Reviews

The Titanic of K-Dramas

After years of watching K-dramas, I actually created a MDL account just to write this review. I was instantly hooked and very impressed,which is rare, and my amazement continues with each episode aired. This seems unprecedented in comparison to other dramas I have watched. If I must compare, I would say this drama is on the level of Titanic, an American film, with regards to storytelling and emotional acting. I'm eager for more episodes to be released. I am blown away by every aspect of this drama. The Soundtrack is equally impressive, my kids don't complain about the orchestra music when I turn up the volume to cover my crying ??.
This is a must watch Drama.

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A cozy little story with natural chemistry

Yes you should watch this drama. It’s been a minute since I sat and binged watched a whole ass drama while smiling and kicking my feet and giggling.
There was some parts where I wanted to punch my screen because the actors were playing their role too well but for the majority I was just vibing with the show.
I don’t understand why I saw some people complain about the main leads not having chemistry? This is one of the more natural dramas I’ve watched with great amazing chemistry. Anyways it’s a quick watch that will make you feel warm and cozy so watch it!!!

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I doubt my feelings will change.

Let's start with the Music. The intro is pretty nice song. The outro reminds me of the Mavis Bacon typing program from the 90s so at least it brought back fond memories.

The actors. A lot of reviews I see came for the male lead as someone who watched both The Untamed, Doulou continent, all 3 seasons of The Eternal Love, The legend of the White Snake, The Imperial Coroner. I can safely say I'm familiar with a good portion of the cast in this show. Honestly I will give the casting director props for picking a good looking cast in the male department. The female department is basically not very unique and you could literally show me a screenshot of the female character and I would honestly not be able to tell you what show or who they were that's how little the female casting stood out to me in the looks department.
When it comes to acting I can say that no one out shine anyone and they all did an amazing job with what they were handed. But honestly I would have loved at least one actor to look like they actually was having funny with their role the closest that look like that was the White King.

The writing -

I could tell by the very first 3 episode that the show was going to be a hot mess. There's 40 episodes yet we have a dragon, mermaid, palace drama, school drama, tribal drama, a wedding, picture coming to life, a sand demon, a fake death, a fire, an inept Emperor, a flower, etc. Was it even reasonable to expect any of these plot lines to be successfully fulfilled ? no not at all. I get they were ambitious but at the same time it wasn't going to work.
I wish they would have picked a few storyline and work with it. Hell they didn't even do a good job with the school life. It was a blink and you would miss it. That's what they synopsis said it was about yet that wasn't even correct.

Characters-
Shi ying- honestly this character is your stereotypical prince who was raised outside of his role, that faked his own death. Honestly I don't think I expected much from this character. Was the writing shallow very but if you are one of the people complaining about romance yet came from the show The Untamed, I'm going to question you about how you thought that show was packed with romance yet this show was lacking. The romance was on the same level, where if you know what to look for you can see it. The moment were more acts of service as the love language. Plus there's I'm pretty sure they kissed in the first 10 episodes when they were in the cloud demon thingy. Am I going to comment on how old Xiao Zhan looks to be playing 17. Not at all because the female lead didn't look that much younger than him the only reason people think so is because the crew used the age trick of bangs. While none of the other female characters around her age had bangs. Also I don't blame the Actor for acting like a plank of wood because that's the writer and directors fault for not giving better instruction

Zhu Yan- let's just say can we stop this troupe of female being childish to appear youthful at her age of 15-17 (I'm going to guess she wasn't that much younger than the prince) she would be trying to act like an adult to prove herself worthy and capable as the other student who seem to be older than her. As someone so willing to learn magic how as she not taught the foundation of magic, even if female learning is something to be frowned upon, she is still the only child yet alone daughter of the Red King so surely he would have trained her to be a good ruler of her tribe, but no she was so lacking in the basics of not only magic but also magic her family inherited, that to me shows why they are considered the weakest clan. I actually feel bad for her to be so weak. I thought going through the schooling would have made her better but I didn't see any improvement in her magic abilities when she left the mountain. Did I mention she is a Mary Sue, she might not know magic but somehow when the time comes she suddenly can perfect any spell, or have a solution to any problems. Also I agree that the dress scene took me out, That's just bad writing, folks.

