Amazing was worth the 800 year wait!!
From the characters, cast, film, production, music, EVEYTHING was absolutely phenomenal. Big shoutout to production team for making this spended drama. Their hard works were not in vain. The way the story was beautifully developed, including our dian xia and hua chengs chemistry was amazing! Love the 60 episode, the kisses in ep 45, and the happy ending for our couple!!Was this review helpful to you?
The beginning of the show was really cute, and Yoon Eun Hye as Shin Chae-gyung the leading lady role was just funny. Her character was a normal teenage high school girl who was clumsy, a bit stupid, always smiling, getting into tons of trouble and yet has a pure heart. Her life drastically changed after meeting Shin, the crowned prince and over hearing him propose marriage to a girl. Then she was thrown into an arranged marriage with the crowned prince after finding out the marriage agreement which was done by her grand father and the king's father when they were born.
This is a show where I started liking Eun Hye as an actress. Joo Ji Hoon who played as Shin, her leading man was also gorgeous for a Korean guy, although his eyes is too squinty for my taste. I still liked his character, the seemingly uncaring guy, but deep inside he just thinks too much of others.
Kim Jeong Hoon who acted as Lee Yul (Shin's supposedly cousin who wants to take his throne away) was cute and my heart went out for him as he was that guy who had to endure an unrequited love when all he wanted was for Chae Gyung to love him back that's why he wanted to be the crowned prince. Lasty Song Ji Hyo who acted as Min Hyo Rin was just perfect. She was the girl that Shin first proposed to before getting married to Chae Gyung, she seems to be the cold girl who acted like there was nothing that could ever bother her, but deep inside, her heart is crumbling to pieces as she watches Shin fall in love with Chae Gyung little by little.
As the story progressed, there where some draggy moments that I have overlooked because the setting and music was just beautiful, and I can't just help my self but watch it even if the lines have been too redundant. The ending was gorgeous for me because of the setting once again, but story line wise it was quite bland for my taste and went way off with where the whole story was really supposed to be. It gave me a sense of confusion which I didn't really like. Although I felt this way towards the ending I am still giving it a 9 for compensating with other areas in the drama that I have already mentioned which is also essential for making this a top rated Kdrama.
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This review may contain spoilers
A decently entertaining drama despite its undeniable plot holes. The drama is the epitome of a drama where objectively, is probably not the greatest drama out there, but subjectively, could become your guilty pleasure. You should only check out/watch this drama if you:1) Are a fan of one or both of the lead actors (Yang Mi and Huang Zitao)
2)Like noona-dongsaeng romances
3) Are interested in a brainless drama to watch to pass your time (I used it as a brainless stress-reliever in between studying for midterms, which was fun)
Story:
It tells the story of Xie Xiaofei, a seemingly bratty, annoying and childish young man. However, he turns out to be someone with a good heart and certain opinions/ideas that you may agree with. However, he is quite bratty, although also likable, but also annoying. He's quite bipolar, and a very conflicting character. I had an intense like/hate relationship with his character. However, after the big thing with his family, he kind of starts to mature, so there is change. May not be the amount of change you’d wish he had, but decent enough.
Tong Wei, is a closed-off, serious, strict, career woman, whose life is turned upside down when Xiaofei enters and causes a series of funny and not funny mishaps in her life. However, the pair is very likable, and probably the only likable parts of the drama. I know that most people were kind of put off by the age gap, but they do mention it in the drama that the woman is older.
What I liked:
1. The main couple is very cute (until the last like 3 stressful episodes)! Especially if you like noona-dongsaeng romances.
2. The drama is pretty well-paced. Despite the plot holes, I still found myself wanting to watch the next episodes.
3. Yang Mi’s fashion/clothes in this drama is A+++!! Literally loved most of her outfits
4. That it kept itself together (for the most part) longer than Les Interpretes. It got extremely frustrating for the last 4-5 episodes, but hey, at least not the entire latter half of the drama like Les Interpretes
5. Tong Tiantian was annoying as hell in the begining but redeemed herself about halfway through
6. There were some decently funny parts!!
7. I really like the OST songs
What I disliked:
1. The supporting characters my goodness. Most of them were annoying for a large portion of the drama (although Tong Tiantian and Shang Bichen were more bearable as the drama progressed and Tong Wei's aunt had a reedamable moment LOL)
2. Tong Wei selling her house to make money to help pay Xie Xiaofei's mom's medical bills??? Like girl......I wouldn't do that if this wasn't dramaland
3. Lawyer dude Qin Tianyu was annoying as hell sometimes. Like Tong Wei told him quite a few times that she didn't like him, yet he was still so persistent LOL
4. Zhao Chenxi............my goodness where do I start with this annoying supporting character!!
5. The story did have its plotholes throughout, and were quite bearable most of the time. UNTIL the last like 5 episodes I was basically riding on the wildest rollercoaster ever I was so confused and frustrated lmao.
