Reviews

Can't judge a book by its cover.

Judge Dee is one of the most widely adapted and iconic ancient Chinese detective figures in popular culture. Di Renjie, or Judge Dee was a prominent Tang Dynasty official and twice chancellor to Empress Wu Tzetian. In the 19th century, Dutch sinologist and diplomat Robert Van Gulik translated an 18th century novel by an anonymous author Dí Gōng Àn/狄公案/Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, into English. He went on to write numerous other Judge Dee mysteries, increasingly crafting Judge Dee in his own image. Van Gulik's books are regarded as a cultural bridge between East and West. They were devoured by the Chinese diaspora long before Tsui Hark fanned the flames with his wildly popular Detective Dee movies.

Judge Dee's Mystery/大唐狄公案 loosely adapts nine cases from Van Gulik's novels for the small screen. This drama has notably high production values with lavish sets and costumes designed to create an immersive visual experience. The cases are well crafted with meticulous attention to detail and pay homage to Judge Dee's reputation as a people's hero; a champion of truth and justice for the common people. The cases highlight the discontent at some of Empress Wu's policies and shortcomings of the Tang Code, China's earliest legal code. Di Renjie gained many insights on the struggles and aspirations of the common citizens as magistrate of many important provinces across the empire. This shaped him into a great statesman and reformer in his later years; a chancellor often known to stand up to the formidable Empress.

This is the kind of drama that I should love - its my favorite genre featuring my favorite Chinese detective, set in my favorite Chinese dynasty and is helmed by a few of my favorite actors. The fight scenes are fantastic and the whole thing just looks gorgeous and bloody expensive. Which just goes to show you, you just can't judge a book by its cover. Because even though there are some really great moments, overall this drama just bored me silly.

The problem with the cases is that the four episode are too long when the villain is usually obvious from the beginning. There is not enough development of the suspects or the victims to make the audience care about the why-did-it. The audience also does not get to participate in the solution. Instead, the intricacies of the how-did-its are revealed as flashbacks in Judge Dee's mind's eye. The cases do get better in the latter half as they tie into Judge Dee's past and are shored up by the appearance of characters like Diao Xiaoguan (Zhang Ruoyun) and Lin Fan (Jiang Yi). Even then, the writing tends to tie the minute details together well while leaving big gaps on important things. Thus it is never fully explained what Diao Xiaoguan's motives were or what terrible thing the young scion of a noble household did that got him disowned and left to fend for himself.

The biggest issue with this drama is that Zhou Yiwei pretty much carries the entire crime-solving team by himself. None of the supporting characters are well designed and there is zero chemistry between Ma Rong, Qiao Tai and Judge Dee. This is made even more obvious when Deng Xiaoguan shows up and there is a tangible difference in the dynamics between everyone. Both of Dee's sidekicks appear and disappear inexplicably in the middle of a case as and when the plot requires. Ma Rong is written to be a comically obnoxious character but there is nothing funny about her obnoxiousness. This is the obvious the weak link in the cast and one that is utterly lacking in charisma that unfortunately gets too much airtime. Inasmuch as Zhou Yiwei and Wang Likun deliver a heart-stopping and mature portrayal of attraction and love at first sight, sadly Cao An is written to be a blank character; an elegant musician well past her youth clinging to a silly girlish fantasy over a highwayman (face palm). She only serves decorative purposes until the final case, where she finally gets to shine with her bravery and her foolishness.

In conclusion, this is a visually stunning production that stays true to its source material in terms of setting and thematic elements. However, despite some exciting and well choreographed action scenes, it fails to deliver truly captivating mysteries and is bogged down by lackluster supporting performances. While the cases in Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty (2022) are only a tad more tightly written, the humor and fantastic crime solving team dynamic elevates that series over this one. That said, Judge Dee's Mystery is not a terrible way to pass some time even though it ultimately falls short of making a lasting impression. I rate this Seasons 1 a 7.5/10.0. Season 2 has been filmed and should air by early 2025.

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Going back in the past, to some it might hurt but the past before our present made us the great person we are right now.

