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I can't believe I happily sat through 50 episodes of this drama, it made me fall even more in love with Korean Sageuk/historical dramas.
OST
First and foremost, that OST!! I have never, I repeated NEVER bothered to download a Drama's soundtrack just because I enjoyed it while it played during the drama. But with this soundtrack, it made me search every corner of the internet universe just to get every version of every song, even the instrumental/acoustic tracks.
The OST blew me away and is like nothing I have ever heard, it almost became a character of its own throughout this drama.
Cast
The cast has acting skills to write home about. Everyone from the leads, to the supporting and the extras who played their part by really adding to the historical element of this drama whether they ere crying or dancing in the streets through the roller coaster of events. The male leads are striking both in looks and performances. Although many have been criticising the female lead for her single-expression performance, I thought she did a good job of just performing a headstrong no-nonsense character?
Writing/Story
The heroes of this show are the writers!! From the witty one-liners to the captivating monologues delivered by the cast, the writing will totally impress you. The writers especially did a good job of great character development throughout all 50 episodes. The same leads that you meet in episode one change and mature and develop in the most realistic but surprising way.
All in all this drama gets 10's all round, I can find nothing wrong with it. If you're not used to watching 50-episode dramas, no worries! You wont even notice the time go with this drama, before you know it, you're at episode 50 and balling your eyes out over how amazing it was and the withdrawal symptoms will immediately set in LOL ;)
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The lead actress is excellent, and the best part of the drama was seeing her and the the supporting characters develop. It shows how people make life-threatening mistakes and how this affects others. To see the characters grow from strength to strength was the most satisfying thing for me. Such a roller-coaster of emotions!
The dry humour was excellent during the times of the lead females creepy and robotic moments.
I recommend this drama to anyone looking for a change to the usual cliche sappy romance that you would find with Kdramas. Happy watching!
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So yes, not super fast-paced but definitely enjoyable. Becuase of this drama, I have opened myself to other Taiwanese dramas such as 'Two Father's' which is a 2013 drama that I have just fallen in love with!
Anyway Aaron Yan in this Refresh Man drama is absolutely breathtaking both in looks and performance. The female lead is fun to watch because of her perseverance and the supporting characters do their job quite well, bringing out important themes of friendship, truly caring for those who work around you and also loyalty in and out of the work-place. The OST is just so fun and cheerful, I almost want to learn mandarin just so I can sing that damn song everyday!
Overall, very good drama with just enough romance and life lessons to keep you watching. However, because of the slow-pace, it has very poor rewatch value. All in all, the best thing about this drama is the continuous message about never and not giving up!
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Story:
On the one hand, the story is refreshingly new: We start out with the girl who would be the antagonist in every other show we watch. She's rich, she's spoiled, she's thoughtless and sometimes rude, she kind of believes she's entitled to other people's attention. The good, poor, sweet girl who would usually be our protagonist is actually the girl our protagonist is up against. It's a fun twist, mostly because although she's a spoiled princess, the female lead is very lovable. You'll see her good points quickly, and come to love her for them (at least I did).
On the other hand the story is chock-full of clichés, which for some reason doesn't make it any less refreshing. You have all the typical tropes you expect, all the accidental skinship, misunderstandings and twists. But, partly because Xing Chen is very straightforward, they sometimes take unexpected twists.
If you want cute, lovable characters, a fun storyline and occasionally slapstick humor, you won't be disappointed. The interaction between the lead couple is incredibly cute, they are so adorable. But please also be prepared for seemingly random interactions (you know those moments when people in dramas stumble and fall into positions where you think "how on earth did that happen??" – yeah, those kind of things). Small elements of the plot are dropped, and there's very little consequences to people's actions, especially short term.
