A Female Student Arrives at the Imperial College
19 people found this review helpful
Romance, Comedy and Acting
This drama was better than I thought, I had it in my list and waited until it fully aired and subbed to watch it, I did see some comments and review and was a bit nervous, but i decided that I rather not read anything else and watch this for myself, if it was trash so be it and if it's great then I'll be happy.Well, compared to all the nonsense drama they have, this drama was great, it was way better than i expected, that's why recently it doesn't matter the reviews, comments and ratings, i determine what I wanna watch and if it's no good then fine, if not then that's great, because not everyone gives honest reviews, or not every drama is for everyone, but this was for me.
I'm a sucker for romcom, heavy on the rom and the com, i also like romantic drama, and i love historical drama's, I'm picky but I try my best to give the benefit of the doubt, and I also go into shows with no expectations, I've learnt that the hard way, I rather have no expectation and be happy with a drama, rather than have high expectation and become very disappointed.
With that being said, This drama was very funny, very romantic, yet sweet and sour. The acting was pretty good, the villain well he stood out a lot, i hated his character lool the actor was way too good. The ML and FL tbh i loved there chemistry and i love the romance between them, they ha a very healthy relationship and i enjoyed watching them, i also loved this drama because of the comedic relieves, i get kinda down when i watch something with too much drama and angst, but i loved how this was very balanced.
The other thing i really liked with this drama, i loved the progress of the FL, the different stages of educational and career growth, I'm trying not to spoil lol, but i liked that it didn't stay in one stage the entire time, but we get to see her growth, and the ending was very nice, truly represent the message from the title. There was also a lot of character development for a lot of the characters, I loved that as well
So with that being said, i personally enjoyed this drama, everyone did great, the acting, chemistry, romance, comedy, drama i thought it was well balanced, i did not leave the drama feeling burdened or heavyhearted hahaha, i enjoyed this show and i am happy i watched it, good show to just chillout and watch. Every show has it's little flaws, but personally I was too busy enjoying rather than critiquing, I've seen more than 250 shows, trust me this compare to others is one of those simple nice ones, ratings should definitely be higher.
Ps. If you're going to watch, try not reading too much comments, reviews and so on, judge for yourself and give it a chance, not just this show but every show, go in with a neutral expectation and then let it flow naturally.
Take care and happy drama watching ❤😊
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This review may contain spoilers
This show is like an abusive partner - gaslighting you into thinking the trauma was not that bad.
What an emotional journey it was. This is how you write a complex female lead and realistic portrayal of how hard it is to deal with your past traumas and fears. Sometimes after moving forward one step, you go back two.This is a one woman story. Kang Hui is the main character and everyone around her is just an accompaniment to her solo performance, and it’s great. She was a deeply hurt, scared, insecure, but also strong-willed and brave person. Yes, you can present the opposite characteristics depending on the circumstances you are currently in. That duality was what made her unique compared to many other kdrama characters.
She was so beautifully flawed and frustrating to watch. Constantly making mistakes, not knowing how to stand up for herself, lying, running away, pushing forward. I wanted to slap her back to reality, and hug her to console her. But when you frame her behavior in the context of her life, it all makes sense.
She faced abuse and neglect since childhood. She had the whole town against her. Adults telling her she is the reason her mother died. She felt unwelcomed whenever she went. She was blamed for her mother's actions. She was blamed for others’ mistakes. The town treated her as a plague that brought misfortune, even when she was just a small child.
The way they presented her get back on her feet and then crumble over and over again was painful to watch, but also so refreshing. She felt like a real person.
However, as good as the journey was, the conclusion could not have been more trash. Since when do we show victims of years of abuse apologize to their abusers on their knees? The whole last two episodes were kind of insulting. The way one beautifully shot scene of Kang Hui apologizing to her younger self was a conclusion to years of abuse, bullying and built up trauma she faced in that town just made me angry.
Why try resolving and fixing the extremely unhealthy relationship between father and daughter and make the father take accountability of the neglect, when you can just give him cancer and make the daughter feel guilty about it?
I honestly feel gaslit. With the last two episodes and how casual everyone was about Kang Hui’s past and how everyone treated her, I started questioning if I imagined parts of the plot. The same people who screamed at her and told her she is the reason her mother died are now saying her father raised her well? Am I losing my mind, or is the drama truly showing this? WHY WERE THE BULLIES INVITED FOR THE DINNER AT THE END?
Every time they showed one of the town people acting nice I kept asking - Why? What happened? What changed? Did you all have group therapy behind the scenes and reflected on your actions? Why now? Ladies and gentleman, the credits are about to roll - smile and act nice, we need a happy ending. It does not matter if it makes sense or not.
You CANNOT make a whole drama focused on how hard it is to heal from your traumas, with the female lead who keeps going back to her bad habits, running away, pushing people away. Showing how poorly she was treated not only as a child, but also as an adult. How none of the people in her life truly understood how abusive they were. To then magically heal everyone and make it the peaceful happy town where everyone is friendly and they all support each other.
The whole show was filled with hypocrisy that was never addressed. Love cures it all was the ridiculous approach to this story. Probably one of the worst conclusions I have seen in the past few years.
Back to the good - the performances. To be honest, I picked this drama to get over my unreasonable dislike towards Lee Se Young, and the magic happened. Her portrayal of Kang Hui was truly stunning. Perfect in every area. There was nothing I would change nor improve. On the other hand, Na In Woo was kind of there, filling the space. Maybe because they never truly developed his character to the same extent they did with Kang Hui, his take on Yeon Su felt a bit flat. While I disliked Chun Pil as a person, I adored Choi Min Soo’s portrayal of him. What a vibrant performance it was. The role was painfully hard to present. He had to show both the nonchalance, but also the seriousness of his personality.
For the visuals - it is a show that you will want to take screenshots of every few seconds. Beautiful.
Overall, I might have been traumatized by the laughable Disney ending. Magically everyone was cured, everyone was nice, pretending like the past never existed. I loved Kang Hui, I loved her journey, but the express trip to Happy Ever After by the end, kind of made me angry.
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1
1Legend of my undying patience with this show.
Me during the first few episodes: Why are these episodes so short? Why aren't they 45 minutes long?Me during the last few episodes: Why are these episodes so long? Why aren't they 30 minutes long?
That would sum up the decline of my enjoyment as I was watching the drama.
I want to be perfectly clear - I am not one of the people who were unable to enjoy it because of their expectations. I had zero expectations, I saw no promo materials. I went into it blind and willing to accept whatever they threw at me. I just did not expect them to start throwing bullshit.
It started well. Solid set up for the female lead, explaining why she needs to climb the military ladder from the bottom. We had fun “mulan-esque” plot lines that made me sing “I'll make a man out of you” as she was kicking ass during the practice. The tension between her and Xiao Jue was great. And then it slowly started to hit me how little generaling we have in this story about a female general. How the drama does not really have much plot, not substance. How the most interesting character is actually the second male lead. How the villains are empty shells that make me feel nothing.
Why did it happen? I think every plot line, every interaction, every motivational speech and feministic message did not have proper set up. Things just happened and we moved on to another scene. They kept telling me how bad women had, how she is this brave and strong and the idol for all the other women, but I did not really see much suffering or discrimination. Don’t get me wrong - inequality was clearly visible, but they presented with dialogue a completely different level of suffering than what was actually shown. It left me with a feeling of dissonance.
Not everything was bad. Outside of her preachy monologues I actually liked He Yan a lot. I appreciated how she was not this cold, stoic man like warrior. She was witty, cheeky and at times even bubbly. She had a bright and fun personality, but also knew when to focus on work. That made her far more enjoyable to watch.
Even if underdeveloped, I also enjoyed Song Tao Tao and Cheng Li Su. They served a good contrast to both leads. Tao Tao had little to no physical strength, but was motivated and because of her knowledge in poison, was not a defenceless damsel in distress. Cheng Li Su might have seemed like a spoiled nuisance, but was also loyal and dedicated.