I liked watching Reply 1994 because of the great acting of the casts, and the OSTs. WOW. Totally great. I downloaded the OSTs of this drama and the songs are really good to listen especially if you're having stress or doing something. Besides the OSTs, you can feel the "freshness", and the feeling of "youth" in the drama.

As usual, we have the "Love Triangle". That's what the story is all about. Finding out the "who" in the end. But, the story-line is somehow special, connecting the past to the present. The wonderful memories of the freshness of the youth.

Go Ara's character is a strong yet sweet girl, and she really portrayed it well. She had a loyal heart who only sought one man in her heart, which made it unfair for the second man involved in the Love Triangle.

But what's more amazing in this drama is the creativity of the director. There are three stuff toys that shows in almost every episode, notice their positions, and you'll see that they are sort of like weather forecasts on what will happen next.



Overall, this is a good drama and I recommend it to you.

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Sunshine truly worths the name with a mature and slow- burn romance.

🍁OVERVIEW OF PLOT:

The plot tells the story of female director who divorced her husband at the age of 36 'cause he is a scumbag. A 26 year old boy fall for her at their very first meeting when they met 10 years back 'cause she is the director who filmed his father for public advertisement which increases his respect towards his father's profession and give him motivation to study arts and design to motivate and aware society toward the hard workers.


🍁PACE OF STORY AND CHEMISTRY:

The drama has a slow pace and falls in the category of slow burn romance with many sweet and hilarious moments at times and ends with a happy ending. It kept me hooked to it from the very first episode as I like slow- burn romance very much. There is not much skinship and chemistry between leads is average.


🍁ACTING AND CHARACTERS:

🌿Sheng Yang : He is a hardworking, sensible, talented, warm-hearted person and has a great sense of humour . He is good at communication and don't give up easily whether to pursue his love or to build his career on his own. Xiao Zhan did a great job in portraying Sheng Yang with his natural looking acting and amazing emotion delivery just even by his face expressions. This character shows a development from being a little immature to purely mature without losing his basic character traits I mentioned above.

🌿Jian Bing : She is a brave woman who has courage to divorce her husband in her middle age after being married for 10 years. Her father was also a scumbag like her husband and she witnessed her father's dirty deeds at the age of 12. She told her mother about that but not long after she never seen her mother happy again and witnessed her death. It gives her a trauma and she started to hate her father but hated and blamed herself more for telling all that to her mother and begun to think that all adults' relationship is like this, so it takes her many years to divorce her husband. She is also a warm-hearted person and knows how to deal with tough situations with calmness and intellect. She became a very professional director and started her own company with her husband and best friend, even after divorcing him she kept personal and professional life seperate and continued their cooperation in company. She is a strong character and not like clingy, naive and childish female leads in most C-dramas. Bai Bai He did a praiseworthy job in portraying this character with natural acting.

Other characters are also pretty good other than the hockey couple, they really get on my nerves and I skipped every time they were on the screen. I don't understand why they were in the drama, just useless and waste of screen time.

Sheng Yang's parents are very reasonable, understanding and hilarious characters. They showed all the real concerns about relationship and financial problems very well. Sheng Yang's friends also showed a growth in character especially Pan Rou. The thing I don't like in drama is that they portray her scumbag ex-husband and father in a funny way and toned down the seriousness of cheating in a relationship.


🍁OST AND COSTUMES:

OSTs are average not very good and costumes and makeup are decent.


🍁CONCLUSION:

This drama is very down to earth and shows the real challenges in a person's life when it comes to relationship or career with a touch of healthy humour. It doesn't show a fully fantasized world but promotes hardwork, better communication and intellectual decisions. When other dramas just show us the importance of better communication to avoid misunderstandings, this drama tells us how to do it. Purely a mature romance drama. The leads needs each other. For Sheng Yang, Jian Bing brought a ray of increased respect and a new way of thinking in his life and as for Jian Bing, Sheng Yang brought a new hope and happiness in her life after an unsuccessful marriage and childhood trauma.

I would definitely recommend this drama to give it a try although it may seems to be boring to many people but it relies on deep understanding.

