This review may contain spoilers
If you want to see this concept done well - watch Alice in Borderland
What is to like: the cast and set design is very good quality.What I don't like:
The idea of the games according to the 'host' was to make them equal. They were anything but equal, just take the last game (crossing the bridge) as the perfect example - people that picked the first numbers had 0% chance of survival, whilst those at the end had almost guaranteed survival.
The 'organ selling' sub-plot went no-where.
The main charater was sold to us as this guy down on his luck. This is incorrect, he was just a pathetic gambling addict. I was actually happy his daughter was taken away. Not a character to root for.
I'm only writing this to make some people aware that this drama is just overhyped because it was produced in a more 'americanised' style. There weren't any signature korean OSTs to remember and there were a lot of senseless deaths (this is all too common in american shows). Overall, as a show it is pretty average but for a korean show it is pretty disappointing. Like the title says - Alice in Borderland beats this drama by a large margin for me.
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This review may contain spoilers
Not a romance drama
This drama left a very bad feeling behind after I watched it. The FL was spineless and subservient, and the ML was abusive, violent, and had mental issues. I fail to understand how a woman can fall in love with someone who threatens to kill her just because she bought fish and wanted to cook something special - I skipped the entire scene because it was too violent for me to watch. If this was a dream sequence of the FL, then it just leaves me flabbergasted that she still believes she is in love with the ML!Each episode is of 3 minutes and the whole drama somehow feels as if it is incomplete. Why would the mom suddenly become so avaricious that she sells her daughter to the rich? How can the daughter not have any clue of her mom's nature? You cannot be so dumb in life. And even after she realizes this, she just forgives her mom as if it is an everyday event.
So many negative characters in the drama starting from the ML, FL's Mom, her work colleagues, and her sister-in-law - who was a b***h from hell. Not to talk of the ML's father who thought it right to buy a human just so that she does not get sold off to some other rich household. For a man who has reached a ripe old age and himself a father of a girl, he appears to be singularly lacking in morals, is selfish, and ruthless - he chooses to "buy" the FL (as if she is a commodity) from her mom instead of taking aid of the law and reporting the matter to the police and getting the women arrested for human trafficking.
In the end, the writers even introduced a teacher who is supposedly in love with the FL and is willing to wait for her until God knows when. Our blind & dumb FL however chooses to stay in a toxic relationship with her so-called husband just because .........I am still wondering why??? Romance? Love??.... I say BS.
To the writer of this drama (if you are reading this review) : stop encouraging and selling abusive relationship stories in the name of romance or at least write something that inspires all those women out there who are in such relationships to find the strength and willpower to fight back.
For those who do not want to spoil their mood - please stay away from this drama - there are better and more pleasant things to do in life!
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Sometimes average is just perfect
The first episodes were dull, show gained momentum in the second half and the episodes kept getting better.A great plus is the stars-packed cast and the relationship between the characters. Even though the characters seem one-dimensional first, comparing their actions and overall appearance in the beginning to the end of the series clearly show character development.
Also, I just realised, I like how the depiction of character was evenly balanced out between male and female characters, if that makes any sense. Normally with K-dramas (not always of course), especially thrillers, I feel like male protagonists end up with more screen time, more depth in character and therefore are more likeable, while the female ones at some point are just annoying and dull, whereas here, for once, each character (except for the obvious villains) was likeable and the female characters were as top-notch and well-written as the male ones.
That hot shot of a professor, who seemed to be a knock-off of Annelise from HTGAWM was hard to bear in the earlier episodes but, I don't know how and when this happened, you end up liking him, even looking forward to his badass scenes.
The story itself wasn't that intriguing, but somehow still managed to pique your interest and make you look forward to the next episodes. The background score - actually just one song - was fitting and had a catchy tune like "We All Lie " from SKY Castle.
Even though romance is not part of this drama the scenes between Kim Bum and Ryu Hye Young were too cute - more chemistry than in some dramas tagged as romance. However, this was more high-key low-key in earlier episodes.
