Overhyped. Quite disappointing. Mostly boring.
I was excited to watch this drama because of the high praise and rating on here. However I was quite disappointed. The story had great potential but fell flat for me. Most of the episodes felt like fillers as nothing much happened to advance the plot. You could probably condense the story into 10 episodes and still get the whole plot. In fact, that would have probably made me enjoy it a lot more.ML story is the best part of the drama and I enjoyed seeing his journey. Unfortunately I can't say the same for the FL. Known as the greatest assassin, we spend all episodes watching her be a maid - clean, cook and run errands. She does have a sharp mind which she occasionally uses well but even that wasn't enough to make her an exciting character to watch. Their love story is sadly not convincing as I felt little chemistry and most of their romantic scenes were cringy. I actually loved the FL with the SML more and the fact that they had a connection since childhood made their relationship more real, sweet and wholesome. Even the older couple's love story was more enjoyable to watch than the main lead's.
Acting was good. Settings looked awesome. Fight & magic scenes were done nice but not enough. Overall, I would personally not recommend this drama to a fantasy lover. Cdramas (xianxia) are a much better choice in my personal opinion.
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Passionate romance that heteros don't get
Most heterosexual plots simply don't get an exclusive passionate romantic plots like this one. They usually have a bunch of other things going on and a bit of romance thrown in. Not here. The focus is on the ML and his journey to discovering love and himself. And it does make me a tad envious because they really don't beat around the bush in Love in the Big City. They explore friendships which are mostly wholesome and endearing.The show is not all roses and sunshine though. There are some dark topics explored. However, most of the show tries to be positive because the male lead is a cheerful individual making the best of difficult circumstances. Maybe even a little toxic positivity that can be frustrating or concerning for others around him at times.
The beginning few episodes were funny and enjoyable but somewhere towards the end, the show started to feel slow and dull. Not sure if that was intentional. Overall the characters and situations are mostly realistic.
I wasn't too happy about the way the series ended especially since the last 2 or 3 episodes weren't as interesting.
The opening theme is nice but the OST in particular did not stand out to me.
For the most part it is an easy binge watch with good cinematography, interesting characters, good acting and a job well done by Nam Yoon Su.
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2Flat romance, lacklustre politics & ML reduced to side accessory
I usually start my reviews explaining what the drama is about but this one is misleading as hell. You think you get a second chance romance where the main leads rebirth from their late 30s back to 18, work on repairing their broken relationship and the corrupt court. But the story revolves around the past history and family rivalry between the female lead and the second male lead. If you are a fan of Zhang Linghe or like your male leads to be more than a love puppy support role, you will be massively disappointed with this drama.Even though I very much enjoyed the first 12 episodes, the drama totally lost me afterwards. I was only able to finish it for ZLH, and also because of my NDD + FOMO.
The female lead in terms of her interpersonal relationships is a bully at first and emotionally insensitive to others. Although a smart cookie, confident and authority at court, in matters of the heart, she spends half the drama confused about her feelings. The second male lead has many romantic scenes with the female lead, and the focus is on his tragic first life. The director creates scenarios to make you want to sympathise with him but it all falls short and in fact annoys the audience even more. The male lead’s sole purpose in the drama is to be a love puppy and nothing more.
If the story was actually about the female lead and second male lead, I would have liked it. You have a love-hate relationship, power or love dynamic, family or love themes. I see the potential. But the writers did ZLH dirty by making him a lovesick puppy with no purpose in the plot. The poster of this drama is totally misleading and they should have put the second male lead in there (no hate to the actor, he is super cute) instead of ZLH.
POSITIVE:
- Zhang Linghe (ML). He is hands down the best part of this drama. I loved him in every scene, all his line deliveries were wonderful, he was great at comedy too. His character is a sweet, green flag cutie pie and the actor brings in the sexy factor too.
- Confident and authoritative female lead in terms of court/politics scenes.