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The Ten Commandments of KBLs

These are the commandments that have been handed down to us by the gods of Korean BLs. They shall be the commandments by which any present and all future KBLs may be judged. (N. B. See below for an explanation of my ratings.)

1. Thou shalt not kiss. Thou shalt not, in any meaningful sense of that word, "kiss". Thou mayst, however, press thy lips against another man’s as thou wouldst a leper’s.

2. Thou shalt not utter the word ‘gay’. For it is a sin. Thou mayst love another man, but if any man shall ask of thee if thou dost, thou mayst answer, “I like not men, I like only you.”

3. Thou shalt refrain from all carnal desires. For it is a sin. The submissive shall resist all attempts at intimacy, and the dominant may not pursue the submissive unless it is known that all his attempts shall prove fruitless. (Aptly mayst thou call this 'ironical'.)

4. Thou shalt respect the difference in height between the dominant and the submissive. Six inches will suffice, a foot too much, three inches too little. As below, so above.

5. Remember thou that there exist only three acceptable settings for a KBL. School, university, and office. For these do encompass all of life. Thou shalt invest thy characters in white jackets with blue borders if at school, leather jackets and hooded sweaters at university, and ill-fitted suits for work.

6. Remember thou that there exist only three acceptable plots for a KBL. Friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, and (adopted) brothers to lovers. Thou shalt entertain no other plots besides these.

7. Thou shalt employ no actor that is not thin, wanting of water, and starved for nutriments. The actors must have defined chests, six (or better yet, eight) pack abdominals, and flawless skin. Thou mayst coat the skin with three inches of wall paint to whitewash all flaws.

8. The writer shall inscribe in each tale at least one instance of timejump, forced separation or miscommunication. The unimaginative shall employ all three.

9. Thou shalt choose from among the following ornaments at least three to embellish thy tale: the slipping towel, the towel bath, an accidental fall or catch, sleeping-beauty false-kiss, somnolent confession, gentle lock-of-hair restoration, alcoholic amnesia, and rain-born fever.

10. Thou shalt by no means indicate homophobia in thy tale — in this, our most homophobic realm — unless it furthereth thy plot and our cynical purpose. Friends and family shall be universally supportive, unless it force a separation between thy characters. Remember thou always that this is a world of pandering fantasy, not reality.

Biblical Proportions:
Commandments Broken: 1 (!!!).
Commandments Obeyed: 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

Ratings:
*For the first commandment broken, I'll add a whole extra star. Again, what?!? They're allowed to do this in KBLs?
*For each of the commandments obeyed, I'll deduct half a point from the story, which brings it down to 1.
*I'll give the cast a 6, purely because I'm in love with Jung Jae Bin. But because I didn't get to see him shirtless, one point deducted. As for Jeon Yu Bin, did he have to look so constipated all the time?
*Was there music in this show? I don't remember.
*I'll give 6 stars for 'rewatch value', because I'm going to watch that kiss over and over and over again.

Reader's Digest:
DO SAY: I am the Lord, thy God.
DON'T SAY: Thou shalt lie with mankind as with womankind. That is love. Scratch that. That's fucking sexy.

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Let's just say I was one of those people who actually wanted to root for this drama. I have never seen Ahn Jae Hyun in anything else but I liked him in the beginning. Playing a vampire does not require a huge acting range. You can act broody and intense without needing to have 10 years' worth of acting experience. The beginning too was good. Finally a take on vampirism where it is an actual medical condition instead of a myth. That was quite interesting, writer-nim. Brownie points to you for that. Ji Sang's youthful looks were because he stopped ageing at some point. And as for the villain, he wanted the whole world to benefit from a condition like vampirism instead of it being treated as some medical evil. I loved your use of rationale in certain cases. I even loved all the information on biochemistry that is relentlessly hurled at the viewer.