Also, I like how the show elaborates on shortcomings in the law. Especially a case in the beginning of the second half accentuated this. The 'law school' itself was not the main focus of the show, but the little insight into the lectures, study groups, mock trials and the overall struggle of (law) students with exam preparations, pressure to do well at school and fear of failing was captured well.
The show is not perfect and not even close to an outstanding thriller, it's pretty average, and that somehow works in favour of this show. It was something I would look forward to each week, but not like "dying" to watch, nothing too captivating, stressing and frustrating (like Mouse), but at the same time nothing where after a while you just can't be bothered with the revealing of the truth (like Beyond Evil, sorry) - just a decent thriller with a solid pace and surprising revealings which are not mind-blowing and yet, satisfying.
Also, this drama has definitely potential for a second season!
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This review may contain spoilers
enjoyed the second half more
Overall: I'd really like to see these actors with better writing. If I were to start this at episode 4 and think they had just started dating, then the terrible communication and reluctance would make sense. But their characters' ages were 25 and 32, they were dating for 5? years (engaged for 3), they had known each other for 18 years (age 7 and 14). Their relationship dynamic didn't make sense to me even with a traumatic past event. This is based on a book which I didn't read and I reviewed the series on its own merits. 8 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on YouTube and iQIYI (uncut). Mandee also produced: Bed Friend, Cutie Pie 2, Cutie Pie and Why R UContent Warnings: past death/gore, attempted murder, maybe held against will, dub/non con kiss, manipulation, manhandling, trauma/mental health struggles, stalking
What I Liked
- Kuea & Diao's friendship (and Diao and his friend group)
- Lian & Kuea's scenes
- Lian & Yi dream sequences/their dynamic
- cameos from characters in Cutie Pie
- couple funny parts like that dog's costume in ep 3
- sweet moments
- mystery aspect
- good kissing/intimacy (note, this is cut down in the YouTube version)
- Diao's evasive skills in ep 8
- Max's real mom played Yi's mom
- the ending of episode 8 was absolutely adorable
- production value (everything looks beautiful except too much blur filter, the actors, the sets, the cars, etc)
Room For Improvement
- I struggled with the characters and the relationship dynamic, we had an attractive, taller, stern, controlling character paired with a cute, shorter, avoiding physical affection character. The relationship felt more parent/child than equal partners, though thankfully this did start to change a bit. However, Yi said that Diao couldn't go to his own sister's party in episode 4 which was not cool. Also in episode 1 it appeared that there were security guards in their home to keep tabs on Diao/prevent him from leaving and security cameras inside the house for the same reason. And then the writers could have had Diao (an expert in martial arts) fight off those dudes but he got like 1 hit/punch in and then was a damsel in distress. Also him getting around on his bicycle further infantilized him.
- the manipulation/lying to Diao starting in episode 2
- poor communication, they didn't have sex in over a year? they've known each other for over 18 years and can't say what is bothering them, what they need from a relationship, problem solve together how to fix their problems? (I did like that one scene when asking about their honeymoon and future family plans), in later episodes they both say the importance of better communication but then don't communicate well
- the writers didn't make it clear that they had collaborated on their plan
- should have cut out the whole love rival side plot and explained character motivations more
- how Diao frequently avoided physical affection from his boyfriend
- too many time jumps in the first episode
- fart joke humor (and they've known each other for 18 years so what Yi said never happens in front of people was a total lie)
- comedy noises including the goat bleating
- cliche plot point at the end of episode 1
- maybe it was supposed to be funny how the dad prefers Diao because I found it really sad, Yi's dad was awesome in some ways but he was overly harsh to Yi at times
- terrible tiger cgi
- nonsense plot things: in 18 years, Diao didn't know that Yi has sisters (even if the marriage was recent that is something you would know about), Diao had never met Yi's mother in the 18 years that he knew him?, assuming someone is cheating because they smile/hug the opposite sex
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The romance that doesn't even need words.
When the journey is more beautiful than the conclusion.Again starting the review unconventionally. Trying to recover from the drama? I would suggest you go watch behind the scenes, and interview where Allen Ren & Bai Lu Rewrite The Ending, it might help.. in my case it did. I'll drop the video links in the spoiler comments below.