Sadly, that’s where the positive aspects end. Sure, the acting was good, but does it matter when the writing was not? I don’t even want to talk about the production value. What was that crayon blood? They did not even try to fake the injuries and wounds - they just smudged some red pain on their faces with artistic vision. Yes, Cheng Lei looked hot with that fake blood, but it was still too fake to ignore. There were also issues with the continuity of the shots (eg. blood being there in one cut, and not in the other from a different angle). The whole last arc (last 3-4 episodes) were so ridiculous I wanted to cry.
Overall, I should have dropped it, I have no idea why I finished it (I do, Cheng Lei’s face).
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Oh boy, strap yourselves in for this review.It seems I’m starting to have a type for Cdramas: Modern Woman gets Chucked Into Chinese Ancient Times - A World Full of Hot Men.
Kinda crazy when you think about, imagine diving into your own fanfic (every girl’s dream)
However, this drama was the definition of a mess. On paper, the premise and plot sound interesting (it's what drew me to the show after all) but watching it was a whole other story. There are so many flaws I don't even know where to begin.
The biggest problem in this show is the female lead. Chen Qian Qian is so ditsy, I found myself cringing at her actions 90% of the time. She spends so much time trying to make the story go exactly the way she wrote it in the script. Always trying to play wingman for the male lead and her sister and referencing the original storyline she wrote. All I wanted was for her to finally have an epiphany like ‘Omg, things can go different from the original story!’ What a concept! She wasn't dealing with a Back to the Future situation where she had to fix the past - this is a FANFIC. A story can go in ANY DIRECTION and I wished that she would just go with the flow rather than constantly trying to make things go her way.
I was also surprised how quickly she adapted to feudal life, she literally went from 21st century norms to historical China (or a made up version of it at least) and she was like “oh this is what’s happening, okay”. The only thing that separated her from everybody else in this world was how she kept trying to keep the plot on track. Speaking of, I don't understand her reasoning behind this. She has this idea that by making the story come to its written end, it will just magically plop her right back where she left off in the real world like some bad dream. Where is her logic behind this???
But what I missed from her character is she never has any 'modern' moments. For example, her saying something contemporary only we would understand (but would sound like gibberish to everyone else). I guess what I’m trying to say is: apart from her awareness that she is in a fake world (that she wrote), you wouldn’t even know she was a modern woman. She never has any times where her modern (future) knowledge comes in handy. For e.g. in ‘Moon Lovers’, Hae Soo helped the crown prince who had eczema because she recognised the symptoms and knew what would help his condition. Or Xiao Tan from ‘The Eternal Love’. She made endless modern references, forged a scooter, had a Victoria’s Secret fashion show, did a fun public dance in the street - she was iconic. I guess I just consider it wasted potential for Qian Qian's character.
Speaking of wasted potential, I need to talk about the second female lead: Chu Chu. I was so upset that her character regressed into the typical bitchy second lead (to the extreme I might add). At the beginning of the drama I found it so refreshing for the 2nd FL to be nice! After such a kind sisterly relationship in the beginning, it was such a let down to see it turn sour (especially when a lot of it was related to stealing a man). It hurt to see Chu Chu totally embrace the dark side, she has some major insecurity issues when it comes to Qian Qian.
I should also add, can the writers stay true to what they've written please? This whole time the plot has been centred around which princess will become the Young City Master, the heir to the City Master position. We are led to believe the City Master is the one in control of Huanyuan. But after some major political changes as everything is falling apart, the audience's concept on who controls the city does a full 180. Wasn't the City Master the one who had all the power and made the rules? But apparently the Minister of Defence has the power to instil laws and make political moves as well?? Like, how does a Minister of Defence get to decide on the city’s dress code??
And can we take a look at the logistics of this whole world please. Is EVERYTHING in this world written by Chen Xian Qian? Every character? All the backstory and history? She’s only a scriptwriter, I swear the drama script she wrote wasn’t that detailed. So…does the world just fill in the blanks? Because I don’t understand how this entire world was written by her, yet she knows nothing. For e.g. she wrote traitor Su Zi Ying’s character right? Yet she had no clue how Qian Qian’s character treated him badly when they were kids. How can that be? Did she write that in the script or not? Or what about the gasoline that was discovered under the mines? Total shock to her. How much of this world DID she write? Or is this universe just making its own rules and history? So many questions
Now, onto the couple. We all know that it's practically inevitable for a couple to have one of those forced breakups. Especially the ones that involve telling hurtful lies, secretly for their partner's ‘own good’. What I've always hated about this trope (apart from the obvious) is they can achieve the SAME RESULT by communicating with their partner and saying what needs to happen. Qian Qian could have literally told Han Shuo: "hey can you go to a secret location for the time being? I have a feeling a storm is coming and I want you out of harm’s way." it's THAT simple.
Another thing in regards Han Shuo: his heart condition. I feel like I need to voice the words of Dan Oh: “I have heart disease, why am I coughing?”
Where do I even begin with Han Shuo. Look, I love him a lot and he has many great moments. He is a loyal partner and supports Qian Qian wholeheartedly. His devotion to her is true, I completely acknowledge that. BUT there is something that happened that I feel like everyone forgot about. BIG red flag here.
There is a scene where Qian Qian is under house arrest (under Han Shuo's order) and he tries to sexually assault her. He keeps going until she just bursts into tears, it’s so hard to watch. He stops and you know what he SAYS? “You ruined my mood” yikes, yikes, yikes
And then he comes out of the house to see Mr 2nd lead out who's out in the rain and says “Do Chen Qian Qian’s screams sound nice?” Is it possible for my skin to crawl even further?
(I do know he had his reasons behind it - but even if he wasn't planning on going through with it, does that make it okay??)
I also understand that they eventually heal their broken relationship afterwards, but it was such an impactful scene (in all the wrong ways) that I couldn't forget it.
Another thing about their relationship is how Han Shuo calls himself her husband, but it feels so weird because did they REALLY get married?? They skipped literally every tradition and ceremony and didn’t consummate, so what DID they do to earn their marital status exactly?? And especially considering it was a marriage of kidnapping, does it really count?
(( And did they have their first time in a jail cell of all places? Ouch ))
Okay I should talk about what I did like about the story though so it's not just a review of negativity lol
I loved the idea of these 2 cities which the story is focused around. Xuanhu: where men is the superior sex. And Huanyuan: the other where woman are superior. It’s interesting to see a world where the roles are reversed and the women are in control. I was entranced by the beginning where they showed Huanyuan's social norms and history (where it's a blessing if the baby is a girl and a disappointment if it is a boy. A city where only women could study, have important positions, be soldiers, be the head of the household, etc). There is SO much to unpack with this concept. Unfortunately we only scrape the surface for the majority of the drama and only in the final 3 episodes do we finally get to see Xuanhu city. It's only then when we start to get into some good stuff like gender equality and comparing the two cities. I wish there was more focus on this!!
(And along the way there's a reveal that Han Shuo is Mulan’s son??? Say what? What IS this universe lmao)
Honestly... why do I feel like my favourite thing in Tiger and Rose is the costume department? XD
Chen Qian Qian had the most gorgeous clothes!!! Everybody has exceptional clothing, did all the budget go towards this hahaha
On the whole: the premise for Tiger and Rose was intriguing. However, it needed to be properly executed for it to be a drama worth giving credit to
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Not sure...