But seriously what happened to you after the first 5 episodes? The moment Ji Sang stopped performing surgeries all I saw was him taking leisurely strolls all around the damned hospital and meeting either the Director or Yoo Ri Ta or Min Ga Yeon or Dr Joo, talking about all kinds of useless stuff and nothing else. Hello PD-nim, instead of overloading my brain with information, just show me through actual action. Too much exposition ruins any narrative.
And the romance? Uh why did they fall in love again? I'm sorry I just don't understand. Am I supposed to swoon at them mouthing lines swearing undying love for each other with not an ounce of emotion in them? It seemed like Ri Ta kept throwing herself at Ji Sang who was not even interested. And then all of a sudden, he is interested for lord knows what reason. (Oh wait it's because of their cosmic connection..he saved her from all those bad CG, Twilight-rip-off wolves....oooooh shooo romantic!)
I did not even think their scenes cute.

And somewhere around episodes 8-9 it all went downhill. The same things kept happening on infinite loop. Let me list them -
1)Ji Sang and Director having some kind of confrontational conversation in which sometimes they attack and snarl at each other and sometimes they don't. YAWN!
2)Token romantic scenes between Yoo Ri Ta and Ji Sang which were anything but romantic (who the hell calls their girlfriend/boyfriend 'Doctor Yoo' and 'Chief'?)
3)Walking around the hospital
4)Conversation between Ji Sang and VTH-16 researcher doctor
5)Ji Sang fighting off vampires and mostly getting beaten
6)Chairman and Associate Director having boring passive-aggressive conversations
7)More walking around the hospital
8)Min Ga Yeon and Ji Sang scenes which were too few
9)Patients in ward 21A going bonkers
10)More walking

The only portions I looked forward to where the parts featuring Sister Sylvia, Hyun Woo and Min Ga Yeon and Ji Sang's interactions which were actually genuine and made me feel something for them. They did not come off as forced and contrived unlike the Yoo Ri Ta and Ji Sang scenes. Even Ji Jin Hee couldn't save this trainwreck and he tried his best to make Jae Wook memorable!

And don't even get me started on the ending. What the hell happened? It was like the writer picked out every nonsensical, irrational cliche from the dramaverse and crammed all of them into an hour's worth of time.

Dear writer-nim, do us a favour and DO NOT EVER WRITE A DRAMA AGAIN. I feel like jumping off a bridge after watching that atrocious finale. I want those 20 hours of my life back! And this is coming from a busy person who no longer has sufficient time to watch all the K dramas she wants to watch.

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Cliches overload - the whole system crashed.

There is nothing wrong with cliches, I love them. If they are well placed and executed in a proper manner they elevate the drama to new heights. Here it felt like they started throwing everything in the second half hoping something would stick - most did not.

Dynamite Kiss had a phenomenal start. The right amount of cliches, with a perfect ratio of little twists and changes to make it refreshing. Ji Hyeok was technically this “cold rich male lead”, but he was also extremely goofy with a puppy heart. Ko Da Rim was technically this good hearted and pure female lead, but she was also surprisingly assertive and witty. I was able to enjoy the cliche plots with fun characters that are so loveable it’s hard to look away.

The first half gave me nice characters, great comedy, butterflies inducing moments, pinning and well structured internal and external conflicts. The second half just gave me a lot of stupidity and I’m annoyed it mostly affected the female lead - at least make everyone equally dumb.

About Da Rim… It went beyond being naive, she was simply stupid. The disrespect the writer shows towards her character in the second half is embarrassing. To ruin the lead just to push forward a mediocre plot is never a good choice. I started the show loving how unapologetically good she was, to get disappointed when they turned that goodness into dumb naivety. What they did was make her strength into her weakness - which, with good writing, could be a great character development, but the writing here was simply not that good.

While Ji Hyeon was not as infuriating, he was equally disappointing by the end. The drama opened with a solid internal conflict he had about his feelings towards who he thought was a married woman, to make him somehow the most stagnant character with little to no growth or development. Why? Because he did not really need it - he was a good guy with smarts, drive and loyalty to his people - that’s boring, that’s bad writing.

Truth to be told, I think there was far more nuance in writing for both second leads compared to the mail pair. I liked how they gave us a nice presentation of different priorities people have, and how someone with and without a child sees the same situation in a completely different light. There are things you can do and situations you can jump into with not much consideration when you do not have a child, but you need to be far more conscious when you are a parent.

