Reviews

Beautiful Leads drowning in Melodrama tropes

Melodrama is not my thing but I've been waiting for this pairing so.... I powered through.

Positives:
1. ML & FL pairing. He's tall & a model. She's tall & a model. It's basically hotness overload.
2. Sibling dynamic
3. That Rich Friend

Negatives: ALL the Melodrama tropes:
1. The walking dead. Sad people living but dead inside
2. Slow .... everything, talking, walking, reacting.....
3. Standing & staring .....
4. Wrist pull & save you from some kind of running vehicle
5. The comeback desperate ex
6. FF flashback moments overload

Yes I get it, it's supposed to connect 2 lonely sad people making their slow burn love more beautiful. I think the pair worked for melodrama lovers.

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Night of Love with You is a great miniseries about the always antagonist manga character Qi Qi/ Luo Qing (played by Liu Xie Ning) that by a glitch enters the new comic "Night of Love With You" and becomes the heroine Luo Qing. The comic’s male lead suffers an accident at the hands of Luo Qing and get into a comatose state that gives way to the story between Luo Qing and the male antagonist Leng Ye Han (played by Guan Yue). The former leading lady, Song Ruo Yun (played by Pu Yu Tong), becomes the antagonist who does everything possible to get rid of QiQi to be able to be with the comic’s main lead Mu Nan Chen (played by Liu Ya Kun). The drama is well written and the cast did a great job bringing their characters to life. Mu Nan Chen’s demeanor is quite passive and stoic which is well done by the writer because that way the character of the antagonist Leng Ye Han takes center stage. Song Ruo Yun (played by Pu Yu Tong), the character that Qi Qi was supposed to play, really nails the antagonist role, she is selfish and vicious trying to get Qi Qi/ Luo Qing out of the way. The plot is well developed, there’s great character growth, and the lead couple has great chemistry, Even Luo Qing brother, Luo Cheng (played by Zheng Peng) nails his character as he is constantly used as a pawn to by the antagonist to get Luo Qing. He provides a comical relief to the drama as well as Luo Qing constant monologues that provide insight into the factual aspects of the comic’s plot. Overall, this miniseries provides an interesting story and it is entertaining, enjoy it.

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Action-packed, political turmoil, survival, dry romance...and a story that loses steam mid-way.

The Long Ballad was not quite what I expected.
TL;DR Overall opinion: I found the drama quite enjoyable (especially the beginning). Towards the end, the side characters' stories became my central focus (less dragging). The drama had some slow parts that were good parts to stop and come back later. In general, the Long Ballad is about a C+ to B- on my grading scale. Watch it again? Probably not. Do I appreciate the drama? Yes. Do I want a season 2? No, I don't think that is necessary. Are the characters memorable? Yes.

Pros:
1. Strong Main Lead(s): Dilraba plays the role of a physically and mentally strong, capable, clever girl (Changge) who is raised as a princess of the emperor. She encounters many hardships that test her mental and physical strength. Ashile Sun (Leo Wu) is a seemingly cold, intelligent person. He is the general of the Eagle Division under the Great Khan. His character is interesting to watch--from the carefully devised plans to his unique mercy (as well as heartless killing).

2. Fun Supporting Characters: A few of my favorite supporting roles include Hao Du (Liu Yuning)--a very stoic, heartless man-- and Li Leyan (Zhao Lusi)-- the hopeless princess and best friend of Changge. Both characters are fun to watch as they mature and change throughout the drama. I was also surprised to see Liu Haikun take on a less serious role of a swordsman (Situ Lanlang).

3. Dynamic Characters: Especially Hao Du, Li Leyan, and Ashile She'er--the characters' journeys in life adds depth/gives more to the drama.

4. Soundtrack: Need I say more? Look up "Cocoon" by Zhou Shen.

5. Antagonists: The antagonists change throughout the series, each posing a different threat that requires a new strategy which kept me guessing.

6. Storyline: The storyline is excellent! I don't want to give away spoilers, but I will say this: From Princess to outcast to military strategist to slave to outlaw to hero... the story follows the life of a girl whose life is flipped backwards, and whose friends become enemies and enemies become friends (NOT A SPOILER).

