Plot: This was a slow pace from episode 1-10. But please don't stop. It just built the story for the cast and after episode 10 it will be a good drama. It gave the feeling the hardship of being in the war and no one is exception for this.
Characters: Not gonna lie at first I started to watch it because of Wallace huo but at the end you will love all the characters. My favorite characters are:
1. Xue Jun Shan- This guy was an epitome of a good pillar of the house. At first you will be annoyed to him but in the end I've became a fan of him so much. I cried. A very kind and caring brother-in-law. A funny guy, a loving husband, a good friend. So I got teared up while writing this one..
2. Gu Qing Ming- A very honest and dedicated military officer indeed. I must say he surpass his acting in the love me if you dare. He gave a pure and honest emotion. My favorite scene is when he interacts with Jun Shan. They really look like brothers...
3. XiangXiang- At first I was really annoyed to xiangxiang but she really matured in the middle of the story. The fiesty xiangxiang was so perfect to arrogant but kind Gu Qing Ming..
Some of the characters that I like is the assistant of Gu qing ming and Jun Shan they are very loyal. I love also the major general of quing ming.
Overall this will be one of my favorite and it open my heart to try different genre. I will definitely watch it again. Thank You Battle of Changsha
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I have to say, poster/stills wise, the cast didn't look impressive (besides Yangmi that is) so I pretty much had no expectations. Boy was I pleasantly surprised by the end of it.
To be fair, the first few episodes was pretty bland. Definitely needed though, to set up the characters. I recall thinking, this God Moyuan is really easy on the eyes, with his facial hair and all. And that was pretty much it.
Things really picked up when Yehua came into the picture - from the snake/dragon troupe, to him for the first time in his life receiving unconditional affection from another, to him trying to woo the girl as repayment, to him falling in love etc. it was all so innocent and pure... which was all a set up for the incoming storm of angst, pain and tragedy that was coming for our two main leads. I'm not a person who backs away from angst ... I feel that the story is much more complex, worthwhile and a better investment when done right, and I feel this drama was the exact definition of that. Sure, it was painful, but at the same time, I was able to appreciate the acting scope of the actors, and in particular, Mark Chao (I could write a whole essay about how thoroughly impressed I was by him). One of the key moments in this drama, where he is forced to do something so terribly wrong to Susu, was probably the same moment when I realised that this guy isn't the stereotypical chinese male lead (sorry, but not many chinese actors cut it for me - they just do the pretty well ...). He is a true actor with huge emotional range. This was truly confirmed by the iconic bts of the same scene - where it showed him being so affected by the scene that he kept crying after "cut" was called out. From there on, it was the "Yehua show" for me. The guy has a knack for showing various emotions and I still don't know how he does it. Not to mention that as the drama goes on, he became even more and more good to look at. I seriously question myself every moment because I initially was like.. meh ... There was fire whenever he stared into Baiqian's eyes!
Mark also plays Moyuan (if you hadn't noticed haha) and he wonderfully made him so distinct that I never thought that they were the same person. Ever. Seeing some of the little moments from the bts clips makes me appreciate it even more as it seems Mark worked especially hard to maintain this - his thorough discussions with the director about the characterisation of his characters during key moments really impressed me.
Kudos to the rest of the cast as well. Yangmi did a wonderful job in my opinion. I loved her as the haughty Baiqian too. And little riceball A-li. His scenes with Yehua were the epitome of fluffiness.
The romance in this series was of another level. Watched a lot of c-dramas and was never this impressed. Ever. The chemistry was sizzling and the actors really became the characters they played. I cannot even fathom how much pressure is on the movie version of things because the actors here were spot on. A mountain would have to move 10 million miles for anyone to replace Mark as Yehua in my eyes. It's just impossible.
All in all, reincarnations, love across three lives, stellar performances; everything that I love in one drama. A definite re-watch (not that I haven't been watching) and still experiencing major withdrawals even after two weeks. Highly recommended!