Why I used the beautiful word? the outcome is definitely not pleasing. What is so beautiful about it.. in a cinematic way, with mesmerizing shots and locations, it's brilliant! Is that it? No. It has the most beautiful love story, the heartwarming one at the same time most heartbreaking...
The story isn't out of the box, or extraordinary but unexpectedly brilliant when it comes to execution. The dialogues are cleverly written and show intellect for sure! What do you expect from tragedy?
Tragedy (from the Greek: τραγῳδία, tragōidia[a]) is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall the main character. This is what Wikipedia says.
So is this fully tragic, surprisingly the answer comes as no. A tragedy that has some pleasing and many memorable moments.. even sprinkled with a bit of humor.
Though the politics isn't cleverly written (one of few cons) it doesn't matter as it isn't the main focus of the story.
Apart from the main leads, I adored some side characters a lot. The portrayal of friendship and loyalty is what I loved after my favorite love story.
Bai Lu, not just managed to show all emotions of Cui Shiyi through her expressions but also her character development throughout the show.. which isn't abrupt but with different phases, not only does her styling change with time but also how she becomes more mature, sensible. If you observe.. even the way she smiles is different in young age, her body language.. the way of talking or even walking... she even had to learn sign language for that applause for her, the small details.. which are clearly visible when you are fully immersed in the drama.
A lot of historicals fail in characterization especially when it comes to female leads, imagine growing up in a noble family in a strict manner with a lot of restrictions, rules, and regulations with the responsibility to protect clans reputation what would be your personality? clearly not rebellious, arrogant one? Maybe that's why I love Shiyi she isn't badass nor the strongest. She's gentle, caring, sensible, and clever. Her calm nature and temperament might be the polar opposite of Zhou Sheng Chen, but that's what makes them compliment each other.
Zhou Sheng Chen. He is the one who has both beautiful bones and skin.. where skin represents inner and bones represent outer beauty. The righteous general who don't have any ambitions and desires other than protecting and serving the country. Is he icy-cold.. mhmm nope. He's loving, caring, and warm when it comes to loved ones. Maybe this side is mostly for Shiyi.. his most beloved disciple. I loved how consistent his character was... he knows his limits, the boundaries he can't cross. He was flawed, he made some wrong decisions but every decision was worth it... right or wrong.
As always Allen never disappoints in acting. He lived Zhou Sheng Chen fully... where he never actually got a chance to express what he feels through words, but even though you can feel every emotion he has gone through just by looking at his face. The transaction of a general who has no regrets for what he has sacrificed throughout his whole life, to the person who may regret his decision but can't even express his regret or change anything just for the loyalty and his righteous nature. And you can just see through all this through eyes.. no need for words to understand what he's going through. A tear in the corner of his eyes hit more than bawling.
Shiyi and Zhou Sheng Chen my most favorite fictional couple... not just because of wonderful chemistry, their love was purest and heart-piercing. The love that doesn't need words or intimacy... even gaze, the small gesture, the embrace is enough to see their affection. Their eyes speak, the way they look at each other. The most caring and loving gaze, with time it becomes painful. The development between their relationship was natural and realistic.. where you encounter different phases. The age gap is there but not the awkward one, even though it's not physically visible, but an early stage you can see the difference intellectually. And this couple is everything.. they deserve every happiness more than anything.
As I said before the cinematography is just mesmerizing, in the technical aspects its perfection, the camera work, color grading, and even the styling are never disappointed. I would appreciate especially for Shiyi as drama includes different transactions of her life, and those are well compiled with her styling.
The music is brilliant, soothing... and sad, yes it makes you sad, the lyrics, composition everything. It manages to enhance every sentiment.
I had soft corners for dramas that make me cry... yes I'm a bit weird lol. I had a good cry but I'm not being any generous towards rating because of it, it deserves it!
Why re-watchable value is high? I'm sure gonna watch it.. whenever I'll feel my life sucks or I have the worst difficulties. This can be the best consolation, but yeah especially all moments between couple are highly re-watchable.