Yoo Ha Yeong was probably my favorite character. At first she might seem like a spoiled princess, but she is hardworking, driven, honest and nice. And I love how she was not without flaws - being way too pushy and getting herself involved way too much into other people’s lives. While it created many heartwarming moments, it also gave me a bit of a discomfort at the back of my mind.

Putting aside separate characters, what I truly adored about the drama was the mother’s team which was the best part hands down. I like how they were not from the start showed as this savvy workers who were just overlooked by society - they were in fact not that interested in working hard at the office and at times felt entitled, but with good leadership from Da Rim every one of them changed for the better and was able to understand they are more than just mothers and appreciate each other for who they are outside of that life role. Sometimes we are so focused on who we are expected to be, we do not appreciate who we can become.

I do believe the writing for the positive things was nice, but a failure in terms of the villains so my question is: why even bother including them? Why did we even get that plotline when the shorter drama without it would be so much better? Ji Hyeok's father, sister and Tae Yeong were just stock characters with no value. The villain's arc was neither set up nor developed well. It was laughably bad and useless. Waste of screen time.

If they kept the conflict more concentrated on Ji Hyeok's family dynamics between him, his father and his mother and how it impacts his relationship with Da Rim, his work life, life choices - what a good story it would be. But no, we need some typical business shenanigans because why not. I truly wish Ji Hyeok's mother had more presence in the drama. As much as her story was heartbreaking, I also enjoyed her journey the most out of all the characters.

For the core of the drama - the romance. I loved the initial "misunderstanding" between the leads and how some people were in on it and some were completely clueless - many different interesting dynamics came out of it.
The relationship was fine, but I do feel the best part was actually the part where they were not together.

For the production, I will start with an extremely random note - I both loved and hated the styling for Ahn Eun Jin. She looked stunning. All the outfits were pretty and highlighted her beauty. Did the majority of these outfits belong to the office setting for a woman who pretends to be a mother of a kindergarten kid? No. I am sorry, but no big office would be like: ah yes wear that mini skirt and crop top to the office, that’s completely appropriate. Still, she did look amazing so I’m only half mad.

The show is pretty, like any other kdrama - they are all pretty in the exact same way. I understand there are filming and editing trends, but sometimes just following trends is not enough.

The soundtrack though? Perfect for a rom-com. Some of my favorite songs: Weny’s Say You Love Me, Sondia’s Love Is, BBGIRLS’ Don’t Give It Up (the best one if you ask me).

Was the acting good? Yes. Was it good enough to save this drama? No. At the same time, I believe the only thing that could save it is a completely different script for the second half. That said, I am glad it put Jung Ga Hee on my radar, looking forward to seeing her in more, hopefully leading roles.

Overall, Dynamite Kiss gives me a kid who got excited for the new hobby and gave up half way through. The writers need to ask themselves not only: how do we get from point A to point B in the plot, but also - will this journey in that format make any sense?

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To All The Boys I've Loved Before

Gyu Ho was God's apology to Go Young for all the boys he'd loved before, and I cried when he fumbled that blessing for a half eaten hamburger. But, thank God they met again in that bar, moved in together to the new place and decided to get married in the finale. #heartheart XDXDXD

Listen, this drama coming from SK in itself is a wonder. I went into this with high anticipation and I wasn't disappointed. I enjoyed it a lot. I liked the characters, the story, the education it gave me when it came to Kylie, and how realistic it was. I laughed, cried, and related so hard in some parts, I cried some more.

Go Young had three main lovers, one who was too boring to take karaoke-ing, a pretentious prick who came with a side of abs and left scars, and a happy-go-get it boy who wanted a home, and broke our hearts when he left the one he found. Let me explain.

