The first ever Korean drama that had me literally crying from laughing so hard...

I enjoyed this drama (though I'm not sure yet if its a "love" versus "like," [my other rankings are "meh," or "nah"]).

You'll laugh, you'll cry--or at least I did. I enjoyed the ghost angle, I also enjoyed the idea of a magician who did all his 'tricks' using ghosts--such a clever approach! I liked the love/hate relationship between the leads that burgeoned into love. I liked the historical flashbacks--especially getting to see Park Hae Jin in historical costume. I enjoyed all the characters, I did not feel that anyone was too one-dimensional (except, perhaps, for the demon who seriously, had only met the FL like once before becoming totally obsessed for 2000 years....). The person I felt most bad for was the SML--especially after he was possessed--I'm so glad they did not have him arrested or anything at the end! I would have totally cried to see that pure-hearted boy go to jail for something he did not do, but that everyone else had proof he did. But I also never really shipped him with the FL (and believe me, I almost ALWAYS get SMLS) because he just waited to long (you snooze, you lose, buddy).

I have few complaints. I do wish the costume designer had put the FL in clothes that fit her--she always seemed to be wearing clothes that were several sizes too big for her. Contrasted against the sleek ML, she always looked a bit unkempt in comparison (unless she was in historical dress or her police uniform). But that is really minor.

I would recommend this one to those who like supernatural but modern K-dramas. Believable relationships and characters, sweet love story, coherent plot, exciting action, hilarity, interesting look into Korean shaman culture (assuming its an accurate representation)--all in all, its a worthy watch if that is a genre that appeals to you! :)

Leia Mais

Unexpectedly enjoyable.

I started out pretty skeptical with this one, the reviews were mixed, but I had liked Liu Xue Yi in a couple of other dramas so I wanted to see one where his character finally got the girl.

Do not go into this one expecting (a) anything like historical accuracy, (b) medical accuracy, or (c) anything else remotely related to real life in ancient China, but if you go into it with the idea of just enjoying yourself, I think you'll like it. Liu Xue Yi was brilliant and was clearly having fun with the role. I also liked the way Wang Zi Wei played her character. I personally enjoyed their chemistry and thought it quite believable.

There are mixed reviews about the little kid, but I thought he seemed like any too-intelligent kid--bratty at times but manageable. His mother did not let him run rampant and she did hold him accountable. I liked his developing relationship with Liu Xue Yi--and while I at times I thought her obsession with finding and marrying her 'baby daddy' was a bit too dramatic, each time someone tried to take advantage of the fact, she never fell for it--or had a good reason for playing along.

The supporting characters were cute and even though there was a jealous woman for awhile, she ended up making better decisions in the end and finding her own reciprocated love for herself.

I wish they had provided a few more details about how the FL got pregnant in the first place, I mean, I get what happened, but its so disjointed that you have to put the pieces together yourself.

If you don't want to think too hard, want to enjoy a handsome couple falling in love, and a happy ending, this is the show for you. If you have super-high standards for accuracy and realism, then this is not the show for you. Personally, I find reality harsh enough that I enjoy the escape into an alternate one. :D

Leia Mais

One of my favorites of the fantasy genre

(Warning: spoilers likely below)

The fantasy genre in general is my favorite, so I'm already a little biased. This one was a gem, however, The world building was excellent, the mystery build up good, and the relationship between the FL and ML was sweet and non-toxic.

The sound track was very good--and used very well, there was this eerie song that really set the mood during certain scenes (like the one where she is revealed to be the Goddess to the entire court...).

Both leads did very well. They were comfortable in their roles and you could really believe in the ML as a teenage king who genuinely wanted to do good by his country (though why he decided to make that one evil guy prime minister....I thought at first he'd done it on purpose knowing that it would drive Yin Xiao [way cool sword btw!] to execute him, but nope, turns out he was serious?). Both evil main characters gave me the absolute creeps which meant they did their jobs well.

And of course, there is the dad who's just great. And for once, they had an actor of the appropriate age play someone's father--in a period drama based on ancient Chinese culture where marriage at an early age was common, a man who, in his late teens, became a father would not be older than forty and that actor was perfectly believable in that role.

If you like the fantasy genre, I don't think you'll be disappointed in this one. Its not perfect (I haven't yet watched one that is), but its enjoyable, the ending for the couple is happy (though, fair warning, for few else). There's also some good lessons about Machiavellian displays of power (e.g. making 'deities' in order to maintain power).

