LOVE the romance between the leads! but the plot synopsis is misleading :(
I mainly started this because I had nothing to watch and it turned out to be one of my favourites. This was not cheesy at all unlike most chinese romance dramas are, in fact I think it portrayed a realistic relationship nicely. Although i loved this overall, i was unsatisfied with romance scenes only covering around 50%. I definitely wished to see a lot more lovey dovey scenes between Yang Mi and Xu Kai when they undeniably have overflowing chemistry. All in all, i enjoyed this drama and have no heavy complaints. Fun to watch!Was this review helpful to you?
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expected more (watch suggestions)
Overall: I normally really enjoy Strongberry productions because they focus on the couple, have good kissing and are well paced. Unfortunately, this series only did 1 of the 3 well. 6 episodes about 20 minutes each (there are actor interviews after the end credits). Aired on GagaOOLala & iQIYI country dependent. Later re-aired on their YouTube channel (might need channel membership) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNd7BhdAz80pqSuyHCPnq26n4IKrlXR6fWatch Suggestions (if you want to avoid a love rival and slow pacing)
- episode 2 watch 15-16:20
- episode 3 watch the beginning to 3:50 then 16:30 to the end
- episode 4 watch the beginning to 1 minute (or could skip)
- skip episode 5
- watch episode 6 from 6:30-19:15 and then watch the beginning to 4 minutes to avoid a cliffhanger ending
What I Liked
- easy to understand premise
- visuals
- good kissing/ongoing physical affection
Room For Improvement
- presence of a love rival and too much screen time focused on it
- pacing, almost all of episode 5 was moping
- cliche miscommunication/refuse to communicate
- why did the 1 character like the other so much/aggressively pursue him? I'm not a fan of the childhood rescue trope but at least that would explain it
- comparing m/m romance to biological relative romance was odd
- cliffhanger/non ending
- the comedy sound effects did not make things funny
- explaining things briefly instead of showing them (ie why the guy was worried about a romantic relationship)
- I realize they didn't have much of a budget but setting it on campus and having zero extras took me out of the story, they could have removed the love rival and the professor and paid some extras instead
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The storyline was well written and beautifuly interpreted. As it is based on an old Korean folk story, it started to interest me even more, beacause those kind of stories I love the most.
Actors were amazing; every one of them so alive in their roles. The three main actors did especially good job, because you could just immerse yourself in their acting, and enjoy the whole time.
Music was beautiful, and appropriate for the plot. I immediately downloaded the OST and am stuck with it, repeating it over and over again.
The funny thing is, when you watch a lot of historical dramas, you can hear that there are some melodies that repeat but are changed a bit, so you can reminiscence on other dramas too.
All in all, I give the Ballad of Seo Dong/Seo Dong Yo, a pure 10/10, because I will definitely watch it again some day, and enjoy in it like I am watching it for the first time.
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This review may contain spoilers
Not perfect, but a very promising path for GMMTV BL shows
I’ll try to be straight to the point, because with a show like this you can end up extending yourself too much cuz there’s so many things to talk about. But I think this one was pretty much almost impeccable in a few aspects, especially regarding its production quality. Well, if we ignore a few special effects here and there, where it felt a bit too amateurish. But it’s easy to ignore that when the rest is so on point. Art direction, music, acting by pretty much all the cast. The fact that we could finally see skin that looks like skin!!! That’s important too.The social commentary theme is also a breath of fresh air in BL shows (and it’s brave too considering the political context in Thailand!!). It’s often too on the nose, but I think as a show that’s targeted at younger audiences they have to uncomplicate things for better and broader understanding. There’s also the writing conveniences which are mostly done by making the boys’ gang act clueless. Their plans are a mess! But I also think that it’s important to show those characters as far-from-mastermind individuals. They’re super young, after all, and they’re mostly moved by their emotions. Especially Sean. But honestly, all of them with the exception of maybe White, who seems to be the most rational character.
