Despite all this, the film did have its charm, I guess. That's why it's a 6 and not a 5 or lower.
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Perfect combination of script, director, and actors - Comprehensive ongoing review
Well ... I am not going to say that I wasn't disappointed with the ending. I was hoping for a wedding. However, it ended like a Disney movie without any surprise.I also felt disappointed that the last 6 episodes spent too much time on a repetitive theme: revenge. First, CSS was kidnapped by an obsessed woman. Then the revenge again with Yao's sister-in-law.
I also felt disappointed with the way YS went out without any emotional scene from the book.
In any case, the director did well in most of the parts but the ending could have been a little better.
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Once in a while, Chinese drama delivers a high-quality production with some artful direction, entertaining script/humor, and solid acting.
The 2nd part of the drama is about how the romance between LBY and CSS will develop to a climax: they will separate and reunite after 5 years. Questions that will be answered: Why do they break up? Why does she become engaged to a YS? Will she forgive him? If so, why?
While the first part of the drama is lighthearted, the second part will propel the characters to new heights: deeper love, revenge, separation, and redemption. It will be an entertaining ride. I hope the script will not deviate so much from the novel.
DIRECTOR:
The director of this drama is probably one of the best. He delivers high-quality cinematography and shows the interaction between the characters to create an entertaining drama. This drama is basically family oriented. It's difficult to make it entertaining. But it delivers!
SCRIPT:
The script is almost better than the novel. There are a few changes but overall the changes are for the better. Comic relief moments are appropriately inserted.
CHEMISTRY:
All the MLs have chemistry with ZLS. The looks (eyes) between them and her show how much they like her. This drama would not have been what it is without ZLS. She carries the show, acting like 15 years old girl convincingly.
ENDING:
Happy Ending in the Novel. They didn't get married only talked about it in the epilogue. No actual ceremony. Let's hope the drama will script it in.
EPISODE REVIEW:
49- CSS raced to be with LBY despite his not telling her the truth. She confronts him. He has to take revenge before he marries otherwise he would implicate her family.
48- LBY revealed his identity to his enemy and killed his "father" who is really his uncle. He swapped identity with his cousin.
47 - LBY's mom died
41-42 episodes mark the beginning of the revenge arc.
41 has a lot of romance. LBY volunteered to go to battle against a defector. CSS makes outfits for him.
42 while LBY & CCS's father heads out to battle, CSS's father was accused of treason. The whole family is imprisoned while waiting for the case to be solved.
39-40 The murder case of the Crown Prince's ex-fiance's husband...
37-38 The Queen's birthday banquet
35-36
Mostly, these episodes continued the romance and added more intensity to the conflict between the 5th Princess and CSS. It's a peaceful time during which CSS planned the banquet for the Empress and showcased her talent. Because of the banquet, her family misses her. LBY came to bring her belongings to the Palace so she won't become homesick.
These episodes show a gradual progression of their relationship after the engagement party.
33-34
These 2 episodes are more balanced in terms of Palace drama and romance. So much happened in ep 34: the first kiss, the engagement party, the abolishment of 2 scheming ladies (the king's aunt and the stepmom).
Moments I especially loved:
1) the humor in ep 34 ... so funny and gratifying to finally see the bad people being effectively dealt with
2) the cinematography: the camera looks directly down at CSS's face as she thought about CSS while discussing her feelings with her friends in 33, the heads of the empress and the aunt as they confront each other, and the men waiting around as spectators while the women came up with the solution.
3) a fresh take on Palace drama: both the empress and the consort work together to maintain harmony. You always see the opposite case because it's more dramatic. Here, it's just as dramatic ... and funny at the same time.
31-32
Not too many romantic moments here. These two episodes develop the characterizations and conflicts of the main players in the palace: the polarization of the two personalities of the 3rd prince vs. the Crown Prince, who doesn't have the personality to be in politics or rule the country. He is too soft-hearted.
The episodes also show the lovers in conflict: LBY doesn't tell CSS all the details so CSS doesn't know any politics in the palace; she blindly follows her independent thinking as she often did except now the stakes are much higher.
The Palace drama is slowly heading toward more and more conflicts to a resolution that necessitates the removal of the Crown Prince. The good thing is there are no absolute bad people: one prince is more suitable for ruling the country. The other is just as happy to not be a King!
29-30
I normally don't like Palace drama because it's full of cliches and catfights. There is some of that here. But the difference is that it is seen through the eyes of a 15-years-old girl who has no power to intervene, and yet she did. She herself will navigate this perilous journey through the palace life and triumph. Here she will learn to adapt and distinguish between good and evil. What makes these palace drama stories different is that they are not ridiculous caricatures! The evil people are curbed appropriately. The royal parents don't allow their kids to go wild: they punish them.
