Reviews

A must for historical drama fans (and romance fans)

I have to begin this review with the fact that, in general, I do enjoy watching historical kdramas so I feel rather strongly about how much I loved this drama. I watched part 1 and 2 consecutively (in an effort to avoid writing my thesis paper lol) so this review will be based on both parts.

First and foremost, the acting in this drama is an absolute 10/10. Every character was portrayed so masterfully by their actors. I also think this goes hand in hand with the writing of the drama. The writing was well done, in my humble opinion, and all the character's actions felt true to their character. And each main character had a beautiful storyline and arc and this includes the characters that were not my faves, which I think speaks to the writing being done well. I particularly feel that the female lead's character development was done incredibly well. Also, I am a sucker for well done romantic dialogue and there were some lines that just pierced my heart so deeply. For the sake of not spoiling anything, I won't write any out. But the chemistry between the leads?! 10/10, no words.

The strong female characters were... chef's kiss. Their perseverance, resilience, and sisterhood was one of my favorite parts. Yes, this drama centers romance but it does such a good job in highlighting how amazing women are especially during such difficult times and harsh conditions. When it comes to the romance, there is a lot of push and pull and I can see how people might find this annoying or boring, but I actually didn't mind it in this story and actually felt it fitting. The other parts of the story, like the political turmoil and how it affected people, were also done well because it really makes you become invested in what is going on and how people are being affected.

There were some amazingly beautiful shots in this drama. I had to pause occasionally to take it all in. Hats off to the cinematographers. To wrap this up, if you enjoy historical dramas I think you should definitely give this a chance. If you enjoy romance that is felt so strongly through the screen because of great chemistry, give this a chance.

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Wonderland Power Couple

Finally a good series for XK. I've watched two misses he was in and knew if only the story was good enough, he could have a better shot at winning. Though far from perfect, the story did carry itself and our leads had wonderful chemistry hence I dubbed them the Wonderland Power Couple.

Pros: I think XK is one of those actors that can have chemistry with a pet rock. Not to take away from JT as she nailed her character as well. But XK has the ability to go from deadly to smoldering gaze in a heartbeat. Their love story was epic because it began from competitors to confidants to lovers and the transitions were nice. I also loved their sidekicks Taozi, Ear, PY, the brothers in arms, her dad, Consort Xiao, the kid, general Han (another immortal that got sent off a cliff harpooned but reappeared to save the day) and even LYN with his guest magician appearance.

The only real villain was Sun Jiang; once his arc ended it was only dumb villains. The ending was overly dramatic but nicely done. I love all of the fight scenes. Fight scenes for me, make a show extra special and this one had plenty. The ultimate "big bad" was nothing to cry home about. But what was done extremely well were the deaths of ML's brothers in arms; that was prolonged agony on the audience as well as the FL's fake death as both sets took at least two episodes. Those two moments in the drama broke your heart and made you cry but they were done exceptionally well and made for the ending that much sweeter. Sets, costumes, and a few OSTs were memorable.

Cons: The father and brothers were dumb villains as well as Ms. Gu and batshit crazy LCF. I ffw'd them as much as possible. I also didn't like how the FL threw tantrums and blamed ML for shit that wasn't his fault even when he came up with solutions to help matters. It made her seem like a child. She and her father pushed him to be CP; but she still wanted to marry him, keep the Cui army from disbanding, etc, as they were knowing full well what the dumb as nails king was like. Even in the second to last episode before her miraculous revival, the king was willing to believe the corrupt minister over his own son that had been instrumental in every war and strategy success for the kingdom. It hurt my head watching that stupidity.

This series would have been much better if it was only 25 or 30 episodes long, where you didn't have to deal with the stupidity of the useless loser villains that just made a mess of virtually everything. ML could be CP and marry FL and not have the rest of that garbage happen. It's like logic fell apart after the real villain was killed. Even father and son reconciling felt off because father was a hot mess. I spent a lot of time ffwing and just watching for the leads and the good guys.

Would I recommend? Despite the second later half being a mess; the leads and most of their friends pulled off a very watchable series. I hope XK gets even better scripts in the future as do the others.

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Perfect Youth/Family Kdrama with lots of story to tell

Not only have I binge-watched all 16 episodes in two days, but I also cried my eyes and laughed my heart out. Though it is true, that this drama does contain some minor plotholes and a few questions at the end, I think its strength definitely lies in its heart and story it's trying to tell. Honestly, I think that for a "heartful" and "youthful" drama it did an excellent job at finishing it up and there were way more connections than I expected. It's the kind of drama you want to experience once again right after you finish. It tells a story about family, friends, life's hardships, and most importantly in my opinion: Gratitude.

