The thing with Binggeure also bothered me, because he was obviously going through a dilemma the show never really addressed before it tied it up nicely with a bow. 1994 had amazing heart and great characters, but the writers decided keeping the viewers in the dark was more important than telling a good story. (Let's not forget that basketball suddenly disappeared, and there are several episodes where a certain baby isn't even mentioned. Plus, what was the point of the scene with the teen in the present talking to that girl?)
But, again on the plus side, a good story is here nonetheless. It;s worth watching. There will be parts, however, where you are banging your head against a table.
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I hate judging something without giving it a try so I watched the remake; At first I was confused about the cast, it took me two episodes to get used to it then as the episodes went on I had great feelings for this drama: it's much faithfull to the manga than the original.
There were some personalities that differs from the original one ; some were great and some weren't, I didn't get disappointed while watching plus the ending was a little better than other versions.
Anyway , seeing Hana Kimi's story all over again deserve wasting my timee on it so don't care what people who haven't watched it say just give it a go and make your own conclusion.
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Backwards, outdated and downright misogynistic. AVOID.
(PSA: This is a rant rolled up as review bc i could not keep my cool writing about this cesspool of a show. Thus it contains some swear words. Just as a head's up.)For a family drama written in 2022/2023, TRHC is oddly stuck somewhere in Joseon era, or 1970 if we are feeling generous. Worst of all is that all of these backwards views of the writer is covered under a mantle of pseudo LOOK HOW MODERN WE ARE progressiveness at first. But you always get glimpses of his true views here and there, those bits of misogyny, how a woman is not allowed to exist without a man and husband, can't do anything without a man. Or his obsession with bloodline superiority portrayed by the grandmother at first who feels like a writer mouthpiece of his own views in hindsight.
Because for a show supposedly about how family is chosen and that chosen family is just as valid as bloodlines, he does his damnest to portray adoption in the worst light. As something lesser and THE fatal flaw a person can have. Later on ML is also CONSTANTLY ridiculed for wanting to take over the father's role for FL's baby because he is not the true blooded father, not valid nor good enough and every character lets him know so. While the literal shithead of dna giver of the child is elevated to the writer's favorite pet the narrative tries to manipulate you into feeling sorry for a literal stalking, harassing, cheating, blackmailing, threatening and gaslighting abusive bastard who made the leads life hell for 30 eps plus. But he is the "father" of FL's child so he has a "i can do what i want" permit of the writer who seems to sympathize with abusive men treating women like shit and objects to possess waaaaay too much, if you ask me. Yikes. But of course none of the stalking and domestic violence is ever addressed or SML held accountable in any way or form, nope. Of course not. It was just there for shock value and to show you that this poor poor man just did all this because he was lonely, had a bad childhood (???), and was upset of not seeing his child or something. Awwww. F-- OFF. The trivialization of abuse (that starts not just at physical, mind) is staggering and super disgusting, but totally in line with this writer's overall misogynistic views.
Which perfectly shows in the complete obliteration of FL Yeondoo's personality in the second half as well, Because except for her apologizing and cowering to everyone no matter what and why, if she is allowed to speak at all, she does nothing, is allowed nothing. In latter eps you even have ML, her then legal husband, speaking FOR her even if she is directly addressed by others and yikes. Not to mention how her career fell sideways and was forgotten about in favor of her letting it housewiving out till the writer remembered she once was a star instructor five minutes before the very end. Which okay if a stay at home mom is what she wants there is no problem, but there was NEVER any discussion about her future, nor what she wants to do going forward. The complete lack of agency while two men have the worst written, and factually and law-wise incorrect, custody battle over HER child, for whom she is the sole custodian parent, is more than appalling. It is downright sexist. (In fact, no female character is allowed to exist or act without a man in here, again yikes.)