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I've watched the Korean and Japanese versions (both seasons) completely, attempted to watch the Thai and first Taiwanese version (gave up because of the lack of HD videos) and was extremely dissatisfied with the ending EVERY SINGLE TIME. After watching this, I realise that I should've just skipped it and not wasted my time.
After every version of the show, I always got this very, very strong feeling that the main girl (Ha Ni/ Kotoko/Yue Qin/whatever) ended up with the wrong guy. Anybody who has spent even an iota of their time watching the trailers and clips know what I'm talking about. I mean, WHY would you wait years and years for a guy who doesn't even bother to look your way? Even the most dedicated of girls would shrug and give up after a year of non response.
Yes, the second male lead (in this case, Ah Jin) gets very annoying sometimes, but he's so, well, awesome the rest of the time. He's always there when she needs him, talented and cute, and most importantly, actually gives a crap about her.
The casting was probably the worst I've seen in any adaptation (yes, even worse than the Japanese one). Lee Dino is cute, but NOT in a cold genius sort of way. Most of the time, he just came off as indifferent and uncaring, not cold and mean. Dino's acting range is pretty limited, but he was WAY out of depth here.
The female lead was irritating, more so than ANY of the other versions. I don't even know how that's possible- do they have an award for that? They should. On the plus side, she has one of the best crying faces I've seen; her face gets all red and splotchy, which is much more realistic than the delicate crying most actresses employ.
Overall: Skip, skip, skip. If you can handle the non-HD quality of the first Taiwanese adaption, watch that instead. The Korean one isn't that bad, but beware of the bad acting. The Japanese one is annoying (with, yes, bad acting) but 2 seasons, so a longer story. In short, ANYTHING is better than this.
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Matt Damon stepped up the plate in his first Chinese movie, as an European mercenary in China during the Song dynasty. Damon's only flaw was the American accent, that did not match the job title.
Jing Tian was credible as Commander Lin Mae.
Andy Lau showed his competency in the second language. I was very impressed that the scriptwriter entrusted a lot of English dialog to his character, the military strategist. Andy Lau should have received third billing.
Lu Han did a very good job as the apprentice soldier, whose work experience was in the kitchen.
The monsters looked like relatives of the alien species in the Alien movies.
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Though there are some other dramas that also relate to tomb raiding, Candle in the Tomb is executed best. A solid main cast, good sense of suspense, and an interesting storyline all made this my most enjoyable drama of the recent batch.
Jin Dong and Zhao Da are great as Hu Ba Yi and Fatty. Their acting and interactions made this a great watch, especially with Fatty being a greedy idiot. They also voiced their own characters, which added to their great acting. Joe Chen also does well as Shirley, being a strong and independent female lead, similar to some of her other roles. An Li Man was one of my favorite characters. I love the way he speaks.
The plot always kept me intrigued. A short drama, but it included multiple arcs. The mysteries of each place kept me hooked, and the cinematography, especially in dark places, was superb. I wasn't ever sure if our band of characters were safe. Romance was not prevalent but I do see a budding hint. No cheesy over-the-top romantic scenes like you see in other dramas here.
There are still so many plot points to explore and expand upon. I'm looking forward to seeing the sequels if there will be any.
Only con I think there is would be some of the side characters. Most of them were quite useless and just a liability for our main leads. How on earth were they chosen to go on a treacherous trek through the desert? And the drama just glossed over what exactly happened to them at the end (though I heard this was different from the novel).
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First half of the drama was great. rest is still intriguing yet also kinda draggy. I thoroughly enjoyed the first couple episodes, the last quarter, not too much. Ended up skipping a few bits of the last episodes.
Unpopular opinion: seryeong at times is actually one of the worst female leads ever. She was annoying, insufferable, at many times, especially the second half. Her love for seungyu sometimes didnt feel real at all, enough to the point where I was questioning why the heck she was willing to sacrifice everything for him. I found the beginning of their relationship cute though, when they had no cares about politics, and the whole thing was less melodramatic. I might have found it romantic or sweet if the relationship between the two of them was better executed, but unfortunately just ended up feeling pissed off whenever she acted out. I might feel this way probably because of the part of me that likes rooting for villains...