As far as the actual BL parts go, I must admit I was never that into SeanWhite as a couple, despite me thinking that the OffGun chemistry is perfect. What I was invested in, though, was the side couple DanYok, which kinda pulled me in even before I started watching the show (just from seeing Twitter/IG clips). There was something that felt magical in how the storyline began and proceeded to develop for majority of the episodes. Chemistry was fire. But then I don’t understand why the writers/director decided to make them so chaste? Like, Yok looked like he wanted to eat Dan with his eyes. And Dan looked like he was willing to be eaten. And then those two guys end the series with a hug? I’m not saying they should be having wild sex on screen (but I wouldn’t complain if they had)!! Not at all! But they barely kiss. And kissing is not a problem in this show, clearly. See, in the one scene they had in episode 13 they are there having a moment, a heartfelt conversation. The intimacy is visible just by the way they talked and looked at each other. Then Yok looks into Dan’s eyes and gently touches his face. His eyes move to Dan’s lips and that alone was sexy as hell. And then Yok proceeds to touch his lips on Dan’s for about half a second. And then sexy time is over. I don’t know whose decision it was to “nerf” this pairing like this, but it was very tasteless.
Anyways, despite the underwhelming finale (not just because of the DanYok hug, but as a whole), this show was a pleasure to watch and follow weekly. I hope other thai BL directors feel inspired by the work done here because after this the standards are gonna be high.
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With quite a simple story and even simpler characters, it was delightful to watch. This is another no-brainer, but a nice one nonetheless. I am not fond of anime humour getting injected in every Japanese film or drama, so this one was good for a change in that aspect. The actors were good and I really liked the chemistry between the two leads. Also, this movie lives upto its name 'Paradise Kiss'. It has a couple of kissing scenes which were the best I have seen in anything Japanese so far.
The film primarily focuses on fashion, so the clothes were great in this one. While it drags out longer than required, it is a relaxing movie. Just grab a bowl of popcorn and watch it when you're bored. It will surely provide you with good humour and some cute romantic moments.
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BL Drama no Shuen ni Narimashita: Crank Up Hen
25 people found this review helpful
stellar comedy, need a season 2
Overall: this crack comedy made me laugh but it also made me empathize with Aoyagi. 3 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/3919/i-became-the-main-role-of-a-bl-drama-2023-e01What I Liked
- laughed many times, it has an exaggerated style of humor which I can struggle with, but they made it work
- the two managers (I need more info on their background)
- how they differentiated between the acting scenes and other scenes
- characters weren't unrealistically stupid, they figure things out
- sweet moments
Room For Improvement
- who falls asleep like that and then doesn't wake up in ep 1???
- needed 5 more seconds at the very end of episode 3
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2Everyone is responsible for the Result of their own actions and decisions.
The main question presented in the series is, Should one support lesser evil to achieve greater good?This series is adapted from the Dutch author Robert van Gulik’s novel of the same name. However in my opinion it is loosely based rather than adapted as the original stories are changed quite a lot. Youku gives a disclaimer in the beginning of each episode, "It is a work of fiction. Any resemblance (to real historical figures) is purely coincidental". Judge Dee (also known as Ti Jen-chieh or Di Renjie), the hero of Robert van Gulik’s 'Judge Dee' mystery series, is purportedly based on the historical Di Renjie (630–700), chancellor of Empress Wu Zetian during the Tang Dynasty, who earlier in his career served as a district magistrate.
This series includes a total of 9 cases solved by Judge Di Renjie. Each case is resolved within the span of around 3 to 4 episodes. In the beginning of the series, Di Renjie( Zhou Yi Wei) is portrayed as a disillusioned person, uninterested in joining the court. Without a doubt, he is a brilliant person having forward thoughts, suitable to help shape a dynasty. On the other hand Empress Wu Zetian (Zhong Chu Xi) is Introducing many 'new' reforms in the country benefitting the common people. However she is facing massive opposition from the majority of courtiers who believe a woman should not be given too much authority.
Empress Wu Zetian is impressed by Di Renjie but she thinks he needs more experience before he can be of any help to her. So after passing the imperial examination, Di Renjie is appointed as a magistrate of Penglai county, a remote frontier. At the end of the 4th episode Di Renjie appoints Hong Liang (You Yong) as his inspector, Ma Rong (Zi Ling) and Qiao Tai(Ji Ta) as his attendants. This ragtag group goes to the Penglai county to start their journey. In Penglai county Di Renjie meets Cao An (Wang Li Kun) who becomes Do Renjie's confidant and lover, becoming a soundboard for Di Renjie's inner thoughts and conflicts. Throughout the series the Empress Wu transfers Di Renjie to different places where he encounters different problems, faces varied situations and resolves the plight of local people. Empress Wu wants Di Renjie to gain experience so that later he could serve as her advisor in the court.