Hereby One and Only has become my most favorite historical... with my most favorite couple Zhou Sheng Chen who has the most beautiful bones and Cui Shiyi who has the most beautiful smile :)
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This review may contain spoilers
The Princess’s Gumboot more like…
NB. Unlike the majority of my reviews this one contains mild spoilers.To be honest, this drama suffered even more from the comparison to Nirvana in Fire which I’ve just finished watching. I described that as “sophisticated and intelligent” but unfortunately this one is lame, painful and naive. In reality it is a romance in the enemies to lovers trope wrapped up in an intrigue/mystery plot that has about as much twist and tension as a scrunchy. Because whatever happens, you know beforehand that it won’t cause much of a problem to our dashing, devilish hero who will emerge shining bright like a TRESemmé ad with his wig still immaculate.
How do I know that? Because a good plot is one where the odds have real bite and there is both winning and losing, so that the audience is left insecure. But when death is the only stake from the get go, two things become obvious: firstly there will be no gradual increasing of tension and anticipation, only more of the same; and secondly, the hero/heroine can never lose, whatever the circumstances; come hell fire, explosions, high water, incompetent assassins, miracle survivals, impossible escapes and of course, the compulsory memory loss.
Another consequence is a stupid, one dimensional villain, who has to mess it up every time. The character of Prince Wu You was bafflingly extreme and contradictory but not to worry, he was just the aperitif and was soon replaced by another one. Unfortunately, Prince Wu Yin was cut from the same cookie dough but had an added creepily erotic nanny fetish over the linchpin villain of the piece, whose most notable feature was her absence from the majority of the drama. The loss of the only credible villain, Meng Hui Jin about a third of the way through was a sad day for the plot. One wonders if having an opponent equal to the task was something the writer was not skilled enough to handle.
I wasn’t convinced by the love story either. In fact the writer’s level of emotional literacy throughout, especially in the characters of the villains, hovered around zero. If on first encountering someone they try to kill you, just believe me when I say, you really are never going to trust that person again. Then heap on top of that a huge number of dodgy scenarios and a great deal of warranted mistrust and you have an unredeemable situation. So to think that these psychological obstacles could in some way be cast aside (however much two people lust after each other) is totally naive and snuggled-up-safe-in-bed fantasy-land imagining. And there you have it, I suppose I’m just too old and grounded in reality to appreciate this style of storytelling. I assume that this is a known fact to people who choose to read my reviews (and I’m genuinely grateful to you for being one of them), so no surprises here, lol.
This wasn’t a low budget love story. There was a cast of thousands, a big costuming budget and all the trimmings which were on constant display (they’d got them, so they might as well use them type of attitude). Which might go some way to explaining why our intrepid heroine felt it necessary to still wear a barnet full of ornaments and a silk gown whilst rough travelling hundreds of miles on horseback to rescue her brother. But despite all that jingling finery, the drama still didn’t make the cut because the script and the plot was sooo bad.
It began with a perfectly acceptable high stakes drama (if I was generous, a 7.5) and then, almost purposefully, slid down the long slippery slope to end in the farce that was the coronation scene (now plummeted to a 5) before falling apart completely (which is how we arrived at 4). There were too many threads that were hanging loose and not bound together into a cohesive narrative. The last three episodes felt like having to clean up after a party—washing up the characters, vacuuming out the various plot rooms and polishing off the last dregs in the wine bottle just so you can keep going.
As for the dialogue, it was superficial, explainy and lacked any sort of subtlety or emotional intelligence. When characters start explaining their backstory to people who lived it with them, then you know the writer was chucking an all-nighter to get the scene finished before the dawn shoot and patch the holes made by the scenes that got cut earlier on. This happened throughout, but most cringeworthy was Empress Lv in Episode 34.
The acting wasn’t anything to write home about either. But then it’s difficult to excel with banal lines and wooden direction. It’s hard to pick a winner but I’ll back Lui Ling Zi’s performance as probably the best of a very average bunch.
And the soundtrack? Was there one? I’ve forgotten…
However, to end with, there are one or two things that attracted a favourable response from me. I really like the sets for this drama. Particularly the gambling den, with its rich colouring and ambitious costumes. Also the cinematography followed through on that theme, with some dramatic lighting that provided an interesting visual feast (which saved it from a 3.5).