While the show was airing, we have talked at lengths in the comment section why the romance is not romancing, especially of the leads who are like roommates raising a baby together, post timejump. A lot of it comes down to this writer and simply baaaaaad directing, but there is more to that. It is the pure dislike of the writer for romance in general. Watching this, you get the clear impression that he always found romance and calm scenes boring, and not just in regards of the leads. Every romance subplot we had in the first half was dropped after the worlds worst and most unneeded timejump, and forgotten about. The singular one we had aside the leads (romance, what romance?) with the youngest couple was a trashfire of circular on/off nonsense going nowhere. But oh well that fitted into the rest of the repetitive narrative dragging on to the point of complete suffering. Which, coincidentally was THE motto and theme for the last quarter of TRHC. Joy was killed as was the lead's romance before it could ever fully bloom and develop by this hack. And it got replaced by a onslaught of perpetual misery piled on misery, especially for the leads. Whose actors looked progressively more exhausted the longer this overwrought, pointless drama dragged on, reflecting the audience perfectly. It feels from eps 1 to 50 AJH and BJH have aged several years, and with this abysmal script and dialogue they were forced to follow i am not surprised. Because for the viewer aka myself, it was also just pure suffering and exhaustion to watch the backyard bin Iteration of Groundhog Day with everything repeating over and over, down to what i would call the worst written drama in recent years after Woori The Virgin.
So, in case you are insane enough to still want to watch this trainwreck on top of a flaming pile of garbage... my advice is still to run away and find something better to do with your time. Like take a walk, work out, pet a dog. So much that you can accomplish in 50 hours that is not watching this dungfilled, backwards ass mess. Failing that however, you best watch eps 1-33, mentally slap a one year timejump under it and go to eps 39, watch that. Then jump to 41 to see the leads register their marriage and then go DIRECTLY to eps 50 for closure. Do not stop at start and look at the mUh bLoODliNEs Kim Junha writers pet show this drama becomes in the last ten eps. I repeat: DO NOT STOP AND GO DIRECTLY TO THE ENDING EPISODE and thank me later for having spared you ten hours of your life as nothing of value happens in there. Except a lot of pointless bs and abusive man apologia but that is right in line with this wreck of a writer. AVOID.
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A moderate teacher does not really a good match with A nasty man with an affluent background. BUT, this drama challenge the social acceptance. Both boldly admit they won't fall heels over head with one other. Love comes not at the right time but destiny and grandfather effort give them a chance to know one another.
I assure you this worth of your time in front of the computer!
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Story: SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL and full of emotions... emotions that I've never seen in other dramas. It felt like watching something real something I need to watch and learn from, it didn't feel at all like a "drama" for entertainment. The story has everything you need to learn about life, about people and understand what trust means what betrayal means, and why people act they way they do, how to look beyond what you actually see or what seems to be right and how to forgive...etc For a change there wasn't evil characters, crazy characters, annoying characters, weakling characters, cheesy characters...etc NONE of the things which exist in other Typical K dramas were here in MDSY.
Acting: The whole cast showed an amazing acting skills from small characters to the main characters... I have seen Lee Bo Young 2 times before I never did admire her as an actress I was wondering why give her such a huge project the girl can't even act... well SHE proved me wrong !! No one would've done Seo Young any better !! my 2nd surprise was Lee Jung Shin this is my first time admiring an idol's acting skills !! I'm definitely looking forward to their next projects !!.
Music: The instrumentals were so beautiful went very well with the story... my favorite OST is "Melody Day Like Back Then" I can't stop listening to it
Rewatch
It's a family drama and family dramas usually are re-watchable in general so I'm giving it 8, but as for me I'm not sure if I'd re-watch it again I don't re-watch dramas except for really few special cases.
Overall
Are you looking for a good family drama? With slice of life? This is the drama for you it's one of the best family dramas that I've seen. Don't let the length scare you it is really worth the time
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Sweet romance met with dark background/past
Good thing this drama is 25 episodes, any longer and it would of gotten draggy. Overall this is a good watch but it wasnt my most favorite. The song intro portrayed a lot of cute and sweet scenes.( which there were), but it isnt your average cute love story. I would say the backstory is some what dark. I mean the female lead had a trauma past incident , when she gets scared she goes into sleepwalking phase where she basically is not conscious. Her only medicine is the main male lead.Male lead is a ceo of a film company. Female lead is an voice actress. Through an incident she believes that the person who can help cure her is the second male lead , aka male lead's brother. Second male lead is a famous idol, that's how she gets to know the male lead. The mom tricks the female lead to become the maid for male lead, but she though it was for the idol ( which he could help her if she gets scared.) the cure is for them to hug or kiss lol . Male lead ceo is step up rules in his house and if you break them, you have to pay a fine. Thus beginning their bickering and eventually developing into love :)
Romance- First of all the female and male are so cute together. They have really cute and sweet scenes. They have a good chemistry with each other. Their kisses are also believable and passionate. They also are shy to show that they are in love . The second male lead also ends up liking the female lead ( no big surprise)
To me the development of the relationship between the male and female lead was kinda slow, i think like 14 episodes in/after that they are actually together. Also the latter half focused on her getting her memory back about what happen to her and the kidnapping when she was young. The kidnapping part of the story is where i minus some points. Some parts didnt really make sense... like they were like young when it happened but the story portrays it like its couple years ago that happen. Maybe for the flashbacks they didnt do it obvious enough... im like what? In the process of her finding our what happen during the kidnapping is when it turns a little more dramatic. its no longer the cute love story... so just be aware.