6. Tong Wei's best friend was such a hassle and obstruction sometimes LOL. Plus she is the kind of women I would NOT want to be.
7. The whole Tong Wei and Shan Shan's tragedy thing in the last few episodes.......I won't say more because that would be too spoiler-y
8. The drama is called "Negotiator" but there really wasn't THAT much negotiating LOL.......maybe they should change the name.
Acting:
So I would say that the overall acting was okay by the entire cast. Many of you may have seen Yang Mi in Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, where she showcased brilliant acting. Her acting in this one was okay. The character itself is very serious and work-oriented, but her character livens a bit more as the drama progresses. I liked a lot of her crying scenes, but even those, she didn't cry like crazy because of how reserved her character was. I especially liked her crying scene when she was arguing with Xiaofei in front of Chen Xiaoxi's house, as well as that scene where she found out about Shan Shan's fate.
As for Tao, he posted on Weibo when the drama just started airing that this was the first drama he's ever filmed (even though his other drama aired earlier) and I feel that as a debut drama, he did pretty well. I do think his emotional/crying scenes were better than his angry scenes. He makes me laugh when he's angry LOL but his crying scenes were actually pretty good.
Setting aside how annoying their characters were, the supporting actors in this were actually okay too. I must say, Dylan Kuo being the only Taiwanese-accented person in the entire cast threw me off a lot at the very beginning because his pronunciation was SUPER obviously different LOL but I guess I eventually kind of grew used to it. The guy who plays Sun Hao......does not sound like he was dubbed.......his voice sounds really raspy(??) and kind of annoying LOL or maybe that's just me but he's not in the drama that much so it's okay.
Also you may be annoyed by dubbing at times (I thought it was fine since I love dubbing lol). They had issues passing SARFT the first time, so their characters were all dubbed after stuff was changed. The English dubbing might feel kind of whack too since the actors were saying Chinese and then they were dubbed over with English. But I mean......at least there wasn't TOO much of those parts, and it's not like the actors can speak English very well LOL.
Music:
The instrumental music was sometimes quite bothersome….they were kind of too loud at times (which is why I docked off some points)?? But the OST songs I really liked!!! I listen to a lot of Chinese music, so I really liked the opening and ending theme songs, as well as the other OST song sung by Yisa Yu. I have all 3 of these songs on my phone and have been listening to them quite often these days.
Rewatch:
I would rewatch the parts with the main leads!! I really thought they were cute, and I’ve already rewatched quite a few of their scenes. But nothing else aside from the main leads LOL I watched this drama because I’m a big fan of Yang Mi and I often times enjoy noona-dongsaeng romances (thus fulfilling the two bullet points I had listed at the beginning of this review).
Lastly:
I used to think Huang Zitao was kind of annoying (me being a semi-kpop fan and all) but throughout the past month of watching this drama and scrolling through Weibo, my view of him as turned from annoyance to neutrality and a bare liking. His Weibo stories of him watching the drama were quite funny.
I'm hoping Jaywalk Studio can pick better modern cdramas for Yang Mi and her talents in the future.......I feel like they always pick up awful modern cdramas LOL it really wastes the potentials of their talents!! ://
In essence, a guilty pleasure drama XD
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Now another reviewer expressed much of the drama’s problems quite accurately and I have to say that I’m glad I’m not the only one that felt its many shortcomings. Let’s start with the plot…
Story:
As someone who has previously played MMORPGs, I was excited to watch this one. And I actually enjoyed the first 1/3 of the series. But it must have been around the 11th episode or so where it all went downhill for me. One of the huge points that bugged me was that just because you marry someone in the game, you are automatically dating? Not in my book! (And as someone who has married my characters in an online game, this is ridiculous to assume). What would have been great to see was their interest in each other develop and grow over time. Otherwise it just looks like they are in love with each other’s characters. This was also around the time when the story shifted away from college life. As a huge fan of Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo and her college experiences, I was really disappointed that Love O2O completely moved away from that setting. While some parts of the story were an alright watch, others were downright boring, slow and lacked depth.
And before some of you jump up and down saying that it is based off a novel and they were just trying to stay true to it, I wish they had not. Many series divert from their original stories and this should have been one of them.