Leia Mais

Spettacolo molto bello con un uomo molto bello*

*That's with Google Translate, so forgive me if you're an Italian speaker.

Using my personal rating system of "loved," "liked," "meh," & "nah," this was mostly a “loved”.

I am writing this review after re-watching show from start to finish for the first time since it came out (which is when I watched it the first time).

Things I liked:
Characters. Vincenzo Cassano. I loved the complexity of the character. That he had moments of fear, loss, and humanity. I loved how well he was played by Song Joong Ki who, despite being known for his youthful appearance (I completely believed him as the twin teenagers in the Arthdal Chronicles), can also pay a ruthless bad@$$. I liked Hong Cha Young as well. I remember reading comments/reviews that some did not like her character, but I liked her better on the re-watch. She was outspoken, outgoing, irreverent, and brave. She was not this sweet, innocent female lead who fit all the tropes of a pure heart and soul. She, too, was a complexly written character. Ok Taec Yeon did an amazing job playing two sides of the same person. He did such a good job as a monster, I’m currently re-watching “Secret Royal Inspecter & Joy” just to see him play a nice person. Lol! And finally, Choi Myung Hee because this character broke all the tropes about evil women. She was horrible but it had nothing to do with her gender or jealousy. I liked the plaza residents, their different personalities, their quirks.

Other things: I liked the moments of fear, tension interspersed with tragedy but also love and humor (even slapstick) because real life is that way. There are times when we are crying because we’re laughing so hard and then crying because of sorrow. I also liked the tension—I had a hard time predicting what would be coming up in the plot. For example, I did NOT predict who would become the main antagonist in the show. Usually, if I questioned a plot point (for example, when Vincenzo goes to threaten the CEO with a gun, I could not figure out why he just didn’t shoot him—it was so out of character for him to hold a gun on somebody and then talk…but the next episode explained it all) it would all be revealed later and would make sense—some inconsistencies aside.

Set/music/styling. This was well done many times throughout the show. The first scenes of VC in the vineyard and then defending himself against assassination were gold. When he first defended the Plaza residents. When he was riding that horse…(though I did which they had gotten him a pair of tighter pants—not even from the aesthetic sense, but from a horseback riding perspective, he was going to have some serious chafing…).

Things I did not like so much:
Motivation. Those were not always fleshed out well. I mean, why was Babel Group ALWAYS so horrible!? It was like their mission statement was “do as much evil as possible even if doing legitimate business might actually be more profitable in the long run…”. They were actively killing off their own employees and test subjects—that just does not make sense from a business standpoint. Even though I liked the fact that Choi Myung Hee’s gender was not usually made an issue in the show, I did not understand why she was such a terrible person. It was not entirely clear why she disliked the FL on first sight nor why she always chose killing people off as the best option. The way they introduced her in the beginning, she seemed like she would be a sympathetic character, but then once she got to Wusan, the gloves came off (but they imply she was the hitman-by-proxy when she worked for the gov’t, too). The evil main lead and evil female lead just kept doing stupid things to piss VC off. They SAW the pictures of what he’d done in Italy, why on earth did they think that would not happen to them!? (And why did CMH always scream in terror every time she was threatened--like she had not wrought such on others!? And does no one in South Korea own a washing machine of their own?)

Inconsistencies, unrealities. The pigeon rescue was a bit much…cute, but beyond my ability to suspend disbelief. Why was VC always using civilians!? He was a mafia consigliere, even if he did not have the same level of connections in SK, why would he ever trust these serious jobs to civilians!? I get that is how they included the Plaza residents in the story, but it did not make sense from a logical point of view—especially when they wrote VC’s character to be so brilliant. And how did all the Plaza residents turn out to be professional fighters!?--I felt like they threw that in there at the last minute with zero logical set up in the plot beforehand.

Violence. It was bit too much, for me personally, especially towards the end. It made it hard to like VC’s character fully since he was capable of such ‘creativity’. They try to explain it away, but still, for me, personally, that was one of my dislikes of the show.

Conclusion. All inconsistencies aside, I pretty much loved this show. I would recommend it if you like k-drama thrillers and/or Song Joong Ki. :D

Leia Mais

“Nothing could go wrong! Nothing could go wrong!….oh no! It all went wrong!”

*******Spoilers ahead! You are warned!*****

Using my personal rating system of "loved," "liked," "meh," & "nah," this rates a “liked”. It would have been a “loved” but…that ending!