7. The Side Plots: The side plot with Li Leyan kept me going. Even when the main plot dragged for eternity, I persevered for her corner of the drama. Her journey is unique, like Changge's, but shows us that you don't have to be a battle princess or a military strategist... everyone has their own struggles, even the innocent, the rich, the poor, the heartless... *cough cough*

Cons:
1. Flat Characters: Changge started off as a dynamic character--kind to those close to her and kick-butt to her enemies; as the drama progressed, she gradually became flat and emotionless (aside from tears--the romance scenes with her blank expression often left me confused about her emotions at the moment).

2. Annoying Characters: (Entirely my opinion) the Crown Prince, Mimi Guli (sometimes she is sweet and likeable especially towards the end of the drama, but other times she is just a bit... annoying), Zhen Zhu (Princess Tujia of Monan--extra), and Wei Shuyu (he started off fine, but eventually became extra).

3. Poor/Cheesy Graphics: Sometimes the cartoon and the live action will be combined, but the live action part looks like a... well... 1979 footage on extremely blurry, smashed lens.

4. Drags on: Towards the end, the plot began to drag. Not-so-big issues took f o r e v e r . It could have ended with 40 episodes.

5. Sorry guys, the Romance: Romance is just the sprinkles on the cupcake, the cherry on top, NOT the sole purpose of the drama, nor the main issue at hand. In the Long Ballad, not all the romance was bad. Li Leyan's romance was cute and bearable, and so was Mimi Guli's romance. The main leads... well... it dragged. It seemed a bit weak in some episodes (from I LIKE YOU in one only for meh in the next). Or it would be confusing *does she like him or is this a flaw in expression* and sometimes the relationship issues at hand were exaggerated. The main leads' relationship with each other sometimes seemed VERY dry. But, the small actions like taking one's hand or standing up for one another and watching each other's backs were enjoyable (sometimes it just got confusing).

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Republican-era Mulan

Welcome to the Republican-era Mulan. Arsenal Military Academy is a gem. Seriously. Usually c-dramas drag on forever (ie, the Legend of Fei...), but not this one.
TL;DR Brotherhood, action, realistic depiction of female trying to disguise as a guy, strong leads, good character development.

Why I like AMA:
1. Brotherhood--Xie Xiang/Liangchen and her relationships with her classmates is such a brother bond. They treat her like one of them and she treats them like her brothers. If you watched Mulan 2020 and was disappointed in Mulan's relationship with her crew, Bai Lu's performance shows what should've happened.

2. Action--the suspense and action is plentiful. Although not realistic (especially cleaning a loaded gun ??? maybe I'm just being critical) it is entertaining to watch a girl fight equally alongside men and deal the same damage.

3. Realistic depiction of females--The FL Xie Liangchen could pass for a feminine guy or a tomboy. Although Xie Liangchen was strong compared to the other girls, in the academy, she struggles to keep up with her male classmates. She deals with humility for being "weak," but it only encourages her to work hard to pass physical tests. In shooting she excels. She deals with periods, with loss, and emotions, but she's a REAL, STRONG GIRL and PICKS HERSELF UP. Girl got grit.

4. Strong Leads--Hands down, Bai Lu played Xie Liangchen so well. Liangchen is tough, emotionally and physically, and can go from polite female to tough guy within minutes (depending on how fast she can change clothes lol). She endures hardships but overcomes them. The ML, Gu Yanzhen (Xu Kai), is a playboy and likes to do what he wants. He's rich and from a powerful family, and he doesn't mind losing face. Although he seems to not care, he has his priorities to which he is loyal.

5. Development--as the drama progresses, the characters mature. Gu Yanzhen learns the reality and cost of fighting for what you believe in. Xie Liangchen realizes that secrets become sticky. Shen Junshen (Li Cheng Bin) learns that power can corrupt and people change. Even annoying characters learn what it means to put others before yourself.

Summary: Arsenal Military Academy is about a girl named Xie Xiang (Bai Lu) whose brother attends a military academy. He dies before his graduation, so she joins the academy when it reopens to honor her brother and country. She takes her brother's name (Xie Liangchen) and disguises herself as a boy. At the academy, she makes friends (or enemies) with her classmates and they go through a lot together. Life for her gets difficult as she struggles to keep her hidden identity. If she is discovered...