Zhi Yuan- I have a question what are the mermaid rules, because I honestly don't know. I'm 20 episodes deep. He thinks he is in love with the princess because the dragon fed him some nonsense about him crying finally. I have to say I course he didn't cry when his lover died because he had his memory wipe not only that he knew she would be reborn, imagine crying everytime your husband went to work... It's that feeling that yeah it seems like a lot but he knew that death isn't the final good bye, it's only the finally good bye when he dies. Not to mention the who set gender thing that got introduced, what was the point of that so are you telling me that he wasn't a male this entire time, because he didn't fall in love with the great whatever grandma? I'm sorry but would he not think of all the children of the family as his own since he raised them as if they were. Did the grandma have a husband and that how the family had kids? Are the kids of the Crimson tribe half mermaid and they just don't speak about since the gene are probably recessive/or bred out? That's why this entire plotline to me is a waste of time it leads to more questions than answers.

Bai Xuelu- she is the character that has the most stereotypical character development. She the illegitimate daughter of the White King. So she is trying to prove herself as being more than what her mother was a lady of the night (putting it nicely) so she will do anything to become the Empress which if you honestly think about it or if she had half a brain no one would allow her to fill that role with her background. I don't know why she didn't settle on taking over the role of her father instead of the Empress but , I guess dumb people with a chip on their shoulders can be talk into anything if you put the right carrot on a string.

Qing Gang- honestly he is perfect for the role of self righteous plank of wood. He is a general, and all around good guy who just wants to save the girl who has proven time and time again to a worthless p.o.s, because he thinks love can conquer all. I'm sorry but take that method to the battlefield and see if it works... It didn't well that was a lesson worth the price of underestimating your opponent just because they are a female.

Chong Ming- honestly this is going to be a hot take but they should have switched his actor for the actor that played Shi ying. Only because he makes a more convincing 18 year old. I sat the entire time thinking that he looks so much younger than Xiao Zhan and honestly I think they miscast both of them, I get why they casted Xiao Zhan as the main character but it gets extremely distracting seeing both of them together.

Shi Yu- honestly I can see him being a good emperor and a bad emperor at the same time because he has no back bone. If it wasn't for the emperor finally stepping up to be a good father, he would have married Bai Xuelu. Just pitiful.

Bai Xueling- honestly they could have CGI the word Pitiful over her and it would honestly be the same, she didn't even try to fight for anything. If it wasn't for everyone around her pushing her and helping her, she would have been mark with a scarlet letter and the sister in law of the prince. She really was the worthless Best friend.

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One of the best dramas I have ever watched

I have already rewatched this drama and plan to rewatch for 3rd time until season 2
This drama for me is grouped in with my top dramas for quality of production, unique storyline, character portrayal, settings like Nirvana In Fire, Joy Of Life, LLTG etc, I have rewatched all my favourite also. That is how I can tell how great a drama is and this one seems fresh every time I rewatch it.
You will fall in love with the cast and their portrayal of their characters, everyone did a brilliant job especially the 4 leads
Yang Zi as Xiaoliu/XiaoYao the main protagonist
Zhang Wan Ye as Xuan Yuan her cousin
Deng Wei as Zigi/Tushan Jin her boyfriend
TanJian Ci as Demon XiangLiu/FanFenBai not saying what role he plays you have to watch it but he is my favourite character
I will not bore you with repeating the story here as most of it had already been said.
I will just say that many of us viewers have our favourite characters and have especially fallen for the infamous XianLiu or FanFenBei character. Is it the portrayal of his character, Is it the unconditional love he has for XianYao or is it he is just so mesmerising to look at.
Watch it and decide for yourself.
I highly recommend watching this drama and personally I anxiously awaiting season 2.
Nothing compares for me to the excellence and viewing satisfaction of this drama in 2023 so far.