One annoying character I could not stand, was how that character knew that when the female lead sees something scary it triggers her sleepwalking and annoying evil side character did that like many times... to mess with her and mess her voice acting screen ....
I would say romance is half of the story and the other half is finding out what happened in the past.
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Too Much Hype, Not Enough Sustenance
Before I begin, I will be spoiling a lot of key plot points in this review. Please read this after watching the drama.Plot summary: Two men, Pran (Nanon) and Pat (Ohm), grew up next to one another. Even though they're the same age, like Romeo and Juliet, their families hate one another due to past bad blood between Pat's father and Pran's mother. The two had been secret friends since childhood, but once Pran's mom found out that her son was friend's with Pat, she moved Pran to another school. Years later, the two are reunited in university studying at rival majors: Engineering and Architecture. Once the two meet, they discover that not only are they in the same school, they also live across the hall from one another. The more time they spend together, Pat realizes that he's always loved Pran. Pran has always had a secret crush on Pat. The two decide to get together, but being from rival households and rival majors at school, they have to navigate carefully or else they will have to break up.
The overall plot of the story is quite easy to follow, as it's a tale that's been told a million times. So there's not much originality when it comes to the plot, except that instead of a man or a woman, they're two men. My biggest critiques about GMMTV plots is that they're predictable. Episodes 1-4 usually spend time on exposition. 5-7 the two characters start falling in love. By episode 8, they are usually together, and in episode 9 we start running into the 3rd and final conflict in their relationship which takes the remainder of the drama. Episode 11 usually wraps up the drama, and episode 12 closes everyone's story arch with (usually) happy endings for everyone. I've watched so many GMMTV stories that the predictability can be a bit annoying, especially with a well known plot like a Romeo and Juliet romance.
I will now discuss my X number of grievances with this drama in no particular order.
1. The side characters did not get enough time for what I think was needed for them to actually have a role. A pet peeve of mine with side characters is that if they aren't doing significant work in the drama to have them, why show them at all? I felt like Pa and Ink's addition to the story was quite welcomed. I loved having a lesbian couple, but since the story was not about them, we barely saw their relationship bloom and even focus on them after they got together. It was just like, they're together, but we don't have time to expand on how the two developed. Mo, Louis, Safe, and Chang had no reason to be in the story as they barely had lines and could easily be removed without changing anything in the story. Korn, got more lines in the later episodes, but he was basically unneeded except to start fights. Wai is probably the only side character that mattered as he becomes a villain of some sorts in the middle.
2. Half of the story felt like fanservice. Ohm not having his shirt on for most of the drama, or taking it off every chance he could get was well great eye candy, but was it needed for the story? I felt like they knew it would attract fans by him having it off. Like a lot of the extra things that the characters did with one another to me felt like it was to have us enjoy them having sweet moments together, but not because the characters themselves would have acted like that with one another.
3. I say this about every GMMTV show. Stop having actors sell products. It takes away from the drama. Figure out a way to sell your sponsors without literally praising how good the product is in the show. Like, every show has sponsors but at this point is to have it in the background enough times that people implicitly see it and recognize your brand. It's not for your actors to sell it in the show. It disrupts the flow of the show.