Di Renjie is warned by Grand Secretariat Wei Wuji - "you think all the new is good and right. But the 'new' means changes, chaos, severed heads and bloodshed and saber rattling and fight. "
Di Renjie is of the opinion, "A reform means replacing the old with the new. We should examine it's purpose and means. Now, new policies have been enacted. The new laws benefited the people, allowing them to live in peace."
In ancient China, a judge's role was that of a father figure in the society. He was a link between the rulers and the common people. Di Renjie proves to be an exemplary judge because besides his great observational skill, deduction ability, attention to detail and lightning fast reflexes, he also has compassion for people and a strong drive to uncover the truth while serving justice. Even when presented with bizarre cases, he finds a rational explanation. He disbelieves in coincidence and fate and is convinced that everything is planned, dictated by logic.
There are three story arcs to the series, the major arc is the change in the system due to Empress Wu's reforms and its implications faced by officials as well as Di Renjie gaining experience in order to later aid Empress Wu in court politics. The second arc is to discover Di Renjie's father's past, to understand what circumstances led him to commit suicide. Somehow Cao An and Heiyan are connected to his father's past. The third arc consists of all the short cases that Di Renjie solves.
I feel that somehow the method of solving the cases in the beginning didn't allow room for the audiences' deductions because only after Judge Di reaches a conclusion, the audience become aware of the importance of the clue. Hence the audience becomes mere spectators to the brilliance of Di Renjie and not active participants in the case solving. The later cases were quite simple as they were mere means to drive the story of Emotions VERSUS Law forward (greed, anger, ignorance, dislike, love, desire, hatred). To be a good judge, it is a prerequisite to be sagacious and impartial in upholding law, irrespective of the people involved. This becomes the underlying theme in later part of the cases.
Special attention is paid to details in the Script in order to recreate the culture, customs and traditions of ancient China. The lavish sets gives a feeling of grandiose. Detailed ornate costumes provides authenticity to the characters. The colour grading gives more cinematic aesthetics, the series is suited to be watched on the big screen to truly appreciate the picturisation. Cinematography is fantastic, comparable to any high budget cinema work. Breathtaking visuals of locations accompanied by strategic upbeat background music during key moments transports the viewers to the era of splendour. I feel a resemblance of the opening score and background score to the sound track of the movie 'Dune'. The intensity and tempo are a little different but the same kind of instrumental score accompanied by similar vocal is included in this series. Especially when the background music is played during strategic points of the case, it gives a hair raising subliminal effect.
The icing on the cake is the stellar Main Cast at the helm of the project. The series has also managed to rope in some popular as well as veteran actors for the Support Cast. All the actors perform their roles zealously making it possible for the viewers to experience the splendor of the era.
Overall: It is a good series, it is like a gourmet meal to be savoured slowly because there are lots of subtle dialogues, the whodunit is not as important as experiencing the culture of the period. Those looking for quick gratification and thrill of case solving may find it a little slow paced.
I have compiled notes on Detective Dee, Dutch author Robert Van Gulik, Empress Wu Zetian. I have also written summary of each cases in the discussion section of the drama page. Don't forget to read it for more information and details of this series.
Leaving links below for the notes.
1. Basic information
https://mydramalist.com/discussions/judge-dees-mystery/122837-basic-information-about-the-cases-and-judge-dee?pid=2949011&page=1#p2949011
2. All Nine case summaries, starting from case 1.
https://mydramalist.com/discussions/judge-dees-mystery/122837-basic-information-about-the-cases-and-judge-dee?pid=2957009&page=1#p2957009
I will also leave Clickable links of the above mentioned discussion section as a comment to this review.