Acting/Cast (with a focus on the main two leads):
So our main female lead, Bei Wei Wei, seemed to be a strong female lead who stood up for herself, but was very quickly shown to be a dull, simpering girl who could never best her boyfriend in anything. I found her admiration for the male lead irksome, thought she was full of herself (not in an endearing way), and really was not all that likable. She did minimal things on her own and more often than not she needed her boyfriend to pick up the slack and come to the rescue. Though this may be popular in dramaland, I felt duped that she ended up being weak like so many other leads. The actress was also waaay too skinny, to the point of looking unhealthy, and was far from the beauty that the story depicted her as. Not that she was unattractive, but I was certainly expecting more. In fact, I thought her best friend, Er Xi, was prettier.
As for the other lead… Xiao Nai must be the most overrated male lead I have ever seen. The only thing that was alright was his appearance, and even then it wasn’t earth-shattering. He was stiff, incredibly boring and had NO personality. I mean, none. You could have placed a cardboard cut-out of him on the screen and you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. And it was very irritating how he was good at EVERYTHING. And not in a cute I’m-good-at-lots-of-thing-but-I-still-have-flaws kind of way. In a perfect, inhuman kind of way. I could not relate to it nor could I enjoy it. One of the best parts of watching characters in a drama is to see them learn, grow, fall, and pick themselves back up again. I experienced none of this while watching Xiao Nai and even when the bad guys tried to fight back, they were easily overcome. Made things very anticlimactic.
Now put these two boring characters in a relationship together and you get one tiresome series. The boyfriend is always better at the girlfriend at everything they do and she just smiles like an idiot. He didn’t come across as this “sexy wolf” that they try to make him out to be, but rather forceful, arrogant and robotic. And their chemistry was really lacking, such as the number of awkward kiss scenes. I couldn’t wait when their screen time was interrupted by any of the boys at the office, or really any other character in the show.
So why keep watching it? Aside from not wanting to leave a drama unfinished when I had already seen so much, I really only wanted to see my OTP in the series, Hao Mei and KO. I was pleasantly surprised to find a BL pair in this drama (though we only get hints of it). Between their sweet interactions, sulky behaviour, and protective moments, I was completely hooked. My only complaint was that they didn’t get enough airtime.
Music:
There was maybe one song that I liked. They weren’t particularly memorable nor did I find myself rushing off to YouTube to listen to the OST.
Rewatch Value:
If it wasn’t obvious already, I would not watch this drama again or recommend it to anyone. If I could give this section a zero, I would.
So even if you decide to watch it don’t believe everything that others say about it. There are many flaws that should not be overlooked. Go into it with your eyes wide open. Or better yet, steer clear of it altogether. Really wish I had.
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This review may contain spoilers
Till episode 10 it was quite fine, but then the script plummet...
The positive first: The special effect makeup was on point :) Even the acting was on point, even when we know that Pooh will never be a top actor because he does need a lot of speech training, but his facial expressions where also on point. When I watch a horror/mystical/crime series I expect the characters to act appropiate and we did not get that all the time. It makes no sense whatsoever when King enters the "Fridge" alone - no police officer would do that - also that Thup left the car, when his mom said he should not - there are more of such loopholes. As usual with a change2561 production the culminating finale is rushed and does not make much sense. The fighting in the end was also so off for me. So as usual the scriptwriters could not complete a very good story appropriately.To contrast this type of show with poetic love scenes felt off and it seems they did cut the NC scenes, because the editing is quite rough in that places. I would have prefered when the main couple had lust and desire first and love after the solving of the case which would also have more impact. The side couple was done better, because there was love from Darin all the time, but Sey not recognizing it. King which was not liked by most disappeared and the father-son conflict was unresolved. Was there corruption at work because dad would like to bury the case? We will never know, because the scriptwriters made the choice to give us drama but not resolve it.
I personally don't like stupid acting characters and I don't like drama when it's not resolved. So while I had rated this show very high till episode 10, the end "ruined" it for me. It's not catastrophically bad, but it could have been so much better. And so this series is far from a 9.5 or 10 I see here in so many reviews. I will always be critical when I see bullshit and I really hate it when they do it. Maybe some of you are fangirling or fanboying over the couples, but I do not care about the couples or the actors, only the story and the performance count (and of course production quality - but I can't say anything negative about that). For me it's a disappointment that a very good show got ruined for no benefit at all.