4. Pran has already known and accepted his feelings for Pat. He already knew he liked him. However, Pran up until episode 4, thought he was completely straight. I would have like more than the simple one-liner where he says something like "Love is love, and I can fall in love with anyone regardless of gender." I felt like this just a revision of the horrible, I'm not gay, but I just love you trope. Instead of just saying the character is outright gay, it's that they're in love with the person or pansexual, which is fine. However, to me, it reads as, we're still keeping the female fans by giving them a bone and making them fall in love with Pat's character because he could still be in a straight relationship.
5. I read in some other review that this drama was made for the LGBTQ+ community and I couldn't disagree with this comment more. I felt like it was quite targeting to women and not the LGBTQ+ movement at all. As a gay a man, I would've loved to see more actual support for the community than fan service to make the girls fall in love. Being openly gay, or in an openly gay relationship is quite scary even if you're in Thailand. I love to see the inner struggle that gay characters go through to be themselves.
6. The plot was a bit childish at parts. Like why are grown adults fighting like high school kids. I asked my Thai friends how realistic this was and they all said not at all. It's like, why are grown adults fighting on campus? Because of some stupid rivalry. Give me a break. Unfortunately, this plot takes the first 4 episodes which makes it so boring. Even the parents. Like, I was pissed at the dad, but this whole plot point was introduced and never really resolved.
7. The pacing was poor. We spent so much time, like 4 episodes, setting the fact that they all hate one another except Pran and Pat who secretly know each other. That needed one episode. The building of the two group's tension was unneeded since most of these characters have no importance in the plot, let alone lines. The ending felt rushed from episodes 9-12. It was like, we needed to tie up loose ends, so let's even jump ahead 4 years. Show that things are kinda changing but not really... Or, that tag at the end where they're 5 years into their relationship and playing a drinking game about what they don't know about each other, albeit cute, was just fan service.
What I did Like:
1. Despite having a lot of things I overall disliked, I did find the drama enjoyable. I do recommend people to watch it because Ohm and Nanon are both excellent actors. The two had great chemistry. Especially episodes 5-8. These episodes were really well-written and well-acted. The emotions were very raw and I related to it quite well.
2. Some of the plot was interesting, especially during the whole Wai saga. He became a super villain and I was all for it.
3. The cinematography was gorgeous. I loved a lot of the emotional night scenes.
4. I loved Pa and Ink's relationship. They both had chemistry. I wish they would have their own series. I think they're both great actresses.
Final Thoughts:
I liked it. I don't think it's better than some of the other BLs. But I think it's worth the watch, especially for the episodes where their acting really shined.
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Starts good but goes for a free fall in the end
Started good and strong but went straight down hill in the last episode. Till E5 she was just one greedy woman who wanted to earn lots of money but in the last ep they turned her into a cheating woman too who blames and gaslights ML for her sleeping with the ex bf. Instead of talking with her husband for lack of intimacy she cheats on him and then calls him out for not being good enough. ML suffered the entire show for her greed and all he gets in the end is this. The best ending would have been them moving on separately but NO they just get back together like nothing. Ruined the entire show and character for me.Was this review helpful to you?
And since I mentioned the shirtless LMK earlier, I should warn you (or entice you, depending on what you like lol) that the shirt is not the only MIA piece of clothing... try ALL of them! His interview during the press conference made me wonder why would he be so wary of the public opinion. Watch the movie and you'll get it! It's more than your regular bed scenes, so I wouldn't recommend this movie to those that dislike mature explicit content. I had no problem with those scenes, I do however have to say that Lee Tae Im, the only actress in this movie, seems to have been cast purely for this purpose. And it somehow annoyed me. Talk about sexual objectification of women. Not that I have a feminist out of place moment here. It's just that her character is anything but 3D, to say the least. Yeon Soo or an air doll, all the same...
The story is nothing much, rather filled with cliches. It reminded me a little bit of A Bittersweet Life, but you need to be drunk or extremely lenient to put the two movies on the same page.
Park Sung Woong is right on spot, bringing his character to life as perfectly as expected. His reserved, classy, poker faced gang boss Sang Ha shows great chemistry with the loose cannon, enraged, horny and blood thirsty Yi Hwan, the character played by Lee Min Ki. I think that's one of the few things that I enjoyed while watching the movie.