Things I liked:
This is the first true period fantasy Kdrama I’ve seen. Occasionally there’s a made-up king (like Moon Embracing the Sun, 100 Days My Prince) or even a dynasty (Lovers of the Red Sky), but I’ve never seen a truly made up country/world before in Kdramaland (correct me if I’m wrong). And I loved it. I liked the world-building, the costumes, and even applaud the stylists for making short hair a part of the ‘look’ of that world so they did not have to mess with wigs (though I am a sucker for a guy with long hair…). Nearly all of the characters felt three-dimensional. I liked the bromances—especially with the Crown Prince and the ML. At first, I thought the CP was going to be another evil guy, but he grows on you after a while (he was clearly entitled and arrogant, but he never forced Mu-deok to come be with him and he could have). I wanted to punch the evil dude every time he smirked—which meant he was doing his job right. I loved that Park Dang Gu and Jin Cho Yeon got married despite everyone's objections. I also liked that Jin Cho Yeon only did the awful jealous girl thing for a couple of episodes and then got over it. I hate the jealous bat $*** crazy woman trope and am glad they did not use it for long. I thought they did an excellent job of mixing comedy with seriousness—in the way that real life can be hilarious but also tragic at the same time. I liked the magic system (though outside of ‘soul shifting’ it was not all that well fleshed out).

Things I did not like and/or remaining questions:
Why did you have to do my girl Naksu like that!? Wasn’t the whole benefit of her having taken over a divine priestess body so $*** like that wouldn’t happen? She has been used and manipulated her whole life and then at the end she’s forced to kill the one she loves!? Pfftt, I say! Pfft! Season Two had better make up for it! And why was everyone always going on about how weak Mu-deok was!? She was a slave whose daily life consisted of hard physical labor. There’s even a scene where she’s carrying all kinds of luggage up a mountain. And why would you lose your martial arts ability even if you lost your internal power? You could still fight, but just not with magic. Why did none of the ‘grown ups’ realize that just telling the ML he could not do magic was never going to be enough? That it had the opposite effect? They kept taking the ‘because I told you so’ route—and when has that ever worked? And, seriously, it did not matter whose soul was in Jang Kang’s body when the ML was conceived, it was still JK’s body that did the work meaning that the ML was JK’s biological son. I get why he denied him in the end, to save his life, but it was stupid that he had been denying him since the beginning—and even blaming his wife for somehow not knowing that her husband had been soul switched!? Pfftt, I say! Pfft!

Anyways, slight inconsistencies aside, I loved this up until about the last 20 minutes. Season Two has a LOT to answer for....

Leia Mais

cute little rom-com

Using my personal rating system of "loved," "liked," "meh," & "nah," this rates a "liked" but I'm unlikely to rewatch.

Things I liked:
This was a cute, funny drama. It was pretty harmless in that (once the leads got together), their relationship was good. I enjoyed the fact that the side characters, including our SML, all wound up with someone worthy (except for Kang Yoo Sung the Second, but he also seemed to get over his crush by the end...?). I thought this was an interesting storyline--and I wonder what it was like for the actors to play the people whose job it is to manage their lives. (Did they develop more empathy as a result? Was it an accurate portrayal? ) I enjoyed the fact that there were no true villains, just some deeply unhappy people that made mistakes. There was no heinously jealous, one-dimensional female antagonist.

Thinks I did not like:
I did not entirely understand the point of this drama. I guess it was "slice of life"? There was no real climax, no real conflict that was not cleared up within a short period of time, no theme or mystery carrying us through the show, the individual episodes fed into each other (versus each one being an individual 'adventure') yet at the same time did not seem to be taking us anywhere. I also do not like plots where the ML treats the FL like crap and then all of a sudden she forgives him and they get together. Granted, they did a slightly better job of this than usual where she gradually realizes that he's done all this stuff for her behind the scenes (and he's totally sweet to her once he does confess instead of remaining a total jerk like in other dramas)--and she even confronts him about how he used to treat her, but since his behavior went on for years, I find her ready forgiveness and falling for him to be a little rapid after years of bullying.