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I see the potential but it just never got there
This was an exhausting watch. I suppose you'd expect that given the heightened world of social media but wow did things drag. Idk why i kept watching tbh.I mainly watched for the social commentary but that felt very flat. Rather than adding something new to the social media/consumerism conversation the same points were repeated and got stale. It’s a shame bc these things should be talked about but the script just didn’t deliver. I was confused about exactly what Ah Ri was trying to accomplish. She wasn’t like the other influencers yet she turned into a hypocrite by imitating the actions of people she claimed she wasn’t like.
The actors were all ok. Nobody was outstanding, just ok. This is the second Park Gyu Young drama I’ve seen where she’s the FL, and I didn't like either of them a whole lot. She suits a side character much better, and personally I think she lacks the charisma it takes to be a FL. Kang Min Hyuk was so mf fine here but I’m afraid that's all he was. Why people are saying the leads had such good chemistry, I don't know. Chae Hee was a CHILD. Shi Hyun was supposed to be the opposite of the two extremes I suppose, but she wasn’t giving me anything to work with. She wasn’t annoying so that’s good. The other influencers were forgettable.
This drama obviously had a lot of effort put into the production. You could feel the weight of the materialism through the screen. It still ended up missing the mark in terms of what it was trying to accomplish. Rather than12 eps this could've easily been 10. Hopefully in the future another drama with this subject matter and bettwr execution will come along.
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This review may contain spoilers
Disappointed based on the reviews
This is going to be a bit of a rant. I thought it was going to be a cool story about a girl who joins a gang to avenge her fathers death, goes undercover as a cop, finds and kills the killer, then either continues her life in the gang or is able to create a new identity after she kills him. While some of this happened, any trace of possibly not getting a stereotypical ending to the show disappeared over the last two episodes. Then the unnecessary romance? And sexual situation randomly with basically no development while her life is at risk. Just for the guy to die later. If you’re going to go the romance route, just do it, it’s like they thought of all the possible surprise things that could happen and just threw them all in with no thought. I just don’t get it. Then her fathers supposed deep cover. It’s understandable that a cop would be able to go undercover but to become basically partners with the boss of a gang is completely not plausible. They also went into no detail on how he was not only able to meet and join the gangsters or why they would ever have him be so deep in that cops would be tailing his daughter from home to school. If it had been something normal like they were best friends since they were younger, and they had scrapped the cop thing, it would’ve made more sense. Maybe could’ve even added a season to with the fl full gangster and the “ml” trying to take her down but also having a crush on her. But you don’t just join a gang randomly and become best buddies like that. But I guess anything to fuel the sunshine and rainbows ending that it was with the picture of her and her father even though she should literally be in jail for her crimes. I feel like I wasted my time watching this show. Maybe it was because of the short amount of episodes but it’s like they wrote this for some extra cash between dramas. I know I’m being harsh, but honestly i expected more maybe it was the synopsis that made me think it would be more than a revenge plot turned blocky redemption lone wolf drama.Was this review helpful to you?
Bad acting from FL and BAD STORY
I am very surprised that A LOT of people object to this drama's love triangle. After watching the trailer and reading the synopsis, there shouldn't be any surprise about the love triangle being part of the plot.Although I am not against the predictable love triangle story, I find myself concurring with the majority in objecting the love triangle for a few reasons:
1) the FL is really not a good actress. She cannot emote feelings through expressions and eyes acting. Her eyes and face are expressionless, not because she's a stoic character, but because she cannot express her character's emotions. She's supposed to be a complex person: she has been abused by her mom, she's poor, she wants to get ahead; on other hand, she has feelings for the ML. She's not supposed to choose love and yet she did!
I tend to feel sorry for this type of character; and yet, I don't feel sorry for her. I feel sorry for the MLs though ... because they act out their characters convincingly. So far, she's not convincing.
You can do a comparison (for example the scene where she is being harassed by the gangsters) ... observe Tae Oh and her ... what a big difference. His face, eyes, and body are natural. Hers looked unnatural ... I couldn't tell what she was feeling.
2) There is so much going on with the MLs and their backgrounds that the writers didn't spend enough time to develop the FL's story. The blending of her into the team is not smooth. Maybe they should have let her join the team in a capacity of a smart girl who has some skills to help out. And then the romance starts to develop as the guys understand her better.
Instead she is reduced to being a cliche female in a love triangle ... It's ridiculous that in 2024, women are still being treated as a sidekick ... she's attending the best college in Korea, she's smart ... I don't see why she is being typecasted into a plot of a love triangle.
And I don't see why she has to depend on a man to move up to a better life???? Unless Korea as a society doesn't give women opportunities.
Disney should re-examine what they show on their channel! So much for their support of equality. The cinderella story is still being perpetuated in 2024!