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The Progress of a Newly Gaming Company Plus Cute Romance Between Our Leads

The title of this drama is Sweet Games but I would define it as "Sweet" because of our lead couple being so adorable during their times together. Great amount of chemistry between our leads and the connection between An Ran and Yan Yue. "Games" because the plot revolves around the gaming company; the struggles, to success, to another problem, before finally reaching their goal. My personal favorite is the monologues each episode feature that either Yan Yue or An Ran was monologuing because it was something each have learned about their life, as they were narrating, since it revolved around their life. While it does have a few things I wish would've been better, I still considered this as one of my C-drama favorites for 2023.

Story:
What was great for me:
* Now while some people may find the gaming company part uninteresting, I personally like seeing the growing of a gaming company, who's creating their first gaming app. The success and struggles they faced and finding solutions to their struggles. I mean there's even an episode where it shows how An Ran met with each of her team members and formed her gaming company. It just gives you a feel of how important they were to her as she was to them and I appreciated that.
* The history between An Ran & Yan Yue: I love the flashbacks of their small meetings. It was cute even though it was just a one-sided crush at the time. Then we go to the present time, where he still likes her all of these times and for An Ran to gradually fall in love with Yan Yue, seeing that he's not just some young person with a crush on her, but a person who genuinely loves and cares for her.
* Great supportive teammates & friends for both An Ran & Yan Yue. An Ran's childhood friend actually remains as a friend and not a love interest. Big plus to this drama!
* Their parents while realistic at first questioning their relationship, also are supportive of their relationship.

What lost points for me:
* Yan Yue had a story of his past trauma but this seemed like it was brushed off, so he didn't have much of story focus despite seeming like his character suffered a lot in this drama.
* Hated the breakup part. This drama couldn't avoid the typical C-drama break up cliche. For how this drama was, the breakup part wasn't necessary at all.
* The problem revolving about the copyright issue causing a big mishap for Yan Yue just didn't make sense for me. It seemed a bit random in a way where it was thrown in there as a random problem. It would've made more sense to me if that finding the voice show, Yan Yue was a judge in, caused the problem for Yan Yue than the copyright issue, just because they were getting frustrated with Yan Yue
* No reason why that hacker decided to ruin Gaishi Unparalleled mobile game and other smaller gaming company. Like what was his motive for doing this? Just being a bully to new gaming companies? Make at least some connection otherwise this just felt like a random last minute bad guy.

Although there was this 1 particular English song I wasn't a fan of, music wise, it was great overall. Love the intro and outro songs.

Overall, it's our leading couple that stole the spotlight for this drama. I just love every moment they were together. WinWin's adorable smile really made each scene even more lovable, the important side characters were always supportive, and most importantly, a great happy ending.

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There's something addictive about this problematic show

It's hard to put into words why this show works and personally even moreso than any BL that have come after it, ignoring it's very weird rapey writing (throw kidnapping into the mix) with the most questionable sexual moments (it doesn't matter you have herpes I still want to have sex..............WOW writing award), also the rapey-ness is both ways Bai tries to fuck a sleeping Gu Hai near the end it's just such a problematic show

But looking past this, in this absolutely fucked up way outside of the actual rape, the show manages to capture a gay teenager's horniness remarkably well, it feels completely unintentional the way Gu Hai's behavior actually does translate to actual real life teenagers (despite being an adult with muscles) but its very clear the writer just wrote him like this little explosive ticking bomb of sexual harassment

This is also one of the few shows where the canon couple coming together is done in the best way possible, the backdrop for Bai's life in poverty and how Gu Hai trying to match his life to Bai's and spending meaningful time with him and his family, him trying to improve his writing by tearing a page from Bai's notebook and buying him little presents to show him affection but them reaching the wrong desk, the writer for the actual novel this is based on manages to develop these very simple and small story beats that bring these two characters closer without it feeling very contrived, Gu Hai already does love him in an obsessive way which already breaks out of the tradition of BL story-telling where both of the characters have to climb the ladder to see each other romantically.

It's this one sided lingering that makes Gu Hai problematic but compelling to watch, you know it's stalkerish, creepy and obsessive but you can't look away, there's something about the way he's written that feels weirdly honest, he feels unfiltered and unsanitized, a person who is willing to get his hands dirty and really go there for the person he desires....... but the show doesn't view him as such, the show only sees him as romantic, this confusing delivery really stuck in my mind after all this time despite it being years since I've watched the show.