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This review may contain spoilers
A drama that will give you a roller coaster ride
This is just my personal opinion.. but I completely love and drown to the story. No matter how many people hate or dissappointed with the story line, disagree with the way the production team change the script writer, or many people said they stop watching it in the middle of the story.. but I totally want to give a standing applause for the drama production team for giving me a rollercoaster ride in every episode. Pardon me if this review is long.. but the drama deserves another perspective also.Here some reasons why I recommend this drama:
1. Outstanding acting. No doubt the 3 main leads are awesome! You’ll find out that each of them can play 2 different characters very well. It’s not easy but they are successfully convey the emotion, habit, eye sight, movement. They all beautiful and perfect to be chosen for each character.
2. I believe that Love is an emotional thing. It’s beyond your logic. So do not blame how the story will bring you to an unexpected ending. Again... love is not something that make sense sometimes. I can understand Sa Bin’s choice at the end. Try to see the big picture.. do not focus on our personal taste about the male lead. I truly love these 2 male leads.. and whoever she will be end up with, the guy is deserve it. Each of them are not perfect.. each of them have secrets and lies. They have their own big mistake. But there’s 1 thing that is similar.. it is their willingness to sacrifice everything for love.
3. This story will make you fall in love with each male lead, and headache, heartache at the same time. LOL. It contains a lot of bitter facts and unfair situationalso.
It shows you the love-hate relationship between main leads. It surely can give you pain when you tried to understand each character’s secrets and lies.
If you put your shoes in each character.. yes, they are surrounded with criminals, stalker or psychopat. But you will also find a passionate, bittersweet and possesive love as well.
Last but not least... I don’t think it is a romantic comedy story... It is a crime thriller yet bloody romantic. It’s a fantasy about reincarnation and how the ill fate bring all of them get entangled. So do not expect everything will be perfect, beautiful with unicorn and rainbow things. Hang on.. and get ready to feel the sensation of rollercoaster ride like me. Haha..
No matter what... there will be people in the story who will be hurted and feel unfair. But I finally understand that the definition of “fate” itself was totally wrong for Hyunbin and Haeun. If Hyunbin can be more honest back then about how he was accidentally killed her parents.. and she can accept it.. then they can continue the journey as couple in the next life.
But actually Hyunbin is no better than Jichul who have his own bitter memories and hurtful secret to be known by the girl. If Jichul ever tried to murder someone for the girl he loved, then Hyunbin is actually do the same in the next life when he shoot Jongbum’s head, thinking it is necessary to save the girl.
I don’t think the girl keep changing her own minds or 2 timing about her feeling. She just confuse and it make sense after all, because the 2 male leads gave her the same big and crazy love, but each of them show it in different ways with different definition of true love. At the end.. each male lead willing to suffer and sacrife everything for the female lead happiness.. no matter who will be chosen.
At first.. I thought the ideal story is for Sabin and Sohyuk to be together after the romeo and juliet scene in the past and how they meet again and giving us a playing hard to get moment in the next life. But.. the more the story is continue... the more I asked myself.. “have you ever think about how much Jichul or Jongbum suffering and sacrifice for her.. It is an unconditional, egois, dominant, loyal, passionate and uncontrollably romance.” It’s not crazy. He just starving to find love and family.
Love is something that will not always give you heartbeats but also heartache.
So the one who made the same missunderstanding, clumsy choices, and wrong judgement about the criminals (based on his own logic) is Hyunbin and Soohyuk. Meanwhile the one who trust her intuition and keep struggling to trust her feeling is Haeun and Sabin.
However the one who was being humiliated, feel rejected, under bad timing and get all the blame is Jichul and Jongbum. And he decide to continue his journey to wait, dedicating his whole life for the girl and at the end... still sacrifice to give his heart (life) for the girl. I pity him... but the ending is really give him a sign of a good path.
This story reminds me with a K-drama entitled “Doctor Stranger” (they have the same female lead as well), from the story, music & songs, until the tragic side of the story kinda give you the typical feeling. The plot is quite complicated, and heavy but very detail... and the cinematography is awesome.