Long story short, For the Emperor doesn't have much of a statement to make. It's your regular action flick, with lots of blood and over the top steamy sex. The story line is very simple and predictable. The characters not too complex, the soundtrack nothing much. Lights and cinematography, few memorable scenes. Rewatch value? Unless you wanna play on repeat the few bed scenes or action ones, I'd say no one would bother revisiting this movie.
Watch if you are a Lee Min Ki or Park Sung Woong fan, if you like violent action movies and you don't care too much about intricate plots.
Don't watch if you dislike mature content, graphic scenes or if you think Lee Min Ki's hairdo resembles a bird nest or next door ajumma's perm.
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IF YOU'RE STILL HESITATING I HOPE YOU FIND THE COURAGE TO STAND UP AGAIN
You will end up crying rethinking the problems that you made so huge in your head are not that huge compared to what your loved ones will feel after you decide to give up because of those problems. This story gives a reality check to you about the consequences of selfish decisions which you thought wouldn't affect anyone.This drama has the perfect runtime which gives the right amount of information required and the story progression does not end up looking rushed or slow. The acting was one of the main reasons behind such perfect execution. The ending made me realize that I need to appreciate my present, even though we may face some obstacles here and there still, is there anyone in this world who hasn't faced any hardship whatsoever?
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Seung Yoon's acting was bland. She plays a girl who has fallen in love with a co-worker who doesn't believe in love. I felt bad for Jong Hyeon (He plays her co-worker she falls in love with.) you could see he was trying to make the drama more exciting and more interesting acting wise but it just didn't work out.
Jong Hyeon and Seung Yoon were a very awkward lead couple. During some scenes I couldn't help but cringe. I don't know why it was like that...maybe it was because Seung Yoon had the same type of expression throughout almost the whole drama? I don't know.
Now on to the plot. Hmmmmmm....how can I really put it into words? Well I felt it lacked something. The whole plot was basically about there romance and the only thing which kept the story going was there trust issues with each other. Even till the last episode they still were worried the other person was getting involved with someone else (That's never a good sign in any relationship).
The ending was cute. I will say that.
Do I recommend watching this mini drama?
Not really. I would say there are a lot better mini dramas out there.
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STORY (No spoilers)
For the C-novel readers:
To manage expectations, I'd like to take a short section to address those who've read the C-novel on which this drama is based and are thinking of watching this show. Firstly and most importantly, please kindly put aside your preconceptions because while this show does follow the novel, it does it in very broad strokes. Key events and key character actions are retained but the journey/ route to those events and actions can be very different. This might disappoint some of you if you're going into the show thinking that it will be a completely faithful reproduction of the novel. In order to help you enjoy this show, I'd like to encourage you to watch it with an open mind. If it helps, I personally found that by doing so and by following the story the drama itself is trying to tell, the plot-threads and character portrayals all hold together very well and this show becomes a more substantial adaptation and, I'd even venture to say, a more glorious homage to its original source material.
For non-novel readers & newcomers:
This show is more than just a pure xianxia romance. I was pleasantly surprised with how meaty and more substantial this show was, and how multi-faceted it can be. It will surprise you with its twists and turns, and with the evolution of our main characters as it progresses. Love (particularly star-crossed love or ill-fated love) and obsession are key themes but they are not the only ones. Themes of filial piety, integrity, loyalty, ambition, vengeance/ revenge, sacrifice, atonement and redemption are also wonderfully built into this show. This is a dish of many flavours. It's not pure sugar though it may start off on the sweet side. It will surprise you with its turns of fiery spice, bitterness and sweet-and-sour, with a touch of savoury thrown in.
Also, to help you understand a bit of what the show is like so that you're prepared, here's a broad outline:
The first half is full of sweetness and comedy, light-hearted and fluffy with some small build-up of plot threads. The romance development here is eminently ML-focused (he falls in love first and fast) and it runs the gamut of playful to moving as it progresses.
The 2nd half will start to bring together several plot threads introduced in the 1st half and so side characters have more screen-time as the show fleshes their story arcs and motivations. The main couple will also encounter love trials along the line of star-crossed love/ ill-fated love (hence the Romeo & Juliet premise). The trials have sound basis and foundation though, so it's not stupid misunderstandings and noble idiocy type issues. But the trials eventually prove and confirm their love and in the end, they overcome them for a suitable end.