I can't divorce the show from it's very intriguing and problematic developments, but it being this way also circles back to adding an extra dimension to the show itself that it doesn't even realize it's adding, this isn't HIStory season 1 which JUST feels like you're watching rape on top of rape

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Top tier

One of my top 3 favorite dramas, everything from the music choices to the story line about issues many face in society today, to the romance is so well constructed. The characters each have their own drive and means for what they are doing and how they react to the situations they are put in, they are each a turning gear in a story that strives to show how corruption from power can trickle down into everyone’s every day life, and how with White, growing up with power was something he wasn’t aware of even having, and how he benefited from it without being aware of the system. The romance is a bit of a slow burn, but it has sparks from the get go, and is worth the wait.

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Give it a try

I watched this show during COVID and I actually think the idea of a BL over the internet worked comfortably well, it actually did REMARKABLY good garnering multiple million views which is always great to see for BL,

The show has it's misses, especially in dialogue, it can be a little bit cringe sometimes but you really do see them as a group of friends, there's stereotypical writing for the "nerd meets jock" cliche but I think both the actors do a wonderful job of conveying love for each other, I really don't want to be too harsh on a show that's just meant to be light-hearted and a fun watch for people in quarantine and it's simplicity IS it's charm.

I don't have a large thinkpiece about it, hello stranger was my actual first real life BL experience and it isn't too shabby, even if it ages a little poorly over time. Music is fantastic though my god

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A Love That Breaks Your Heart

I don't like sad endings, so I came into this drama ready to dislike it. However, the story was so well-told, and the characters just wrapped themselves around my heart, especially the lead couple. The ML was captivating, and the FL was courageous and endearing, and their love story tugged at every heartstring. I loved the SML and the SFL - and would have loved a happier ending for them though I can't quite figure out what their ending was with all the changes in fortune as a result of going back and forth in time.

I really liked how the story was told. The writer(s) did a wonderful job, and the director also. It isn't often these days that I give credit to the writers or the directors, but in this case, a job well done! Despite being only fourteen episodes and of shorter durations, there wasn't any time wasted or needless fillers.

All told, this was a masterful piece. Again, despite the tragedy of the situations. Although I rated this a fair re-watch value, I don't think my heart could take it again. I will remember this couple and their love story with affection.

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A love story more than a time-loop mystery plot

I watched this fucking show only for Greg Han Su ("Li Tsu-Wei" in the story) and the first impression it gave was so diabolical I cannot overstate how asinine the first two episodes are (all episodes are an hour long), considering how there are some lingering plot issues down the line aside from a quick fix ending with some loose ends this pacing decision irks me even more than it should, which brings me to my first point of complaint

NEGATIVES
(-) Pacing
The show, even with it's literal theme of time looping, felt like it kept looping and reusing the same romantic/thematic beats again and again, "Huang Yuxuan" (Ko Chia-yen) can only come back to the past and have touching moments with her soulmate THIS many times before it becomes an egregious hairpulling annoyance, it's cute until it feels like the story is freezing up because the person at the receiving end of the feelings can feel conflicted to reciprocate the same feelings again and again and again and again

I love Greg and but the screentime that's given to their budding romance almost feels like the only thing the romance ever does is keep budding, the feelings will pace forward but pseudo-reset when she travels again to the past (the momentum of the plot kind of forces them to not COMPLETELY repeat this weird romantic tug of war of loving/not loving)
Despite how I put this issue here at the start, this actually is to be expected, for some reason this does fit Taiwanese show-making it's this really weird pacing that makes different scenes feel the exact same because they are meant to DO the exact same thing, anyways the fact that this is a noticeable issue even though I watched this show at 2x speed just shows how much downtime there is

(-) The ending
The story wrap up is bad, there's always a copium case to be made for "it's not about the end it's about the journey" and that kind of applies to this show because even with my grievances they actually did a lot of effort into the sequence of events that shape it all up,

That being said it's just such a letdown, the actual conflict resolution for the time-based murder mystery plot kind of happens in the last 10 minutes, insane that this is how little time they give to it after 13 hour-long episodes, THAT'S 13 HOURS of set up with 10 minutes of pay off

(-) Loose-ends
The first loose-end is actually related to Wang Chuan-Sheng, him being gay is dropped in here OUT of the blue, there's like a short introduction to the episode where he's shown to be a gay guy who confesses to his crush, gets rejected, outed and bullied........ then proceeds to drown himself, the show genuinely never uses this AT. ALL.