Anyway.. all of this is just my personal thought. I hope you can at least trying to watch it until the end before make a judgement. But again... this story is successfully influence our heart. I hope I can see another collaboration with the same casts in different drama ;)
Well... Jongbum won the heart of Sabin, but Soohyuk won the heart of all of us as the audience as well ~<3
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The drama starts with bits and pieces of the two worlds, with an overwhelming number of characters (and their dopplegangers, which you may or may not recognize--). There's a lot of foreshadowing going on, as well as important details that will come in handy later on. Hence I suggest that while you're watching, you may want to subscribe to an analysis/explanation YouTuber or something (I had the benefit of being able to understand the Taiwanese YouTubers who did episode-by-episode analyses afterward. It helped me tremendously after ep 7 or 8).
Midway through the drama, things really start coming together and then the originally-slow storyline starts picking up. I think it took me til ep 9 or 10 to really appreciate the complexity and the plot development of this drama -- we follow Lee Gon on an unpredictable puzzle-solving journey to piece together how this world works and how he can save the world from being ruined by Lee Rim.
After finishing the last episode, I began my rewatch journey and suddenly *everything I saw in the first few episodes made sense.* After learning who's who, it's a lot easier to see the significance of every detail presented at the beginning and how everything fell into place at the end. Hence this isn't a one-watch drama -- it's something where after you go through it once to get the gist of it, you will want to go through again to pick up clues to the puzzle and interesting little details that didn't make sense without context.
The main love line didn't make sense to me (since I'm not a huge "destiny/fate" person and the character development wasn't that convincing). However, you will want to keep watching the show just to see how the other characters' relationships develop, and how Lee Gon strives to defeat the evil. There's so much going on with all the characters that having a faulty main lead romance won't kill the drama. Until the drama picked up, I totally watched it for Jo Yeong x Eun Seop. Favorite bromance. Amidst all the killing/deaths, the scriptwriter also did not forget to put appropriate comedic relief, so I found myself laughing a lot during the show.
Gotta commend the acting -- Woo Do hwan and Kim Go-eun especially, who had multiple characters to play. I really hope they win acting awards (and that Tae-ra is just a foreshadow of what will happen in real life next year ;)
The OST was also great. Not as great as Goblin, but I would put this on repeat.
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PLOT:” Achiara is a small and peaceful village in the Korean countryside where nobody commits crime ; not other parts of Korea where a mysterious serial killer kills people on “Rainy Wednesday”. That’s what people say to Han Soo Yoon, the new English teacher, when she arrives from Canada. Unfortunately, the shy Soo Yoon discovers a corpse right away! Seeking the truth in Achiara is not simple: everyone has a secret or a reason to hate and threat someone….
One of the many things I really appreciate is the absence of romance/story line: no distractions, no useless moments or stupid parts! Also there aren’t many characters with side stories: dragging level is like 0%.
ACTING: to be honest, at first I didn’t like Moon Geun Young’s acting and way of playing Han Soo Yoon ^^” I thought she was emotionless and below average but, episode after episode, I realized that she probably is the only actress in Korea able to portray this kind of character: shy, scared, with low self-esteem. However I can’t totally say she did a great job; the other actors did WAY better than her
BTOB’s Joung Jae, for example, impressed me in a positive way (also because he’s only 20 years old…) and I read that many Koreans thought he was a professional actor, not an idol. Actresses Jang So Yeon, Shin Eun Gyeong and actor Choi Jae Woong did a wonderful job too
REWATCH VALUE: I wouldn’t rewatch it because I already know who the culprit is but I think this is a series that everyone MUST watch soon or later!
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Extremely Terrible Story Line
I normally don't write reviews. But this drama is so astoundingly, record-breakingly bad that I had to break my own record and write a review for once. I'm usually pretty generous with my ratings, I don't normally score anything under 7. So giving this a 3 means that I literally cannot stand this drama.To be clear, I found this drama to be bad from the start. But I pushed through because people kept saying it gets better (also because I can never find myself dropping a drama no matter how bad it is). Unfortunately, it never really gets better. I did find the drama a bit more bearable around episode 26 / 27 and thought I was going to finally be okay with the drama. But then I continued watching and it just turned out to be even worse.