The whole story is sparkly, cute and bubbly, and it is (as you might have guessed from the title) very fairytale. But it is enjoyable. If you're looking for a romantic comedy that's lighthearted and keeps you entertained, I think this might be it. Also it's rather fast-paced. There are hardly any scenes where you might be tempted to skip through, because almost all of them are relevant to the character's relationships or their feelings. Very little "scheming old men/evil mom" scenes, if you know what I mean. It's just unapologetic fluff from beginning to end, with a healthy dose of drama and obstacles thrown into the characters' way, but never so much that you start getting bored of the hurt.
Acting/Cast:
Nothing out of the ordinary. If you know Chinese drama, you know to expect fairly horrible dubbing in places. Funnily enough, Mike's works the best out of all the leads somehow. It didn't bother me at all for some reason (too caught up in the cuteness), but the dubbing is there. However, considering the sometimes outrageously far-fetched scenes (especially the falling scenes) and the cheesiness, I think the actors did rather well. (Also, they're all of them very good looking. I especially fell in love with Xing Chen and Yang Yang, they're incredibly pretty! Seriously, you could watch this show just for the eye-candy alone).
Music:
I rated this rather highly because, although you only have one memorable song that's repeated through the whole drama, it's a very catchy song. I know, that should maybe be a point deduction for some, but as I'm writing it the song is still stuck in my head. And although the English grammar isn't really right at all, it's still really sweet and I somehow love it.
Rewatch Value:
I might just rewatch this, I just loved the cuteness and Xing Chen. I'd just rewatch it for all her scenes.
Overall:
It's a little gem in the cheesy rom com category. I haven't watched this kind of drama since I first started watching drama years ago, but it's so beautifully clichéd, hilariously cute, I just couldn't stop watching. I'd definitely recommend it, but you should know that you're not getting into a drama that you should take seriously here.
BUT:
A word of warning, especially for the musicians among us: Even to me, who hasn't touched about 90% of the instruments featured in this drama, it was obvious that the songs they were "playing" didn't fit their movements at all. It is so blatant that it might be off-putting for some. Also, as emotionally satisfying as the last episode is, it is so extremely ridiculous in places that I laughed out loud.
At the time when I'm writing this there are subbed episodes available on multiple sites. But episode 3 wasn't subbed completely, with about 40% of it missing, and the subs in the following episodes were sometimes VERY grammatically wonky. Once or twice for a few minutes the music went out of control or the subs would stop for one or two sentences. I was so devoted to this show that I didn't even mind, but it should be mentioned.
I hope I didn't put you off it, because it's truly very sweet and I do not regret any second I spent on it :)
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The series is great with a really well written story be Bittersweet with it's "typical" kind of plot line, but interesting setups. What makes the series stand out is that the two actors portraying Kongpope and Arthit are really immerse into their roles that it makes the acting seem natural and flowing. If you were to compare with Lovesick and MIR (although I don't like to compare them), the acting seems more natural, but maybe that's because of the age difference between the leads of Sotus to the leads of Lovesick and MIR.
For being relatively new actors, Krist and Singto were very talented and as I stated above; acted very natural. All the other actors were great too.
I didn't really get pulled in by any of the music in the series, but overall the selection of songs in the series were not bad. They just didn't appeal that great to me.
There were some awkward scenes where things just "stood still" for a minute or 2 and you didn't really know what was happening, but other than that the series was great!
Definitely a must watch/re-watch! And I hope for a season 2 like the rest of the Sotus fans!
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That being said this is one of the best dramas i've ever watched because of the perfect, symbolic and realistic characters as well as the quite fast paced and pragmatic plot. The premise is simple and is set around a woman who is in love with a married men and does everything in her power to get him. The drama focuses more on the 2 main female characters, the wife and the mistress, while the husband takes the 2nd wheel of this ill-fated love triangle.
Interestingly, it is a lot different than other similar themed adultery kdramas. Usually we get a sad backstory that tries to excuse and partly maybe even justify the actions of the adulterer. Here the story is a lot more brutal, there is no melodramatic backstory to drive any of the character, thus the drama is completely character-driven; while it does a splendid job delving into the mind of each and everyone of them.