Verdict: Watch this Republic-era Mulan. Do it! You won't regret it!

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Lee Jae Kyoon for a main role!

It will be short and concise review. The acting wasn't bad and the script wasn't bad either. However, many episodes were dragged out, too many side scenes and weird out-of-nowhere characters were added. I don't understand the appearance of some childhood friend or the switching of children. It made practically no difference to the main story, but we lost 1 episode because of it ? Someone had too many ideas and wanted to cram them all into one drama.

When it comes to characters, most of them were well build. Main couple .... they looked great together and played well theirs characters, just didn't feel them together. Not enough of chemistry. Ok Taec Yeon had it more with Jeon Yeo Been in Vincenzo thank with Kim Hye Yoon here ? I also feel his "best villain ever" character will for long be his best role as he was more than excellent there. Here he turned out to be mediocare+.

I cannot say much about Kim Hye Yoon as I saw her now for the first time but I will be on a search for something else with her? Lee Jae Kyoon on the other hand was EXCELLENT! PEOPLE! GIVE THIS GUY A MAIN ROLE! He is incredible. To be honest, the main storyline could be omitted and replaced with Park family. Love the complexity of relations and interaction. I don't want to reveal too much about the content because a lot happens in each episode so all I will say is that the history of the Park family was ultra interesting! Who would have expected such a twist at the end! But it was too late revealed to save the show. The drama was too stretched till then and lost it's shape ? Nevertheless, I am recommending the show but just don't expect too much of it.

HALF SPOILER: If you decide to watch this drama, be on a look out for crown prince. His and king's story is shocking. I didn't understand my immediate dislike towards the king since the first moments but later I exacly knew why it happened! WHAT AN ASSHOLE! He totally deserved that what came at him.

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An undercover cop and a drug bust...but with interesting characters and kick-butt FL

Great modern-ish drama on drug busts. It's definitely underrated but it's worth a watch. 8.5/10
TL;DR Good characters, chemistry, suspense but leaves some characters without a follow-up. Spoiler-free summary at bottom.

Pros:
1. Great Characters--The main lead, Li Qiang, is strong, smart, and capable. I loved watching her endurance as the situations become sticky and her intelligence in logically dealing with the case. She is physically strong and can fight well, but she also has a sympathetic side of her (often shown around her friends or a little girl named Coco). Cheng Jingsong, Li Qiang's close friend/brother, is a righteous and loyal police officer. He cares deeply for those around him and will put them before himself, even in trying situations. His morally rightness contrasted with the mission he found himself entangled in. Unlike Jingsong, Zhang Xian He is complicated. He seems like a playboy at times but is not. Sometimes he seems evil; sometimes he seems good. He uses others to help him achieve his unforeseen plans, but he wishes well of people. Overall, Zhang Xian He has many layers that are entertaining to watch throughout the show.
2. Good Chemistry--The characters' interactions with each other are believable and true to their personalities. For example, Jingsong and Qiang share a sibling bond that is evident in their interactions. Zhang Xian He is complicated, but he does not wish to hurt those close to him which is shown in his actions.
3. Suspense--Cops- and dealers-type conflict litter the drama, providing both mystery and action on a legal and illegal basis.

Cons:
Unfinished stories--some characters leave the screen without a follow-up story or background story. For example, Boss Hu's (a drug boss) girlfriend is pregnant, but the drama ends without expanding on her friendship with the FL or what happened to her after the FL excels in the case. Also, Captain Cao (the leading officer of the Narcotics division) and his relation to the other officers seems a bit flat, and his relation to Li Qiang's uncle and father are not clear.

Summary
A tough female lead, drug busts and bosses, illegal deals, lies and loop holes... Stealth Walker is a crime drama centered around a young lady named Li Qiang (Lin Peng) who aspires to be a police officer like her adopted father. Her friend Cheng Jingsong (Li Zi Feng) happens to be a member in the SWAT team. After a tragic accident during an undercover mission regarding a drug network, Ling Qiang goes undercover to discover her adopted father's murderer. Coincidentally, she meets Zhang Xian He (Zheng Ye Cheng) who is part of the drug dealing circle (but he deals with the financial part). They work together (or should I say...use each other), but Li Qiang struggles to hide her identity, knowing the cost of her secret. As she dives deeper into the illegal business, Li Qiang realizes that the case may not be as simple as the police initially believed...