Immortal Samsara is the first Xianxia that I'm rating so low. I mean, I usually rate them a 9 or above because they are worth it. To be honest, Immortal Samsara was even one of my most anticipated dramas of 2022, mainly because of the cast. But, in this case, I'm not able to do so. There are many reasons for this, which I'll be explaining in the review.THE STORY
This drama is adapted from a novel Chen Xiang Ru Xie (沉香如屑), which literally translates as Agarwood Like Crumbs, by Su Mo. The drama is a typical eternal love story portrayed in Xianxias. There is not much difference and it has great similarity to Ashes of Love (even the kisses are similar!). FL and ML are dieties in the heavenly realm who fall in love, where their love is forbidden and opposed. They'll be hurting as well as sacrificing for each other because of their love. They'll also have love rivals on both sides who constantly stir up trouble and try to make them fall apart. Then, for some reason (mostly because of those love rivals), they will go to the mortal realm, fall in love again, and one of them will realize that they fell in love for the second time with the same person who hurt them before. But, they can't hold off their love and realize how deeply the love has been rooted in their hearts, etc. etc.. This is the common story arc of Xianxias, which is again repeated here. The only difference is that they fall in love a little too early, i.e., the drama is fast paced. I'm honestly bored out of my skull by these kinds of stories! True, there were many new elements in the story which should have made the story much more interesting, but the love story of the main lead is a total let down. But, towards the end, it seems that their story is taking an interesting turn. Fingers crossed for an interesting part 2!
A good thing about the story is the side couples. Many may not give much attention to side couples but, here, they are very hard to ignore because, somehow, I've got a feeling that they have a better love story than that of the main couple!
Note: The story has a lot of time jumps and flashbacks, and therefore, it may seem a bit confusing.
THE CHARACTERS
The male lead, Lord Ying Yuan/Tang Zhou, is not so different either. The typical handsome and cold-and-aloof-on-the-outside-but-warm-inside type of high diety/cultivator whom everyone looks up to and fairies are head over heels for. The FL has the slightest difference: she is not the usual dump girl who doesn't know what love is or the clumsy, not-so-intelligent pretty face. Yan Dan here is much more mature, witty, and strong. She has great willpower and knows how to love. That was refreshing to watch.
All Xianxias come with at least a love triangle, or should I say, an obsession triangle lol. Anyway, it's a square in this case. But, the SML, Yu Mo, is not so obsessed with Yan Dan here (he truly loves her!). In turn, it was Fairy Ying Deng who was obsessed with Ying Yuan.
Another thing is that it is the ML who usually suffers the most in these kinds of dramas. But, it's not the case here. Both Ying Yuan/Tang Zhou and Yan Dan suffer endlessly. Sometimes, it's a bit hysterical to watch, but it's immensely satisfying to see that pain and misery are not biased towards one lead XD
ACTING AND CAST
I don't think I'll have to talk about the cast. This drama sure has a star-studded cast, which will compel you to watch the drama no matter what. They were the main reasons why I held on to this drama till the end. If you are a usual watcher of Xianxia/Wuxia dramas, you'd probably notice many familiar faces throughout the cast.
Cheng Yi, the God of Blood-spitting, finally has a lot less blood-spitting scenes in a drama. I'm happy but somehow sad too. He was so hot during those scenes with some red lipstick! Taking about his acting, I have nothing much to say. He is as awesome as ever! And so is Yang Zi. If you have watched at least one of their historical dramas, you'll understand their excellence and the quality of their acting.
Yang Zi and Cheng Yi can make chemistry with whomever they are paired with, but, in this case, it's even more so! They can't be more compatible as a bickering couple!
MUSIC
The music in Xianxia dramas is always so pleasing! They always give the right feeling in the right situation!
Some of the notable OSTs in this drama are:
Agarwood (沉香) by Jane Zhang and Jackson Zhang
World Records (红尘录) by Jackson Zhang
Watch the Day (望辰) by Yang Zi
Forget the River (忘川) by Cheng Yi
Partial Star (偏星) by Jane Zhang
Never Forget (无忘) by Zhang Lei
OVERALL
If you ask me if this drama is worth watching, I'd probably reply no, because it's not. You'll know this is definitely not the best Xianxia, nor is it any different from other Xianxias. Actually, it's even worse. But, it's definitely worth a try at least for the cast. Anyhow, I doubt if this would be a good watch if you really did try.
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The juice wasn't worth the squeeze
This show infuriated me by the end. Snowdrop came in with a bunch of promise halted by waves of controversy — if you avoided this show because of that, congrats, nothing about it should tempt you to watch it after all.To be honest, this show started with a bunch of potential. I loved the nostalgic vibes and shiny wide-eyed jaunt towards first love. Snowdrop started to lose momentum once they got into the hostage situation. It dragged on way too long. I understood the point it was trying to make about politics and corruption, but we got the point after just a couple episodes. Someone joked that they blew their whole production budget on the dorm, and honestly, that sounds like the most plausible answer (considering they had to pay an all-star cast too... but we'll get to that in a second). Moreover, the last couple episodes were tropey and infuriating beyond belief. I didn't care enough about the romance to feel anything for Youngro or Sooho; the show didn't do enough early on to make us cheer for them. And then before we knew it, we were being bombarded by noble idiocy and regular idiocy galore. So many situations toward the end could've EASILY been preventable. Trust these competent agents; don't insert yourself into situations unnecessarily (this is directed at BOTH of our leads).
Jisoo especially frustrated me. All of the actors were incredible EXCEPT for her. And I swear, I enjoy Blackpink music! But she was so clearly out-acted throughout the whole show. She was tolerable for a couple of episodes, but once the hostage situation kicked in, she was clearly out of her depth. She gasped so much throughout the rest of the drama that I'm surprised she didn't pass out from the hyperventilation. She was the most useless person in the whole drama — you could arguably consider her a "candy" (not in the classic kdrama definition of the trope, but by effectively serving as bait for the ANSP and Sooho). Worse than a candy girl though, I'd argue that she was a straight-up liability. She was unwilling to compromise or sacrifice anything for the greater good of others. This was exemplified in a situation at the end that involved saving a random side character and harming four other main characters in the process (even leading to the demise of the one she cared about the most!). She blindly ran into situations without a plan and without being equipped to do anything, thus putting other people at even greater risk as they sought to protect her and achieve whatever random agenda she cooked up. I hate that she faced no consequences for this behaviour either; it wasn't even acknowledged as problematic. Jisoo's acting was awful too — I always knew I was watching JISOO, not some character named Youngro. This character could've had so much nuance and depth: idealistic, innocent, and in love, sure, but she could've also been defiant, emboldened, and thoughtful. If her actions were clearly borne of some strategic thought, I would've sympathized with Youngro. Instead, she was stubborn without seemingly any rationale, which made all her actions seem rash and ultimately stupid.
Then let's talk about the romance: it was cute at first, but based on where the story went, it really should've been relegated to a side-plot that took up less air time. Leave it as "Not meant to be" and move on. We lost so much closure and momentum towards the end of the drama by unnecessarily focusing on the romance. Think of all the moments Sooho and Youngro spend gripping each other, asking the other to go, and staring into each others' eyes without any interruption. You know what they could've done in that time? THEY COULD'VE ESCAPED INTO SAFETY TOGETHER. Of course, the more realistic situation would've been if there were constant pressure and action instead, with no time to shoehorn their longing for one another. Because of those moments, especially towards the end, it made their entire tragic situation seem completely avoidable. I found myself shouting at the TV during each of these moments, yelling at them to just GO already instead of standing there (in the basement).
Aside from Jisoo and the romance, the other actors did a wonderful job. I never cared for the moms' machinations (although I suppose they added some levity) or the political squabbles (how silly they turned out to be, although perhaps that was the point?), and I felt too many people were overly motivated by love (Jang Hanna, Kang Cheong Ya, and Lim Sooho especially), but some of the acting was truly superb. To me, there were four standouts: Jung Hae-In excellently blew past his archetype as only playing the boy-next-door in noona dramas. Kim Hye Yoon (Bun Ok), you somehow make me sympathetic towards you while truly giving us the least to cheer for. My only qualm was your choice to help Youngro save Ms. Oh towards the end — how was that choice in any way aligned with Bun Ok's motivations to SAVE HER OWN HIDE above all else? Yoon Se Ah (Ms Pi), I CANNOT believe you are the same person that portrayed Noh Seung Hye in SKY Castle — un-freaking-BELIEVABLE how incredibly she embodied that role as the headmistress. I would seriously watch a movie based on Ms. Pi's life alone. Yoo In Na (Kang Cheong Ya), who knew you had this role in you? I honestly wished Sooho spared her a single glance (or even wound up escaping with her as a way to avoid putting Youngro in harm's way). The rest of the cast did their job too; shout-out to students like Jung Shin Hye (who I liked to think of as "Madonna" for her stylish 80s fashion) and Kim Mi Soo, may she rest in peace.