In my opinion, Prince Suyang's character was very well developed...Despite all the horrible things he did in order to gain power, I never truly hated his character. His story was well crafted and allowed for me to understand why he did the things he did, and his love for his kids really showed...which might be part of the reason I rooted for him.
The ending seemed rushed, especially since the whole conflict between the pro&antagonist was concluded in like 10 minutes. It also didn't explain what happened to the characters (other than the main) afterwards, which was pretty unsatisfying.
Despite how much I disliked some of this drama.... I must admit that everytime I tried to drop it, I would suffer from The princess' man withdrawal syndrome and end up crawling back to finish it lol.
The OST is great, one of the best in a drama for me.The number of flashbacks this drama had was kinda annoying for me.
Overall, decent plot, nice characters, good OST, good acting, rewatch value is low to medium because of the amount of sad scenes...I would probably only rewatch several scenes I enjoyed between the two main leads at the beginning.
ps. watch for Shin myeon aka the best & most dynamic character in the whole show.
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The base story is delightfully silly. It centers on a clumsy young man who has been constantly failing to achieve his big dream of becoming a police officer. After some endless disappointment in every department of his life he decides to take part in an experiment that enhances his senses and abilities. I could say the drama is inspired by the movie Limitless but it is wonderfully embedded in the Korean rom-com recipe resulting in a cute mini-drama.
The main genre of the drama is romance, it revolves completely around the main couple and the idea of destined love. I could argue that the drama had a lot of untapped potential considering its fantasy sub-plot but it’s ok it wanted to focus on other things. Simultaneously I thoroughly enjoyed the dorky comedy and how straightforward and fast the whole drama was. I can definitely say that the drama used the limited time it had in the best way possible to demonstrate a simple but adorable, light-hearted and interesting story.
That being said, my favourite part of the drama was the strong life messages the drama offered. Notions like, “believe in yourself and work hard, your dreams will come true”, “never forget and always appreciate the people who are next to you through thick and thin and never disregard them, they love you for who you real are” as well as “never try to squeeze yourself in somebody else’s life, people who love you will find time for you” come easily to mind after watching this drama. At the same time i appreciated how there was some minor effort to breathe some life into the main characters making them relatable. It was meaningful yet very enjoyable and light.
The acting wasn’t anything spectacular but just right.
I’ve watched Yoo Shi Yoon before but, apparently, he barely left an impression since I didn’t remember him. Obviously, he suits such cute, borderline awkward characters a lot. He really shined in this role, he owned it and made the drama work. Loved watching him.
My first time watching Jo Soo Hyang, she wasn’t memorable really, but she was good enough. Kang Ki Young is just loveable and he deserves some main roles, his comedy skills are the best among young Korean actors, always a delight to watch him act.
Overall the drama, considering its short length, I’d say is recommendable for binge-watching. Simple, funny, cute, short with a story, it is bound to make you smile! Recommended to everyone especially rom-com fans. Nothing extraordinary here, but one doesn’t need anything extraordinary to have fun.
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Why I liked it:
1. The cinematography is LOVE LOVE LOVE. I want to go visit Canada now.
2. The bromance.
3. Grim Reaper's deadpan sense of humor. So my thing.
4. Gong Yoo has never looked hotter. (Okay, that's not quite true. He's ALWAYS hot.)
5. Goblin's pettiness.
6. Sunny's character. I like her lots.
What I disliked about it:
1. TOO. DAMN. LONG. Too many scenes linger on unnecessary beats and they stretch scenes that aren't at all integral to the plot. The premise had so much promise but it wasn't used to its full potential.
2. Kim Go-eun's cutesy act. I like her as an actress and she's fab in the dramatic scenes but she tends to overdo the aegyo. It doesn't help that her character is...confusing. She's supposed to be intelligent and quite mature, and the next she does absolutely imbecilic things. SMH.