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Three women band together to uncover the truth...and deal justice.

TL;DR If you enjoy low romance, independent FLs, sisterhood, murder, and mystery/suspense, I recommend The Danger of Her.

Of course, it is not everyone's cup of tea, but because it's short, modern, and nonromantic, I would recommend this to those seeking a break from lengthy, romantic costume dramas.

What I think about it
I like it. It's not romantic and relies on suspense, although not overly so. It shows independent women, which, sadly to say, is often rare in c-dramas. The FLs must rely on themselves to achieve their goal, and the sisterhood between the women is enjoyable to watch. None of the FLs are annoying. In addition, each one has her own job. There is a lot of mystery in the plot, and the ending is interesting but resolved. Some of the acting, as mentioned, is too cartoonish, especially the antagonist.

Summary without spoilers
There's 4 FLs, each one with a unique backstory. The "Main FL" Qiao Wei is in a terrible marriage, but she is wealthy and has a son. She attends her college 5 year reunion and meets up with an old friend who is a writer Su Yao (another FL). Something insane happens, and something from the past resurfaces, and an old boyfriend blackmails QW. Four classmates are brought together and devise a plan to help QW get rid of this blackmail--and escape her abusive marriage.

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IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR PUPPY ROMANCE IT'S TOO GOOD

this drama started as very exciting but the last 4 episodes were good but the recaps is actually unnecessary and they showed the scene from past life 2-3 times in different episode and different way which kinda annoyed me but even though they were adult the romance was very puppy love like so adorable no misunderstanding , shy smile & blush part was to die for.. i honestly wanted yul to ended up w someone in his school but sadly they didn't made it like this ,most of time I skip the intro but this intro is kinda my type of things I like.. honestly tvn ruined the story and wasn't able to show the main points but the acting was really good

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Difficult not to feel for Joman Chiang. Elena Kong deserves her revenge. The ending sucks.

Spoilers ahead. I will also disclaim that I do not care about and have no attachment to the source material which this is loosely adapted from, and view this as more of an original work than anything.


Moses Chan, Aimee Chan and the ending

I came into this knowing that Moses Chan and Aimee Chan are married in real life, this is Aimee’s first role for quite a number of years, and they were acting a couple, so I did have certain expectations shall I say. As someone who really does not care about either Moses Chan or Aimee Chan, or ship them together, I really hated the ending. So I guess if I were a fan I would really really hate it.

This is despite me believing that it is extremely difficult not to feel for Joman Chiang’s Zhu Ying Hua, and I nearly couldn’t watch when Moses Chan’s Max Tom dropped her without a second thought for Aimee Chan’s Zhu Ying Tai (the spoiler in this may be more that Moses Chan’s and Joman Chiang’s characters had some kind of relationship more than he left her for Aimee).

Seriously if you’re a Moses Chan or Aimee Chan fan, or if you like them together (their characters or in real life), when you see Moses Chan and Kalok Chow confronting Elena Kong in the final episode, where Elena Kong has a gun to the first brother’s (Felix Ng) head you should stop watching. If you’re thinking but wait, I picked this up to watch Moses Chan and Aimee Chan act a couple and there weren’t enough scenes, I hear you but it is my view that continuing to watch will not make the situation any better. I will however state that by all indications, they are truly in love and the ending does not derogate from that.

I didn’t watch the entire show, I watched this for Elena Kong and whatever else sparked my interest because it became obvious quite quickly that I didn’t think it was interesting enough to watch without skipping. Apparently this has been compared to Death by Zero, and in terms of there being some kind of fictional world order where one has to suspend one’s disbelief and similarities in the casting, I agree. After all, it has Moses Chan, Elena Kong, Helen Ma, Timothy Cheng, Mary Hon as well as a substantial number of side characters I don’t really care about, to me reeks of Death by Zero.


Elena Kong’s Dora deserves her revenge

I could recommend clicking through this for Elena Kong as her parts are generally not that filler, and her storyline is discrete enough for one to figure out what is going on with her. I do believe that Pat Poon’s character is scum and that she did deserve her revenge on him. I can’t say that I thought she was an excellent schemer, if she was, she would’ve kept her cards closer to her chest and not basically gone around trumpeting that she wanted her revenge so early (though I think that would have meant less material so from a show standpoint I suppose that makes sense).