MR SPLENDID:
Listen, Go Young and Nam Gyu could have worked. Sure, he was slow, a classic and drove like his grandmother, but my man was committed and serious. Frankly, I thought he was fast... he pulled out that ring faster than my internet connection. He genuinely loved Go Young. A bit obsessed, sure, but he came off as someone who loved with all his heart, and I felt sad when he was turned down, again and again. In the end, even his marinated crabs got rejected...poor guy. This is another guy, Go Young fumbled, and it's sad he only realised that when it was too late. Also, are we going to ignore the reason he was speeding or... anyway, rip.

MR. ACTIVIST:
Yeong Su was a fun hating, people pleasing, pretentious bummer! God, I couldn't stand his arse. Yes, I have eyes and went dayummm Susan, come here often?? And that table sexy time scene was... but damn, that brother sucked! I literally wanted to throw rocks at his head whenever he was on screen. Dafug you mean you don't celebrate Halloween because of its history and you look down on people who do? And the mfker even hated pasta. I clapped when Go Young finally clocked him, and threw his stupid arse case study away in the trash. I couldn't get why Go Young didn't see that glaring red flag, and kept letting himself be hurt to the point he took those meds. But then I understood, some hurt goes deeper than others. Either way, he was a beef cake, but if I ever see his arse on the street, it's on sight.

MR. NURSE
Gyu Ho, Gyu Ho, Gyu Ho, how I would have loved to be friends with you. Sure, they were not perfect, and his dingdong went on and off like a light bulb whenever they were doing the devil's tango--protected, but, these two were my main ship and I loved every moment with them. In the end, I understood that Go Young was scared, and perhaps wasn't sure why Gyu Ho was so accepting of Kylie and didn't even seem to care about it. Perhaps he didn't trust that Gyu Ho was truly okay with it, and that's why he had one foot out the door and took the first chance to accept their broken fate, but I still cried. They were in-tuned with each other, and Gyu Ho finally seemed so happy to have found him. In my head, I am full on delulu, and imagining them living together with a dog.

Anyway, I also liked the friendship between Choi Mi Ae and Go Young. I was sad when they had a fallen out, brought back memories of all the friends that were everything at one point, and then... we sort of dimmed out. Seeing their friendship from start to finish brought back memories that added to the tears.

All-in-all, a great show that many dramas and bl lovers would enjoy. It's a realistic portray and the ending would knock you back into reality. I highly recommend it. Kudos to the cast, especially Nam Yoon Su who did his thing. My man was on, and I loved him for it. I can't wait to see their future works.

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Let life be beautiful like summer flowers...

This tantalizing and poignant love story captures the spirit of carpe diem. It opens with a young girl's chance encounter at the hair salon. She is aroused by a strong and silent stranger from the way he caresses her ears and washes her hair. For most girls, it would stop just there; a titillating fantasy not to be acted upon. But He Ran is not like most girls. She throws herself at Xiao Han shamelessly; not one whit bothered that he is well into his prime. Twist and all, this is a simple and very cliched romance plot that hinges on the chemistry between the leads and whether they can convince audiences to root for them.

He Ran's relentless pursuit of Xiao Han can very easily come across as crude and thirsty but Xu Ruohan gets this tricky portrayal mostly right down to the small nuances. She is just an artless young, girl headily experiencing infatuation, desire, and possibly even love for the very first time. She can be incredibly petulant, unreasonable, and childish, like the protected and spoiled little rich girl she is. But she taunts and tempts him with the instinctive provocativeness and burgeoning sensuality of a child-woman. The way she looks at him with her heart in her eyes and the effervescent joy in her smile made me shake my head at the futility of Xiao Han's efforts to evade her charms.

As for Xiao Han, his genuine attempts to resist the ardent allure of this captivating young temptress is just the right touch. He rightly has misgivings - she is too young and they are from different worlds. Xiao Han is a man of few words; a gentle giant who is very still and seemingly unmoved by her attempts to seduce him. Only the smallest microexpressions give him away - the hint of a smile, a tensing of his incredible jawline, a barely perceptible slow sidelong glance, and a whisper of innuendo in his tone. While Xiao Han clearly looks and is more mature, the relationship doesn't come across as exploitative largely because He Ran is the instigator and calls most of the shots. Of course, it helps that Jerry Yan does not look a day over thirty and the only offensive thing about him is how well he wears those sleeveless wife-beater T-shirts.