3. I didn't quite buy the romance between the millenia-old dokkaebi and his high schooler bride.
4. That ending. I'm ambivalent about it.
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Of course, this movie was more brutal, not lacking the bloodbath scenes, a very common Japanese style horror/thriller movie. It was also very emotional, harsh and even a bit ridiculous sometimes (talking about the plot here) but in the end, it all falls in place. A classic indeed, always worth a re-watch with a group of friends or alone.
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But first the cons:
Foundation of the breakup: To put Yun Jie (Mike He) in the situation about not knowing about his child, the writers basically throw the mom character under the bus and make her entirely unreasonable. It just makes no sense and the viewer will think he's a jerk and she's horrible... I think the viewer has to let it go or it colors your views from there after.
Makjang: This drama was so grounded in how it dealt with so many things that it really didn't need to rely on the cliches, even if it dealt with them better than most dramas. Unfortunately in the last four or so episodes, we see the writers put a few story arcs into the drama that were silly and unfortunate.
The Mom: The main focus of the story is on Yong Yong and Yun Jie as it should be. The drama did bring up issues of single parenting, but in the end I think they missed an opportunity to do better in this area and as already mentioned, used this character to heighten drama in contrived ways.
Secondary Stories: I think they could have done more with the mom and her guy. I have mixed feelings about the brother (Li Yi Feng). Part of the story is his resentment about his brother, his romance with another gal and a very, very late love triangle. As someone who is not a fan of triangles, I'm happy it was half over before going that way but could have done without it.
The Pros:
Tone: Anyone familiar with T-dramas knows how they can be over the top. I found this drama refreshing because even though you think after the first episodes it's going to be another one of those dramas, it really isn't. Every plot point is about these two people getting to know each other, like each other and eventually fall in love. My big issue with a lot of T-Dramas is how often the characters have conversations that mean nothing. In SH, almost every conversation has purpose.
Chemistry: I think Mike He and Janine Chang have a chemistry that works. This is not a steamy, intense romance. This is a get-to-know you romance. You might not think so because of something that happens in episode 1, but it is. I really do not like instalove romances so this really worked for me.
Acting: I was fine with all the actors. I think Mike He is generally a solid but not great actor, but here I think he's done his best work (of what I've seen thus far). His expression when finding out about his son was just spot on. Loved Janine as well.
Family: Early in the drama, her family does something silly, and I worried that the writers would have our gal in a Cinderella type situation....No, it is not like that at all. The family members of both leads are not perfect, but there is no over the top shenanigans. (Well, 2nd sister but who doesn't like her?)
Writing: I appreciate that the characters are not perfect. Yun Jie is one of the best written male characters I've seen in a T-Drama. He is not perfect, and he's not an over bearing jerk stock character. He is a decent guy with flaws who makes mistakes, often realizes it but stays true to himself. I often have trouble getting through T-dramas because they are too long with not enough story. Again the last four or so episodes had some contrived situations pop up, but I completed this drama in around 4 days. I think I appreciate that even when "big" things happen, the reaction is sometimes so grounded. (An example is how they handled her confronting him about the orphanage. You understand where she is coming from, but he is actually very reasonable in what he says as well. The viewer can understand both sides. ) Basically this is a no drama drama. Also, there is comedy but I would not necessarily call this a rom/com.
After all this, I don't really think I'm doing a great job describing it. I think if you are in the mood for a very character driven romance drama, this might fit the bill. (I found it subbed on You Tube). In the end I took a point off for throwing in a silly curveball late in the drama and some noble idiocy. I also took off half a point for the lazy writing in not coming up with a better set up to him not knowing about his child. Overall though, I found this to be one of the better T-Dramas I've seen thus far.
Edit: I almost forgot. I don't really remember an OST because I saw on You Tube so the beginning and ending credits are cut off; however, I actually usually hate the background music (horrible piano music quite often) in T-dramas. The music here was much more muted and was in the background where it needed to be though I did notice it a bit more toward the end of the drama. So my score on the music is about the use of background music not OST, if they even had one.