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Sung Yu Ri plays the Princess and I think she does a pretty good job of portraying a time traveler. She did as well as the boys from Rooftop Prince. So Ji Sub plays a general in the historical part and a fashion designer in 2003. He is the love interest in both time periods. I just love him and I think he did a good job acting even back then. Kim Nam Jin took me by surprise. He plays a general that is the enemy of the Princess in historical times and the heir of the lead Japanese family in 2003, Fujiwara Tatsuji. Why hasn't this guy done anything since 2008??? I thought he was good for his debut drama. I wish he was still acting.
The music is ok.
I probably won't rewatch it.
It is an older drama, so the sets and production is a little lacking, but I think that it is an interesting drama to watch.
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One of the best sports drama there is!
I was just scrolling in MDL airing calendar and saw this. I just picked it up because beacuse its was long since I had watched a nice sports drama. I didn't expect to enjoy it as the leads were not familiar to me. (I had only seen Wang An Yu in Go Go Squid 2 and The Heiress.) But, when I finished 3-4 episodes, I realised that I was just hooked. If you are looking for a sweet fluffy romance drama or a nice sports drama or a combination of both, To Fly With You is one of them.Story : 9 stars
The story was nice. It had the right amount of sports and romance. This story also shows the hardships and challenges faced by athletes. During the whole drama, there wasn't even a dull moment that made me bored.
Acting/Cast: 9.5 stars
Though I wasn't much familiar with the cast, in the first episode itself I found that I was watching a drama with amazing actors ans actresses. The chemistry between the leads seemed so natural that I thought if they were really in a relation haha..
The side characters were also nice which made the drama more lively.
Music: 8.5 stars
There wasn't much music in the drama. But I like the starting theme and the ending song.
Rewatch value: 9 stars
I don't usually rewatch dramas even if its my favourite. I don't have time to reawtch any dramas at the moment. But, If I will rewatch some dramas at any point of time, this will surely be one of them!
Overall: 8.5 stars
One of the must watch sports C-drama. This drama has everything a light-hearted drama should have: romance, comedy, sports and youth
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A hot mess of a tragedy
This drama was kind of a hot mess. I watched it till the end just coz I wanted to know what kind of ending they were going with, and when it ended, I literally said out loud, "Wait, what?"What I liked:
- I love IU, and the actor playing the 4th prince was pretty good too... for about the first 4-5 episodes lol
All other thoughts:
- This show is adapted from a Chinese court intrigue romance novel and it shows: internalized misogyny where the women are either Mary Sues who die or very unlikeable assholes, court politics, power and hierarchy... Leading to my next point:
- Although this was in a Korean setting, the show felt like a Chinese story - the themes about power and the throne/succession, the storylines of each of the characters... it was pretty interesting. I've read quite a few CN court politics novels and a lot of the tropes, plot, and storylines in this drama were very familiar
- Pacing was bad. First ten episodes felt pretty slow although there were some really funny and cute moments. Last ten episodes was faster, but somewhat predictable
- I seriously did not like how the female protagonist was written. Reminded me a lot of The Rise of Phoenixes: the female protagonist starts out pretty decent, but then ends up tragic, losing the will to live, damsel in distress. By the end, the female lead exists just as a tragic female figure for manpain and angst. She even died of childbirth, lol
- Can't believe I'm meant to ship the 4th prince with the female lead? He's possessive and has serious control and power issues because of abandonment issues. I was creeped out by him. Which leads to my next point
- Characterization was poor. I didn't really find a lot of the characters' change in motivations and behavior convincing, and it felt like they were forced into being a certain way because the plot/tragedy demanded it
- Also lol what was up with that ending
- Side note that the 4th prince/Emperor alone in the snow, abandoned, totally reminded me of Ning Yi from The Rise of Phoenixes. I'm sure there's something to be said about internalized misogyny and manpain in CN novels
Overall, I've watched better shows regardless of whether it's about court politics or doomed romance
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Soldier vs. RoboCop
Story:The Good -
The military aspect of this drama was interesting especially in the way they showcased how the military advanced through the years. The technological advancement being the most intriguing while the training portion was appropriate as well. Generally, I think the hierarchy and the flaws they showcased about the military with their higher ups and how it could impact soldiers really gave great insight to how things were ran. That maybe it isn't as perfect as it seemed but as time progressed those issues were slowly getting resolved to maybe make it harder to accomplish but not completely absent.