The moment she wanted to continue her revenge despite promising Judy Kwong’s Molly that she would not do anything to harm the brothers but continued to do so anyway, my view was that the only right ending was for her to die, but to die laughing (because she successfully got her revenge). The thing is that she could have stopped after the third brother was killed, and I believe, perhaps lived in some semblance of peace with Judy Kwong and the boys - because it seems to me that the boys believed that she was not entirely unjustified in taking revenge on their father, and I think seemed to think that for twenty years, she was a good stepmother. I actually might have preferred an ending where she kept her word to Judy Kwong, since the boys (by Dora’s own admission) are actually innocent.

The scene where she realises that Pat Poon is dead was beautifully beautifully acted by Elena. (This is even considering that Elena is more than a good actress and I’ve watched many of her shows.)


It’s extremely difficult not to feel for Joman Chiang’s Zhu Ying Hua.

Joman Chiang appears in just under half the episodes, but these exact episodes were when I was the most invested in the series. After Joman’s and Elena’s final scene, the tension seemed to be released. I did not know who Joman was before this, and in fact had to google to double check that I was getting the actress right because whatever initial photos one sees of her look quite different from her image in this show. Despite watching this show for Elena Kong and clicking through the rest of the show – I do not recall Elena and Joman sharing a single scene, and Elena’s nexus to Joman is her collaboration with Timothy Cheng who wishes to make use of Joman to re-establish his position in the Zhu family - Joman still caught my eye.

Despite how wild the ride is when she is initially introduced - she goes from dancing to flirting to having a gun held to her head then back to flirting before you worrying she was going to get scammed, but then it turns out that she’s scamming the scammer, meeting an ill Moses Chan, her son’s life being threatened, expelling the scammers and finally threatening to shoot Moses Chan - in a very short span of time, I found that I was invested in her Zhu Ying Hua.

Yes, I think it helps that the script is probably written in such a way for you to like her, but probably not to the extent of covering your eyes and crying out “this is unacceptable” when Aimee Chan’s Zhu Ying Tai and Moses Chan’s Max Tom hugged right under her nose. It really did feel that way. It really felt unacceptable - and it felt unacceptable before I even knew that her son (Curtis Ho) was going to be killed. I know that this is the Moses Chan and Aimee Chan show, and despite knowing that, it still felt unacceptable.

I believe that Zhu Ying Hua is perfectly entitled to seek her revenge against her son’s killer, even if she did so in a manner which was rash. At any point, even if I thought that Zhu Ying Hua was wrong, I still thought that it was understandable why she was doing what she was and that it was very very difficult not to feel for her. But she ended up finding the right person to direct her revenge at, and well, directed her revenge. Even after that I still can’t help but feel for her (though I was happy to see that she had made up with Zhu Ying Tai and Max Tom right after she avenged her son).

I thought that she was very cute together with Curtis Ho’s Hao Zai, so that also helped her case when she wanted to avenge her son.

She has the benefit of some plot armor, but Joman Chiang was very cool as a gunslinger.

Joman Chiang didn’t act perfectly - I think some of the earlier scenes where she raises her voice at the staff are kind of awkward, specifically I think that her raising her voice sometimes comes across as forced and that the actress doesn’t raise it often (but I think that is not supposed to be a part of Zhu Ying Hua as a character). I think an argument can be made that the scene in which she shot Dai Yiu Ming was overacted by her, but at the same time, someone who has suffered as much loss as she has in such a short amount of time would lose it, and people react differently to that, so maybe she didn’t overact it. I’m not sure. But that being said, she is a good actress and having watched her in this, I am interested in her work and have since gone on to watch some of her other stuff.


Other thoughts

Timothy Cheng’s Zhu Ren Yi is evil through and through and it is Zhu Ying Hua’s bad luck to be his daughter. Even in his final scene, he makes excuses which are so so SO bad and tries to put the blame on other people. I was quite speechless. Elena’s Dora for all the revenge that she sought, didn’t put the blame on anyone else, told Judy where her boyfriend was and apologised to Judy. Judy doesn’t have good luck but I suppose even in her capacity as Pat Poon’s (unwilling) wife, Elena did try her best to take care of Judy when she was growing up and I think that is not denied. He is easy to hate as an antagonist, which I think is exactly where he is supposed to be so surely it was well acted by him.