I'd really like to encourage you to watch this show as it is quite amazingly crafted and if you like romance shows with a bit more complexity to it and to have more substance to it, this will suit you very well.
ACTING/ CAST
With over 60 episodes, this show's cast is not small. Screen-time for our characters will fluctuate depending on the plot thread in focus at the time so please don't expect our main characters or main couple to continuously dominate the screen. The show takes some pains to explore and flesh out some of its key side characters too, which is really great because it makes the show less riddled with one-dimensional/ cardboard cut-out characters. Even our 'stock villains' are given realistic internal motivations and drivers, and the 'comic relief' characters surprisingly have a core of values in them too. I personally found myself growing fond of many side characters (e.g. Yuanji Immortal, Moon Immortal, Yan You, Water Immortal and Lian Yuan) which makes this show extra enjoyable/ watchable to me. Love them!
Spotlight on our main leads:
DENG LUN as Xu Feng (aka Phoenix), the Fire Immortal. C-novel readers will probably be a bit surprised at Deng Lun's portrayal and take as our God of War, but I liked this different characterisation of our main male lead in this drama. He's not your perfect male lead, not by any means, but he has a strongly loyal, warm and loving heart. This central and core aspect of his character is wonderfully and consistently portrayed throughout the show and Deng Lun's less imposing physic and his warm voice (I just loved the fact that he voice-dubbed his own character!) makes him a more approachable and less dominating character than his C-novel counterpart.
Acting-wise, I think Deng Lun did well in portraying Xu Feng's emotional and character development. I think he does his character justice and that's good enough for me.
YANG ZI as Jin Mi, our Little Grape and Flower Immortal. I personally think that this is not an easy role for any actress to portray as her character undergoes a lot of ups-and-downs, internal conflicts and changes in this show, but kudos to Yang Zi for being able to make her a naively cheerful Little Grape at the start, and to showcase her evolution as the show progresses. She had me invested in her character and in her character's story and progress throughout the show.
LEO LUO YUNXI as Run Yu, the Night Immortal. Like Jin Mi, his character also undergoes a lot of ups-and-downs, internal conflicts and changes in this show and I have to also hand it to this actor, he rose to the occasion in this drama. As one of the 3 main leads in this show, he certainly has not been overshadowed by his fellow co-stars on the acting-front and some of his key scenes really brought the emotions out through the screen.
I personally think that our 3 main leads were well-balanced on the acting-front. No one consistently overshadowed or out-acted the other, everyone was on more or less equal footing in terms of screen-presence and screen-impact, to me. The well-balanced nature of it made the show good, because there is nothing worse than to have a co-star consistently overshadowing or out-acting you in front of the screen, making the scene imbalanced and making the actor and character being overshadowed to be out of place.
MUSIC
There appears to be 3 theme songs for this show (male and female version of the opening, and the ending theme song), and while they are lovely and beautiful in their own right, and when well-employed in a scene they really elevate the moment, I personally felt that the limitation of songs later on became a bit of liability to the show as, with over 60 episodes, there is going to be inevitable song-fatigue. I personally think that this is one area in the show which could really do with additional work and improvement to make it truly great, but well, it is what it is.
RE-WATCH VALUE
I personally loved the first half of the show to bits and can see myself re-playing a lot of it in future. The second half where the real business end of the show starts picking up steam is compelling and addicting to watch for the first time because of the breathless anticipation of wanting to know what happens next. I am not sure how re-watchable this section will be in future once the suspense and excitement is over but it doesn't make this show any less impressive on its own merits.
EDIT: Since writing this review, I've re-watched almost the entire show twice more so clearly my fears about the watchability of the 2nd half was unfounded. In fact, a lot of the emotional scenes in the 2nd half were some of the best scenes in this show.
