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I agree mostly with the Han Cinema review by William Schwartz that the amount of suffering Jaya endured was heavy-handed, eclipsing the majority of the movie, allowing us briefly to empathize with her father's feeling of helplessness and revenge.
Unfortunately, much of Jaya's suffering and death are in vain due to her father's cerebral palsy, as he goes on a sort of mentally challenged rampage that falls way short of meeting my criteria for vigilante justice.
Like Mr. Schwartz, I thought maybe she would've done better going with the social worker in the beginning.
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The main characters were very mature in their romance and relationship. They respected eachother and had deep trust and faith in eachother. There were no tantrums or egotistical stubbornness. While both had a secondary "love interest" the main characters drew clear boundaries towards them. I loved that as I find it incredibly frustrating when the main characters are totally oblivious and lead their friend on or hurt their romantic partner by not prioritizing their feelings. Especially the male lead was very impressive and level headed. He wasn't a brute or overly jelaous though he did like teasing the female lead at times ^^ The female lead was a a bit more cliche nice girl but had a lot of charm and had her own charm.
The humour was ok - not over the top but not laugh out loud either. All in all it was a very sweet, tender and mature (not in the R rated sense ;) drama that I would definitely recommend. Especially if you just want something to watch that makes you feel good without much angst or stupidity. The only weakness was that it didn't really have any magnetic feature. I mean, the thing that makes your heart pound and makes you unable to stop watching. However I really don't mind as this was a truly refreshing drama :D
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I have watched several Korean shows enough to know a good drama from a bad one, and this my friends maybe the most unique drama due to the actors performance.
I have been transported and emotionally indulged in the second episode that it felt like i was the one playing the piano and taking all the music in rather than just watching it, that outstanding performance the delivery of the emotions is just WOW!!
Yoo ah in is the perfect choice and I cant imagine an actor in his place because this role was written for him and only him!
I will continue watching this and maybe update the review as well as the rating by the end of the show, so far I am forcing myself not to watch it all at ones but to take it 1 or 2 episodes at a time so that I would enjoy every bits and pieces of it and absorb the brilliance of each episode.
UPDATE:
I finished this drama in awe in how perfect everything fell into place, i liked the ending very much and i liked how true love can change a person to be better, and that is all what matters being better. And the fact that money and power dont matter but a peace of mind and a place or someone to call home.
and God that music? its breath taking, how it magnifies the emotions of each scene and makes it memorable is all i can say!! Lee Nam Yun did a wonderful job in composing it (Four hands) is my fav of it.
I highly recommend this drama.
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interesting situations. The whole drama was a bit like a manga, but
fortunately not as much as others, with only the girl acting a bit over
the top from time to time. However, she was cute and lovable, plus her
acting was really good. There were some funny moments, and the love
story was okay, especially at the beginning. The drama kind of had a
downfall towards the ending, with the love story getting a bit boring
and the events being idiotic at some point. Though, at that time, the
love triangle grew stronger and it was interesting to watch that at
least. Overall, 7 out of 10.
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The costumes and actors and cinematography are all really good looking. This is a very pretty drama to watch. There is some political intrigue and a little bit of adventure, but the main focus in this drama is the emotional tension and love story between the heroine and the 2 brothers - one king and the other grand prince. It's developed very well. It really hits all the right notes to make it a very satisfying watch for romance lovers. If you enjoy romantic sageuks like Empress Ki or Scarlett Heart: Moon Lovers, you'd probably really like this as well. Compared to those dramas, I felt this one was more pleasant, less emotionally wrenching and more satisfying overall.
The pacing was mostly good, but I think the setup was a little slow. Once the story is underway when the adult actors take over it goes pretty fast. The actors all do a great job - particularly the 3 main leads. There is a lot of praise for Lee Dong Gun as the king. He's an intriguing villain. But I think the main couple played by Park Min Young and Yeon Woo Jin are lovely together. It's a juicy love triangle. And I love that the main couple are given a decent amount of happy romantic screen time together. Even though there are plenty of tragic obstacles for them, at least their faith in each other doesn't get annoyingly dragged down by misunderstandings or false accusations. It is really touching their love survived all the violence and political struggle of that time. I had my mouth agape and tears streaming down my face during the perfect final episode.
The criticism I have for this drama is that it is peppered throughout with actions that the characters take or plot details that make you think "WHAT?!" or "WHY?!" and make you feel a little frustrated. Certain things seemed that they didn't have to happen that way and just happened for dramatic effect (especially towards the end) or came out of nowhere. But then later I read that most of those things or some version of those things really did happen in real life. So I think I would rate this higher if more attention was given to certain aspects of the story or the politics so I could appreciate what motivated certain characters or events better.