- Lighthearted for the most part.
- Flashbacks from previous life are woven well into the story.
- Good comedy for the most part.
- Male lead’s jealousy scenes were 10/10. He cracked me up every time.
- Great acting from the main leads Zhang Linghe and Zhao Jin Mai.
NEGATIVE:
- Second male lead is actually the male lead. First half of the drama he has many romantic moments with the female lead (and even a special OST), and in the second half his story completely takes over the screen time. Giving him screen time is not as much of an issue as the way he was written and portrayed which drove many viewers into angry fits. He became an unwatchable character to the point that a lot of people were skipping his scenes. If the writers wanted to create a tragic villain, they failed.
- Male lead is just a side accessory and has no story arc. His emotional world is never explored. In all the major political plot points, he doesn’t contribute much to anything. His sole purpose is to be a love interest for the female lead. In fact, the female lead treats him badly many times but he still stays madly devoted to her. His mad devotion is never properly explained either which makes his character feel very one dimensional.
- Flat romance. The foundation of the romance is written poorly which didn’t allow me to connect with the couple. The reason their marriage failed in the first life is due to a somewhat silly misunderstanding. Even if I can find reasons why it makes sense, my biggest issue is that in episode 11 the male lead suddenly confesses that he has always loved her. But we aren’t shown why, how or when he fell for her. Aside from 2 second flashbacks where they glance at each other lovingly, we have no substance for this confession. It’s just a fact we are supposed to blindly accept. Throughout the drama he is blindly devoted to her and the writers failed to show me why. So even though the main leads looked good together, even though ZLH delivered beautiful romantic lines, I felt nothing for the couple. On top of that, their one steamy bath scene was abruptly cut, leaving the audience very unsatisfied.
- Love triangle. Usually in cdramas the female lead only has eyes for the male lead so love triangles are not really triangles for me and don’t bother me. But in this case, the female lead has actual confusing feelings for both men and is pondering for many episodes which one to choose. The worst part is that, even at episode 30 the director shows us romantic shots with her and the second male lead. In fact, they even have telepathy scenes where they stare at each other and speak the dialogue in their minds. Total soulmates right. Well, this love triangle could have worked if it was written right. But the fact is that pretty much everyone hated the second male lead and absolutely nobody was rooting for him to get the girl.
- Lacklustre politics. Nothing new I haven’t seen before, very simple and boring at times. In fact, the first life's story has more angst and is definitely a more exciting story to tell than the second life (which is the main plot of the drama).
- No logic. The male lead is the hottest piece of cake walking in and outside the court and the writers tell me that nobody wants a piece of that? (not even his wife for the most part?) #plothole (Ok it’s more of a joke but you know it’s true. It would have been a bit more realistic if he had at least one girl pining over him).
OVERALL:
Even though I didn’t have extremely high expectations I found myself very disappointed and misled by this drama. It’s one thing to highlight a second male lead and deepen the story but it’s unacceptable to reduce the male lead to nothing when he is one of the reasons many people have tuned in to watch. But even without the male lead issue, I found the plot of this drama very forgettable and boring. Nothing much stands out. Considering this is a S++ production (one of Youku’s highest budgeted dramas), this is a fail for me and one of my 2024 biggest disappointments.
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I have no words to describe how problematic this was, from the relationship itself, to the way gender and racial stereotypes were portrayed.
Let me start with the quickest: there was a scene where the characters are in the UK, having fun with a lot of white people. Suddenly, they run into some gangsters, who just happen to be the only black people in the show so far. The racism couldn't be more obvious.
Second of all, the way that traditional roles are reinforced in this are subtle, but alarming. There's so much talk about how a woman is still worth marrying if she's infertile, and to me this topic was never addressed sufficiently. There's also a lot of romanticizing of "woman sacrifices career to be a wife." I'm overall really unhappy about the way women are portrayed in this drama—they're either gold-diggers, gossipers, dependent and overthinking, obsessed with a boy, or obsessed with fulfilling the perfect child-bearing wife role. There was honestly not one strong woman role I was happy with.