I loved seeing Eun Gyeol and Lee Chan chemistry, especially how Eun Gyeol kind of took on the "father"-role when he traveled back to 1995. Not only that, but the whole friendship with Ma Joo and the other band members was really heartwarming (especially after we come back to 2023 and they were still friends omg).
Some might say they had problems with the pacing, but I actually enjoyed how some things unfolded in the latter half (for example Cheon Ah's plot with her family). I was worried about the story, because at some point it seemed very messy, because no matter what nothing seemed to be working out, but somehow it did and it was satisfying enough for me at least.
Honestly, even though Lee Chan lost his hearing in the end, the story ended a lot more positively than I thought it would. The fact that Eun Gyeol's whole childhood and family situation changed, I wasn't expecting that kind of ending. But I appreciate it a lot, that they ended the story on such a bright note (even though I wished it ended with his family and friends and not with a kiss with Eun Yu).
So, about her! I wasn't really expecting another time traveler, that was cool imo (I haven't watched many time travel dramas, and those that I watched never included more than one time traveler). I kind of wished they had found out about each other a bit earlier though, and was I the only one that thought, that their romantic chemistry dropped a lot after they found out? Like, the chemistry was great before, but it just suddenly stagnated and they seemed more like friends after they found out (which was weird, but I thought they'd be happy, since it meant they'd be together in 2023 as well).

Other than that, I loved Cheon Ah and Lee Chan's love story (too freaking cute) and Lee Chan's grandmother! They also did a great job of highlighting the disabled part of the story and raising awareness.

All in all, I loved it so much! It made me reminisce about the youth that I never had (I feel like in asian schools it's totally different). It was cute, heartwarming, sad and fulfilling! A perfect youth kdrama that I'd recommend to everyone! I swear, you won't regret it!

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Meeting your match

Wonderland of Love (WoL) is a surprising enjoyable ride, following the love story of Li Ni and Cui Lin.

For the review, I will mainly use Cui Lin’s nickname, Ah Ying, when referring to her since this is what Li Ni likes to call her by.

Li Ni’s and Ah Ying’s meet cute began with a fight for food supply and reclaiming of the cities to save the “king” that was being held hostage at capital.

What was intriguing from the get go was the battle of wits between the two of them, who held different armies. Smart and capable as they were, we couldn’t tell who had the upper hand nor who to root for as they competed for the same resources and gain the upper hand.

Li Ni and Ah Ying quickly turned allies when they unwittingly figured they worked more effectively together. The interactions remained fun to follow as they maintained the playful friendly flirtatious rivalry between them. … until the dynamics started to change by episode 16-ish when it seemed like Li Ni became the stronger one, be it from moral code, family power, or affection shown to other.

For the record, I still like Ah Ying a lot. She is one of the cunning, decisive, and likeable female leads that’s hard to come by in an idol drama. The slightly disappointed part to me was the troupe-y plot devices used to create the necessary tension between female and male leads to move the story along.

There were instances I felt that she overused Li Ni’s affection for her and / or she got turned into a weaker party. Was her hidden weapons only used for Li Ni? Where’s the independent cunning female lead we were introduced to at the start? It wasn’t that Ah Ying had the obligations to return Li Ni’s affection the exact same way he was doting her biasedly (on some level) or troupes like obsessive SML cannot be used in stories. It would’ve been nice to see a little more layers in Ah Ying and her development that’s present on Li Ni’s side through their love journey …or maybe I fast forwarded too much to see that side of Ah Ying.

On the other hand though, I recognised that a lot of conflicts they had were realistic and consistent with their characters setup. Li Ni may be loyal, upright and capable - but he is also impulsive and idealistic. Cui Lin is indeed cunning, pragmatic and overbearing - but she is also caring to her loved ones, willing to make the necessary sacrifices for the bigger goal and is resourceful. I guess this made them perfect for each other.

The real pity is the one dimensional supporting characters and slightly draggy plots. With weaker supporting cast, WoL’s story plot were less engaging and felt cliche-ish at some parts. They could’ve totally cut the story to 24 - 26 episodes and it likely would’ve made no difference to the enjoyment of Li Ni’s and Ah Ying’s love story.

Acting wise, I like both Xu Kai’s and Jing Tian’s portrayal of the characters and their chemistry. Believable enough for me to invest in Shi Qi Lang’s and Ah Ying’s romance in WoL. Lovely enough for me to swoon for those romantic moments and ignore the cliche-ness way of showing them on screen.