In these 2 episodes, we saw the difference between Consort Yue and the Empress: the former is strong and decisive while the latter has a soft heart. Likewise, the difference between their sons: the Crown Prince, who caters to useless people to keep the peace, while the Third Prince, who like his mom, speaks out.
Romantic scenes:
1) the stars in the sky and CSS is the brightest star of them all in LBY's eyes.
2) the first innocent kiss on the forehead and she felt giddy
3) CSS is starting to feel loyalty and love for her fiance
28
Love doesn't conquer all ... Adjustments and compromises are required. I find this scenario to be very realistic. Romantic love is balanced with conflicts and character development. I like how smoothly the script transitions the story to the Palace.
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Promising premise but drag midway too much
San Young ended up being possessed by a juvenile ghost when she touched a cursed inheritance. This ghost takes control of her body, acts beyond her consciousness, and separates from her body to commit murders. A folklore professor Hae Sang, who is able to see ghosts met her and try to get rid of this ghost.Revenant is a supernatural thriller drama with a promising premise set up strongly in the first 4 episodes. Besides our male and female lead investigating these based on the folklore pov, the two police officers investigating them through logic pov. I like how both of them were coming to the same conclusions despite working in very different ways, but I wish that they interacted a little bit more.
Production-wise, the camera angles, lighting, and the sets are creepy yet intriguing. Kim Tae Ri's portrayal of San Young is perfect; whiplashing between her character and being possessed. The folklore aspect are described with clear rules and they follow these rules. It’s very important to the story so I appreciate the writers for that.
But the plot is super slow after 6 episodes. It’s like watching the same episodes, and our protagonists are mostly bark but not bite. Each case did give clues, but they were repetitive and the lessons about folklore is a bit preachy.
They conveniently wrap up well, but left some loose ends.
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Better than I expected
I started watching this drama just because of Luo Yun Xi (Leo Luo) and Cheng Xiao pairing. I just wanted to check how well it worked. The whole drama turned out to be better than I expected.Plot (8.5 stars)
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I am quite disappointed by the plot. The synopsis had much potential than the actual drama. The romance is given more importance than mystery. The amnesia plot was rather disappointing as it only lasted for a few episodes. The truth that LZL was not instigator wasn't revealed little by little. So, the SXY's hatred towards LZL did not last for long. As said in the synopsis, SXY didn't have to try 'desperately' to save their relationship as LZL was always ready to go back into her arms.
The romance plot was quite interesting. It is not much of a 'hard-earned romance' as it is mentioned in the synopsis. The only disappointment is that it was there throughout the drama, for almost the beigining to the end. Had they given more importance to the mystery pIot, the romance could have been more sweeter. Also, have not seen much dramas like this, in which the FL usually initiates kiss.
The drama had many nice quotes too..
Acting or Cast (9 stars)
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I would have given the cast 9.5 or 10 stars if not there were scenes where the FL cries lol. Cheng Xiao had improved but she has yet to study how to handle emotional scenes. Yun Xi nailed his character perfecty as usual. The chemistry between the leads was quite lacking. And there is Gao Han and Tian Yi Tong. Their acting also was really nice and I really liked Gao Han's character very much.
Then, Chestnut. I don't know if he could be said as a pact of Cast haha.. He was the cutest of all and the most sensible one!
Music (10 stars)
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The music was superb. The title song really blended with the theme of the drama. Music was played exactly where it was needed. Some songs I like:
Meory of Last Life by Curley Gao
Circle of Love by Tien Chong
Venus by By2
This drama had many songs and I like most of the songs in English.
Rewatch value (5.5 stars)
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The rewatch value is actually quite low. I don't think I would rewatch this drama at any point of time.
Overall (7.5 stars)
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I liked the drama eventhough it is not one of my top favourites. Overall, it turned out to be better than I expected. I am also at ease seeing Cheng Xiao improve in this drama. This drama is an enjoyable watch.
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Chinese Writers need to create better material and stronger female leads.