I hated the main male character. Aside from my superficially saying that he visually does nothing for me, I just thought his personality was one of the most boring and bland I've ever watched. Firstly, he has some creepy and stalkerish tendencies, and I'm sure a lot of things he did as a boss to his employee could be seen as an abuse of power. As the show went on, he honestly got worse (as a boyfriend)—he never seemed to try and see things from Shan Shan's perspective, and he became increasingly controlling. He kept trying to use his money to get her things without her knowing—as if he didn't trust her to make her own life decisions. He kept so many secrets and justified them saying it was for her own good. And worst of all, he completely disregarded her career and kept saying things like "that's my decision" and "it's not up for discussion" when it was supposed to be HER DECISION in the first place,
Add to that the fact that C-Dramas do this weird thing where they make the main characters initiate skinship and pair it with slow-mo and romantic music BEFORE I even had any reason to ship them, and all I got was a boss doing weird physical things to his employee when the extent of their relationship was him watching her eat through his office window.
I honestly wasn't a huge fan of Shan Shan either. This has something to do with the way the drama was filmed, but half of the entire show is her whining in internal monologues. So much of this show is advanced by Shan Shan "accidentally overhearing something," then overthinking it in a lengthy internal monologue while she pouts externally. As cute as she is at some points, I got SO tired of hearing her voice. MOST of the sub-plots are brought about because she needs validation from Feng Teng about their relationship, or that she needs to do something to "be good enough for him." And nobody ever tried to convince her otherwise, or argue that she was good enough. As the show went on, she also started standing up for herself less and less, and I almost ripped my hair out hoping that she'd say something about making her own life decisions, but she never did.
Overall, this was a tiring and dragging plot, filled with lots and lots of problems. The only character I never got TOO annoyed with might be Zheng Qi, who seems thirty times more fun to be around than the boring male lead.
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A must watch!!
Words are not enough to express how much I love this drama. It is one of my favorites. The story is beautifully sad and I cry like a baby every single time. The bromance between Lee Dong Wook and Gong Yoo is everything!!! They always make me laugh! Lee Dong Wook as the grim reaper was a perfect casting choice! (every time he is casted, it's a perfect choice). This gorgeous man can be awkward, funny, crazy, sad, angry, etc. And I love how he looks so young when he is clean shaven but so mature with facial hair. He is just so beautiful, and HOT 🥵❤️🔥🥰♥️. His portrayal of older Wang Yeo was superb; as usual, he gives it his all. And of course Gong Yoo was amazing as the goblin, too. He is an amazing actor and I love his friendship with Dong Wook so much! They have amazing chemistry!Was this review helpful to you?
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This was disappointing, but a last-ditch effort at the end sort of saved it.There was a sadness throughout the whole series (just 6 short episodes), with Tee and Fuse reuniting for their third anniversary together... except, from as much as we could tell, Tee and Fuse are attending different universities so they haven't seen each other that much in these three years.
Peak (Fuse) carried the series with very good acting, showing lots of emotion and crying real tears in just about every episode. Boom (Tee) was subdued pretty much all the time. At one point, we hear him speaking to his mother on the phone and, from what we can gather, Tee's mother is against his relationship with Fuse, with Fuse overhearing Tee's side of the conversation. Unfortunately, we get nothing from Tee regarding his own feelings... there's just an unspoken resolve that Fuse will break up with Tee, so that they can both get on with their lives.
In the last episode, Fuse tearfully says goodbye to Tee, but Tee stops Fuse from leaving. Tee calls his mom and says that he will stay together with Fuse and that's that. The series ends with video messages from many of the former Make It Right cast members congratulating Fuse and Tee.
The story was not well written. Sure, we can all understand the issues that young gay men often go through with their families, but it wasn't addressed at all.