All in all, WoL is the typical idol drama that has a strong start, which somewhat feel draggy troupey halfpoint, and finishes off with an okay-ish, predictable climax. It’s still an enjoyable drama when one has the right expectations for it.

With both capable leads who are complement to each other in terms of wits and great chemistry, WoL is overall a fun and enjoyable flirtatious idol romance story.

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Watch it for what it is

I thought it was fun and I watched it for what it was, it's was fun and funny.

I am a big fan of Strong Girl Bong Soon and was so excited to see the spin off getting released, I usually watch series when they are finishes as I binge and hate waiting but for this I watch it on the day it was released. So ok wasn't as great as Bong Soon, but still I found it fun to watch. If it was the same as the original might as well watch that again for the 3rd time, I found it different, especially the way the 3 woman can sense each other.

I didn't like the mothers acting which was OTT or Nam soon's but I over looked it and finished it. I dunno why the big fuss of so many people say its rubbish and dropped it as I thoroughly enjoyed the series.

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Not sure about this one

Dear goodness,
I’ve never struggled so hard to watch a series. No lie. Episode one was not that intriguing but I was interested in the plot so I kept watching. By the end of episode 2, I was already getting this melancholy vibe from the FL. They play the sad music when she was talking or thinking. He didn’t smile much. I could just sense she was the pitiful character. ML was okay but it’s just something not right with this one at least up to episode 5. It was a bit cringe. Like a kid story or something. I’m sure there’s more but it’s definitely one that has to be watched in segments otherwise you’ll be disappointed.

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Fantastic except how they treated talk of suicide and used gayness as slap-stick

I want to say that I loved this drama and watched it all in one sitting. I also had two holdbacks that kept slapping me across the face as the show went on because they never went away.
How they treated talk of suicide and used gayness as slap-stick.
Spoilers from here on.

Eun Yu travels back in time to literally kill herself. She tells Eun Gyeol multiple times, and NOT THING HAPPENS. HE BARELY REACTS AND BY EPISODE 12 IT'S LIKE SHE'S TALKING ABOUT THE WEATHER. IF THIS WAS NOT FICTION (AND EVEN IN FICTION), WHEN SOMEONE TELLS YOU THEY'RE GOING TO KILL THEMSELVES, COUNT YOURSELF LUCKY THEY TOLD YOU THIS TIME. I DON'T CARE IF THEY'RE JOKING, OR UNSURE, OR IT'S SPUR OF THE MOMENT.
THIS. IS. A. CRY. FOR. HELP.
I would give anything for him to have reacted appropriately once. To have acknowledged what she said, to have even checked in, "so, I hear you want to kill yourself. You serious?" Instead, by episode 12, she's holding full conversations about coming here to kill herself multiple times in an episode, and .... and.... HOW CAN THE CONVERSATION JUST CONTINUE. I'm sitting here, like, wait, dude, bro, like what? Are you at least going to ask her if she still plans to kill herself? She's talking in the present tense here and it's not the subtitles' fault.
If you were someone who has a suicidal friend or family member and saw this and even considered for a moment, "this is how people respond when someone tells you they're trying to kill themselves?" that's bad. If suicide isn't talked about in a community, and more media than not treats it as unreal, un-urgent, or even a joke... this will affect your view and behavior. You are also going to treat it that way. And if you, the reader are saying "media doesn't affect your behavior; no one's that stupid," have you seen the internet? Are you not here on this website? Have you heard of Hallyu? The Korean Government knows how much media affects people's beliefs and behaviours. They built their entire trillion-dollar economy on it.
If you are suicidal and see someone else's suicidal behavior talked about like this, you're going to be horrified. You're going to take this as more evidence that if you tell people they won't take you seriously. Also, this is Korea, one of the countries with the highest suicide rate in the world. If you think about it, it's absolutely f-cked up that they treat suicide like this. "Oh, suicide, it's a part of life. Let's pretend she didn't say anything. Everyone's a bit suicidal these days, etc."
For - using gayness as a joke was very off-putting. Each time someone accused the brother or father of being gay for the other, they both reacted like it was the end of the world (Maybe that's what the ultra-devout Christians want us to believe, so what, you want to forward their agenda) You couldn't just leave it at a friend being overprotective of a friend/family member they are afraid for? You had to say that that much affection and protectiveness between or shown by a man must mean he's gay!?!?! Wow. Just Wow. I know it's a plot device, but please. This is only a stairway landing up from killing the gays - yay, we made it into the 20th century, now let's just make fun of gay people and use them to excuse away too much male sentimentality. wow.