This drama got my blood pressure up from the suspense; very much shades of SKY Castle. Unfortunately, it didn't critique current issues or hit the zeitgeist the way SKY Castle did, and it also didn't have the cathartic payoff due to its lacklustre, romance-oriented finale. Save yourself the pain of finishing this one!
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Why waste PMY in such a way? Why 'romance' is listed as the main genre? Who the heck wants to watch that cheating couple overcoming their problems given a heck of screen time? (sometimes I even felt they got more scenes together than the main cp did) and the most important: Why does this drama even exist?
When the whole romance, getting into relationship part was in bullet speed, I tried to understand. Fine they going differently, elsewhere first there's good development then leads get together but it's okay if here it's vice versa, but no lol, that development never existed so the chemistry.. first their relationship was bombarded then they 'love' each other onto us, why they do? I think the writer left that question to viewers... other than the addition of boredom there's no purpose so we have some questions to solve, right?
When I was bored more than enough from their bland and tasteless love story, it wasn't enough as we have a whole weather forecasting plot... that does give vibes is this a thriller drama? I never knew weather forecasting has that impact on common people's lives... okay I get it there are some fields where it's important, but I'm talking about common folks from my personal experience no one gives a damn to weather forecast here... some even say proudly that their predictions are always opposite to outcome. Or is this is thing is SK? or as usual glorifying every profession, it seems later case to me
It's a Netflix drama so, with their usual production quality and cinematography, I didn't give attention to osts, see if a dish is a disaster you don't care whether the parsley used for garnishing is of top quality or not.
What writer was trying to tell... I never got to know till the end, was it noona romance? (would be most bland ever), Thrilling experiences while forecasting, How to keep bitchy attitude even though you cheated... maybe it's another example of putting all random stories, most uninteresting characters (including leads), with most boring scenario.. together to form a thing called drama.. and yeah garnished with annoying... unbearable characters. Voila!
I actually have a lot to rant about but I really don't want to waste more words for ranting.. so I'll stop here, definitely not recommended. Maybe if you need to watch something that'll bore you to death then you should.
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This review may contain spoilers
Unfortunately, it really shows that this is a Disney+ production.
Lack of clues and details to build theories:Over the course of 9 episodes, there’s not a single hint that makes the viewer want to come up with theories or even guess who the villain might be.
Do you think the death of the main character’s parents has anything to do with the story? Nope.
Do you think the classical music theme matters? Not at all.
Do you think the fact that the main character lacks some social skills plays a role? Nope.
What about the male lead being stuck in the same position for 10 years because of an unsolved case — think that’s important? Nope.
Basically, any detail you think might be connected to the murders before episode 9 becomes totally irrelevant, because for 9 whole episodes, they only give you one suspect.
And surprise — in episode 10, they tell you that nope, he’s not the antagonist after all. So all your theories are basically pointless. Only if you watch a lot of K-dramas like this, you probably caught the phrase “construction company” and maybe figured out where the story’s heading.
Cast:
The producers of this K-drama clearly have no idea how to make the most of their cast’s potential. Honestly, if any other actors had done this show, it wouldn’t have made a difference — they use so little of the actors’ range that it feels like they never even watched their past performances, whether lead or supporting.
The antagonist:
The antagonist in this story apparently has super strength or psychic powers or something, because there’s no explanation or detail about how they kill. People just show up dead, and that’s it. The only death that’s actually interesting isn’t even caused by the antagonist — it’s done by a side character.And the worst death is the final one — Puzzle 8 — because you literally have to use your imagination to make any sense of how the body ended up way up there with no help at all.
P.S. For some reason, in the episodes around the second murder, there’s this weird POV shot of the main character’s hand gripping the car keys. I have no idea what they were going for with that scene — it’s just odd, and to make it weirder, they only use that POV once. Just that one scene.
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Heartwarming
Although I too really liked the entire series I just felt the last episode was way too rushed. every fight and confrontation was obviously meant to happen but they just bombarded everything in the last episode. And everything just got magically fixed after that. Yes though it is obviously fiction but there were so many real life relative aspects in the series that made it feel so relatable and thus it all just mending on its own felt unfulfilling, that's not how things work in real life.At the end of the day Spirit Fingers is proof that you can make a good romcom without throwing in some crazy storylines, just needs to be cute and funny. The cast chemistry was good. Heartfelt healings and friendship, hilarious characters, it truly had it all. This show was very wholesome and everyone needs to watch it at least once.
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Is It A ‘Bad And Crazy’ Decision To Watch This Drama?
Crime and action dramas can often a tricky to tackle for screenwriters. Nevertheless screenwriter Kim Sae Bom ( ‘ Uncanny Counter’) and director Yoo Seon Dong ( ‘Uncanny Counter’, ‘ Vampire Prosecutor 2’ ) are able to turn a passé “ buddy cop” premise into an adrenal-kicking ride with Lee Dong Wook and Wi Ha Joon taking front seats.
The storyline focuses upon the titled ‘ Bad’ guy of the series Detective Su-yeol (Lee Dong-wook). Su-Yeol’s original passion and drive to deliver justice has been lost over the years as a consequence of trying to climb up the social ladder. However Su-Yeol is soon hit with some home-truths when he is incessantly haunted by the ‘ Crazy’ and self-proclaimed helmet-wielding " hero" K ( Wi Ha Joon). As the main lead begins to struggle with battling against the mysterious hero fanatic in his daily life, he soon becomes involved in uncovering a greater web of lies and corruption at the heart of justice. Reluctantly he enlists the help of quirky hero K, his ex-girlfriend and witty detective Lee Hee Kyum ( Han Ji Eun) as well as good-natured rookie cop Oh Kyung Tae ( N) in order to bring down a greater threat from the shadows.
It should be clarified that the initial plot setup of “ corrupt cop becomes good again” isn’t an inherently new or exciting concept to K-dramas. Nevertheless, Kim Sae Bom was willing to add a retro flare to the narrative through the action escapades of K and Su-Yeol facing against bumbling and brutish thugs, convicts and adversaries in weekly episodes.
There’s a fairly comical undertone during many early exchanges between K and Su-Yeol ( without spoilers). Lee Dong Wook and Wi Ha Joon’s onscreen bromance chemistry could admittedly come off as slightly strained under the weight of loose threads in the plot at times, but the jovial bickering between their onscreen counterparts will certainly generate a chuckle or two for audiences. However despite the drama’s coverage of some lighthearted comedy sequences and interactions , Kim Sae Bom was not afraid to delve into darker subject areas also.
Naturally this brings up the discussion of the cast lineup. Venerable actor Kim Dong Wook starred as one of the main star-attractions of the production as Su-Yeol. The veteran actor admittedly did feel slightly typecast to the role of the “stoic and mysterious” archetype once more. However whilst goofy initial charm seemed to define Dong Wook’s character, later complexity surrounding Su-Yeol, truly gave his onscreen persona a definitive edge .
Yet whilst later episodes did present some heartfelt moments to explore vulnerability within the tougher character-build of Su-Yeol, the main lead’s earlier interactions with his family rarely foreshadowed or hinted a buildup towards Su-Yeol’s feelings. Of course , it is important to establish that although screenwriter Sae Bom did slowly develop Su-Yeol from the outset, it could often feel as though elements of his character were rarely fleshed-out with more depth .
Then of course there’s the discussion surrounding “ K”. Played with a daring boyish charm by Wi Ha Joon, “ K” acts as the second mysterious main lead of the series.