Back when I started watching dramas in 2018 I preferred Chinese Dramas over Korean Dramas. Now here I am in 2024 and it's hard to find good-quality Chinese Dramas. This Drama was the worst for many reasons. I absolutely HATE how mild-mannered they make FL in these dramas. The first half of the show was just the FL with no backbone being bossed around by the ML who slowly started to develop feelings for her. Even the build-up to their dating was so anti-climatic and immature. The female lead acted like an abused victim who mumbled when she spoke and never spoke up for herself. I guess she was good at her job but not really she was just passive and gave good customer service. The case from episode 15 I think it was really irritated me. It was messed up for them to interfere with the mistress, wife, and daughter. It was clear the mistress wasn't a good person and that doing the DNA test would only hurt the daughter who was the most genuine out of the situation. That situation bothered me and the fact they never corrected the error and just let the story die out like that was ugh! I also think the revenge on the sister's ex-husband was so anti-climatic it was like girl this was your big payback... I feel like if this were a Kdrama revenge would've been sweeter.I started to fast forward after a certain point and here is why It took the FL half the show to figure out the lead liked her (episode 21) and then we get to episode 26 where the ML's admirer comes back and is about to play mind games with her. The second female lead was only there for a day and threw some compliments at the FL and defended the FL in a situation she started to gain the FL's trust and with that the 2nd FL was able to convince the FL to join her team. Of course, when she switched teams the 2nd FL was able to make her feel so insecure she ended up leaving the company altogether. I just wish they would write better, stronger, and smarter female leads in Chinese dramas. The 2nd FL is always more competent than the weak mild-mannered FL. It's crazy to me that the FL was so awestruck by the 2nd FL all it took was some kind words for her to switch teams. so annoying. This drama has no re-watch value and I'd only recommend it if you like the cliche dumb FL smart ML asian drama.
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Trash belongs to trash can
As a fan of ORV novel I'm greatly disappointed. Absolute trash. Actors are acting like robots. The protagonists seems pathetic. Why are they fighting monsters with a pathetic stick?Story is all over the place. The bullied kid was made the bully. Action scenes were a total disaster. The vfx??? Don't wanna talk about it. This movie seem like a chinese add from early 2000s. Don't waste your time,energy n money on this shi..Was this review helpful to you?
The cast has a super dynamic and their interactions and friendship is really sweet to watch! It was slow at first but it gradually gets better and the cases get more and more interesting as the episodes go on! Idk if anyone has watched it, but this seriously has some Go Fighting vibes (a Chinese variety show, recommend!).
I'm so happy it's getting a second season and I really hope it's with the same cast! 10/10 worth watching!
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Echoes of Emotion..
5 Friends.. 2 Love Stories.. Both as good as the other in their own way.. Beautiful friendship.. Well written story and executed even better.. From the beginning to end there's absolutely no nonsense in this one.. Just pure love and friendship.. This is what you get when the writers/directors/producers dont force include an annoying SML/SFL, Annoying misunderstandings, forced feminism, Unnecessary breakups for absolutely stupid reasons.. The ending was well paced and I think that this is one of the most acceptable happy endings.. I hope other producers and everyone watch this and take notes..Was this review helpful to you?
JUSTICE WILL NEVER LOSE ITS GLORY IN DARKNESS
Maybe the best quote for us, Mo Du fans that represent the cruel path happened to Justice in the dark, which was abruptly stopped from airing at 2023 and started again at 2025. Because of the best production team and best cast members, best script, best loyal fans, and so many other bests which I can’t mention one by one, Justice in the dark stay strong and finally finished all 30 episodes. Please ignore all haters and negative comments and keep watching it from the start to the end. I am sure you will love it. You will love the actors, the acting, the cast, the music, and everything else. I give it a perfect 10 of 10. And in the near future I will watch it again and again.Was this review helpful to you?
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Even if winter feels endless, a spring breeze might blow someday once you keep fighting through it.
I'm in my lowest of low lately and this drama found me. It's the type of drama that also heals the viewers with them while watching. The storyline is not full of twists, but this made this drama unique than the others. And I believe, this drama will find its way to your hearts when you needed them.That's all I can say about the storyline, full of lessons and just about life. Some people may focus on the AI like drawings of the animators in the drama, but I hope you realize that isn't just it. This drama is more than just the AI looking drawings, it's about life and how did they fight through it. Like as the season changes, what am I going to do about it and such.
I'd like to commend especially the halmeonis and harabeoji actors, I think they made me stay for this drama. I mean don't get me wrong; the other actors are amazing too but growing up with my grandmother as a child made me focus more on the grannies, they have a soft spot in my heart. And Hayeong (middle sister), I love her through and through, no words can explain how I felt while watching her.
The music didn't stick out to me honestly, but I will probably watch some tt edits of them.
I HOPE THIS DRAMA WILL FIND ITS WAY TO YOUR HEARTS WHEN YOU NEEDED THEM ~ I hope whatever season y'all are in, you'll get through it and stand-up fighting again! tomorrow is another day yeorubun <3
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I lost my soul to this drama ?