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great

One of the best series in the history of South Korea. It is surprising to me that this series has not received an award, its actors and the writer and director are all great???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

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Emotional Depth and Beyond Expectations

It was very hot, enjoyable, and (especially in the first half) rich in passion. The BL series exceeded my expectations. The quality of Japanese BL series in recent times surprises me. I highly recommend it. It was emotional, but the pace was not slow. It had a very appropriate flow.

The lack of focus on the fantasy part was odd. I loved how Adachi's emotions and thoughts were portrayed so beautifully, realistically, and logically. At one point I could only watch Adachi; he could carry the story alone.

In fact, at the end of the series, it seemed like Adachi was with Kurosawa to spare himself from the sorrow of not being loved. After all, his exploration of his gay identity happened entirely because of Kurosawa's intense love for him. I wonder if Kurosawa were a woman, would Adachi have agreed? Probably yes :D. Again, Kurosawa won, and that didn't come as a surprise :)

I didn't like the storytelling of our second couple. It started with great potential but turned out to be empty and developed too quickly. There was no chemistry between them and our author's behaviour was too exaggerated for his age. While the writer's tough and mature side was excellent, falling in love in two days and the absurdities in their actions were very nonsensical. I couldn't feel the love.

Lastly, Adachi's decrease in confidence in the second half saddened me. Adachi should have been cool, silent, and aloof because Kurosawa was outgoing, talkative, and social. They were a beautiful contrast to each other. However, when Adachi became insecure towards the end, it made me wonder why the boy was so fixated on him.
And in my opinion, the reason they presented was insufficient for falling in love with someone lacking self-confidence. If Adachi were confident but cold, distant, and introverted, then the given reason would have been sufficient.

And please, I'll cry, but we NEVER GOT A SINGLE KISS. Well, even if we did, it probably would have been just a touch of lips, but I would have been okay with that, knowingly. ??

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Remake has all the high and low points of original

This version holds its own compared to the original meaning that the viewer will see all the original high and low points of the original story. However, the finished product has a few rough edges. Some of the support acting (or perhaps the director?) was a bit weak. On the positive side a few of the subplots were improved over the original in particular the relationship with the big bad doctor and his female student and third in the love triangle with the two leads. The Korean version didn't develop this relationship whereas the Thai shows us the potential.

Several rough edges came through which may be due to the many writers involved in the Thai version.

The lead's uncle withholds key information (that there is a demon stalking him) until suddenly he reveals a few morsels in front of the ghost girlfriend which struck me as odd. It moves the plot tension but didn't make sense to tell his nephew based on prior exposition, particularly because a few times in the same episode and before he told his shaman ally that he absolutely could not tell his nephew about this demon, and then he does...in front of a ghost he knows nothing about. It would actually have made a lot of sense to explain all about this dangerous demon much earlier.

A really rough edge occurs in an early episode when the Detective explains to his officers that he wants them to tail the doctor suspect. One officer does, and the doctor detects this, and leads the officer behind the building within a stone's throw of his clinic and parked car, and kills him. Then.....nothing. What happened to the body? Neither the Detective or any police officers note the absence of their colleague. That was just sloppy execution.

Something interesting that caught my attention was in the 10th episode at 4:30 the two leads are in a scene which was probably improvised where they are bantering over their dinner. The female lead speaks Thai followed by Japanese, and then a few English words. The difference in voice timber was striking. Her voice is very different in the three languages. I've heard this often among Japanese where both men and women will have totally different voices between English and Japanese.

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Big Impact in Short Episodes

Is it normal for such short episodes to make you feel so much emotion?
It was enough that the first episodes were short, but I especially wanted it to slow down a little more towards the last episodes. It would be unbeatable if there was just one more episode. The way he handled emotions made me feel like I was watching a Japanese drama.
The only thing I can say negatively is that what I typically dislike in most k-dramas is that the kisses are shown as lips touching each other. Looking for a French kiss in K-dramas is like searching for a needle in a haystack.

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Decent but lacking in many ways

Strong Woman Do Bongsoon is one of my favorite dramas, so I was really excited when they announced Strong Girl Gang Namsoon. Unfortunately, they did not really deliver with this follow-up series.

For one thing, why is it called Strong Girl Gang Namsoon when for a majority of the show it feels like her mother, Hwang Geumju, is the protagonist? While I liked that we got three different storylines with three different generations, I often felt they preferred Geumju over Namsoon for the main story.