Without definitive plot spoilers, it is important for viewers to note that “ K” seemingly embodies everything that Su-Yeol strives not to be ; anarchic, comical, unpredictable and possessing a great hero complex also. Understandably “ K”’s greatest character-drive comes through his developed bond with Su-Yeol. Yet whilst comical ( and often fractious ) interactions between the main leads could be entertaining and sometimes complicated , it often felt as though “K” was rarely given a more serious presence in the storyline . ( Until later events when Kim Sae Bom deemed his character as a necessary plot-device; mysterious but often being used merely to expedite plot.)
Costarring alongside the two main leads was Han Ji Eun as female lead and love interest Lee Hee Kyum. Hee Kyum is an intriguing character with her own reasons and problems and especially due to her “ complicated” relationship with her ex and main male lead Su-Yeol. ( Especially with consideration to her somewhat acrimonious and unexplained breakup.)
On the other hand, whilst Hee Kyum was a necessary asset for the events of the narrative , there was a notable flaw at times with the main female lead; she lacked a definitive edge. Arguably it is noteworthy that Hee-Kyum is fairly resilient in the face of adversity and is quick to stand her ground also. Yet sadly Hee-Kyum rarely had opportunities to be explored outside of necessary plot-line . It was fairly sweet and engaging to witness the unfolding and potentially rekindled flame between the former-lovers onscreen. However, there were many notable aspects of Hee-Kyum’s intriguing backstory ( mentioned only several times as passing references), dreams, familial relationships and reasons for becoming a detective which were often left disregarded throughout the narrative .
Admittedly Lee Hee Kyum wasn’t the only victim of absent character backstory . Second male lead Oh Kyung Tae, a necessary character from the beginning, is dismissed through a “ necessary plot point” from being actively involved in the series. Whist this was arguably crucial to allow the events to unfold, Kim Sae Bom rarely measured opportunities through screen time to “ get to know” a key player in the drama; he’s altruistic, clever and observant but that’s also the problem. Oh Kyung Tae never truly felt as though he was a realistically flawed character.
Other side characters of the storyline included detective Yang Jae-Sun( Cha Si-Won)- Su-Yeol’s loyal work colleague and slight sycophant , shady but knowledgable psychiatrist Yum Geun-Soo( Choi Kwang Je) and the mysterious and unnerving professional psychiatrist Shin Joo-Hyuk( Jung Sung-Il). Whilst these side characters played important roles in various parts of the drama, predictability soon arose ( in parts) for the roles due to the evident writing-setups for these characters .
On this note it is important to bring up the nature of the opposing forces of the narrative. Admittedly ‘ Bad And Crazy’ never truly established an “ overarching” antagonist per say until later events of the storyline . Whilst the series did gradually veer towards having a final “ threat” during end events, the storyline instead placed multiple adversaries for the main lead such as corrupt politician Assemblyman Do Yu Gon ( Lim Ki Hong), the big kahuna of a drug gang Boss Yong ( Kim Hieora)and her right-hand man Andrei Kang ( Won Hye Joon) as potential “ red herrings”. Whilst these side characters did play their necessary role within the events of the narrative and help to buildup to the finale, the ending admittedly felt somewhat anticlimactic as a result of rarely presenting these antagonists with more profound character-qualities.
Admittedly ‘ Bad And Crazy’ was a slight anomaly when it boiled down to pacing . Whilst some dramas can notably suffer from the classic problem of possessing strong beginnings and weak endings, ‘ Bad And Crazy’ presented the opposite: a weaker beginning notably gave rise to a lighthearted introduction to characters, whilst the second-half focused heavily upon crucial details of plot and heavier topics.
Whilst this wasn’t necessarily bad per say and did allow for audiences to establish the key players of the drama, tedious pacing during early conflicted dilemmas for the characters contrasted by quick-paced action scenes during fights, often rarely allowed golden-opportunities to delve deeper into the ins and outs of the storyline. As a consequence, the ending is admittedly dependent upon expectations; some may enjoy the final events of the series with satisfaction , whilst others may feel disappointed and letdown by the final result.
Then of course there’s the discussion surrounding Yoo Seon Dong’s filming. Whilst Seon Dong could captivate a certain ineffable charm under his directing reigns with fast-paced action sequences and chases, Seong Dong’s camera work could often be amateurish at times also. Admittedly this isn’t entirely the fault of the director per say. The addition of pacy editing and cut scenes in order to make up for the usage of sloppy fight scene choreography and punches highlighted mixed-results throughout the camera work. On the other hand, the OST did often help to draw attention away from these scenes through an eclectic mix of generic instrumentals and unpredictable tempos - in particular ‘ Bad and Crazy’’s EDM opening song helped to capture the adrenal-infused mania and atmosphere for anyone willing to stay along for the ride.
Overall, ‘ Bad And Crazy’ is a series which felt somewhat shoehorned at times by plot, characters and pacing. Nevertheless whilst predictable and niche at times , the twelve-episode series was surprisingly delightful in parts with a pacy narrative allowing opportunities for viewers to become intrigued within some of the drama’s touching depictions of its main characters. Fast, thrilling and not without its rougher edges, ‘ Bad And Crazy’ will perhaps not serve as one of Lee Dong Wook and Wi Ha Joon’s best performances to date for some watchers , but it certainly can offer an adrenal-infused binge-watch for those intrigued from beginning to end.
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Only if you're a Liu Yu Ning fan
After watching The Prisoner of Beauty I really wanted to love this but it wasn't meant to be. Don't get me wrong Liu Yu Ning was terrific as the male lead Nan Heng / Li Shi Liu unfortunately he couldn't save this drama.I have never been so angry watching a drama before. But this one managed to piss me off to no end. How could one character (the male lead at that) be so hated. Everyone (aside from his people) were mean, downright cruel to him. And then along comes the female lead and dang if she isn't the worse of the lot (and that includes the emperor and that's saying something)
His own father hated him for something he didn't do. Honestly how could a child be responsible for a grown up's death? And it just went downhill from there.
Every episode seemed to get worse starting from the very first episode. In just a couple of episodes I was actually rooting for Nan Heng to ride off into the sunset and leave the rest to their own fate.
Then around episode 30 the writer decides to change it up and have the emperor realize he'd wronged Nan Heng. And of course the female lead finally comes in with the "White head, same heart" but personally, I felt it was too little too late.
Great happy ending.
Would I recommend it? No. But if you are a Liu Yu Ning fan and you've seen everything else of his then give it a shot, he's the only reason to watch it. However, I'd recommend a rewatch of The Prisoner of Beauty instead.
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Meeting, Falling in Love, Staying Together, Standing Side by Side, & Never Parting.
Enemies to lovers done the first time the right way. This has become my favorite drama of CZY (though not character as that's forever I believe reserved for LZ), I knew he could do a general but the ruthlessness of his character more out of necessity to survive in his surroundings as the first prince was very much brought home here. I'm proud of him; he exceeded any expectations I had. I knew LQ could handle herself in her role as I have seen her in them before and many of the supporting cast. So this series really for me was following the leads mantra of meeting, falling in love, staying together, standing side by side & never parting.Pros: CZY's character or FSG was my favorite and not because I follow him but I honestly wasn't sure he could pull off a ruthless general or the Killer God of Susha as it was his first try but now I can say he has--for me at least--joined the ranks of ZLH, WL, and LYN of men who could burn the world to the ground as a general but at the same time do so for the woman he loves. And his FL or FYX could be an equal partner for him because she was a general in the enemy country as well and her skills aren't to be trifled with. When they fought together later on, their tacit understanding was seamless, which was beautiful to see. Their chemistry was red hot even when they hated each other. He fell first but she wasn't too far behind and their sparks for each other really flew with that first kiss when she confessed first. FYX was the type of woman who didn't just wait around, she knew how she felt and knew he felt the same. He had some jealous and funny moments before the official confession that made everyone around them get it but not say anything. It was too funny. Even the audience was like "we know, dude!" LOL!