There is no couple in the whole c drama world that is more made for each other than CWN-MR. They met from the start, they were the reason for each other to survive the whole catastrophe, they were each other’s reason to live.MR, our puppy, and CWN, our cold cat, they both have stolen our soul and from now on, we will be forever soulless clowns…we will be traumatic against the word ‘stairs’…we will be giggling when eating ‘dumpling’…we will be blushing when seeing a husky and a cat…we will be abnormal basically.
I am glad with the happy ending, uncensored scenes, all the butterflies and sweets…amazing!
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Extraordinary Story & Characters - Finished Ordinarily
One of the most anticipated and talked about drama of mid-2022 which started on a high - with heartwarming story and characters, while showing the harsh reality of society but ended a bit-weakly. Overall, an enjoyable ride and it will definitely remain an iconic drama and in must-watch lists for time to come. Sharing my short & detailed reviews below:✧❅✦ QUICK REVIEW ✦❅✧
Why You Should Watch It:
♥ Refreshing concept - great portrayal of person suffering from ASD
♥ Superb Acting by ALL characters
♥ Cute main-lead love story - will induce giddiness, make you curl your toes and smile ear-to-ear!
♥ Loveable and Hate-worthy Side Characters (the latter, cause we need a reminder that all in not rosy even in dramas)
♥ Good Reflection of society's good, bad and the in-between
♥ Beautiful, Addicting Soundtrack
♥ Funny and comedic relief to break-through the seriousness in storyline
What Might Bother You:
✘ No hard-core, well explained baddie/villain
✘ Some side-characters have weak character development
✘ Law cases are not as gritty and thrilling
✘ Ending is rushed (can be managed, but might leave some frustrated)
Summary:
This drama is for you if you are looking for a cute romance story, set in the backdrop of attorneys navigating their way in the society - shown through the eyes of a genius woman suffering from ASD. You get preview of her friendships and family, initial inhibition of people on accepting people with ASD, how they try to understand and sympathize, while others choose not to - and both sides are valid and real.
Watch it for - Woo Young Woo's acting, Jeon-Ho's charms, cute moments, some brilliantly executed cases, comedy from our loveable side characters and portrayal of those who suffer from ASD - so that we can learn and be kind in our real life!
........................................ || not spoiler, but some hints are there at storyline - read with caution || ..............................................
✧❅✦ DETAILED REVIEW ✦❅✧
❤ Lesson From This Drama: Celebrate the Extra-Ordinary in all of us! ❤
--------------------------------------------------------- ✧✦ What Works ✦✧ ----------------------------------------------------------
✦ The Concept:
Refreshing story of how a genius young woman suffering from Autism deals with her work, friends, work and other social interaction. We get to see from her lenses - the good, bad and the in-between we deal with in society. Somethings that might just seem natural to us in our every-day life, might be a task for people suffering from ASD. While the cases and characters propel how our main lead actress navigates through it all, my takeaway from it is that we need to more observant, understanding, sympathetic to people and our surroundings, cause not everyone is same, we are all different and that is okay and something to be celebrate!
✦ The Acting:
While our main lead actress is phenomenon and it is what draws audience to start watching this drama, stay and fall in love with her - it is also the other characters around her. How they in their respective roles are either supportive, begin to understand her, or are completely against her. Which is a good and solid representation in real life - some will hate thee, some will love thee. Right from characters shown in the positive or negative role - I believe if a character makes you love them or hate them, that is a job and portrayal well done. So kudos to the entire star cast, minus the glitch in certain character development, with the limelight on this show, everyone stayed true to their acting!
✦ The Cases (some of them - at the start)
This is not a courtroom drama, but more of how it is approached by a person suffering from ASD. What maybe missed by the ordinary attorneys is captured beautifully by our Extraordinary Attorney Woo. The cases in the first half are somewhat thought-provoking, nothing that that will give you sleepless nights or keep you guessing till the end, but more on the lines of breaking it to the audience that society evils persist and sometimes our perception creates or manifests evil or wrong. But seen from the lens of the innocent (like Attorney Woo) you can see past the pre-conceived notions/prejudice and see a person or situation for what it really is and make a judgement or form opinions accordingly.
This was a double-edged sword - some cases worked while some did not. But in all cased - we see our lead making some good/bad and confusing decisions in her own battle to love the law and abide by it.
-------------------------------------------------- ✧✦ What Could Be Better ✦✧ ---------------------------------------------------
✦ The love-story (or stories)
Now in a great romance - you have a build-up, the cute moments, a tragedy or hurdle that tests them and then happily-ever-after, right?