Their love story unfolds against a lush, almost surreal romantic palette drenched with deep and lush saturated colors of the riotous blooms adorning Xiao Han's intimate seaside home. The couple's sultry chemistry permeates the screen, captured mesmerizingly by the director's avant-garde and sensual visual composition style. The superbly curated soundtrack supercharges the narrative with all the right emotions at every critical juncture. I was invested in their romance the moment I heard the first song, Cantopop hit (半點心 A Drop of Your Heart). At the time, they had barely even met! I am so busy being a Peeping Tom that it takes me a while to notice that the plot doesn't move much. He Ran is just escaping into Xiao Han's world and their relationship is built around "ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies". They are both secretive and repeatedly fail to communicate. Thus despite its addictive beauty, theirs does not bear the hallmarks of a lasting relationship.

He Ran and Xiao Han's relationship shortcomings are amplified by the too coincidental to be true gender reversed second age-gap romance. There the couple actually dares to call each other out and are open about themselves and their doubts and constraints. That said, their initial attraction is too tropey and not convincing and it is a major subplot that develops too late in the main plot line; right after He Ran and Xiao Han's relationship peaks. This long-winded and often boring digression annoyed me and disrupted the momentum of the main romance. Their sizzling chemistry also highlights a more adult passionate intensity that seems missing in He Ran and Xiao Han's encounters.

The Chinese title of this drama 夏花 / Xià Huā or Summer Flowers, comes from Rabindranath Tagore's poem "Let life be beautiful like summer flowers..." After Shakespeare, Tagore is the most widely read and well-loved foreign poet in China. Thus there is already a lot of foreshadowing in the Chinese title. But I think it is not that important how He Ran and Xiao Han's story ends. Because the story's real message is about living in the moment and daring to live and love with no conditions or expectations for the future. That they did and like summer flowers, their love bloomed with wild abandon drenching the earth with the radiant, ecstatic colors of beautiful life. With a little bit of help from Uncle Han, who is just the best fairy godfather ever.

As for the ending, I didn't like it. Not at all. It diminishes both main characters. It is why even though I love many parts of this drama, I can only rate it a 7.5. A better ending would have gotten an 8.0-8.5 from me. I will elaborate on why I am so disappointed in the ending below. It is of course a major spoiler so please don't scroll down if you have not finished watching the drama.









Warning - major ending spoiler way down below.















Major Ending Spoiler

To me killing off a character is a lot better than killing the character of the character. And that is what leaving the door open for some ambiguity does - both He Ran and Xiao Han's characterizations suffer as a consequence. The ending should have been clear and decisive. The drama consistently builds up to it. This loosey-goosey ending makes the timeline messy and creates unnecessary loose ends. Did Xiao Han not accompany He Ran to seek treatment? What about his promise to care for her? Surely he was not growing flowers at home while she was fighting for her life thousands of miles away. But what really takes the cake is He Ran's unreasonable demand that Xiao Han waits for her and loves no one else. It is utterly selfish and insensitive. What if his first love had demanded that of him and he never gave He Ran the time of the day? Dying is easy, it puts her beyond all further suffering and emotion. From then, the suffering begins for the survivors. She sets her mother free but poor Xiao Han is supposed to miss her for the rest of his life? Did she ever even truly love him? Wow! This cop-out ending made me intensely dislike He Ran instead of remembering her poignantly as the brave young girl she was at the beginning. A girl who chose to live life gloriously if briefly instead of wallowing in self-pity.

"Let life be beautiful like summer flowers and death like autumn leaves." - Stray Birds by Rabindranath Tagore

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What a mess

No. Just. No. Please don’t give Dan Worrawech any more directing jobs, please!