Lukmo and Ess showed up to provide some levity (I'm not even sure why Ess was there), but their presence fell flat... the scenes with them felt awkward and forced. The very few attempts at comedy (Fuse/Tee shaving in the bathroom; a couple of fun moments with their friends) weren't enough to save the overall depressing feeling of the series. The video messages with the former MIR cast members did help to provide a somewhat satisfactory ending.
There is nothing wrong with presenting a drama here but, if that's what they the producers were going for, it just wasn't good enough. Too bad, because Fuse/Tee are a decent enough couple. Both actors deserved better, especially Peak (Fuse).
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This review may contain spoilers
Overall, it's not an astounding drama, however, it's one of the best online dramas i can find these days. Love the drama, many thanks to the director, actors and actresses as well as the whole production crew, who work with devotion and expertise.Alert: don't expect too much on the first half, this serial gets better as it progresses.
First half:
Plot:7,5
Actors: 9
Production: 8,5 ( great cinematography )
Second half
Plot: 8,75 ( getting better as the drama progresses)
Actors: 9 ( both on talent and appearance)
Production: 9( great angle, some tasteful cinematographically scenes that worth gif-making, good after effect, lovely and aesthetic background)
A special detail i want to add is that the loveline between XM and LF. It's not developed much but enough. It's cute and it adds different feelings along with the excitement of the film pace.
Some people complain about the OE , yet i love it, i don't want it to end so soon:(((.
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I actually enjoyed this more than the drama!
I LOVED the drama and gave it an overall rating of 9/10, but this movie is a straight-up 10/10. Something in this movie just felt RIGHT! I very much enjoyed the removal of the inner dialogue, letting me feel my own feelings rather than hearing the characters' thoughts. The scenes just seemed so much more beautiful! The music was also changed and gave it such a more (for lack of a better word) "mature" feel.This movie made me BUY a Viki Standard Pass so I could watch it (I have no regrets, now I can also watch so many more dramas). Please enjoy this movie, as it is the director's cut! They didn't just make a movie to make a movie.
If you're thinking of watching, please do! This show was wonderful in so many ways. Both Han Gi Chan and Jang Eui Soo did a fantastic job acting. Especially for Gi Chan, I can imagine it must've been hard to debut as an actor in a BL drama, not long after trying to debut as an idol. He was so good at expressing his emotions, I really couldn't tell that it was his first time acting. Every actor did a fantastic job portraying their characters! Without spoiling too much, the story is very sweet and had my emotions on a roller coaster, even though it was so short. The development between Tae Joo and Gook was amazing, and I am a sucker for romances like these.
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came for Cherry Magic actors, stayed for everything else
I'm truly loving this series so much!As in the title, I had originally started watching this for Eiji and Keita. However, I ended up staying for the many other great qualities of this series. Not only have the characters, acting, and plot continued to surprise me non-stop, but the romantic interests are also lovable.
The biggest aspect of this show that keeps me hooked is the main character Mamoru. As a woman CEO, she is a very refreshing representation of what all CEOs should strive to be: a hardworking, strong, and honest boss who sincerely cares about their employees.
Overall, I would recommend this drama to anyone who loves a funny, romantic, and surprising workplace series to enjoy!
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That was until the last couple of episodes happened. It felt like the writer of this show just had a sudden idea at the end of making this story and they wanted to insert it no matter what, or just had the idea all along and couldn't mix it well with the rest of the plot. Either way, it is didn't work out and they were a lot of plot holes and unanswered questions. Also, the relationship between the princess and the other man bothered me.
But I'm going to look over all that since I'd enjoyed almost everything about this drama and don't want to ruin the experience. Besides, episode 20 went back to original funny vibes of the show and it was really entertaining. I'd love to see more about Ji Man and Da Xi.
Recommended if you want to watch a (mostly) lighthearted drama with a lot of funny moments.
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Right, now I got that off my chest...