By the end even Chen Yun Ru gets to repossess her body and have a final arc dedicated to her (which I actually liked), but Wang Chuan-Sheng whose body is paraded around for the entirety of the plot, a person who much similar to Chen Yun Ru decides to take his life is not extended the same courtesy of finding peace with himself, given the outcome of the show Wang Chuan-Sheng actually ends up drowning himself.... a not so happy ending I assume

How do they resolve the paradoxical time loop? They kind of......................... don't? The sophistication of the mechanics of the time loop are irrelevant to the plot it's just moreso just in-place for the sake of the story if anything, they never explain what the conditions really are for making it work (idk if the track glitching/skipping is what causes it I could NOT tell),
But then afterwards we don't really understand WHAT happens, the story hints a lot in different episodes that Mo Chun-Chieh and Chen Yun-Ju would end up together but aside from Chen Yun-Ju abandoning the idea of suicide out of the blue (which is just....... wow that was easy), how does Chen Yun-Ju fall out of love with Li Tsu-Wei? What actually informs her change of heart? The "don't kys" speech by Mo Chun-Chieh? (I'm reading these names from imdb god forbid i remember them)
Also Li Tsu-Wei meets Huang Yu-Hsuan when she's a kid, how the hell do they end up together? Don't they have like a generous age gap, they just DID NOT try for the ending it's such a bad send off (don't tell me to watch the movie version)
What actually happens to the class-monitor turned psycho villain? I guess the crime he commits are only possible when the music recorder allows him to go back in time and commit the crime but.... does he then NEVER commit any crimes? What are the logistics of his psychopathy is he a persona that ONLY existed due to the time loop? It's a very strange loose-end

(-) Mo Chun-Chieh
The mistreatment of Mo by the plot feels genuinely outrageous, he's just a TOTAL cuck, he gets cucked and re-cucked so many times it just felt like why was he even there? Just to get cucked into oblivion? He walks on a cuck carpet to sit on his cuck throne with his cuck crown with his cuck scepter adorned with cuck jewels and with a flick of his wrist he can summon a legion of cuck slaves just my god the show HATES this guy.

The way he's put on the poster makes you believe that he has valuable significance to the plot, and not to say he doesn't but his significance is just stamped with the word CUCK, EVEN IN THE POSTER HE ISN'T HEARING FROM THE EARPHONES HE'S CUCKED OUT OF THAT ARRANGEMENT, neither Huang Yu-Hsuan or Chen Yun-Ju want him (until the very end where it's implied Chen changes her mind)

Just some hateful shit

POSITIVES-ish?
(+/-) Plot
I like and hate the plot at the same time, time looping is a saturated genre but elements of the show are able to stand out, there's come crumbs in the distance that made me just want to keep watching, there's a lot of eyerolls, like how many times will Huang Yu-Hsuan spot Wang Quan Sheng on the street before she has to stop the bus only to miss him again and again COME ON,

But despite some of the corniness the idea of this youthful friendship and these 3 friends having these moments in the summer of 1998 just feels right, Huang Yu-Hsuan patching a lot of the issues Chen-Yun Ju experiences by stabilizing her family and social life and then having that back fire when Chen-Yun Ju repossesses her body and cannot fit the mold that Huang Yu-Hsuan left behind, this way Huang Yu-Hsuan leads Chen-Yun Ju to her death the more she effortlessly fixes her life in small ways throughout the show is GOOD writing, the delivery felt too short by the end but it still works,

The romance is repetitive and drags but it still feels juicy every now and then when the setting freshens up, Lee studying up the ladder to get into the same university as Huang and stealing her heart as he originally did, them re-telling the same horrible joke to each other in different timelines, it's this youthfulness that it captures that is really captivating to watch