I did not care about Kalok Chow’s Romeo or Yau Kayan’s Juliet. In fact, when Romeo was pointing a gun to his head crying over Juliet’s “dead body”, I liked the idea of him putting a bullet through his own head. Needless to say, this was not helped by the ending where let’s say that sacrifices were made for them to get married.

Yuki Law is cute and attention grabbing compared to Yau Kayan (I do think she is cute even without comparison to Yau Kayan), so something seems off when I watch Yuki Law’s Zhu Li Fa wait on Yau Kayan’s Juliet.

I do think that there are too many side characters – Kalok Chow has his own side characters, Moses Chan has his own side characters, Aimee Chan has her own men, Joman Chiang has her own side characters. I think except for Tsui Wing’s Wen Cai (whom Helen Ma’s character should not have killed), I don’t think I particularly cared for any of them. To be fair, I watched all the scenes involving the Eighth District, though I can’t tell you if I would have watched them if I didn’t like Joman Chiang’s Zhu Ying Hua.

Ultimately I don’t think I was invested in anything but Zhu Ying Hua avenging her son and not dying, Dora getting her revenge (dying was fine), and only towards the very tail end of drama, Zhu Ying Tai and Max Tom. I can’t exactly put my finger on why that was the case, I guess for me includes the factors stated above.

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Mixed feelings about the ending

The main characters in the present get a happy ending but same cannot be said for the characters in the Joseon. The writer should have put much more thought in the story and also tied the past properly. Too many loose ends.

What about her parents who treated her great? Their daughter just died.

What was the point of saving Tae Ha in the past life, he just dies later on. And during the time he lives he has to be stuck with a wife who's in love with his reincarnation and he is completely clueless about the identity of this guy.

The past Tae Ha should have gotten to live a long healthy life. It felt a lot like present Tae Ha stole Past Tae Ha's love, even though I was rooting for the present Tae Ha and Yun Woo to end up together, I can't help but point this out.

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Not sure what I was explaining but it wasn't that. Also not even sure what made me add this to my watch list, but me and my past self need to have a talk.

For such a short show, it feels like it lasted forever. Even on mute and FF. whoever watches this any other way deserves a award or a padded room. Lmao (jk)

I don't understand why they dubbed it the way they did! It's like the hella old Chinese movies and dramas. Lol.
And I know it's not that one actors fault, but they did they keep giving him under shots of his nose? ? It feels like he is the only one they did that to.

I still don't know what the storyline was. The actors deserved better than this mess though. I get it's a comedy, but then the comedy lies in how the show was produced, it's not a comedy. It's a joke. ?

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Totally recommended

I'll start from the end: I just finished it, 40 episodes and it was totally worth the late night sleep. I still feel the lump in my throat and the heaviness in my heart because the ending is beautiful, liberating, heartwarming, and I feel like I'm not ready to let go of Lianhua. The trio friendship lasts till the end and finally Lianhua gets what he wants: freedom. I mean, seriously. Leave the poor man alone. Also, I give low rewatch value because I can't bear to be this involved the second time. Dramatic, I know.

We don't get to see much of the ambitious and arrogant sect leader Li Xiangyi, instead we see him as the mature, reliable, witty, calm Li Lianhua. Lianhua is the kind of guy that you might say "Oh he's here! Thank goodness!" upon seeing him. The way he cultivates friendships with Fan Daobing and Di Feishang is kind and understanding that no wonder they can't resist him. Kudos to the actor for conveying such gentle yet strong character. His eyebrow lifts, smirks, the little gestures feel so natural I forgot he is an actor doing his job.
Fan Daobing grows a lot throughout the story and not only in fighting skills. By the end of the story he is an intelligent young adult in control of his own life. Di Feishang is a villain you can't hate. His A Fei mode is endearing and emotionally clueless makes him almost like a comic relief. These characters are perfectly portrayed by the actors.

I don't want to write too much and at 40 episodes it is quite a daunting commitment to watch but listen, do watch it anyway. It's about lovely friendships and loyalty, so there is barely any romance, but our trio is more than enough.

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