Random question: Does anyone know how Korean law works around free speech and freedom of the press? It seems that you can say whatever you want, but you'll be sued right away if any of it is false. Is there censorship? Or just a highly litigious system? Just curious. :)

Leia Mais

One of my favorites

Of course, you should be warned that it is virtually impossible to write a review without some level of spoiler, so here we go:

This is one of my favorites. It was an unexpected favorite since I generally despise time travel plots. That being said, this one did it in a way that was not annoying: rather than the time paradox (which is why I don't like TT plots), they used the 'split universe concept' as when, time changes, a new timeline is created. Even though neither the paradox nor alternate timelines is realistic, for some reason, the latter is way more tolerable.

I was not much interested in William Chan until this show. He's not conventionally handsome, but I definitely became a fan of his after this one. Dimples get me every time.

The plot has a few holes here and there, of course (for example, how exactly did the emperor destroy the MAGICAL sect!? Aren't they magical and powerful!? Also, she tried to change the time to save her love, but then ended up killing tons of innocent mages when the timeline changed...so what exactly was accomplished there?).

The relationship between the leads is solid. Misunderstandings do not last long, they clarify things quickly, and you don't get frustrated. The SFL, despite being in love with the ML, does not do all sorts of bat $**** crazy things to get the ML, she ends up accepting that he loves someone else and even becomes friends with the FL. Same with the SML (you will end up with a bit of SMLS, but the ML is worthy so it won't be that bad). He does not try all sorts of manipulative things to keep the FL by his side and ends up supporting her happiness no matter what--even if it does not include him.

Costuming and set design was very well done. I liked the costumes of male actors especially. It was all very consistent and even with a few appreciated details such as the FL's earrings were always in the french hook style that would have been common in an ancient period (not the clearly store bought hooks, though you could see those on the other actresses). The males' wigs very rarely came off in the back (common in lower-budget productions, it must be hard to get the back to stick down, which is why they should use the braid option a la "I Will Never Let You Go" [even if its not historically accurate, in my opinion its better than the clear indication of an improperly secured wig]). Now, the actual hairstyles of the males especially left much to be desired as the ornaments over the top knots were almost always hideous (and why did the Chief Mage have a beehive for several episodes!?), but that's a minor objection. And the accessories designer was clearly in love with baskets and spikes as that was a common theme in headgear. And the FLs costume designer was clearly in love with knife pleats, but we can let that slide.

The soundtrack was good, it was used appropriately, I was not annoyed with any of it. The fight scenes were pretty bad @$$, but they could have done a better job of faking full-size armies during the battle scenes--or just skipped battles scenes altogether.

Rewatch: I've only watched the entire thing once. I've gone back and rewatched all the FL/ML scenes, but in reality will find myself watching the next scene because it is well done altogether and then will realize what I'm doing and fast forward to the next romantic scene. ;P

All in all, I recommend it--especially to those skeptical of time travel plots. There are those, of course, who would disagree, but that is the beauty of Asian Drama Land. There's something for everyone.. :D

PS. I wanted to add that I disagree with her giving up all her magic in the end and the ML is all happy because he can now protect her instead of the other way around. Pffft.

Leia Mais

An interesting romance drama about a female-dominated society.

Using my personal rating system of "loved," "liked," "meh," & "nah," this is a “liked”.

Things I liked:
That it portrayed a female-dominated society. It made for an interesting twist. I liked the chemistry between the leads—especially Shen Ye towards Shu Cheng (gave me some Ye Hua after he found Bai Qing again vibes). I loved the sis-mance between Murong Wan Qing and Shu Cheng. I liked that the Crown Princess and Shu Cheng worked together in end. I liked that Shu Cheng stood her ground against Shen Ye about what she wanted for her life and refused any other option. I liked that Yuan Hao was the ML in this—its actually why I started watching it b/c of watching The Romance of Hua Rong (though if YH is going to wear a wig, it MUST be a sides-braided one like the one he wore for RHR, because…well, just watch RHR and you’ll know why *fans self, contemplates cold shower *).

Things I disliked:
That it portrayed a female-dominated society as if it would mirror a male-dominated one. As in, the only difference in the portrayal of the society was the gender of who was in charge. I would have liked to see a bit more creativity and critical thought going into what a truly female-dominated society would look like.
The MF little bits of hair in front of the ML lead’s face! OMG! Why do that do that? I spend every second fantasizing about cutting them off. The only thing that saved it (I have literally refused to watch dramas [I’m talking about YOU Novoland Pearl Eclipse!] where they do this to the ML’s wig because it bugs me so much) is that when he was in his role as her husband, his hair was different.
I didn’t like that the two servants always with Shu Cheng were treated like background pieces—in that they had no roles other than to stand there and to obey without question. I get that is how many servants were treated in the historical setting this drama was based upon, but they had so much screen time, it would have been nice for them to have actual personalities and interactions.