Acting - Okay to start off, I don't really have major problems with the acting. It's not spectacular, but it's decent, watchable. As a fan of Zhao Li Ying though, I have to say her acting in this one is not on par with her own standard. There were some parts when you could tell that she wasn't really mentally there because she was just staring off into space. Just by looking at her eyes, you can tell she has spaced out. And that she's tired. She looks really tired and slightly aged in this drama. Maybe she made her comeback too early, I don't know.
Characters - Oh my God. There were just way too many dumb characters. Apart from Zhou Fei and Xie Yun (and maybe head of Disha Shen Tian Shu) all the other characters are pretty dumb. Li Yan gets the award for stupidest character in this drama. She's just so annoying. She cannot fight, doesn't have any common sense, is extremely naive, always gets into trouble and yet she always insists on tagging along. I'm just done with her. All the other characters feel a bit bland too. I think Li Sheng is the only character who had some sort of character development. He changed, still cannot fight really well and does occasionally dumb stuff but he became a bit more logical and mature I guess. But the other characters? No good character development.
A lot of the side characters like Third Prince and that young master from I forgot what mini sect serve no purpose other than being dumb and creating trouble for Zhou Fei and Xie Yun again and again and again and again. Some characters like the generals are honestly pretty useless too. I feel like they supposedly played some important role in the war or something but I always just forget who they're supposed to be. Zhou Fei's parents are also MIA for most of the drama, so again they don't really contribute much.
Story - This is what I have the biggest problem with. Right from the very start, there were way too many supporting characters with their own stories. There were way too many sub-plots that you can't even make out what the main story line is supposed to be. As the story progresses, they (slowly) start to focus less on the sub-plots but by then, you're so confused you still don't know what the story is. And then you get to the middle and you realize that maybe the story line is about this highly coveted treasure / artifact / god-knows-what called Hai Tian Yi Se. So what exactly is Hai Tian Yi Se? You will only find out in the second last episode because guess what? None of the characters know what Hai Tian Yi Se is either!! Yay, so nice. Is this supposed to make viewers more curious and drawn to find out more? Because it only made me frustrated. Also, I don't know if I missed it or what but they never really explain in detail about the tokens of Hai Tian Yi Se is either. It's like just some casual comments here and there about the lock, about the sheath etc. So here I am, having finished the drama and I still don't quite know what the full 5 tokens are :/ I don't think I've ever been so lost while watching a drama. I'm usually the one thinking "have you guys not been paying attention?!" when I see people commenting asking when something happened or asking to confirm something that has already been confirmed in the drama. But with this drama, I'm the one going "wait what is going on? did they already explain this cause i'm lost and i don't know what is happening". They also casually miss out some stuff like whatever the hell happened to Chu Chu's brother? They just casually forgot about him.
Here are also some of the other stupid stuff that they did throughout the drama + about the drama:
- too many flashbacks that make no sense
- having really really long flashbacks in the middle of the battle???
- talking in the middle of the battle
- escaping but then stopping halfway to start chatting and joking around
- Zhou Fei constantly breaking her blades (this never happens in other wuxia dramas but she breaks her blades like nobody's business)
- Zhou Fei and Xie Yun acting cheeky and lovey dovey when there's dead bodies around them (no, the dead bodies aren't even of the villains. THOSE ARE DEAD BODIES OF PEOPLE ON THEIR SIDE)
- catching up to the villain but not killing them immediately, letting the villain escape so they can wreck more havoc in the future
- DOING ALL THE WORK FOR THE BAD GUYS AND LETTING THEM WALK AWAY WITHOUT A FIGHT WHAT THE HELL
As a viewer, struggling to even make out what the main storyline is, IS THE WORST THING EVER! That is a sign of extremely bad storytelling. Need I say more? (No.)
Music - Personally, I don't hate the OSTs. I might even have liked it if not for the fact that I am so repulsed by this drama that I can't even bring myself to like the OSTs.
