A good cdrama sequel to the taiwanese original drama

1/ STORY:

It is based on the concept of time space overlapping where an apartment becomes the point of junction of events happening in 2021 and 2022 with a 4 months gap.

The ML from 2022 defends a female friend (SFL) who is divorcing her husband (SML). The case leads to 2022ML being sent to live in an apartment where he meets FL from 2021 from 10:06 to 10:52. The apartment is a point from where they can go to 2022 ML time space using the front door or to 2021 FL time space using the backdoor.

It appears that SFL is ML's friend and SML is FL's friend and their divorce in 2022 leads to tragedy. While 2022ML and 2021FL are bickering and discovering each other, they try to save their married friends from that tragedy. They ask the help of the 2021 version of the ML and they go thought different situations and cases in 2021 which modifies 2022.

2/WHAT I LIKED:

- The relationship between the 2022ML and 2021FL. It starts in a weird but funny way. They are forced to be roommates and to learn about each other. The romance which ensues is very cute and convincing with their fun and loving moments and their moments of doubts. They develop deep feelings for each other. Their Love for the other ultimately requires each of them to make a determining choice.
- The back and forth between 2021 and 2022. I thought the time travel was pretty well made and quite easy to follow. It kept a level of logic that made it admissible.
- The ending was really well made for me with an unexpected turn of event and a soothing time to wrap up everything.

3/WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:

- Usual break up which does not last long in term of story time but too long in term of episodes.
- Cases are a little bit cliché: cheating/divorce, bullying from corporation, gambling problems, sexual harassment...
- The usual lecturing about family, friendship, behaving right, forgiving...
- The ending is way too lenient for the bad guys. They get nothing serious despite their bad deeds.

4/CHARACTERS:
- Loved the leads: 2022ML, 2021 FL, 2021ML.. I thought the three characters and their relationships were well crafted. They are the best part of this drama. The lead actors were convincing too.
- SFL: Bland character who is the cause of everything.
- SML: Bro, just divorce her, have a good divorcee party and find yourself a new gf
- The mistress: Not so bright but funny.
- The brother: A liability
- The rival lawyer: Why so much hate?

4/ OST: The songs were ok. Contributed to the cute romantic tone.

5/ REWATCH VALUE:
Maybe I will rewatch it after some time.

6/OVERALL:
This looks like a remake of Meet me @10:06 but it is rather a sequel. If the original concept of time space overlapping and the early episodes have similar situations, the development of the plot and story is totally different. It is possible to say that the phenomenon happens with a different couple. The story is good and the lead characters are endearing. I will recommend it as it is one cdrama that I enjoyed watching since months. 8.5 /10.

Leia Mais

Huge failure in the writing

WHAT I LIKED:
-Ra Ra : little princess lost in the world. She is naïve but optimistic and she would tell you bluntly what is ok and what is not. She has an adorable cheerful personality and she slowly shows a mature side of herself.
-Jun: a mysterious but kind guy who does his best to survive by himself but also to help everyone around him.
- The great chemistry between Ra Ra and Jun
- Ha Young and Seung Gi : usual friends who become lovers. They are cute and friendly people
- The women at the hair saloon: crazy women but warm and funny people
- Grandpa: a kind person who helps them all openly and also secretly. I liked his background story
- The head of detective agency : the most fun of them all.
- Dr Cha : I really had a problem with him at first as he was weird with Ra Ra and tried to woo her. He became more likeable though.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:
The writer managed to portray very endearing characters with their interactions describing a lot of love and care from one to the others. It made the general athmosphere nice, fun and heartwarming. But the problem is that the writer never knew where to head to. There is no clear plotline and it navigates from a situation to another situation which are either cute (grandpa story, Jae min's story) or confusing (Ra Ra's father's death, stalker story), or irritating (fake cancer, fake wedding) until the final episodes with silly useless revelations and a ridiculous ending.

The writer basically never managed to tell a story and was mostly leading on the audience to manipulate it and extort emotions from it. Lame.

MUSIC: It was ok

REWATCH: Why rewatch? Don't even watch.

OVERALL : 10 for the main characters. 2 for the story. Overall: 6. I clearly don't recommend this drama. It is a waste of time.

Leia Mais

This is not a romance. This is a missed opportunity of romance.

This drama is not the love story of people who have feelings for each other, love each other and end up living happily ever after. This is a drama about what people can do to people who love them when they do not return their love feelings. So, the characters are most of the time cowardly, manipulative, pathetic, annoying and gesticulating in wrong situations. This happens in real life too as not all relationships are based on true and sincere love. This is what this drama is about. It has a realistic take on adults’ relationships. Adults who do not know their own feelings, ignore them, tone them down or pretend to have feelings… and make choices with their reason that their heart does not agree with.

1/ WHAT I LIKED:

- The story and the trajectory of the 5 main characters. None of them is perfect. They all have qualities and flaws that determine their choices. They are all relatable because they all look like human beings led into wrong choices by their human condition and trying to deal with their wrong choices and not the best way.
- The mature take on sex and love. It is not so common in romance kdramas. This drama is not shy about sex, and it tells that there is a difference between love and sex. Just like in real life.
- The cheating: 30% of women and 40% of men have cheated once in their life. No need to throw an anathema to them and pretend to be so much better. People have their own reasons for doing what they do. I did not want to judge them. I just agreed that in their situation, the cheating would happen, and it did happen like in real life. It was steamy and intense. People who can’t stomach cheating as a human emotional state and possible behavior should stay away from this drama.
- The rather realistic depiction of the workplace and colleagues. The friendly ones and the annoying ones who are always gossiping.
- The ending. There are two endings. One with ep15 with a sad unhappy ending but more consistent and logical with what happened during the whole drama. I have not read the novel but I felt like the ending with ep16 was especially cooked to give everyone a great situation like everything was bad that ends well. The two leads have an open ending with this ep but personally, I prefer the ending with ep15.