Final thoughts:
I ended up watching this twice. The first time on YouTube and then again when it came to Viki. I enjoyed it both times. It’s a good pallet-cleanser. I could put it down when I needed to go do something else, but I never left it on hold for a long time, either. I’m curious to see the four main leads in other things. 

Leia Mais

A less stupid version of the “Journey of Chong Zi”

Using my personal rating system of "loved," "liked," "meh," & "nah," this is a "liked"/“meh”.

The deets:
Two preteens have a destined encounter that results in the preteen version of our ML (a crown prince) being framed for murder. He is smuggled out of the palace by his would-be baby daddy to go be a novice in a pugilistic sect instead. Our preteen FL, devastated that she was the cause of the crown prince being accused of murder, sends a prayer to the heavens that he will rest in peace which inexplicably causes a curse to be placed on our ML (wtf!?). The curse will not come to pass if he does not meet with her again before his 18th birthday. But, of course, just before he turns 18, she finds her way to his isolated valley within the sect’s territory. Lots and lots of hijinks ensue…

What I liked:
Getting to see Alen Fang in another drama. Though I’d like to see him as an ML for once instead of the eternally doomed SML (always the bridesmaid, never the bride…). I liked that many of the male leads were easy to look at (an not one of them had the stupid thin and long hair pieces in front of their face). I liked Zhu Yan’s character. At first, I wasn’t sure, but she grew on me. I liked that the younger prince got together with his love despite everyone’s best attempts to keep them apart. I like that the General finally got his girl in the end and she (Bai Xue Lu) turned out to be a decent person in the end (I wonder how tall that actress is?). I liked that this was a xuanyuan/wuxia/xianxia because I’m not into historical reality (much less inaccurate history because that, in many ways, is worse by ‘whitewashing’ history; though if I’m going to watch a xuanyuan with Xiao Zhan, can we please just have a season 2 of DouLuo Continent?). I liked that there were distinct sets and costumes as you went to the different ‘kingdoms’ across the land.

What I disliked:
I totally could have done without the would-be baby daddy character (the sect leader [seriously is there some sort of law in China that Han Dong must be cast in at least 50% of active productions at all times!? That dude is in like every other drama out there]). He didn’t know wtf he wanted and kept messing around with the ML’s head in some bizarre effort to get revenge for ML’s mother (his lost love) and then gave up and went and did it himself. He knew that ML wanted to live like a monk but decided to foist a trifling girl (Bai Xue Lu) upon him, hoping that she would somehow inspire enough feelings in him for a cause the ML had no interest in taking up that he would be able to survive an ordeal that literally no other sect member had ever survived before. When ML displayed interest in another woman, at first Sect Leader tried to separate them and hook him back up with the trifling girl. Then he gives up on that and decides that our FL will do. But then as soon as the ML develops real feelings for our FL, Sect Leader decides that its time for our trifling girl to come back upon the scene and take him back. *sigh *
I didn’t like that the trifling girl’s only goal in life seemed to make a powerful marriage. The way her character was written, she was intelligent enough and strong enough not to need a man to get her what she wanted—yet they forced her into the role of b@t$*** crazy jealous woman and made her spend 2/3rds of the drama going after dudes she didn’t like and ignoring the one she did.
Minor point of dislike: If you didn’t know what “shifu” meant, you will by the end of the drama, since its every third word that Zhu Yan says.

Final thoughts:
I stand by the title of this review: If you were disappointed by Journey of Chong Zi and/or found Journey of Flower too much of a case study in toxic relationships, I recommend this one instead. It’s basically the same idea but involves a lot less yelling at the screen.

Leia Mais

Maid’s Revenge 2.0

Using my personal rating system of "loved," "liked," "meh," & "nah," this is a “meh”.

