Poor Writing. Plot who? We don't know her!
I didn't know that you could take garbage (the novel) and make it even worse (the series)... but they managed to do it! LOL
I can't even begin to count the number of plot holes and "oh how convenient" moments there are throughout this series... The pacing of each episode and of the series in general is extremely off. If you really think about it (which I unfortunately did...), the story makes NO sense. ZERO. NONE. There were a lot of unnecessary scenes and things that did not need to happen and that they could have cut out of the show, but if they did that the episodes would end up being 10 minutes long LMAO
I don't understand the point of having an ensemble of 16 when you can take more than half of the characters away and there would be absolutely zero difference or change to the story/plot. Most of the characters ended up being extremely flat, 2 dimensional and have no real substance or development to them. Macau for example, who could've been used to show more of Vegas's soft/human side in the beginning, was completely disregarded. Half of Ta's screen time was him literally sleeping...
I refuse to go into an in-depth review of the couples because i'm way too sober for that right now but just know that I bought none of the relationships. And not just the romantic ones... even the sibling relationships were barely touched on or utilised to their fullest potential. It honestly upset me that the one and only scene we got of Kinn, Khun and Kim in the same frame together was in the LAST episode... and that was it... just one scene...
What is this? A comedy? A dark and toxic mafia story? Because it missed the mark on BOTH of those. Most of the jokes were super cringy, childish and did not land well at all... If you want to be dark and toxic, then BE DARK AND TOXIC. Them refusing to commit to the dark and toxic theme just made these characters feel super OOC at times.
If anything, this series just proved to me that all you need for a successful BL series is hot men who can act, good cinematography and a whole lot of unnecessary sex scenes. A good script and plot that makes sense is not needed.
In conclusion, I think that KinnPorsche is still watchable as long as you don't expect anything from the storyline/plot.
Also (very) unpopular opinion but I hope that they will just let the KinnPorsche franchise die after this because I really truly want to see these amazing actors acting in stories that are actually worthy of their talent.
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Expected a lot and was terribly disappointed!
The show started off okay. the pros outweighed the cons so i continued watching. Johnny Huang did a great job as the Male Lead and I finished watching because of him. As the story progressed the FL character just continues to be more and more annoying. Her best friend was also totally blah and the story just didn't live up to its potential. This had the makings of an epic story. I am just saddened by the fact that in spite of all the cost of production and the efforts of all the actors and staff, this drama just failed to deliver.Esta resenha foi útil para você?