Eps 3,4
Ep 3 is confusing ... things are just presented like a bullet points ... The whole episode is set up so that they can show the machinations of the stepmother and son #2 ... and how ML choreograph the take over step by step. Surprise surprise ... the FL continues to be a bad actress.
Ep 4
I don't like the way the story is presented. The viewer is tricked into believing a bad scenario only to be surprised that there was a plan that made everything ok again. You can only do this trick once ... They employed a couple already ... made the story flow confusing and disengaging.
Now the surprising conversation reveals the ML#1 cares so much ML#2 ... maybe something is lost in the translation ... "You are the reason ..."
If I were ML #2 I would be asking why ????
Ep 5-6
Story is getting predictable. Plot of double-crossing is getting old. Inha's father gave the biggest clue of all: Inha is like his father. LJY is a very good actor in this drama. His eyes ... wow ... show the psychotic and unpredictable tendency. It's easy to act as a straight good or a bad person. But harder to act as an evil/amoral person. He almost gives that Anthony Hopkins vibe in the Silence of the Lamb.
At this point I am indecisive as to continue to follow this drama any more ... It just doesn't make sense to me about the FL's fear of her mom. Maybe I don't understand Korean culture.
I don't feel the relationship between the ML1 and FL is logical or emotionally developed. There doesn't seem to be chemistry between them. I feel it's contrived.
7-8
OMG, I couldn't imagine the story could get any lower but it did. Nothing makes sense. Everything is contrived. Going to drop it NOW.
FL continues to be a drag. The only good actor is the 2nd ML who acts his role so well.
8-9
At this point I am just FF through to see how bad it can get. OMG, the actress is so bad at acting that I couldn't tell if she was hurting or happy when she discovered HTO had escaped the prison ... I thought ohh, maybe there's something there ... NOPE, just bad acting!
As predicted from last week, the Chairman came to the rescue.
My prediction this week: the chairman will wake up ... he's has 9 lives!
10-12
Sorry I had to go back and lower the score to 6 so that I can save some people from watching this ridiculous drama. I just saw the last 2 eps and omg, don't these writers know how badly the story is written? I hate it. It just doesn't make sense ... Yeh right ... like the heir miraculously turned to be the hero who is not related to the Chairman by blood. When does that happen IRL? NEVER! We are talking about Korean family run business here! And then that CM lives on forever... he has 9 lives ! As predicted (and this drama is so predictable) he wakes again!
FL remains the sore point all the way to end. Not sure what her role should be? Why do women always have to focus on themselves and stay lonely to get to higher places??? OMG, we are in 2024 right now and still have to choose either career or love???? This doesn't make sense and so outdated!
Another thing that's wrong with the ending is the suicide of the ML. Korean society already have one of the highest rate of suicides. Why put this in the drama ending to emphasize that dying is the only way to redemption. NO! Redemption is done through serving time in the prison!
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In my opinion this drama was more characters driven than plot driven, and the cast did an awesome job in portraying a plot that was unnecessarily over complicated. The writer took us on a very long detour to keep us engaged but at the end he failed to delivery the “twist plot” we all were waiting for.
When you take down one enemy after another, but there are still episodes to air, it is very easy to see, between the suspects, who is still standing.
I really would love to give this an 8 but despite the great acting, the wonderful soundtrack and some thriller/dramatic moments, I didn’t appreciate how the writer play with us.
Plot: unnecessarily complicated, full of thrilling moments strategically placed to grab the viewer, but the overall consistency of the story was lacking, the ending was predictable. Most of the plot focus on the corruption within the police/justice SK society.
Characters: well-written, the story was characters driven, each member of the team has his own story, all of them show the true colors of human kind, the trauma they suffer affected them not only psychologically but also physically, and bring them to make decisions that not always are the rightful one.
Acting: superb, the cast did an awesome job and save a lot this drama.
Soundtrack: wonderful and perfect to give the thriller vibe and dramatic vibe when necessary.
Personal opinion: I am more into pure thriller where the enemy is a psychopath than into corruption plot, but this can definitely be added in the OCN best work.
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Who needs a plot?
There seems to be a spate of plotless Thai BL dramas. There's really not much to say about this series - the author apparently couldn't think of anything to write so she just used whatever she did that day. Everything that happens in this is mundane day-to-day activity - largely eating snacks and bubble tea.There is zero romantic chemistry between the leads - it's not clear what their age difference is, because they're both children at the same time, but later Park is a doctor, so that would put him in his late 20s, while Tin is either in high school or maybe college - it's hard to tell because he never seems to go to class. I was surprised to hear he goes to school when it was mentioned in the finale. Tin behaves like a small child almost all the time, so there is something kind of creepy about their relationship, only saved by the fact that the actors are similar in age.