They started out as enemies from kingdoms constantly at war with each other but her losing her memories from being literally shot off a cliff and barely surviving plus being hunted by assassins. An ancient Doctors Without Borders type of place saved both of their lives as she had shot him with an arrow before all that happened to her. It took a lot of physical fighting especially lashing and biting for them to call a truce which thankfully happened early on. Anymore biting each other and I would have called this a vampire flick lol! She lost her memories after being betrayed by her then supposed lover (XJS or Nutsack as I called him because he played an equally obsessed with FL SML in another series) another prince of that kingdom who was in cahoots with some masked man from his kingdom who was for some reason allowed to give them orders. Funnily enough who the masked man turned out to be was spoiled by the show, when they released a poster of the characters one of which was holding the mask and otherwise easy to guess. But the dude couldn't fight himself to save his life and if he went against nutsack, would have gotten his ass demolished.
Betrayal was the name game here first for FYX with her amnesia that cleared pretty quickly and sworn brothers as one betrayed everything and her when he tried to kill her especially when the main reason for it arrived as a marriage alliance so it sped things up for her and a miracle doctor treating the emperor helped her with a very risky surgery. But another thing I liked was that all the negative stuff like amnesia or misunderstandings between our leads was cleared up pretty quickly. Even FSG's own amnesia after he was betrayed by his best friend MRY aka mask man and his father who professed his loyalty to the emperor yet killed innocent people brutally (still waiting for someone to avenge Eunach Ma or say something about it), was essentially ready to throw all of that away to keep his treasonous son alive; planned and nearly executed FSG; it was brutal and violent even burying him alive, his amnesia after they brought him to the Storm Alliance, saving, blindness, and amnesia maybe took 2.5 episodes. It was dealt with accordingly.
The amount of harm and betrayal FSG went through just the series let alone was staggering. This man never did anything to anyone and just wanted his kingdom and the people to prosper but the gunning for the throne and back games just made it nearly impossible. Just about everyone was corrupted included the emperor or his father. For the most, he was a good emperor but as a father, he knew what happened to his mother, was there, covered it it up, and kept the murderer around to hone FSG as a ruthless leader; when that came out, and how everyone who didn't submit should be killed even ordering FSG to kill FYX who read him to rights, was disgusting and I'm glad both told him essentially to go fuck himself. He was a horrible father to FSG and didn't deserve an amazing son like him. Towards the end even FYX asked how a kind man like him could exist in a world where he's faced so much betrayal even from people who were supposed to love and protect him. But I and many others believe he received all of his mother's genes, after all it was she who established the Storm Alliance.
At first I thought the Storm Alliance was nonsensical and should be placed in the cons but than I read what another viewer in the comments wrote and I had to agree, their time with the storm alliance was a time for FSG to obviously recover but also understand the real meaning of the word family. Also there was a decades old misunderstanding thinking his father ordered the raid on Storm Alliance so many of its members wanted revenge on FSG even when they didn't really know who the real culprit was (it was the PM and his private troops; but these folks already hated the emperor for what happened to FSG's mom so just blindly point and shoot; they were stupid but at least when they turned against each other for the strict rules, FSG and FYX brokered the peace and he promised to find out the truth, which he did). His was broken thanks to the murder of his mother by the PM and the cover up by his father just to make him ruthless enough to take the throne. No one in his family was actually "normal" save for his younger half brother who never wanted the throne either but who's mother and grandfather--the same PM--were trying to do everything in their power to him on including killing both the emperor and FSG to do. He also had a younger sister but that's a mess for another paragraph. It was FYX, his brother guards, the Q something battalion that got slaughtered while trying to keep the chasing goons away from the carriage carrying the barely clinging to life FSG after being dug up from his grave, and the entire Feng battalion, some who were killed for not supporting MRY the loser who couldn't fight but the rest of the battalion submitted though under pretense until their general returned. As FSG said himself, FYX was the most important to him along with his brothers in the Feng battalion because though not blood, they were his family. FSG spent most of the show trying to find out the truth behind his mother's death while at the same time warding off attacks of the PM, the Empress, and MRY's faction. So now having FYX and before they fell in love, he was also helping her uncover her memory and then she helped him with his.
There were so many really great nuances in this series the most recent was when FSG regained his and how that click happened. The director showed the imagery in his brain and his face from moment to moment and it was great. Same as when FYX remembered it was nutsack who shot her off the cliff in the first place. It was a pendant he wore when he first arrived for the marriage alliance and randomly met in the street, after a shooting match, she saw the pendant and remembered and signaled to FSG to help her even though they weren't together yet. They already had that seamless tacit understanding even back then.
I just wanted to say about the ending, though they more less closed out the majority of the characters well, I'm actually happy with the ending. FSG never wanted to become emperor regardless just like his brother who went into seclusion after finding out about all of his mother's crimes. He was Regent as he left his sister to govern but put her on probation for 3 years and in those 3 years if she did well, he'd crown her as empress otherwise he'd name a worthy successor. Plus he brokered a 10 year deal with FYX's country not to fight but let the common people settle down. No matter what, he was still in charge and his kingdom was the powerful one. But he and FYX went to live quietly somewhere as they showed them just relaxing on a mountain top, chatting and shooting arrows. He promised her the grandest wedding in 3 years while she said if he didn't behave, she would deal with a feather duster so that was a cute ending.
Plus, I love the fact that usually when kids are gunning for the throne, everyone is cut throat and this is the probably first drama I've seen where siblings genuinely love each other, even though the sister was a lost cause eventually after hearing the death of her father and brother, she thought he was dead, and then learning he was alive, understood how much he meant to her. As for younger brother he never did a bad thing to his older brother, no matter how much crap his mother and grandfather filled his head with. So this is the first drama where all the siblings genuinely love each other in that kingdom. Meanwhile, in lunatic kingdom, you have siblings trying to kill each other from a young age for the throne and other things. In ML's kingdom, the ones that were doing all the cut throat fighting to stick their kids on the throne, were the parents because they never asked the kids what they actually wanted and neither brother wanted the throne so it's quite unusual, but I'm glad to see that kind of sibling love for a change.
There were a plethora of villains in this story but PM, serial killer dad, and nutsack were the best. The first two as veteran actors they made their roles believable especially serial killer dad of MRY who was more believable with the mask and the computerized voice than without it. When it was revealed (though most of us already knew) it was him, it was more like ok no big I can be myself and I'm crazy so I'll join the lunatics. It was a good role for him as he's usually in protagonist roles so though not as top as the three he still did a good job, though his father's switch between loyalist to serial who gets pleasure out of the kill was Ted Bundy all over again. And Nutsack, he's an obsessed with FYX lunatic, who had a hard life (being poisoned not helping) that didn't excuse him from all of the evil he did including to the FL. But he expected to win her back like his delusion was the highest of the story up to the moment FSG and FYX killed him together. Never dawned on him that they were done the moment he shot her off the cliff. Also, emperor lunatic who would kill a person if the air wasn't up to his liking but fell in love with XY because she didn't behave like a dog but would talk back to him and be head strong made him all happy and it made me just want to go bathe. The actor himself did phenomenally well considering he too usually plays protagonists so his first lunatic morally grey antagonist was very convincing and he did a great job.
I love fight scenes and we had some pretty awesome ones especially when FSG was involved. The final fight scene between him and Nutsack was awesome. You could tell that Nutsack had great sword skills that actually matched FSG's though still on a lower grade but FSG won that battle alongside FYX because he also had more strength and he threw nut sack around the room and basically wipe the floor with him. I thought that was awesome and FL coming in at that last moment really helped a lot as well. I do really wish also there was a better moment with FSG and serial killer dad when he realized that the emperor never intended to kill him nor his son, but they assumed it and did all those horrible things to FSG and the assistant to the emperor who still wasn't avenged well I guess he was when FYX shot the arrow through serial killer dad, but no one mentioned him. Nobody even knew where his body went. Wish we got to see more of the fight scenes we saw BTS not just in flashbacks. Costumes were gorgeous and FSG's home as well as lunatic kingdom interiors were just beautiful. OSTs ok.