What the drama wants to do is not glorify cheating or excuse the adulterers or even punish them or push viewers into a forgiving mentality towards them. On the contrary, i would stay, it stays neutral to all of that, it depends on the viewer's viewpoint whether to understand, hate, like or dislike the characters, and it depicts solely the repercussions of infidelity in the most cruel way possible.
Starting from the couple itself, how years and years of (superficial -obviously) happiness fall apart, questions, doubts about what went wrong, efforts to save something that has already died, screaming, violence, paranoia is just the beginning. Having kids in this situation will only worsen the process making it even more heartbreaking. Children hating their parents, accusing themselves for their broken family, not knowing how to react or deal with it. Continuing to the extented family that are just ready to jump in, judge and make everything worse (whether they want to help or not). What's more, it widens its spectrum to social everyday life and work place, showing that people are ready to judge hate and ridicule the situation and everyone involved.
Furthermore, we get a very good insight on what adultery means in the korean society. The drama is 10 years old, so i'm guessing (and hoping) there's a sea change in this department but i liked how the writer sneakily promoted the idea of equity when it comes to adultery. If, in a society in which cheating men are considered normal, then so should women. Hate one-hate both or accept both. But also loved how it showed that no matter how strong the bond between the mistress and the husband is, there will always be situations that will prove that the marital bond is just too strong to be broken that easily thus "love is not enough" the feeling that kept coming back throughout the drama.
Money of course wouldn't be possible to not have a prominent role in such a gritty drama. It shocked me how everything always revolved and apparently always will revolve around money. "Stay with him and accept his cheating and make him your personal atm machine for revenge", "If you stay with her, i'll disown you and you won't get any of the inheritance", "Quick get pregnant so you can demand some of the inheritance". Life is supposed to be about happiness, an affair happens because something in a marriage isn't working, bringing money to the topic just made the whole thing even more disgusting but that much more real too.
The drama is entirely character driven, hence it will be unappealing for most viewers. There is no backstory no shocking revealings nothing, just people meddling with adultery and the implications. The drama was ultimately a never ending fight between the characters -which woman will win- and a self-hating game of each character alone.
At this point i'd like to talk about the character since they were so significant. Each character represented something, fought for it until the end or let it consumed and eat him alive to his destruction. In the very end everything does happen in vain something that makes everything even more tragic and sad.
Hwa Young was the mistress, and she represented Greed. A sad person that was used by her family and decided that she'll do whatever it takes to be happy thinking nobody but herself for the first time in her life. However, for that one person she'd choose, she'll give her all, and she had nothing but her ego. She shreded that ego like it was nothing, she increasingly settled thinking this is what she wants and that she'll eventually be happy, but happiness comes from within. A greedy person who wanted someone else, someone empty, to give her everything and in return she'll give all of herself too. But it was not that simple. I appreciated her persisting personality, i appreciated her character up to a certain point, but everything in her life comes with a price. She was ready to change for 1 person, but she picked poorly, now she's gotta live with that. What she needed wasn't someone else to love her so she'll feel complete but she needed to love herself first in order to be complete.
Joon Pyo was the husband, and he represented Selfishness. A tad similar with the mistress at first glance but no. They were probably absolute opposites by the end. A person who loved deeply, but -plot twist- loved himself more than anything else, and he barely even realised it ever. 24 episodes and he couldn't make a simple choice, he many times felt like a tennis ball just being thrown here and there with no mind and will of its own. A complacent person, wanting it all till the end. But can you really hate and judge a person who is just too empty to even realise what is going on around him? Selfish people are usually selfish because they are empty.
Ji-Soo was a bit more difficult being the wife. One would expect she would be the easiest person to like and root for. Yet it took me several episodes to even bear her face. She represented those people-pleasers. Growing up as a cater for others, she barely even created a personality of her own. Being the pushover of her sister she never shaped a whole identity and all that came to bite her in the worst way possible. Such people need the personal time to get to know themselves first and cater for themselves before going on to form relationships.