Season 2 really stepped it up from season 1. Beginning exactly where the first one leaves up, you'll easily binge all six episodes as the energy, intrigue and zombie guts do not let up. The special effects are believable, the 18 rating means they are not shy when it comes to blood and guts. The scope of the show is huge and some of shots are just breathtaking to look at.
Each cast member is amazing, especially the core cast. My love for Seo Bi only grew this seasons, but our Crown Prince and his band of heroes, along with the Evil Queen and her villainous enterouge all continue to be so much fun to watch. My one wish was that we had more time to flesh out the relationships between the cast.
If you loved the first, you'll love this! And as long as you aren't too squeamish, I highly recommend this to everyone who enjoys sageuks, fantasy, horror, thriller, action & politics!
PS. This is my first ever review on MDL, so please be gentle/forgiving of any faux pas made here!
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1Just watch Young Blood 2 instead.
Imperial Coroner 2 is a sequel that should not have been made. It is missing the charm and narrative focus of Season 1, which was a cool, largely plot-driven "how-did-it" kind of ancient crime-solving story. Season 2 attempts to better flesh out the beloved investigative team but fails to do so in a way that resonates. This character-driven digression comes at the cost of the cases, which lack tension and suspense and skimp on Season 1's stylish, visually impactful illustrations of forensic clues. The sloppy and juvenile writing is a rude shock after Season 1's narrative consistency and meticulous attention to detail.This season picks up three years later, with Chu Chu now married to Xiao Jinyu—an unconventional commandery princess in name and a hardworking imperial coroner in fact. While I appreciate the attempt to flesh out and age the titular character, it is not done well. Chu Chu's mature styling is nice, but her lips turn down in a discontented expression that suggests she did not find marital bliss. She whines bafflingly about her unfulfilled aspirations to be a coroner—when that is actually what she does, with the full understanding and support of her husband. Her petty grievances ("oh poor me, I have to be a commandery princess when all I want to do is prod corpses and bask in the odor of rotting flesh all day") and pity party are not just boring; they are tone-deaf and at odds with the genuine suffering of the truly powerless women of low societal status featured in the early female-themed cases.
After three years of marriage, the romance is still stuck in the tiresome courtship and repeated misunderstanding phase. Just divorce already, please! As for Jing Yi and Leng Yue, if their henpecked husband/abusive wife routine is supposed to be funny, the misguided attempt at humor comes off as banal, and borderline offensive. While the full cast from Season 1 reunites, their dynamic and rapport are just not the same.
As for the cases, there is one overarching plot that ties together all the subplots. Of these, the only case that really stuck with me was the young monk's story. That child actor, Shi Hengyi, moved me to tears. The main Nanzhou arc is the biggest disappointment—it is much more spy vs spy than ancient CSI. There is no real mystery, as the identity of the allegedly hidden master spy is not hidden. And anyone who watched Young Blood 2 would immediately recognize this as a dumbed-down knockoff of that drama's main plot—down to the styling, culture and internal and external political conflict of the enemy kingdom. Minus the exciting action scenes, humorous dialogue, and top-notch ensemble rapport, of course. The finale is anti-climatic and unsatisfying.
So do yourself a favor and just watch Young Blood 2 instead. You can thank me for watching this so that you don't have to.
I rate this 6/10 for daring to so blatantly knock off something pretty good only to make it a lot worse.
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By Far The Most Beautiful Yet Underrated Drama Of All Time
This drama had so much depth and rawness to it that you can’t help wishing it would never end.The two female leads who started on the wrong foot turned out to be each other’s comfort and strength - what a beautiful friendship they had with so much love and respect for each other.
I applaud how Lee Sang Yeob and Park Ha Sun used their eyes and facial expressions more than dialogues to convey a wide spectrum of emotions - undeniably they are artists in the truest meaning of the word. Bravo to them and to the director and scriptwriters who brought out the best in them.
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