Spoilers ahead b/c I didn't follow the rules of writing a review. :D

The deets:
Young woman is forced to marry a comatose young man to “bring him luck” mainly so she can be blamed when he dies. This comatose person turns out to be the younger brother of her boyfriend (SML—though MDL has him first in the list after the FL. To me the SML is whomever DOESN’T end up with the FL) who is also getting married that same day to her cousin. This is supposedly the best she can get because, through absolutely no fault of her own, she was roofied and assaulted (by said ‘boyfriend’ in the hopes of forcing her to be his concubine—however ML interferes with the aftermath of this plan and SML never gets to “take responsibility” for his actions). However, in the classic manner of all patriarchal societies, it is of course, somehow, the girl’s fault whenever this happens. Anyways, ML does not die and turns out to be a decent chap. There is plenty of framing/blaming/torturing of the FL during this time—including causing her to have a miscarriage. SML succeeds in knocking off ML (or so we think…) and takes FL as his concubine (because she wants to stay in the family home and find out what happened to ML). There is lots of back-and-forth framing/blaming/torture between the SML’s three wives (and we’re expected to believe that SML only made FL sleep with him once more) while SML tries to gain control of a lot of local businesses and essentially makes a lot of dumb decisions and gets himself into a hot mess of debt. Our ML reenters the scene, totally not dead and having grown some huevos during his absence. After only a brief period of doubting our FL’s intentions, he works with her to bring down the SML in a dramatic showdown.

What I liked:
The FL had some steel in her the whole time. She wasn’t an idiot, didn’t take blame for things that were not her fault, and always got revenge. I liked that the misunderstanding between the FL and the ML about why she married the SML was short-lived and that they worked together equally towards a solution. It had a happy ending. I liked that it was a short drama. I liked that the costumes appeared to be a well-intended effort at historical accuracy (I find that, for especially the Western clothing, the attempts are half-@$$ed at best with accurate costuming in Republican-era dramas).

What I disliked:
The assault for one. They did a decent job of not showing a blow-by-blow, but it was still there. Mother-in-law was an awful person, yet both the ML and FL were nice to her and mourned her loss. This drama also asked you to dispend disbelief a great deal and to just trust that things had ‘magically’ happened in a certain way.

Should you watch this?
I don’t know. It was short, the male leads were easy on the eyes, the FL was not a brainless idiot. I only watched this because I watched Maid’s Revenge (…speaking of brainless FLs…) and I wanted to see Dai Gao Zheng in something else. If you’re in a dry spell and can handle the fact that the FL has the trauma of assault in her past, then it’s a quick watch.

Leia Mais

A cute adventure story with romance

Using my personal rating system of "loved," "liked," "meh," & "nah," this is a “liked/cheerful meh”.

Things I liked: Yuan Hao in a pirate costume. Period. I think that is 99% of the reason I watched this a third time when it aired on Viki (previously on YouTube). I liked that there was a reasonable progression of character growth. Our ML learned not to be self-centered and possessive while our FL gained a great deal of maturity. I liked that the FL stayed strong throughout—yes, she was annoyingly immature and stubborn at times, but she grew on me. For example, in the beginning of the story her mission is to leave the island and she does not let anything get the way of it, not even marriage. I liked the side characters (eyebrow guy was the best!) and that the SML got his own happy ending with one of the SFLs. There are cute and funny parts to the show that I enjoyed.

Things I did not like so much: Don’t go into this expecting a great deal of logic, it’s not so unbelievable that I could not stand it, but you do have to suspend disbelief. I did not like that the only time the FL and ML slept together was when one or both of them was roaring drunk. There wasn’t a huge among of depth to the “evil” characters, but like I just said, logic really isn’t this drama’s strong point. However, I, personally, have no major objections to this drama.

Need something light and fluffy with a handsome ML to admire? This is the drama for you. Enjoy well-written, gritty reality and historical accuracy? Don’t touch this one with a ten-foot poll. :)

Leia Mais

Still mad about the need for a second season but not mad at the second season itself.

I will start out by saying that I did not think this was as good as the first season. This felt more like a really long epilogue to the first season. If they had just dumped the conflict, this could have been nothing more than a couple more episodes added to the end of the first season (as in skipped all the inspection and Princess drama, brought Seo Eun Woo to the royal palace as a female Royal Physician so she could save the Queen’s life and get awarded her annulment).

However, as second seasons go it was not truly disappointing, either. I do like that they gave Seo Eun Woo and Yoo Se Yeop their happy ending (btw: why all the complaints in the comments about their lack of chemistry? I thought they were adorable. Chemistry doesn’t have to be all smoldering, passionate looks. Their chemistry was the chemistry of two compatible minds and souls).

I cried for Granny especially since she’d been done so wrong by her own family (seriously, wtf blame victims/survivors for the horror that befell them!?). I did like that the Royal Physician decided to be a good guy in the end (seriously, how tall is that actor?). I liked that the clinic got to go on with its happy workers away from the drama of the royal court.