All the characters were increadibly well-thought-out and well-written. I have to admit that i severely disliked them in the first half when there are barely any logical decisions made. I loved how there are shy, small steps made by all of them in terms of character development in the 2nd half, goes to show what dramatic situations do to all of us. And i was thoroughly shocked by how close i felt to all of them by the end. I wanted this to be over since episode 4, and by episode 24 i couldn't let them go.
In the very end i wouldn't call what happened "character development", real people don't change, they adjust. This is what happened here, the characters tried to adjust and i couldn't help but appreciate their authenticity and the marvelous writing. In the very end, it was nothing but themselves that kept them from happiness, the happiness they had been chasing since moment 1.
Lastly i'd like to mention the amazing deep messages we got about decisions and consequenses of our actions in this drama. In a very honest and rough way, situations like marriage decision, significant other choice, having kids, forgiving your spouce, your kid, your parent, life choices in general and a whole lot more were targeted and talked in a subtle but meaningful way.
The drama was full of symbols; beautiful but so so so difficult to watch.
The acting was luscious and spectacular by more or less the full cast. However, the real memorable acting here was by Kim Hee Ae who gave the performance of her life in every way. She was memorable, she conveyed the feelings and concerns of such a troubled, totally hateful character in the best way possible. I hated, i disapproved, i understood, i felt sorry, i rooted, i cheered, i felt sad, i cried. In episode 4 i would have never thought she would have made such a turn on me. Kim Hee Ae studied this character and made it hers.
Kim Sang Joon was brilliant too, i especially enjoyed his angry scenes, he was always rather quiet and remorseful, and his puppy eyes were on spot. Yet, he conveyed the mindset of his twisted character perfectly, acting like a victim when he was the sinner and really believing it. A wonderful ill-hated chemistry with Kim Hee Ae that basically made this drama work.
Bae Jong Ok was amazing as a person-pleaser, i have to admit during some conversations it felt like she was just uttering lives, i especially liked her paranoia scenes, she was shivering. I think there could have been better choices for this role, but she was not bad in any case.
I have to mention especially Ha Yoo Mi from the supporting cast, because she was flawless in her incredibly hateful and crazy sister role, hopefully i will never see her again lol.
Would i ever recommend this to anyone? No. Is this one of the best dramas i've ever watched? Yes. Confused much? XD
Problem here is, there is a very small amount of viewers that would enjoy this. Adultery is my favourite kdrama concept and out of all the dramas i've watched this was the most difficult one. There is no real comedy, there is no likeable or relateable character, you need to work hard to understand them. The episodes are big and in the very end you'll end up depressed plus this is a 10 year old drama. If you like the concept of adultery, you are mature enough to watch without judging too much (and it will be hard in this one) and you like serious, depressing dramas, give this a chance. I want to rewatch this in 10 or 20 years time, because i can feel there are a ton of things that i missed because of my age mostly and because i lack the expreriences this drama dealed with, but it won't anytime soon, this was difficult to get through just once.
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The Good:
Its hard to find good, clear, interesting, recent lakhorn fully English subbed so when I find one I get super excited. I like watching the different life styles in Thailand and this drama showed a full range of social classes. Not just rich or poor, but in between too. There were a lot of storylines going and I liked that the writers weren’t afraid to make fun of how ridiculous some of the storylines were. There were parts where characters said “that would only happen in a lakhorn” lol. The story lines were interesting but still “lakhorn crazy” and made sense to the character development. Unlike the other lakhorns that I have seen there were subtle twists and turns to the plot which made it more interesting than the typical lakorn, with the typical lakhorn story. The majority of actors did a pretty good job of acting and some of them were almost believable. There were so many women in this drama but the “evil girlfriend/wife/mother/step mother” thing wasn’t really present. The last thing I loved was the hair styling…tons of baby hair!