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Summary: This show is perfectly sweet in every way, the storyline, romance, comedy, filmography--literally everything. I feel like this show is pretty underrated, I will admit I wasn't initially smitten by the casting but I feel like they all took me wonderfully by surprise and am so happy I decided to watch this show. And now that it's over I'm going through the stages of acceptance--currently at...depression.
+/- Plot:
The scriptwriters had a way of leaving you wanting more at the end of the episode; and even though they used all of the KDramaLand cliches I actually didn't mind at all. They had a way of not making it overly dramatic and focused more on the characters' growth and developments which are the fortes of the show. They really tugged at your heartstrings with the hardships of the characters and how they overcame the difficulties together. What I really loved is that the theme of each episode was based on an older song--like Vincent, Be My Baby, The Winner Takes It All...etc. I felt that it was a different concept for a KDrama and felt it very reminiscent of some American dramas, which I really loved. The thing that really stands out in this drama is obviously the romance between the leads; they're both such sweet characters that you can't help falling for the two of them. What I think I loved the most about them is how they took care of each other and believed in one another, even when no one else did. Their romance was very sweet and innocent just like the characters. The only disappointment I had was maybe the conclusion of the show--because everything was so sweet and the writers kind of lead you to the conclusion of them settling down with a family, I really wanted a more concrete proposal at the least. However, I overall really liked how they came full circle with the show and was satisfied and very moved by the ending.
+/- Characters/Acting:
The actors portrayal of their characters are what really made this drama a hit for me.
In my opinion, while I haven't seen many of his other shows, this is by far one of Seo In Guk's best shows. I was so surprised that he fit the character so well and really became Louie. His character is the type that just keeps growing on you because of how sweet he is--even if at times the innocence caused him to be a little ignorant. I think what really made him shine in this character is all the small details he added. Whenever he'd remember something new, he would always cover his mouth like a shocked little kid, or when he'd walk he'd have a cute little waddle with little hand movements--they were the perfect touch to his child-like personality. What got me every time were his screams whenever he was shocked or scared. Everything was "Perfect!", as Louie would say.
Nam Ji Hyun is so heartwarming, even through her hardships she’s a hard and diligent worker and those are the types of characters I like the most. I really felt that she portrayed the country bumkin girl so well; never for a second have I doubted her role. She really played out every emotion to the T; one moment you could see the tears well up in her eyes and she’d turn around and be cold as ice. There were times when I was a little frustrated because she would play up the innocence factor whenever there was a romance scene; I felt that if she was a little less timid then I would have loved the scenes even more. But overall, I was really pleasantly surprised with her acting and character as it is the first time I have seen any of her works.
Yoon Sang Hyun is supposed to be a bit of a critical guy with sweet intentions, but at times I was a bit frustrated with his character. I really like him as an actor and am continually surprised in how many shows he's cast in. However, I don't think that this is his best work--I felt that the character was a bit too stifled and a little forced at time. The thing I disliked the most was the constant throat clearing, which got a little irritating half way through the show. But it became the running joke towards the end, which I admit I kind of liked.
Overall, the characters you are meant to dislike; I found that, while I wasn't fond of them I hardly had any animosity towards them. Im Se Mi played the insincerity decently so I wasn't disappointed by her character. I will say that I was kind of let down by the timidity of the "bad guy", but I think with the conclusion of the show and the unraveling of the backstory it made sense of how he portrayed the character.
+/- Music:
I lovedddd all of the music! As I said earlier each episode was based on an oldie song and loved how they weaved it into the background. As for the soundtrack I loved all of the songs and have been listing to the OST on repeat. Every song is the sound of the dusk of a warm spring evening; lovely and reminiscent. I think they really encompassed the feel of the drama well.
Rewatch Value:
Because of the sweetness of the characters and the romance between the leads I'd definitely watch this show again. I think that everything from the soundtrack to the editing and filmography was wonderful and would continue to make this really enjoyable. My two favorite shots of the show would have to be their trip to the beach and to Busan as I thought they were beautiful shots of the scenery as well as their budding romance. Overall, this show was spectacularly made and I really enjoyed it and will be back again in the future to revisit Louie and Bok Sil's romance.
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