Cons: His sister and the entire lunatic kingdom was just no for me. Her growth in survival after the slap and giving herself to the emperor lunatic but she spent all the time breaking her brother's heart because she fell for nutsack at first sight yrs ago without knowing or caring who he really was and no matter how others tried talking her out of it, she just saw life through rose colored glasses, even threatening to kill herself to her brother to help nutsack escape. She lowered herself to such a place where she was willing to give him a one nightstand which was cheap and nasty. It wasn't until he slapped her for being the real bitch for falsely calling FYX a bitch and saying that she was in love with her brother but still toying with him; than & after a few more incidents where she found out about her father and brother being dead did she finally start to think about revenge and survival. Survival I understand but she was in enemy country thinking she was going to get revenge? Girl, sit down. Getting pregnant by the emperor and then when nutsack started his plan, he essentially stabbed her and no more baby or babies ever; honestly though I felt a bit sad for her, she reaped what she sowed. She did have blood on her hands even if just one person. I'm glad she spilled all of that to her brother. So though we saw her survival growth, I couldn't bring myself to bond with her character.
A plot hole that I found was they never explained how Nutsack and MRY met in the first place and why MRY was allowed to give nut sack and Weiran orders like he was their boss. MRY couldn't fight to save his life so if he went head to head with nut sack with a sword, he would've been dead in under 50 seconds. We also saw what happened to him when FSG fought and killed him just with his hands forget swords. So when exactly did they meet and how was never explained. We got great back stories on a lot of characters, but that important one somehow fell through the cracks. Also wish they would've shown whether MRY harmed that short minister that's an opportunist that though he helped the young brother emperor he also led MRY to the secret hideout of FSG. Though he swore he wouldn't tell, I guess he lived because he told MRY where FSG and company was, but I think younger bro should've realized that something was off and I hope he either retired him (off with his head) or took him from his position because the future would not be so bright with someone like him but then again with the sister governing, he probably doesn't have a very long time left as a minister of anything. She could smell a rat a mile away.
Plus, nutsack kingdom was edited weirdly to just randomly show up while we were getting the main story. Sometimes the timing was just off. And the one OST "Don't Cry" was played like the thing just wanted us to vomit it. At the end it played and was cut suddenly as danger BGM had to come. Did the sound editor not know that sometimes silence or just soft instrumental music was enough? Less is more in this case really! The fake woods were obvious but then I don't how much of a budget this had. Otherwise, I had no other issues.
Would I recommend it? 100%! It's an amazing series that I couldn't even write everything I wanted because of the 10K limit (do they seem to have lifted the limit cap); but this is what you want to see in an enemies to lovers series!
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1Romanticizing a Toxic Relationship Does NOT Make It a Healing Drama
I love Shin Hae Sun. My acct. pic is of her. I've raved about her other shows that were healing and wonderful and have said nothing about the ones I didn't love as much out of respect for my love of her. I cannot in good conscience not speak up and warn people of the trigger warnings in this show. If you want a healing comfort show, go look at my other reviews of her other shows.⛔ Trigger Warnings:
⚠️ This show seems to want to convince the audience that it's a beautiful true love story between a woman who doesn't love herself & the man who doesn't love her either who reaffirms her low esteem beliefs about herself. It's shown as romantic, sweet and healing not sad, tragic and infuriating. Though the latter was what I ended up feeling anyways.
⚠️ Toxic ML says the most cruel things to the FL that's usually reserved for the villain of the show or a toxic ex that the FL escapes from.
⚠️ Abusive behavior like rejection, gaslighting, negging, abandonment, ghosting, verbal cruelty that lead to years of insecurities and pain that lead to a mental breakdown are never treated as such, it's shown as a normal part of a great love story. As long as a woman "loves" (more like obsessed & addicted to) a man, "love" of a toxic man is all that matters. Not Sanity. Not self-respect. Not mental well-being. Not self-esteem. Not self-worth.
⚠️ Gaslighting messages from both the show & the ML are normalized & romanticized. Healthy green flag men who love consistently and are good for a woman's self esteem and confidence are not good matches but a man who gives mixed messages and keeps a woman unbalanced & feeling like she was never good enough for him because he said that to her face multiple times in words and actions is a good match.
⚠️ Sexist ageism is portrayed in the show as just what happens on top of the fact that the real age of the leading actor is 8 yrs older than the leading actress but in the show they are supposed to be the same age. The ML clearly looks at least 10 yrs older than the FL but we're supposed to ignore that and believe they are the same age while being told that the FL lead is "too old" for the 3ML when she was maybe 1-2 yrs older but looked practically the same age as the 3ML.
⚠️ Severe mental illnesses like depression and Dissociative Identity Disorders (DID) are "cured" by ways in the show that in real life would most likely lead to that person ending up dead or permanently broken - or both.
Toxic messages to pick the red flag men over the green flag men were the reasons why I stopped watching American shows and "romantic comedies" and why they don't make money anymore at the box office. It's sad that in 2024 this kind of unhealthy, ignorant and even dangerous messaging still exists. I'll always love Shin Hae Sun's other shows, Thirty but Seventeen and Angels Last Mission: Love. If you want comfort shows or a love story that will make you feel good vs icky & despair, then go check out those shows.
This show was so disappointing that I don't think I can ever trust the Screenwriter: Han Ga Ram or Directors: Jung Ji Hyun, Heo Seok Won ever again. I definitely won't watch anything by them in the future until after the show ends and I see lots of ratings before ever feeling safe to watch something of theirs ever again.
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Unnecessary deaths for the side characters done in a very unappealing way
First of all, I will make myself clear that I didn't watch the Donghua or read the Manhua. Nor did I watched Red Moon Pact. I only jump into this because I saw this Drama on my recommendation online and Neo Hou is in this one (but alas, he was a cameo and he died in episode 2).Second of all, I will make this clear for those who read this review of mines, if you love the drama and give this a 10/10 then good for you, congrats for finding something you love and enjoyed, when I said this I am being genuine, and not sarcastic, I won't judge you for loving this drama, BUT if you judge me for not liking this drama towards the end in writing perspective, and not giving this a full 10/10 then I WILL judge you for this because you are judging me first and not respecting how we all are entitled to our own preferences on what we like and dislikes.
We all watch the same drama, but can interpret certain scenes differently, just because we find certain scenes questionable, it doesn't mean we didn't pay attention to the explanation provided BUT it just means we don't agree with it, and we question why the writers have to handled it this way since it could be done better.
Now, with all that being said, time for my review, and I will try to maybe summarize my feelings, and will (try!) to keep my review short (although I doubt it since I have a tendency to express in lengthy reviews to express my feelings).
Acting-wise, I won't go into the full cast, since that will be long (like I said, I will try to keep this short). There's a few familiar faces here, and one of them, I will have to say Joe Ma. He surprised me to see him in this drama since I grew up watching him in TVB (Hong Kong) dramas, but in this one, he was given a role as Wangquan (Hong Ye and Zui's father). Although he can be considered more as a guest actor in this one.
Zhang Yun Long did an excellent job in portraying Wangquan Hong Ye. I actually didn't mind the mask he was wearing at the beginning since it makes it more mysterious than just a half face mask like the others was wearing. In terms of pairing chemistry, I do like him with Dongfang Huaizhu (played by Liu Shishi). But I didn't like the kiss scenes between them because they are those "dead fish" kiss scenes as we call it. So honestly, if they can't give us a decent kiss scene, than perhaps it is good to go without it imo, since they still have chemistry with expressing their love without these kiss scenes so that in itself, shows them having chemistry.