The bad:
I never understood why the women on set with the MOST annoying voice is ALWAYS the female lead. UUGGGHH (we are watching a lakhorn so its really par for the course). This one used a lot of violence (I was super surprised). I felt uncomfortable with the ease men literally slapped the taste out of women, the violence against them was really disheartening. The clothing and style was epic hit or miss, the gay characters were essentially “props” and there were a couple of repeated and reused story plots which annoyed me.
The verdict: In judging lakhorns you have to remember many things are different than in your typical K Dramas/J Doramas/C Dramas or even Taiwanese Dramas. Understanding that there will be a bunch of evil women characters, scheming men characters, and annoying lead females sometimes will help you get through the times you want to pull your hair out. I felt this was a really good lakhorn because I wanted to see who was going to win, who was going to end up together and what happens to the fun gay bff?! The ending didn’t disappoint and there was a variety of storylines going to keep me interested- needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed it and marathoned it! If you are into lakhorns, like lots of drama and suspense with your romance and don’t mind seeing guns- I would suggest this to you. If you are new to lakhorns, cant stand violence against women, only like seeing strong female leads sit this one out.
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Tabe did a fantastic job as "Setsuko"/Katsu. Sometimes you would cry with her, other times laugh at her and even be angry with her. PLUS: her character had a great sense of fashion, I want to buy all of her clothes, haha.
The musics were amazing, as expected. I liked especially the last one (loved the lyrics). The OST will be a must on my ipod.
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Theres a huge overdramatic buildup with over the top bad things just happening to her/them over and over again. And then there is no resolution. To the plot, to their love story, to the love triangle, to the other characters. Well there is one but its so makeshift, I'm not even sure there was a point. Literally one of f4 doesn't even have a plot, but they try and give him one but never carry through with it. The resolutions to all the characters except for LMH's were all bad like I don't have a feeling of finished. They tried to resolve everything in 20 minutes, but no thqat doesn't work especially when you defy the reality of time.
The acting is eh. The story was cute until like half way through, and it just got irritating.
Nevertheless, it was incredibly addicting to watch, but I was actually torn apart. I hold so much hate for this show.
It was my first drama, and actually the worst I've ever seen.
Would Not recommend purely because of the anguish that it will give while watching and after its over.
I suggest you save up a drama you'll know will be really good to watch right after if you do watch this.
also I suggest watching The Heirs. It's the better slightly less overdramatic version of this that still has Lee Min Ho in it.
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Also the romance wasn't really good, there were no good reasons given for the he both to fall in love so quickly + the hint to a happy end is very unfitting. How can they meet again? Why not explain it?
Well but the horror special effects were really creepy/digusting
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Boring drama, bad plot
I watched every episode until #20, but the erratic mood swings of Wei Wei and Yi Du, made me feel restless and listless. I switched to watching every five episodes until I reached the end of the line.Story:
A love story/amnesia/revenge plot! Too much, too little, too boring! Wei Wei acted like a childish teenager, as she kept pursuing Yi Du, even though he treated her shabbily. Yi Du was so trusting of his friend, who was his mortal enemy, yet he distrusted Wei Wei frequently, that I wanted to slap his head. Mo Fan pursued a distorted revenge plot. Huao Xiao, Wei Wei's best friend, became needy and manipulative.
Acting/Cast
The cast did a good acting job with the bad script. Joe Chen and Wang Kai looked very attractive as Wei Wei and Yi Du respectively, but their characters were not endearing. Zhang Duo is handsome as the snake friend, Mo Fan. Derek Chang was my favorite cast member. His character, Leo, seemed the most rational, although he chased Tiffany like a puppy.
Music:
Music outpaced the drama.
Overall score:
At best, this drama should have been 24 episodes long. The plot would not have been so burdensome to the viewers and the actors.
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