If you watched S1, watch S2. Or at least the last episode of S2 to get everything wrapped up nicely. ?

Leia Mais

I hereby award this drama one of my very rare “loved ratings”…

Using my personal rating system of "loved," "liked," "meh," & "nah," this is a “loved”.

What I liked: Thank you to the writers, directors, etc. for opening this with a disclaimer that was the equivalent of “in a galaxy long, long ago and far, far away…”. Setting this up as alternate reality gave everyone more freedom to enjoy this drama since it, in many ways, had nothing to do with historical reality. So if you’re one of those complaining about the lack of historical accuracy, I respectfully refer you back to the first five minutes of the first episode. Kim Young Dae is just as adorable in period costume as in modern attire. He did a great job of portraying a range of human emotions without ever overdoing it or making his character seem inconsistent. The character of Ye So Rang was great. She was funny and smart—and best of all, stayed that way throughout the entire drama instead of suddenly becoming dumb to make the ML look good. Lee Shin Won was adorable from start to finish and I love that, at the end, they hinted he would get to be in a relationship with an amazing woman, too. I loved the head lady and head eunuch—they were fun to watch, as well as the shaman. In fact, I pretty much loved all the supporting characters, except of course, for the evil ones (is it just me or did the main evil guy always looked stoned!?). There were some great scenes, too, that I had to rewind and watch at least once more: the scenes of the boys reading erotica for the first time (and the one of YSR jumping up and down to get all of the books out from under her skirts…lol!), when the King went to rescue YSR from jail, any scene where the King was being awkward or unsure, when LSW rescued YSR first and they’re both all “aren’t we missing someone?...” and more.

What I did not like: There was not really much. I was not interested in the side romance between the writer and the waitress at the tea shop—though his side kicks were hilarious—but that’s a just personal “meh”. Any objections I would normally have with a lack of historical accuracy were solved by the opening disclaimer and since I prefer fantasy over reality in dramaland, I was relieved not to have to worry about it. I did wonder how such an independent woman like YSR would take to being queen (like I did the FL in 100 Days My Prince), but they even addressed that on her wedding day so I was satisfied. Other than that, nothing horribly obvious comes to mind.

Would I recommend this? If you’re like me and prefer period costume dramas over historical drams, then yes. If you like a happy ending, then yes. If you cried during the Red Sleeve and need to make it up, watch this. If your cup of tea is gritty, dark reality, then no, this will just make you mad. :D

Leia Mais

Surprisingly not too bad

Using my personal rating system of "loved," "liked," "meh," & "nah," this was a “liked”.

I rather enjoyed this even though it was pretty low budget. This… I guess… is sort of a xianxia. Took me a minute to recognize the ML as the cat demon from Blue Whisperer. He did a nice job. I especially liked the FL. I thought the actress’ appearance was unique for cdramaland in that she was not pretty like a doll but had a strong sort of beauty that matched the intelligence of the character she was portraying. There were a few plot holes, but nothing so bad I had to give it up.

If you’re bored on a Friday or Saturday night and need a movie to watch that won’t make you work too hard, check this out. (If you read a lot of my reviews, you’ll see this expression copied and pasted—you can tell how exciting my social life is!! Lol!).

Leia Mais

Not a bad prosecutor show.

Spoilers.

Using my personal rating system of "loved," "liked," "meh," & "nah," this was a cheerful “meh”.

I neither disliked nor liked this one. It was fast-paced enough to keep me interested. Not sure why they thought that hair was a good look for Doh Kyung Soo, but I guess it fit with the ‘crazy’ theme? I usually like a little romance but wasn’t mad that there was none in this show. There were decent moments of comedy. I like that the FL was smart and brave, but I thought she unconditionally supported JJ a little too much. There were some things I did not expect—in a good way. I thought it was a little unrealistic how Jin Jung always seemed to have it together and was a step ahead of the bad guy (it was also equally unrealistic that he could beat up people and not get fired--and thrown in jail...). I liked that Oh Do Hwan decided to be a decent person in the end (though I was always a bit unsure of his original motivations—like why was he always attaching himself to powerful people? What was the objective?). Bad guys defeated, good guys win.

Conclusions: Not a bad watch. If you’re in a drama dry spell, I would rec’d checking it out.

Leia Mais