Production quality - Yeah the editing is pretty bad. Some of it doesn't even make any sense, like they just cut off the scene without any elaboration or explanation or follow up scene. Also there were some parts when they blurred out the face of the body double?? WHAT EVEN
In conclusion, it's a terrible drama. If eye candy is enough to satisfy you, or if you're just here for the romance, sure go ahead then. But if you don't care for the above two, don't bother watching.
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I can say that this is really worth watching for. Even though I was little sad that there are scenes that I like that wasn't included. I guess they just give emphasize to the important ones. Also, my feelings wasn't totally moved. Maybe because I already know the story that's why I wasn't totally moved.
About actors~ Ohhhhhhhhh!! They are so great! I salute them! They really done a great job especially kenshin!!!! He is so cool, handsome and cute!!! Love him x)
The way he express is just right, love it. Same as the same characters, the expressions are totally right. Although kaoru and Megumi are cute unlike in anime which are matured. Kaoru and Megumi wasn't able to absorb the 100% characteristic in the anime. But they did their job well too :D Sano is not really tall, but with his big muscles I guess that's enough. Anyway, they were really great :D
Music, I love the music and background music. It suits the movie. the sound effects were great too.
Anyway, I give it all 10! It was great~ Worth watching~ ^-^
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Hopefully Netflix has season 2 that would be dope.
Would definitely rewatch it! 10/10 for me considering I binge-watched 40 episodes in 2 days!!!
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Irresistible Love: Secret of the Valet
19 people found this review helpful
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This review may contain spoilers
A Beautifully Painful Drama Of Life
This drama caught me off guard. Not with plot twists or flashy romance, but with its honesty. It’s a slice of life, but the kind that doesn’t taste sweet all the time. It’s a little burnt around the edges, soft in the middle. Real.Cheng Le Le is in her 40s, doing stand-up comedy that barely stands on its own. So she works part-time at a convenience store too. That’s her life. Not a dream, not a tragedy. Just life. Her story unfolds around the people in her orbit, her dad who believes in aliens, two friends who shouldn’t make sense together but somehow do, a husband she once loved, maybe still does in some quiet corner of her heart. But deosnt matter as the marriage life is near its end.
There’s no climax. No victory lap. Just roads she has to walk. Because life doesn’t come with a final destination. It flows. Sometimes like a river, sometimes like a flood. And when loss comes, no amount of preparation saves you from breaking. What hurts even more is when you realize you have to keep walking, even when your legs don’t know this new path.
The show was labeled with a healing tag, but don’t believe that. No one heals here. Not in the way we want. They endure. They laugh, they cry, sometimes in the same scene. And I cried with them. For joy. For grief. For being alive.
That’s the thing about Taiwanese dramas. They’re too real. They don’t pretend. They remind you you’re human, beautifully, painfully human. And I love them for that. Even when I say I hate them.
I was especially grateful this wasn’t about some teenager/20-something figuring out life. This was about a woman who’s already halfway through it, still stumbling, still unsure, still trying. Cheng Le Le is not your ideal protagonist, and that’s what makes her perfect. She’s ordinary, unpolished. She turns her pain into punchlines, not healing. Just survival.
And her dad—what a character. He says, “Being childish for your whole life is quite an achievement.” And he’s right. I’m going to hold onto that. But let’s not pretend his life was all sunshine and UFOs. His sadness was there too, packed deep inside, not hidden from us, but from himself. I liked him. I really did. And like Cheng Le Le, I’ll keep looking for aliens after him.
His death was a quiet, painful unraveling. But the harder part was watching her feel it. That kind of grief lingers. It lingers even now.
Visually, the drama is stunning. Not dramatic. Just beautiful in the way reality is, natural light, soft shadows, warm colors that bleed into everyday spaces. The kind of cinematography that makes you feel like you’re there.
And this line will stay with me:
“Others call their dads superheroes, but I call mine an alien. He always said the universe is infinite, and humans are insignificant. We should take it easy in life. However, he forgot to tell me, humans exist in the world, and humans are complicated.”
What a beautiful, aching piece of work.
8 out of 10
And a piece of my heart with it.
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