Since there's no plot, there's no dramatic tension - and it looks like the writer realized she'd reached the conclusion without any drama, so she threw in a long series of fights over absolutely nothing between Park and Tin - which likely cemented the feeling the audience had that they really shoudn't be together. Except as parent and child, maybe.
There are lots of side characters, but they're all pointless and their stories never go anywhere.
I didn't think it was possible to have less of the story than Physical Therapy, but apparently it is. I rated this a 3 because while it's a total waste of time, it's not aggressively awful.
I'd skip it.
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Wonderful characters/relationships, no stupid misunderstandings, satisfying ending, best of 2023
I’m super stingy with giving 9s, but after more than 250 dramas, I’m handing out my first 10. For me, this is definitely the best drama of 2023, and possibly my all-time favourite.Destined was wonderful, entertaining and had everything I love -- swoony romance, a perfect amount of angst and humour, slice of life, palace intrigue, bromance, great secondary couples, heartwarming family/in-law dynamics, excellent pacing, multi-genre, no annoying characters (except for maybe one...) and green flags everywhere.
The relationships in this drama -- between couples, friends, parent and child (Edit: OK, maybe just the moms, lol), employer and employee, sworn brothers, sworn sisters -- were all beautiful portrayed and ridiculously healthy: open, trusting, communicative, respectful, warm, and loyal.
I almost hesitate to review this for fear my enthusiasm will fuel unrealistic expectations, leading to inevitable disappointment, but this drama was about as close to perfection as I’ve ever seen. Elements that are hit and miss in other shows were done consistently well here, with none of the annoying and frustrating trope-y plot devices or foolish misunderstandings. Our primary villain is complex and multi-dimensional; war/battles scenes were exciting, filled with dramatic tension, conveying the enormous stakes involved and the David vs Goliath nature of the fight (I ordinarily find a lot of battle scenes a bit boring); the emperors were among the most sympathetic and heartbreaking I’ve ever seen portrayed.
THE PACING
The pacing is well-done in this drama, which is divided into several major arcs. There were times I found myself smiling, laughing, crying, and stressed — all within the span of a tight, 40 minutes. Even the episodes that clearly served as "breathers" before the next major plotline were still interesting. It never felt draggy and flashbacks were effective and kept to a minimum. Those who don't like "slice of life" moments, however, might find those episodes spoil the momentum, especially given the excitement that came before.
THE ENDING
Asian dramas can be notorious for slaughtering their endings, but Director Yin Tao (who also helmed The Blood of Youth among many other notable dramas), and screenwriter Bai Jinjin (who helped pen Love Between Fairy and Devil) exceeded even my hopeful expectations. (For those who have watched Yin Tao’s previous works, you will also recognize many beloved and familiar faces.)
OUR MAIN HERO AND HEROINE
The drama does an excellent job showing the selflessness, support, open communication, trust, and utter devotion Liu Yuru and Gu Juisi have toward one another. The evolution of their relationship from mutual dislike to mutual respect is organic and natural, but moves along swiftly. Yuru’s opinion toward her husband shifts as she discovers the real Gu Jiusi, while Juisi — inspired and moved by his wife's kindness, loyalty, and a desire to make up for the “joke” that led to their unwanted marriage — becomes a doting and devoted husband, working hard to become worthy of his formidable new wife.
Their relationship was also a perfect example of how a drama can have fantastic character and plot development without resorting to the overused and cliche-ridden tropes of frustrating miscommunications, unnecessary secrets, and idiotic misunderstandings. You can have swoony romance, healthy supportive relationships, and excellent communication and *still* tell complex and compelling stories.
Prior to Destined, I was generally unfamiliar with Song Yi’s work, but I thought she did a wonderful job as Yuru. Some viewers complained early on about her portrayal, but I thought she did a great job acting simultaneously demure yet strong, capturing the character's quiet strength and poise. Conveying and embodying that complicated dichotomy convincingly is no easy feat.
Yuru spent her entire life trying to be the “perfect lady”, living her life with enormous restraint in order to ensure her and her mother's security by marrying well. The way she carried herself, the repressed and “delicate” way she shed tears, were all part of her exhausting efforts to carve a better future. She had to consistently maintain a prim, proper, and reticent demeanor, suppress her emotions and reign in her opinions, because that was how “well-bred” ladies were supposed to comport themselves. This perhaps made it difficult for some viewers to connect with her emotionally. But Yuru demonstrated her ability to withstand enormous obstacles and upheaval, that she would not be easily defeated. As her character evolved and was accepted into a family that allowed her to be her true self, her behaviour relaxed. The delicate sniffles disappeared, the emotions became more heartfelt, her actions and opinions more fearless and decisive.