My favorite part of the story had to be Gu Yiye’s story arc. I felt he was very consistent with the way they wrote him – he started off being this proud, arrogant, and smart soldier and they continued to sort of write him that way but slowly try to evolve him but kept his original characteristics. Gu Yiye embodied the ideal soldier where he thrives to work towards a goal but combat and grief alters his plans and provides him other opportunities to continue to sacrifice not just for his country but also for his fallen brothers who he trained alongside. His story really made u feel sympathetic towards his choices and wanted to root for his happiness along the way and just wanted him to succeed.
The Bad –
The romance portion of this drama really dragged the plot of this story down in my opinion. It felt as if they removed the avoidable love triangle, they could have saved the main character Gao Liang from being so annoying in the beginning. The main character, Gao Liang, being the other main issue that I had with this drama. He was written very inconsistent with 1 moment he is this typical soldier that is a strong fighter to just out of nowhere being super smart AND a strong solder. It seemed like they didn’t know how to make him great and just constantly kept on adding on to him to make him seem more perfect without ever trying to really evolve him. In a way, I feel the screenwriter was trying really hard to make him into a Goku character, from Dragon Ball Z, but failed miserably along the way. U know the typical comical, strong character that his friends love and constantly root for. But the screenwriter just sort of dragged it out where it just felt forced rather than organic with the way Goku was written. Overall, I just feel his character was very flawed, writing wise, and just inconsistent with who he was from his actions in the previous episodes to how he was towards the middle. Just felt like 2 completely different people that showed no signs of how one got to the other.
Acting:
This is probably the main reason why I continued to watch this drama. I felt the acting that Xiao Zhan, who played Gu Yiye, was just breathtaking. He really was able to portray his character in a perfect manner where it seemed like he was that character. While watching, I constantly kept feeling that he showed signs of being a method actor where he completely immersed himself into his character and brought out those emotions that Gu Yiye would be feeling at that exact moment. The way he showed signs of aging by simply changing parts of his face and not just relying on makeup to make him look older – just amazing. Just the overall performance by Xiao Zhan was brilliant. The other actors also did a remarkable job with their roles and being able to bring those characters to life even with the certain flaws the plot had. I think a lot of the supporting cast such as A Xiu, Niu Mancang, Zhang Fei, Chunyu, and of course Hu Yang did an absolutely amazing job with their characters and really made me invest myself into them and wanting to know what became of them.
Music:
The OSTs were absolutely amazing. Both the beginning and ending songs that were sung by Johnny Huang and Xiao Zhan, respectively, were just beautiful and were able to enhance the plot and give the appropriate emotion for the type of drama it is.
Rewatch Value:
Overall, yes, I would rewatch because I felt there are some scenes that were just done stunningly; especially episodes 18 – 21 when the war had occurred. I even enjoyed parts of the training portion in the beginning episodes. But some parts I would just fast forward since I was not a huge fan of the overexaggerated compliments a certain character was getting and just inconsistencies.
To sum it up, I think this drama is quite good for a military drama and allowed a lot of room for discussion which I feel is the main task for a lot of shows/movies. To allow people to discuss and see what they like or dislike about something just so it could be engaging amongst the audience.
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I am so normal with this show......
omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg Love for loves sake is a game-changer in the bl realm, taking you on a journey that's anything but ordinary.Tae Myung Ha's switcheroo from a regular 29-year-old to a 19-year-old character inside a virtual game is like stepping into uncharted territory. The quest to sprinkle some happiness into Cha Yeo Woon's pixelated life brings forth a mix of track and field glory, handsome looks, and emotional wrecking...
The ending is pure cinematic magic, not rushed but carefully crafted, making it stand out in the Kbl landscape. The chemistry between the characters feels real. The acting is good. Characters are lovable. Iconic lines. Well-written script. Nice visuals. Name it. This is Cinema!
A must watch! It is a delightful anomaly in the best way possible, offering a unique blend of romance, drama, and a dash of virtual reality that's anything but normal.