Ding Yuxi role as Zhang Zheng is among my favourite character in this Drama, I found him appealing at the beginning when he made his brief appearance and I was looking forward to his scenes. When we finally got those scenes, I came to like him even more and his backstory with Mu Yuan (played by Meng Ziyi). They have a nice backstory that built up to them being together as a couple, and I was so excited for Zhang Zheng to finally join the Mask Group, since I always wanted him to, so you bet how happy I was when he was finally part of the Mask Group. But that happiness didn't last because how the writers handled his ending really just ignored all the growth and developments he went through, which is why I found it so off-putting that they have Zhang Zheng (played by Ding Yuxi) go through that growth to FINALLY accept and allow himself to be happy and right after that he was killed off. What pissed me off and annoys me is he wouldn't have died like that if it weren't for Mu Yuan(the woman he loves) being manipulated and controlled by the Black Fox... I hate these tropes to have the couple from one side kill the other.. that's the worst kind of ending for me...
I was totally cheering and praising Zhang Zheng for breaking free of his own inner darkness and then he got given that ending... He didn't lost or died because he was weak against the Black Fox (since he was able to break free from the control and manipulation) he died because he was killed by the woman(Mu Yuan) he loves, because he didn't want to attack or kill her and he let his guard down when she put that sword through him and when she pushed it in even further, I don't want to watch it anymore!!!
What's worst is, the writer wrote a similar scenario for my other favourite couple, being Yitan and Wangquan Zui. This pairing is really likeable, and I really hope they got their happy ending but this was another pairing the writers made one side kill the other due to the manipulation.
I honestly hate these tropes and I cannot express just how much it actually ruined the pairing strong love for each other because it really made me question was their love for the other person not strong enough to overcome the darkness at all? They didn't even display a sign of struggle to show they want to break out of the control on their side... Was there no light or love in them at all to show their struggles in wanting to overcome this darkness when they are facing the person they love?! But how it ended was their love wasn't strong enough and the darkness took full control where both Mu Yuan and Yitan kill the one person they love....
The writers really did give them the worst ending possible and yeah I hate how it turned out and nothing can change how I feel about those two scenes of having the pairing of one side kill the other...
Also, I felt part of their downfall was because of Yitan was being controlled when he broke their barrier....but then he was being controlled, so can't blame him(?!) BUT it doesn't mean I enjoy it because I didn't like it on my end for what happened.
Give me a break honestly, they all just happened at the same time, that it is hard to sink all this in!! These Deaths and being killed off on our beloved characters is SO UNJUSTIFIABLE, and they are NOT my favourite trope when characters I like being controlled and do things that will hurt them in the long run!
You know what the irony here is? when people were complaining about the deaths of the side characters in Moonlight Mystique but at least in Moonlight Mystique, the death has meaning behind it, and it is not killing off for the sake of killing off and each character deaths have an important role to shine, also, in Moonlight Mystique, they were given hope they will come back later but in Love in Pavilion?! NO, they are gone/dead!!
In Love in Pavillion, how their deaths was handled is everyone just died so tragically in the worst way possible and it makes us question and brings realization to us that their death wouldn't have happened if they believe in that light in their heart where they can break free of Black Fox darkness. Just like evidently how Zhang Zheng had darkness entered into him, but he managed to break free from Black Fox manipulation because he was strong enough, but the others who gets manipulated (and controlled) is like a contrast to how each person have darkness (or hatred) inside of them, which gives Black Fox the ability to take control of them. I don't like this, I mean I get the logic behind it, but how the writers handled it like this (the deaths of everyone in the mask group except Wangquan Hongye and Qu Zhou) is NOT my cup of tea. They are my honest feelings here.
So as much as I like and enjoyed the drama at the beginning to midpoint, the drama just went downhill and lose a lot of points towards the end. After they killed of Zhang Zheng, Mu Yuan, Yitan and Wangquan Zui, I already don't feel like finishing it but I kept to it since I love the main pairing but then again the writers have to do questionable things that made me question 'Why!' And they were certain actions I don't like what I saw in how the plot was handled in 'that scene' when Hongye came to rescue Huaizhu, he really should have used that opportunity to kill Jin Ren Feng, this was something I wish was done better but didn't, how the writers handled that scene, in the end lead to the death of Huaizhu because of the poor decisions made by the writers choice in pissing off the viewers, and how Huaizhu explained in her dying moments that when Jin Renfeng gave her a hit to try and stop her bloodline and from then on she's been losing her life force. This really puts emphasis in that point that IF things were done better in 'that scene' when HongYe came to save her, than perhaps Huaizhu wont die...This was indirectly highlighting it in a subtle way that the writers handled it poorly. If not, then their ending will not be subjected to this tragedy.
Sure, it was explained that Hongye lost a lot of power after killing the Black Fox, but I don't see that at all. Honestly, Hongye came into the scene displaying his powerful aura, despite his original sword broke but the real Wangquan sword appeared and with the help of the forces he gathered in that scene, you can't expect me to believe he is not strong enough(with the others help also) to fend off and defeat Jin Ren Feng right? Yes, it was explained Jin Ren Feng took his master sacred fire etc, but I don't see him as that strong if he have to use underhanded method to poison Huaizhu first which shows he was a coward, so this is what I don't like, the writers just let that bastard Jin Ren Feng off for the sake of the plot device added to give a reason to kill off Huaizhu later, which Huai Zhu provided the explanation on why she was dying, so knowing this, the drama DID lose its charm for me near the end...
I just felt like there is no real purpose for the writers to do this or go this direction, except to make it tragic for the sake of it being tragedy and this is what I don't like... Unnecessary deaths...
Well in the end, I know I might be a minority but I am not happy with how the drama was handled near the end. I know some people likes it but I don't so this is my personal journey from watching this drama. Don't come to my review and try to justify the actions and decisions by how the plot was handled near the end, and don't judge me for feeling differently to you. Like I said at the beginning of my review, I won't judge people in loving this drama, so don't judge me for feeling differently to you because I don't like how things were handled near the end for my reasons provided. We can watch the same drama but feel differently. We are allow to feel differently since everyone is different. What appeals to you doesn't mean it appeals to me. I question how it was handled because I don't agree with those actions...
Characters sacrificed so much and in the end they can't get their happy ending. Poor Wangquan Hongye lost everything in the end and I really cried when he was grieving everyone's death. I feel so sorry for him, he had finally found his light and happiness to move on with Huaizhu when he found out she's pregnant, he finally got that light again and smile and look forward to their child being born and him raising their child together with Huaizhu and then Huaizhu being killed off.... and her explanation to why she was dying was because of that 'one scene' is why I didn't like how the scene was handled when Hongye go save her from that bastard Jin Ren Feng. In the end, it was another tragic and unnecessary death IMO. The writers is so cruel...
I don't know if I will watch this again. Maybe on the scenes I like and pretend the ending for this drama ended at this certain point before they fought against the black fox...
Also an honorable mention to Jiu Huo and Jia Lan. I can't believe I am feeling this way but their tragic backstory grow on me when I learned about their past and story. To me I actually separated the Jia Lan from the past from the Black Fox version of her since the original Jia Lan had love and she was sincere towards Jiu Huo but the reborn her is pure evil. Poor Jiu Huo, I did got teary in that scene when he died though especially all he ever wanted was to bring her back since he loved her. Its a dark couple but appealing one.
All the best to future watchers. For me, I certainly won't be recommending this unless you want to see all your fav characters die in the worst way possible, in a very unjustified manner too IMO.
Maybe if I have watched the Donghua or Read the Manhua (the original source) then I can come into this being prepared, but no I didn't so how the ending was handled was a slap to the face for someone who enjoyed and like the story and characters from the beginning...
In the end, how do I summarize this drama? Your hardwork doesn't gets paid off and reward you with the happy ending. You persevere only to found out that you are destined to not have a happy ending. What you fought for or believed in only to end with sacrifices that rewards you with this sad ending. To me, this is NOT a happy ending, I wouldn't even call it Bittersweet either. It is more of a Sad ending, although I felt it more like a Bad Ending at the end, I don't care if this continues to the sequel, I just want the characters I love to get their happy ending first and next generation second. They deserve it. We (as viewers) deserve this after following the Drama since release date!
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