Yuru also makes for a striking contrast with Jiusi who is more straightforward: he was a dandy with a heart of gold — a big softy. He was rather childish and playful initially, but matured into a commanding and wise strategist and advisor. Unlike Yuru’s character, he had an easy life (and is male!), so he is naturally more relaxed, open, opinionated and unreserved in his actions and speech.
Both leads were genuinely excellent in their respective roles, but I think it's easy to mistake Song Yi’s restrained and carefully balanced portrayal as somehow lacking, when in fact, it is the opposite.
Bai Jingting’s last several dramas have been consistently excellent, though I was relatively neutral about the actor himself prior to Destined. This drama really showcased his emotional range and comedic timing.
THE VILLAIN
I don't recall ever shedding a tear for a villain, let alone one this despicable, ruthless, and irredeemable. And yet.
The screenwriter and actor did a great job bringing Luo Zishang’s character and tragic story to life. Oftentimes, the Big Bad Villain in a drama is just evil for the sake of being evil, or loathsome because of the clichéd hunger for power and greed. In Destined, our villain, played by Liu Xueyi, is enigmatic, multifaceted — even sympathetic — despite being unequivocally unforgivable. Yes, his hatred toward Gu Jiusi and his family was absolutely disproportionate, the atrocities he committed in the name of vengeance were utterly irrational and indefensible, and the underlying reason its own well-worn cliché, but it was somehow still difficult to not feel sorrow in the end for the tragedy of his entire, wasted life. In the hands of another actor, it is quite possible that the weak premise behind what motivated his hatred would have derailed the entire plot. Luo Zishang’s feelings towards Yuru conveyed all the "what ifs" of his character, and the show beautifully captured those “what ifs” in the final two episodes.
Liu Xueyi is great when he plays the hero, but he is also excellent at portraying villains and morally ambiguous characters. I hope he will continue to balance his roles between being a lead and taking on interesting supporting roles like he has here and in other previous dramas.
I really appreciated how the show also made time to tell a bit of Ming Yi’s story. Throughout the drama, he seemed like your typical disposable background character, the almost-invisible right-hand man who unquestioningly did his master’s bidding, no matter how heinous. But the writer and director even granted *him!* satisfying closure, making time at the end to give him a voice so he could tell his own story and voice his own hopes.
There was some viewer frustration that a pivotal character did nothing to stop the chaos created by the Luo Zishang earlier. While his intervention could have made an enormous difference for the fate of countless lives, in my view, he was always morally ambiguous — his shrewd ability to navigate the treacherous schemes of the previous royal court speaks to this aspect of his character.
BUT…?
I don’t have many buts, to be honest. I think we could all quibble about a few details here and there, small plot holes (some of which were eventually answered), but given the complexity of the source material, I thought they did an incredible job packing what they could into the new 40-episode limitation and telling a tight, well-paced story.
There was one notable death near the end that I wished didn’t happen, but at the same time, given the character’s personality, it was perhaps a fitting and honourable end for them. Their future, had they survived, would have been bittersweet in other ways because it would not have been the life they wanted. Their death also served another purpose: it bolsters the underlying theme that it is lonely at the top, even in the best of circumstances.
Arguably, there were no genuinely annoying characters, except for maybe one, but I have yet to decide if the character was annoying in a way that was organic to the story, or in a way that faulted the writing and/or acting.
For some of those who read the original web novel by Mo Shubai , this adaptation was apparently disappointing, particularly in the later arcs as key details were changed or left out. Others were frustrated by the fates of two notable characters — one beloved and another much hated; both did not get the ending they deserved (I sympathize with the criticism, but also understood why the less palatable ending was chosen).
For me, the overall strengths of this drama far outweighed any of the issues. As another viewer commented, “This is not perfect, but it’s perfect for me.”
NERDY OBSERVATIONS
-- Hurray for live audio! Undubbed costume dramas still feel like a rarity and adds another layer of pleasure
-- I love the brief scenes early on with the accountants -- I found the clacking of the abacuses/abaci very soothing and meditative
-- Liu Yuru’s first cosmetics store was absolutely gorgeous
-- I saw a behind-the-scenes clip of the construction of the beautiful mansion the Gu family moved into when they first arrived in Youzhou, so I couldn’t get over how little actual screentime such an elaborately-made set received
-- What happened to Yuru's half brother? I'm sure he was still around, but it would've been a nice touch to see him interacting with his little nephew at the end.