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I See The Intention But... Such A Wasted Opportunity
I've never tried writing a review before but I'm watching BL's for over three years now and I wanted to try writing it. So please bear it with me.Dare You To Death was one of the tough ones to watch it. Writing in this series is... well to put it kindly: childish, sloppy, unprofessional. I understand the intention when they produced this series. But, my god the story just kept getting worse and worse each episode. Irrational behaviours of police officers, stupid decisions of the victims, jarring tonal shifts from romance to "mysterious" murder scenes... The list goes on and on. Firstly, writer/s clearly did not know how law enforcement bureaus work because the errors that have been made during solving the cases is just stupid. Knowing the potential victims but not providing them protection, not asking for a full autopsy report for the first deceased, or even not interrogate the suspects/victims fully in a police station is wild. And these things I mentioned here is just a glimpse. Anyways, there is so much to talk about the script of this series; but if I get in to that, it'd be full on spoilers so I'll cut it short here. It's just full of many illogical things that doesn't even cover up other story plots and left us with a whole bunch of mess.
The acting very surprised me. In my opinion, we saw the potential of Dunk's acting in Heart Killers. He was really good in that series. But unfortunately, Joong kept getting the same roles over and over again which is a very boring caracter type for me, we couldn't see his acting range. But in this series, I believe he really outdone himself. both Joong and Dunk. They both play different characters from their previous works which is refreshing. And seeing Joong in a character that can actually show emotions was really nice. Their acting really carried this series.
If I really have to say something about the music, its just boring. GMM has stock music/sounds to play in certain scenes. And they used those musics so much that using it here too is just feels lazy at this point. Also, the production quality was a mess either. Especially for a series that's been produced for Netflix. The audio issues were jaw-dropping. The editing that caused tonal shifts were horrific. At one point, It felt as if the production team didn't like certain people who were involved in this series so they tried everything in their power to ruin this show. And clearly they succeeded.
It's such a shame that these good actors were wasted in such a sloppy series. The only reason I gave this show a high overall rating is the acting in this series.
As I said in the beginning, this is my first attempt to write a review. I know probably not many people will see this review but if there are things you want to discuss or just talk about the series, let me know so that we can discuss it.
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1A tender journey of love, growth, and the beautiful chaos of Yumi's life
~Disclaimer: You can definitely watch this season as a standalone drama without watching the previous seasons. But keep it in mind, Yumi's Cells is a tale of the growth and development of a person navigating the ups and downs of her life. So you might not understand how her cells process without knowing her previous situations.Yumi's Cells is my love-at-first sight comfort drama. It pulled me in from the beginning and kept me intrigued till the end. Yumi's journey that started 5 years ago in 2021, has come to an end. It made me happy for her little triumphs of life, got me sad to see her broken-hearted and enraged me to see her being mistreated by people. In conclusion, she became a part of me as I saw a reflection of myself in her.
•I loved this storyline because it is genuinely a good drama that truly felt like a romcom evoking butterflies during the scenes between Yumi and her love interests. It maintained its unique sense of empathy and excitement even after several years, with realistic emotional lines and a cheerful tone that resonated well on a personal level. The third season basically focused on the cute, introverted love story between Yumi and her editor Sunrok. It explored the themes of self-discovery, emotional vulnerability, and the bittersweet nature of the relationship in between them. It perfectly balanced the lighthearted comedic moments with sincere reflections on love and life, making it feel authentic and heartfelt. FYI, it got me giggling like a fool!
•Sunrok’s development throughout the story is particularly noteworthy. Initially, he seemed like a robot character; cold, detached, and emotionally shut down. But when he got in touch with Yumi, his internal and external conflicts became evident. His true nature and reactions felt authentic and nuanced, avoiding clichés and adding layers to Yumi's storyline. He was truly an introvert waiting to be discovered. His core value improved gradually, eventually. Sunrok's well-crafted character's complexity and emotional depth added softness to his outer rigid persona. Oh! Did I mention, he got that cute flower boy with puppy eyes image? Well...he's filled with mystic, unpredictable, odd charms. No one can guess how he'll swept them off their feets like Superman! Truly a wild card in Yumi's life.
•Cells played a huge role in establishing the inner engineering of the characters to show how they navigate in their daily life. When situations felt light outside, Yumi and Sunrok's inner world was in full chaos trying to figure out what they wanted and what they needed to do. It showed how considerable both can be even if they didn't want to. The animation and visual storytelling remained strong, with creative depictions of Yumi and Sunrok's internal world that enhanced their storyline. The direction carefully balanced the pacing of the storyline, allowing viewers to savour both the comedic and emotional moments without feeling rushed.