My expectations when starting this series were very low already. Admittedly, the story was better than I expected; it was still a very obvious “The Gifted” rip-off, but the plot development was for the most part unpredictable (which is also due to the fact that it was so random, though). Looking back, there were quite some truly thrilling moments (in the middle of the overall mess). Therefore I must admit that the screenwriters did an okay job – but what Worrawech made out of the material is below my worst expectations. Sadly, not one of the actors was able to show off their acting qualities. Only Ohm managed to save some parts; but Nanon and many others seemed to find themselves back in acting class throughout all the ridiculous sequences of scenes. The two main bad guys were somewhat better than the rest of the cast, but that might be because their characters were much better written than the others.

How can you throw in so many serious topics like drug use and trafficking, gambling, child abuse, kidnapping, attempted and actual murder, bullying and attempted mass shooting, and make it become such an unbelievable mess? There was not a hint of an underlying “message” (like in “The Gifted” or “A Gift to the People You Hate”), the motives of the characters (both good and bad guys) were unconvincing, plot holes everywhere, cringeworthy dialogues, fake dramatic moments (how often do you want to stamp your foot or push a chair just to show everyone that you are angry?) and unnecessary romance with no chemistry. Oh, and let’s not forget the 12-part commercial: it was actually well done (unlike the series), but who thought it to be a good idea promoting this kind of drink after a storyline dealing with the negative effects of recreational drug abuse? Yes, Mr. Worrawech, you have truly outdone yourself!

I don’t want to keep ranting; I know from the comments that many people somehow managed to enjoy the series, so apparently there’s an audience for it somewhere out there. Good for you. But try for a moment to imagine the same storyline done by a director who knows what they are doing – it could have been so much better! Since it kept me watching, I won’t rate the series as low as my review may sound like. But generally speaking I wouldn’t recommend watching this to anyone.

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We can start with the story. Already from the start, the story plot had me twisting in anticipation. At the most time when I thought I knew what was going to happen, it was the opposite. It is a very beautiful story, at the same time, it is kinda scary as it shows the darker side of the human nature.

I like the cast very much. I feel like the main characters had a excellent chemistry. Both of the male leaders portrayed their characters very well. And Xin Yue was also great.

I also enjoyed the music. At first, I didn't like the Bai Tou Yin by Della Ding as the music was a bit odd. But you grow to like the two songs by her as they play throughout the whole drama. Also, the opening song is also very nice and has really meaningful lyrics. Definitely a 10 from me!

Actually, I have rewatched this drama two times, and every single time I just couldn't stop watching. Even though I already seen it before. It is just so good.

Overall, I think they have made an excellent drama! I feel like the clothing and scenery was quite nice. I definitely recommend this one to everyone that loves for example Prince of Lan Ling, which is also one of my favorite drama.

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The Princess diaries but make it gay

Domundi new era and I’m HERE FOR IT.

I know this has been one of the most anticipated series for the longest time, and I’ll admit I had high expectations and you know what I was not disappointed. there was apart of me that thought it this was going to be cringe and I’m glad I was wrong.

you can tell so much effort went into this. Now I am a huge DMD fan but I can admit they sometimes lack in the script or in places here and there. but this, this is everything I wanted and more.

music: fantastic
no cringe acting: that’s a plus
so far no silly sound effects: sign me the hell up.
good fight scenes: yes please

and the cinematography is chef’s kiss.

the wait for us to get here took forever, but you know what, the wait was worth it.

plus I NEVER give 10/10 across the board and yet here I did. fingers crossed it doesn’t let me down

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the acting, the actors were INCREDIBLE. have always loved nam ji hyun and lee joon hyuk, and it was incredible to see them together in this. the story may not have been the most mysterious and mind blowing, but it was definitely enough to keep you on your toes and make you want to watch more. Lee joon hyuk really did it for me this drama, i loved his character and he did such a good job playing. the last episode broke my heart though! poor hyeong ju deserved better, but i love the drama still. very refreshing, definitely worth rewatching despite the mystery being known. the characters and their chemistry was lovely. i loved it.

lastly, GIVE NAM JI HYUN AND LEE JOON HYUK A ROMCOM, PLS. they were so cute! need more content. loved them sooo much together and the ending really left me itching for more. yikes. they deserve a romcom for all the heartbreak this drama gave me :p but the good kind!

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