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I’ve included a review of the English subs available
Chinese romance dramas used to always be either melodramas full of angst and sorrow or they would be over the top silly comedies. But lately they’ve been putting out some really good romantic comedies that are just the right combination of romance, comedy, and intrigue. This drama falls into that category. It’s not perfect but it’s a pretty decent drama.Acting: It’s a rarity for me but I have no complaints about any of the actors in this drama. They all did a good job. But the main leads did a much better than average job. Let me explain.
The male lead:
When it starts out he reminds me a lot of a typical second male lead. He’s very sweet, kind, and charming. I like how, as the drama progresses, the male lead draws us in by slowly revealing everything his character has had to endure and why he’s so grateful for the little things in life. And as his character grows and matures into a much more confident and forceful person, you can’t help being touched.
The female lead:
The female leads portrayal of a cold and arrogant CEO is spot on. But when she gradually shows glimpses of the soft heart she hides beneath that tough cold exterior, that’s when you really start to understand and connect with her character. You can’t help but feel for her as she slowly reveals how tortured she is over her past. I liked how well she portrayed her characters immense growth and maturity too.
Cinematography and set design:
There was no weird camera angles or choppy editing. It flowed smoothly and seamlessly. I was never confused about what was happening. The set design was really nice and for once I have no complaints about the wardrobe (Chinese dramas tend to put really baggy or weird clothes on the female leads in modern romcoms). The music was perfect for each occasion never taking away from the scenes or getting too loud and drowning out the actors voices.
Storyline:
Taking the typical drama plot and reversing it by having a cold rich female CEO chase after the male lead was a refreshing take on an old cliche. The comedy was perfectly timed and the characters were entertaining. But after a while you get tired of seeing the female lead continually chasing after the male lead only to get coldly rejected every time. I started to feel embarrassed for her. And the silly goofy over the top antics her “frenemy” resorted to when pursuing the male lead was not only annoying but it didn’t sit well with me since he was married. These things go on for almost 16 straight episodes which was just too long. It was cute and funny in the beginning but after a while it became repetitive and predictable. I found myself hoping for something different or more interesting to happen. Fortunately the chasing ends and the annoying “frenemy” has lots of character growth and I even started liking her. Then they even put in some intriguing plot twists midway through the drama, breathing fresh life into it. But one of the plot twists didn’t make sense and hurt rather than helped the drama. It’s never a good idea when a drama makes the audience angry at one of the leads for doing something stupid and hurtful. There’s lots of ways of making a drama more interesting without making one of the main leads hurt the other one even if it’s with noble intentions. Nothing irritates me more than noble idiocy. It’s one drama trope that’s been way over used lately. If they hadn’t dragged things out for so long in the beginning and if they hadn’t made a main character do the noble idiocy thing, it would have been a perfect drama.
For those watching it with English subs:
There aren’t a lot of good English subs out there for this drama. The best I could find were on Daily Motion by Carmon Eng Sub, but be forewarned that they aren’t perfect. The subs would be pretty good for a while then there would be short periods where the conjugation and sentence structure would be way off. During these periods the basic thoughts are there but you have to reconstruct the sentences in your head for it to make sense, which got tiresome. The depth of emotion and deeper essence of what’s being conveyed is missing during these periods. I’m still not 100% sure what exactly happened with some of the business aspects of the drama because of this. These subs are much better than the google translate subs, they're the best out there for this drama, and they’re definitely worth watching. And I really do appreciate this nice subbers hard work. But just be prepared for brief periods where the subs aren’t conjugated properly requiring you to pause everything so you can figure it out.
Overall thoughts:
Does this drama have flaws? Yes. Was I irritated at times? Yes. But I have to say that the main leads chemistry and romance really stood out in this drama. They have great kissing scenes, lots of hugs, piggyback rides, cuddles, etc. And the secondary couple are pretty cute too. There are a lot of lovable characters in this drama that you will root for. It’s not perfect but it’s pretty darn sweet and memorable.
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This review may contain spoilers
I started this drama out of shear curiosity and really got hooked on the super drama it ended up turning into. I loved the plot and the character dynamics and could not wait for the romance between the Empress and the Chief body guard/Na Wang Shik. But......The ending completely fell apart. It was exceptionally disappointing. I hated the way the writers wrapped things up. Min Yoo Ra being raped was just too much for me. It didn't make sense - it was like they were trying to justify and redeem her being a horrible person (throughout more than 75% of the drama) by saying that she went through something horrible (rape *is* horrible, but there was no reason to add that to her story because her story already made justifiable sense). Her horrible actions and mentally was already explained through her thinking she was abandoned when pregnant. They didn't need to add such a cruel thing on top of it. It was unnecessary and honestly, for me personally, distasteful.