Yumi and Sunrok's relationship sounds, looks and screams a healthy relationship. Their heart-fluttering interactions were to die for! Even though they're 10 years apart, their genuine affection and respect for each other make it impossible to like anyone else. Their slow-burn chemistry bloomed and gave us an ideal kdrama couple we didn't ask for.
Apart from the storyline, I loved the beautiful cinematography and lovely OSTs, which added a sweet essence to their awkward moments. The only problem I had with this drama was how short it was. Previous two seasons got 16 eps each and Yumi's endgame got only 8 episodes, was literally diabolical!
Overall, I highly recommend this and trust me, you won't be disappointed!
I'll keep my tradition alive as S1 got 10/10 , S2 9.5/10 and S3 doesn't deserve anything below 10 because it made a mundane life feel so special!
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NO SPOILER - Is it physical attraction or is it real love connection?
Watching this drama I wondered if sexual tension could ignate real love connections ?The story : Amidst chaotic political struggle of 3 cities, the most beautiful woman of the desert, gets involved with 3 Influencial men.
Well... This drama is not a slowburn romance like I thought. It is more a story about infatuation with a sprinkle of toxic romance in an unstable desert, where a power struggle is happening.
The main characters begin their journey with sexual tension that develop into something else, as the drama progresses. Intimacy is a big topic of the plot. There is a lot of sexual harrassment as well. Especially in the first half of the drama.
Indeed, in this savage desert, the women's sexuality is a bargaining ship. It can be exchanged as a payment or as a reward for victory. Meanwhile, the rapists are glamorized. So I would say that sex is emphasized more than romance in this drama, at least in the first half.
This is why the dare, here, is to transend the physical attraction into real romantic love while fighting the power stuggles in the desert.
Would this be doable? Indeed, it is, if we take psychology in account.
The "shaking bridge effect" is a psychological effect that can fake attractivness.
Because, a dangerous situation can make people mistake their own physiological sensations for love.
So, being in a life or death situation can arouse them and lead them to desire each other.
ML and FL entanglement is believable and very well enacted in my opinion.
Pros :
- FL is a witty and gifted princess.
- ML is a mysterious city lord/ chief BOA (intelligence service) of the desert.
- Chemistry is good between all the couples. Some MLs know how to bed FLs.
- Acting is wonderful. my favs are FL, Hankiz Omar, who is doing a great job as a cold and proud princess, and Alen Fang who is great as a resourceful chief of spies.
- Great cinematography. The setting is gorgeous. The desert scene were filmed in Gobi desert. It is a feast for the eyes.
- The pacing is quick in the beginning.
- Some scenes are very theatrical. Sometimes it was like watching "Ottelo", "Carmen" other times "Romeo and juliet" or "The phantom of the opera".
Cons:
- The exposition scenes last a lot before the real plot starts.
- Rape culture. Some would say that it takes place in ancient times and they will excuse the multiple men who want to constantly rape the female leads. But I don't agree. This is just annoying to me because it is so repetitive.
- The physical attraction from the start could jeopardize the deep romance. Was it believable? Yes it was and the acting was on point.
- SML and SFL are not complex characters. They are basically like desert Bonnie and Clyde.
- Pacing was a little slow at the beginning but improved after 5 episodes.
Overall:
I was captivated by this drama. This barbaric desert is the worst place to be, especially for a woman like Bei Shuang.
But she is so clever, that she still managed to pursue her goals and it was a bliss to watch her use her wits to outmatch every antagonist.
I had a hard time with the second couple, all their actions was just so annoying or disgusting to me. You'll see what I mean, when you watch the drama. But, I could understand that some people turn like that, in a violent place like this ruthless desert. However, the SFL remains a mystery to me. How can she be a princess and act so wildly and in such a disgusting way. What about the filial piety and the etiquette that every royal should have been tought since childhood? Once again, you will know what I mean as you watch the show. You might went to drop it at some point, because of the second couple but I assure you, this is a great story worth watching.
Even if, at the end I had few doubt about how the antagonists were punished for their misdeeds.
I recommend this drama if you like beautiful epic romance, full of commitments and sacrifices.
Indeed, the fact that it is not a slowburn romance doesn't disturb me. I am a fan of the Lead's love story.
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