Namsoon was incredibly irritating to me for half of the show too. She was so headstrong and never thought before she acted, but there was rarely a consequence to her actions. It was annoying to just see her doing what she wanted with no repercussions despite being constantly warned. She felt very much like a Mary Sue.

I hated the storyline with Bread Song. It felt so disconnected and annoying for the entire show and for it to lead up to a cliffhanger in the final episode was even more irritating.

The only good thing about this show was Ryu Sio, played by Byeon Wooseok. His character’s backstory was incredibly interesting and made him very sympathetic to me. I kept hoping there would be a bigger evil that would give him a chance to become a hero, but it didn’t happen. I was disappointed especially in the way that his character ended and finding out that Binbin, his only friend, was alive and still evil.

The romantic bits between Namsoon and Heeshik were cute, but it felt like they instantly fell in love within 3-4 episodes and no time was spent directly developing their relationship. While it worked for me, it was not the strongest. Also, why did they never come back around to the fact he got hit in the head with her horse’s bell?

I really am disappointed that the show ended by setting up for another one. It left too many loose ends, which is not something I’m used to with k-drama. I’m blaming it’s rising popularity in the West that’s leading to things being done in parts or seasons instead of just finishing up a show in one go like they used to.

Overall, this series is quite funny and had some great storytelling, but had too many plotlines going on that made it convoluted and silly. The final episode feels like a speed run to tie up loose ends and also set up a follow-up series which left me feeling disappointed. Aside from the name and concept, this show is really nothing like Strong Woman Do Bongsoon and it barely deserves to be considered related to it. If you are a fan of the original series, you really won’t miss anything if you skip this one.

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After scheming her way to becoming Empress, Jiang Xuening is forced to take her own life after a coup staged by the equally scheming Xie Wei and her former childhood friend Yan Lin upends the state of Qian. She awakens to find herself back in time before she entered the palace and is determined to change her fate and the fate of others around her. Little does she know that the seemingly treacherous Xie Wei has a painful past and is much more than he seems.

While the setup is nothing new, the drama manages what I feel is a rarity these days in Chinese drama land - sustaining my rapt attention for the full 38 episodes. The script wisely stays focused on the story and characters - balancing the political storylines with the slow burn romance that is allowed to develop organically, without anyone acting out of character just to create a sense of forced drama or romance. The supporting characters are given time to develop as well and actually add to the overall story. They support our male and female lead in their journey of finding their true selves and each other.

What prevents me from giving this a 10 is the often heavy-handedness of the direction - blinding lighting, distracting camerawork and odd framing of shots give an overall unpolished look. There is a tendency to make things a bit over the top, but these are small quibbles and a matter of taste ultimately. The cast overall do a solid job - I am most impressed with Wang Xing Yue. Despite his young age, he is able to hold his own in a very stoic role.

This is a great one to binge and re-watch. It's not meant to be an artsy, profound expose on life, death, fate vs self determination, etc. It's just great fun to watch.

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17 Steps Ahead of King Schemey McSteamy

This series surprised the heck out of me because I never even intended on watching it. When it was postponed I never really thought twice. Then I saw ZLH in MJTY and was intrigued plus at the time I hadn't seen BL in anything nor any of the other leads though the supporting cast I was somewhat familiar with. I'm not a fan of palace politics but this series got me curious from all of the excitement it generated once the drop date was announced. I nearly gave it a perfect 10 if it wasn't for the very few cons, I couldn't get past. But it really was the 17 steps ahead of King Schemey McSteamy.

Pros: It should be very obvious who the favorite character is; ZLH's acting has improved leaps and bounds. This was his first morally gray protagonist and he absolutely nailed it. He was like a mad scientist in every way. I have no idea how XW's brain worked. It was like he was psychic and planned things as he foresaw them. The story originally started more on the FL's side and she too just knocked her role out of the park. It was her redemption/rebirth story plus reverse harem so our ML had to be the 3rd wheel for a while, something that with his absolutely insane jealousy streak was heart pounding and hysterical at the same time.

YL was Spider-Man; dude had supernatural abilities when fighting in that heavy ass armor that the actor even said was really hard to move in. What made this series really worth watching is that other then our cast which were all absolutely amazing; I can't say anyone screwed up their parts, was that the plot was always rolling along. You kept waiting for what's next. You never had to ffw or you'd miss something vital. Furthermore, the cast filmed during peak summer months and in extreme heat, they were constantly on the verge of heat stroke. I loved every member of the cast the ones mentioned above, ZZ, the princess, JXH, the hilarious and yet awesome guards of XW, fake DF, and everyone else, even the villains sans Lord Pinghead as I think he was used as more of a plot device to get the leads together. I'll speak more about him below.