-- Last but not least, a shout-out to the cinematography, especially during the dramatic battle scene with Yuru standing high on the ramparts, passionately striking the war drum to rally her husband and the soldiers, her bright red gown a beacon against the sandy desert battleground
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Nam Goong Min Awakens One's Curiosity
Review based on episode three.Nobody and nothing are what they seem in this drama, filled with mind games, mysteries, and eeriness. Awaken was a bit slow in its start-up, but once it got its groove, it's been nothing but one surprise after another. I love how Nam Goong Min plays Jung Woo. Everything, from the way he walks, talks, carries himself, and the carefree demeanor, belying his true feelings and thoughts. But what I like most is his uncanny ability to know what's going on around him and those he takes an interest in, be it his team members, the victims, potential victims, or the culprit(s). I got the sense there was more than one. Jung Woo makes this show worth the watch but then so do Jamie (Lee Chung Ah) and MJW (Yoon Sun Woo), who seem to mirror each other and are Jung Woo's other halves from an incident thirty years ago.
I like Hye Won's (Kim Seol Hyun) loyalty to Jung Woo; I hope she doesn't let her feelings get in the way. I get the sense Jung Woo picked her, knowing how she or, more so, her father connects to the village. I adore Yoon Seok Pil (Choi Dae Chul), Jang Ji Wan (Lee Shin Young), and Deputy Chief Hwang Byeong Chul (Kim Won Hae). I enjoy the humor and chemistry they bring to the team. I continue to be wary of Lee Taek Jo (Baek Ji Won) for her unscrupulous connections and Lee Ji Wook (Yoon Gyung Ho) for his self-serving reporting. As well as CEO Yong Shik (Jang Hyuk Jin) for his treatment of MJW, but think they are all just puppets playing to the tune of a more persuasive puppeteer. Awaken turned out to be a fun ride indeed.
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This is the perfect Japanese drama i have ever watched. Now i am not sure if there's any good stuff out there.
Scale of 1 to 10...10.5
Rewatch value.....perfect score
I highly recommend this for someone looking for something sweet and fluffy. Thank me later.
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Surgeons actually follows a pretty standard "format". You have the established specialist, perfect in every way, return from the US to work in his home country as our protagonist Zhuang Shu, the idealistic but highly-talented surgeon who is oblivious to everything outside of work as our heroine Lu Chen Xi, and other side characters whom you can find in practically every other medical drama. Some people call this the modern version of Nirvana in Fire, since Zhuang Shu, like Mei Chang Su, returned to seek vengeance on his enemies. I think the similarities pretty much stop there though (but I never finished NiF so I won't know).
The main plot isn't really prominent in the drama until the later stages. Surgeons actually focuses more on doctor-patient interactions. I don't think it's anything to shout about, but I think the script is pretty well-written in the sense that the dialogues were great. The characters were also designed well, none of them are completely evil, or completely good (other than LCX). Acting wise, I'm not too impressed with Jin Dong. I think he was serviceable, but he didn't come across as an elite surgeon. Imo, LCX is the true protagonist since she is the one who "changed" the most throughout the drama, from someone who is borderline annoying because of how stubborn and unmalleable she is to someone who is, well, a little more flexible and understanding. I was never a fan of Bai Bai He's acting because I think she's herself in every project she stars in, but she was good in this drama. LCX and her buddy Chen Shao Cong showed most growth in the drama (probably because they started out at lvl 0). CSC is freaking hilarious and I think Li Jia Hang played the role well. My favourite character is Yang Fan though. I think you just can't hate the character because Liu Yi Jun is so awesome with his portrayal. You can really see the difference in just acting and good acting when you watch dramas like Surgeons and In the Name of People. I was blown away by the veterans.
Also, kudos to the scriptwriter for making the female characters likeable and "aggressive". LCX and Yang Yu are just kickass when it comes to dealing with their boyfriends. LCX's responses when asked about ZS were so freaking funny as well. The two couples had good chemistry too. I think they did a good job with the romantic development in that it was a slow process but you can see how they come to like each other. Much better than other dramas where you have no idea why they are falling in love with each other, or the dramas where the main couple lacks chemistry so badly (yes, I'm talking about O2O).
In short, I think Surgeons is a good watch. It sort of faltered towards the end, but I think it's just me who's a little exhausted because of its length (44 episodes) and how frequently the episodes were aired. I was completely drawn in by the earlier episodes though and so I'd give it a 8.5. The drama is also rated 7.5 on Douban, slightly lower than what it should have been because of Bai Bai He's scandal.
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