The mystery is decent and some revelations such as Lee actually being the guy Huang ends up dating in the future are great, the idea of the villain time travelling is interesting on paper but SO poorly delivered it's outrageous with him straight up nonchalantly visiting Huang and just time travelling casually and then we don't even get why he puts Huang to sleep instead of killing her but decides to kill Lee.... well I guess that would end the plot right then and there

(+) Acting
With some glaring misses, I think the main case did a pretty good job and it was pretty easy to tell who was in whose body and at which time because the actors did a good job of channeling some mannerisms that set their personas apart from one another which I actually thought was cool

(+) Greg Han Hsu is insanely hot

(+) Production is actually surprisingly good, there's a lot of different shooting locations, there's some scenes that are repeatedly shown with different new smaller insights and perspectives, some dream sequences that aren't even real are fully shot and put in that really enhances the experience (I particularly love the one with the psycho hall monitor's backstory where they show that he was behind the curtain when Lee came to visit Huang after the "car crash" even though it looks comically stupid it just makes the scene a little bit more sinister than it originally was)

Conclusion
Even with how much critique I've packed into this review, I watched it till the end because I do think there's elements of the show that are very compelling, but the ending is just NOT even there it's such an afterthought and the show feels like it's constantly rehashing thematic beats throughout

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WTH!?

I watched this years ago but I'll write a review now. Honestly after watching this I did not watch any films and dramas for atleast 2 years, that is how traumatised I was. I am writing a review now because I saw people comment how awesome this drama is/was. Anyone who thinks this one is good needs to see a doctor immediately.
Type is a victim of SA and what do we get? A male lead who forces himself on drunk Type and has xxx with him. "But he liked it", these type of comments make me question humanity. What I hate about thai especially thai bl dramas are these type of plots were SA is swiped under the rug. Don't touch it if you are not going to give these type of storylines justice. Only one scene, Type's trauma is shown only in one scene and then it is forgotten and what Tharn did was okay because he is the male lead. BS! I hate Tharn with a I have, his friend is no different than him. He druged his ex boyfriend and hired men to gang rxxx him. What did Tharn do? Wail in pity how he has been cheated on. The poor boy had to go thru such a traumatic experience only for his boyfriend to call him a hoe. Not even a sorry, not one single word from Tharn to his ex boyfriend who suffered and developed a mental illness even after learning what had truly happened. He only took action after his friend tried to do the same to Type what a hero right? What about his friend? Nothing, nothing happens to him. They just brush it with a "he loved Tharn, that is why he did what he did." Oh he got punched by Tharn for trying to touch his man.

I'll give it a 2 and only for the music nothing else. Such dramas should be banned. Honestly my brain froze most of the plot since it was triggering. I dont recall much but anyone who thinks this one is a good one needs help asap. Anyone who says this is just a drama does not understand the severity of the ever-changing mindset of humans.

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The dynamic is nice but the execution was mediocre

I really was just watching this for the SantaEarth vibe, and that was lit, but the rest was okay at best. There was a lot of them both crying, a lot of sitting in misunderstanding and unwilling to reveal things, the jealousy was low key annoying when Santa finally realized his feelings, and all the side characters felt flat as cardboard cutouts. Rather than talking about showering and laying in bed together, I feel like they could have used however many precious minutes were wasted doing that to actually tell a story with dynamic, complex characters. And I can agree w everyone else that the last two episodes didn't really add to the content as it was. It didn't show a new side of any characters, didn't change their relationships at all, and overall was just...filler? I'm disappointed bc I feel like they both could be great actors with scripts that made them come alive more.

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Such a Sweet Drama

this is actually one of the few Dramas that made me cry. I connected with the female Lead fast and it was really fun to watch this stubborn duo solving crimes. it got a little annoying in the middle when those two male leads were kind of fighting over the Female lead even when it was kind of obvious that she had Han Zhang already in her heart.
But the acting in this drama is so good. The funeral scene from her Godfather made me cry. It is just a shame that we didn't get so many fight scenes. And the few we got were really good with the choreography.
But all in all a sweet Drama to watch.

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