The leads chemistry especially Ep. 36; people should know what I'm talking about. King McSteamy was born! I was actually surprised how much made it in. Usually after a passionate kiss, it's cut to spotlight and curtains or next scene. Here we saw more and it was great! And so glad that the kisses were real and XW was an absolute panther. I could probably write a whole review on just his love and lust plus jealousy alone. From what I wrote in the comments: That whole “JXN: I want you” bit? Woof! And then of course…Duke asswipe is all “I’m gonna rule the world.” Our boy goes “Hold my Qin. Back up dog, emperor and I got this on lock before I even left!” Who saw that coming?!?

XW, uncle, cousin reveal actually brought a tear to my eyes. It was a brief but beautiful moment. Plus XW's jealousy of his own son liking ZZ was too funny and a totally face-palm moment. JXN needs to nip that in the bud before the son starts picking up dad's negative traits lol. Daughter was too cute too. There were so many great moments in this drama; even the villains did what they had to do and for the most part were intelligent so it wasn't like some trope or cliche.

Costumes, sets, fights, OSTs, were great! I probably will come back to write something I missed or forgot lol. Just too much goodness.

Cons: Very little of these, but the .5 was knocked off for several reasons. Though I wish the modern day wasn't returned to, I understand it was done so because of censorship; I really would have preferred the 7 minute wedding to be in the last episode instead of an extra one plus do it before the scene with kids, instead of her dreaming of XW killing himself per lifetime number one. We're past that, no need to go back. Furthermore, Lord Pinghead's whole arc towards the end felt off to me because, he's supposed to be this murderous insane villain who killed children and destroyed a city but it looked more like just a ploy to get the leads officially together. He really wasn't much of anything. Just a paranoid killer. Duke asswipe had mountains more on him in terms of evil.

Wish they kept ZZ's rebirth arc because otherwise even to the almost end, it seemed he was still pining for her and it felt incomplete. He should have been given his own proper ending. Should have killed loser Xue son as per the novel too. Why was Duke asswipe allowed to stab XW with so many guards around him just because he was staring at JXN? The poor guy was already pin cushioned 6 ways to Sunday. YL and DQ should have finished the job before he even launched himself off the ground. Lastly and this felt the most unnecessary, was the death of FY. They could have killed ZYZ as is, he held her captive and tortured her. Why did she have to grab hold of him and he stab her? He could have just kicked her away and run; he would have been caught regardless and JXN should have delivered the death blow herself like "You think I can't kill you? Watch this, bitch!" FY's death was completely pointless. I don't understand this portion at all.

Would I recommend it? 100% would. It was a gem that I didn't expect to fall in love with but did. The pros way outweighed the cons. The plot was very well handled even the portions that deviated from the book. This is how dramas should be written and done with proper endings. Must watch y'all!

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A dream that felt too real

This drama is definitely not the typical historical Chinese drama you would expect. It is based on the story of a strong female lead who wakes up from a dream that felt too real. In that dream, she was a selfish woman who would do anything and use anyone to achieve her ambitions. However, when she wakes up again, we see her character development as she tries to be a better person and make up all the mistakes she made and all those she hurt in her dream.
I really enjoyed this drama as it was really realistic and relatable, especially the relationship between the characters. I especially loved the chemistry between the main leads Jiang Xue Ning(Bailu) and Xie Wei(Zhang Linhe) and how they went from enemies to cooperating together to save the Yan family and many more. Jiang Xue Ning was the only light in Xie Wei’s dark view of the world and end up being the most important person and support to eachother.

Acting of the main leads were quite good but I felt like the supporting characters could have a bit more and better changes in their expressions to show their character development.
Music was good and I loved all the songs, Bailu actually sang one of them aswell!

The biggest flaw in this drama for me would be the pacing throughout the episodes. I just felt like the ending felt way too rushed, especially after seeing and getting used to the slow moving plot (up to around ep 33). The female lead only seemed to truly understand the male lead in the last 5 episodes and his intentions behind his decision and only then did she confirm her feelings for Xie Wei (with only 5 episodes to go). I felt like it could’ve been better paced to make the episodes flow more consistently and make it comfortable to watch.

Overall, it was a very unique drama and enjoyable to watch. Recommended.

Ps. This is my first review hahaha

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