Another thing that was handled poorly and was a complete let down for me was how Na Wang Shik was not in the final episodes - it felt really REALLY wrong. He needed to be there some how. Flashbacks would have been a great addition to kind of bridge the gap of the actor's absence! It was like they were trying to get us to forget he ever existed in the drama....but he was present in EVERY SINGLE EPISODE so trying to brush off his character in the last 4 episodes was just stupid and not well compensated for.
A logical issue in the plot that I could not fathom was the culprit behind the death of the Grandmother/Grand Empress Dowager....or apparently a suicide. Even if her suicide was planned by the writers, it made NO LOGICAL SENSE. NONE. How would her suicide help ANYONE (her reasoning behind killing herself rather than being murdered by her own family members)? UGH that was soooo frustrating and stupid too.
In regards to the island the Empress Dowager wanted so badly..... I was thinking that the island was gonna have something extremely taboo, cruel and crazy - the poppies with the cocaine production just really didn't cut it for me. Yes, the human experimenting was awful, but I didn't understand the point to it. Why do experimenting on humans with poppy extract? What's the goal/purpose??? That was left unexplained, which made it feel like they never really knew what was on the island until it was time to reveal it and then they didn't come up with anything worthy of all the desire to KILL over.
The ending with the Empress Dowager killing her own son was goosebumps evoking. It just didn't make sense to me how they made it seem like in his dying breaths the Dowager didn't mean it.....she tried to blow him up like 2 days ago.....
It was also sad that the sister to the emperor was simply too dumb to get involved with all the crazy stuff and therefore never trusted to handle anything. It protected her in the end, but man she felt so betrayed and surprised/appalled at their actions. Poor thing.
I also didn't get why the Empress (Sunny) was made to look like she's going to miss the Emperor after his death/murder but not once does she seem to mourn or remember Na Wang Shik. How does that even make sense to them?! They were in frickin love! Everyone knew it, but thanks to the actor's inability to be present in the last 4 episodes they decided to pretend that they weren't leading to that the whole time?! Where was Sunny crying herself to sleep because she loved him and he died protecting her from the bomb explosion (which they didn't really explain well either, just kind of glazed over to get him out of the picture). That makes me so mad.
There was some dramatic irony of people walking around looking at "antique " stuff from in the palace. That had me cracking up.
What I can say about the ending that was good was at least Sunny always loved Ari and wanted to protect her, which she managed to do till the end. That's a plus.
You see and this is a prime reason why I never watched currently airing dramas in the first place! The ending to this drama was so awful that it ruined the whole drama for me, even though I absolutely loved mostly everything up until the way they started to wrap up the ending.
Sunny didn't get to be with Chun Woo Bin/Na Wang Shik (which I wasn't originally rooting for, but after all the implications, I found myself wanting them to end up happy together) and that kinda bugged me because they were definitely alluding to their romance. And then they took it away!
Also, what was UP with Sunny's hair cut in the end?! That style did NOT suit her. And I don't think a haircut automatically equals a progression/lapse in time so that was definitely unnecessary too (though, I'm totally nit-picking, so I'll stop there).
Overall, I want to say I enjoyed this drama more than I did, but the ending makes it something I do NOT want to rewatch. Even the epilogue scene was a let-down. It implied that the Emperor and Sunny were supposed to be together if they had met in another life in different circumstances, but the whole drama spent time showing us that they would never be together and Na Wang Shik was her *fit*.
While the drama was highly addictive and paced well, the way the writers chose to handle the drama extension and not having the actor for Na Wang Shik included in the final 4 episodes ruined everything. I think the writers really need to reflect on how they handled this drama (in plot), their characters (in development), and their actors.
I would only consider recommending this drama/rewatching this drama if there was an alternate ending including Na Wang Shik's character and their happily ever after (rather than the bittersweet ending we got).
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