I personally fawned, curled my toes in the romantic scenes, cause it was cute, mushy and our lead pair were devastatingly good looking and convincing. But I was saddened by how the writers wrote their hurdles and ending phrase. The relationship graph went super high only to nose-dive in the end. Though some would like it and appreciate how it was tied up, but I would have preferred more explanation or some romantic/dramatic declaration of love - because we are focusing on a character who is socially meek, so more words were needed to explain those emotions.
Another weak area - the love stories of the side-characters was just done for namesake, only cause they are on screen so let's show a backstory or put 1+1 characters just cause side characters also need some love - did not work for me, sadly. Had they omitted the love angle and shown it more as a supportive friendship or hinted at a camaraderie, would make more sense.
✦ The Negative Characters' Development
Everyone loves a good villain - you may love, admire or hate them but you just cannot ignore them.
In Woo Young Woo's life too, we see such characters pop-in but with not much preamble as to why the dislike our main lead, what is their backstory and main motive to cause disruption. It is all too mellow and not sharp, vengeful or even justified. They are just there - and you would expect that the next episode would drop some insight, but are just left waiting. Talent, in this case, got wasted as well as the story arch.
--------------------------------------------------------- ✧✦ Summary ✦✧ --------------------------------------------------------
It definitely is a tale that is worth-a-watch only for the portrayal of ASD, some great acting and beautiful soundtrack.
But like me, many could be saddened at how it all tied up in the end. Because the drama was so highly anticipated and the first half really sets the bar high, to have such a mellow ending was not expected.
Usually I give a drama a rating of 10, deducting 0.5 or 1 as story progresses and characters develop. Therefore, I gave this drama a 9 at the start only to bring it down to 8 now, which can possibly share some perspective to whoever is reading this.
It is a cinematic treat - the acting, scenes and music make it easy on the eyes and ears and the story is a heartwarming tale that is worth taking a note of, at least once.
-------------------------------------------------------------- ✧✦ ✦✧ ------------------------------------------------------------
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The drama keeps a slow tempo, with the story being spread throughout the drama, probably so it can serve the next two seasons coming up next. Maybe that's when the drama picks up. And yes, this is a slice of life, but, at times, it felt like there was nothing to look forward to in the next episode. Also, there were moments when the drama got boring too.
That said, they did handle the romance masterfully, as to not overshadow the friendship and so that it didn't become the main focus of the drama. They did a good job with the blend of music and story too, as well as with the flashbacks of their old days.
Finally, when it comes to performances, the drama of course had excellent ones, as the cast was consisted by the best of the best.
So, overall, six and a half out of ten, because there were some nice moments to the drama, but it felt like there was no story to it.
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Disappointment
I hate when Kdramas adapt Webtoons and just give a different plot completely. This reminds me of CITT. At least with CITT there was the excuse that the Webtoon wasn’t over. This one had everything fleshed out and a whole ending the go off by. The ratings were already low in SK so they could’ve at least done a decent plot that leaves the people that watch it interested or satisfied. The relationship between the two main characters was toxic from the beginning. Who was more toxic doesn’t matter because they were both trash at certain points. That alone should’ve concluded that they don’t belong together. Jae eon Is a player, he straight up ran with the “I don’t date” premises from their first conversation. How tf did he fall in love with her before that then? I wanted to see how he never changes so she chooses herself. Every single time she did, she went back to him right TILL THE END!!! This should’ve been wrapped up in 6 episodes but over 10 hours in 10 episodes was a waste for an ending as crap as that. Hello Kdramas, friendly reminder that “the power of love” doesn’t exist 99.9% of the time and shitty men won’t change for you. Stop selling this sick fantasy and start properly acknowledging the toxic behavior these MLs have.Was this review helpful to you?
As much as I loved the original cast, having Lee Yi-Kyung or Lee Jun Ki remain as the only person from the original cast and write them off like they were side characters was not pleasant, if anything it was another example of lazy writing. I hated how while they could've used an entirely new cast, they kept him and just copy-pasted the cast into an entire portion of his past and assumed it would be convincing.
It's a comedy so lets focus on that: watch 2 episodes and you've essentially watched them all. Just a bunch of running gags overused to the point of not even being funny anymore. Lee Yi-Kyung's role was an over-the-top kind of role in the first season, but it wasn't so bad because there were characters to balance it out. But here, it's the focus of the show, the characters were dull and the acting was stiff or unnatural.
Cinematography was good, and whoever wrote the script, planned to just make a few easy bucks by capitalizing on the nostalgia of the first season -- had pretty much everyone hooked just by reminding them it was Welcome to Waikiki.
Overall, not really funny and too predictable. It was just something to watch for closure after the first season or if you just need help moving on from it. The conclusion was good though, I liked how they wrapped it up.
Hopefully they don't make another season.
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