But still, this didn't stop me from really enjoying this drama. Historical dramas - particularly tragedies -tend to let me down big time somewhere along the line, but this is one of the more satisfying and touching ones that I've watched and highly recommend it.
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I actually like the drama. Ivy Shao and Chris Wu chemistry are not too bad. But I still prefer Ivy Shao and Marcus Chang in Back To 1989 (to you guys who never watch this, please, watch it NOW). The beginning started off nicely, and how I love love LOVE Xiao Bin so much. He was like the LIGHT of this drama. He's funny, cute, and the fact he's so loyal, LOVED HIM!
For Chris Wu fans, I think despite the draggy story, you can watch this for his passionate kiss (damn that kiss tho), his sincere smile, his funny and cute act. And the fact Ivy Shao is so pretty and charming as usual.
I also love the fact that the villain in this drama is not very annoying. All of their acts turned out is for someone's sake or someone's good make it all of their actions are very reasonable.
Overall, to me, they should've just stayed at their cooking theme instead of moving into rich people stuff that to me is soooo cliche. Do I still recommend you to watch it? Yes. Despite the draggy story and cliches, if you love Chris Wu or Ivy Shao, you'll definitely give this a try. This drama also gave me lots of butterflies, and some tears too, and the fact it's so funny and so entertaining. So, if you need a light funny and cute drama then maybe this is yours.
Will I rewatch this? Maybe I'll watch the first part. I surely very love the first part of the story where the couple first met and how they interact with each other, lovable!
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When I watch this drama I found it so interesting. The cast was so good! But I'm sick of watching the lead female acting. Sometimes it cute and lovely to watch, but sometimes her acting makes me sick >< But overall I love this remake.
Some part of the scene is so lovely and can make you laugh hard!
Recommended to watch! ^_^
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I like the overdramatize S story and style.
I still can't bring my self to watch the last episode.
So I am rating this without it.
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Story is very interesting. This drama is more of a strategic war movie. What made me really enjoy this drama is that they actually focus well on fighting scenes thoroughly. You don't see a lot of that anymore. Most chick-flick Chinese dramas do not contain good, legitimate fighting scenes, so that really surprised me and I praise that. For example, most Chinese chick-flicks would just do some fighting scenes they would make up without a martial arts professional like just swinging swords left and right, but this one looks like they got some professional martial arts people to come through to train them and make it look very legitimate. So props for that! The story seems to move very slow and the progress just seems like it just gets worse and worse on.
Note: I don't think this drama contains a lot of romance... I've heard many people who seek romance watched halfway have dropped the drama due to that. So there are many frustrations on that.
ACTING/CAST: The actors have done extremely well in this drama, they've done a good job picking the right people for the roles. Here are my thoughts on some of the main leads.
Wow... Zhao Liying is something. I've seen many of her dramas before and thought she was okay, but in this one I'm gonna have to applaud her. I've watched Legend of Lu Zhen and she plays a smart woman in there as well, but this one is on a whole 'nother level. She plays very well as a "person whose gone through a lot"; in this drama you can see it in her eyes as if it is real, so I am very impressed by her.
Lin Geng Xin... I did not think he was attractive at all until near the middle of this drama because I grew to fall in love with the character he plays. I have not seen his other work before, but I think he did a good job portraying a smart, calm loving man to make me fall in love with him.
Dou Shawn... IS SOOO HOT. I really enjoy watching every second of him in this drama. This is the second drama I've ever seen of him. He does a good job as well, I am impressed how he is able to showcase his skills as his character "grows up."
Wang Yan Lin... Omg... I have never seen this guy before until this drama... But LORDY, LORD... I think this guy does the best job ever as a villain... I am so impressed by his acting skills... Truly talented... It's as if he is a natural... And his evil smirk and eyebrow game is the thing that gets me wowed, lmao!
MUSIC: The music is nice... There is a piano song that plays in the background that I am really obsessed with, is no where to be found on the internet but the drama itself... Not even on the soundtrack, what the hell... It only comes out with there is an emotional scene... So if anyone knows what that song is, please comment below or message it to me! I would reallllly love to have it.... I have a lap harp so sometimes I would reminisce about that lovely song and play it... T___T
REWATCH VALUE: I would probably watch it once every 5+ years or so (or maybe even never, maybe for this drama, once is enough). I just feel that this drama is just not enough for me to yearn and obsess over.
OVERALL: Though I enjoyed many of the episodes, this drama didn't sweep me off my feet. I would not recommend to my family and friends at all.
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I definately became attatched to the main characters, It's really hard to describe how I feel about it without giving away the story away.
The music was okay... I mean I don't really concentrate on the music, I'm just trying my hardest that I don't miss anything they say in the subtitles.
I've already rewatched this again and again, so... it's a 10/10 from me!
Overall I really enjoyed this movie, and I would definately reccomend it if anyone has 2 hours to spare!
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