2/ WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:

- The early episodes were confusing and exhausting with the ML and FL acting unclear towards each other.
- Some draggy parts with too much gloomy faces and long contemplating moments
- The story between the ML and his mom could have been better. The mom looked a strong character, but she was quite underused for me.

3/ CHARACTERS/ACTORS:

- ML: The only one with real unconditional Love feelings. But he lacked courage and that drowned his chance. He grew into a more assured person and took responsibility of his feelings and his no-feelings in the end. Not very fond of the actor but he did a decent job looking gloomy and contrite and unable to bury his one-sided Love.
- FL: Self centered complicated person with sad circumstances and low self-esteem but she used them as an excuse to not face her own feelings and act upon them. This led her to make a wrong choice that she will try to assume despite obvious signs it is wrong. I liked Moon Ga young in this role. Different from what I used to see from her.
- SML: Student from a poor family who wanted to woo noona but when she chose him out of frustration for his kindness and for comfort, he suddenly had nothing more to offer her and became lousy and bland.
- SFL : Manipulative, possessive, scheming to always have gains from others. But I liked her bright, smart, and outgoing character. She was immature regarding Love and failed to be lovable and to love her partner. But she did not take it too badly. Of course, the ML was just a challenge and a trophy partner for her. Loved the actress who displayed lots of emotions.
- TML: Kyung Pil. This snake was a bad boyfriend, a bad friend and a bad person whispering bad ideas into the ears of the ML, SFL and FL based on his own sorry past that he chose himself. A dislikeable and pitiful person who slightly improved. The actor was great looking cunning, bitter, disillusioned and not proud of himself.

3/ OST:
Very good. I liked most of the songs and listened to them apart from the drama.

4/ REWATCHABLE VALUE:
It is slow paced and the story is realistic but sad, so I won’t rewatch it.

5/ OVERALL:

It’s a good drama if you can accept that humans are weak and make wrong choices and do wrong things that do not improve their situation on the contrary. Because they lack courage and confidence in themselves, their choice of reason is undermined by their heart’s choice, and it leads to messy situations. In the end, they still manage to put things in the right order and move on to a happier life after a time jump. Despite the contemplative and slow parts, I enjoyed watching these people I had pity and hopes for. Not so entertaining but a slice of life drama I enjoyed. 8/10.

Lesson of the drama: "If you have feelings for someone, take the courage to face your feelings honestly and act upon them. "

Leia Mais

Avoid this truckload of bullsh!t

A dating B who is connected to C who dates D who is the ex of A who reconnects with D who disappears and E dates H and marries with I the father of B who likes and hate C who cares for J the son of E who is D who used to cheat with A ...

Total ridiculous shitty crap. The story is basically piling some of the dumbest tropes in lakorns. These are sent into the face of the viewers the most ridiculous way to just outrage them and bait them into watching the next episode. Because viewers think they are going to be relieved of their frustration by one nice cute entertaining development which just never happens. This drama is just baiting and baiting and baiting until the viewers have swallowed all the bs but never had an entertaining and fun story to enjoy.

The plot is centered around the evil character who is the pivotal point of the story and all other characters evolve around that person and the bullshit that character is doing episode after episode. The two leads become frustrating and not endearing and accessory characters that I finally did not care to see together or not.

This has to be one of the worst lakorn I have seen and if I inflicted this to myself I surely do not wish anyone to do the same for himself. Stay away from this torture which will never give you any moment of joy or any real satisfaction of being entertained. Even if the performance of the lead actors is commendable I will give this 1/10 because I really lost my time on this crappy lakorn.

Leia Mais

Nothingburger to eat.

STORY:
A middle aged widow has to marry a teen to protect her. They have to live together and the drama is telling how feelings will blossom between the two. But it failed to do so. There is nothing happening in this drama. Everything is about saying things, explaining them or not saying things not explaining them. Throughout the drama, there is only misunderstandings and understanding because someone else finally said something. The best friend says "yes you love him", The older brother says "yes you love her". The younger brother says " yes they love each other"... but there is actually no demonstration of love on screen for 15 episodes. There is no cuteness, no meaningful dialogues, no binding despite the adversity, no love craziness, no foolish or epic moment of affection, no demonstration of feelings... no great chemistry between the leads or the secondary couple. Everything is just boring.

CAST/CHARACTERS:
- Mookda: She was perfect in this role. Her portrayal of a young teen who had to marry a guy she doesn't love was pretty convincing. She was immature, pouty and sulky most of the time, asking advices from her friend because she did not know what to think.
- Weir: he was great in portraying this 35yo vidow with a daughter. I found he was perfectly ugly and boring with his glasses and his demeanor of a grand father. He looked so boring I don't even see how a teen girl would fall in love with that quiet old man. But he is very rich. I guess it helps.
- Ganda: funny to see her as the best friend as she was already her friend in Massaya. I thought she was cute and a great friend. Too bad they did not develop her character.
- The step mother: She was unbearable and her ending was grotesque.
- Tai: he is a complete idiot unable to see the truth about his gf. He treated Soun badly and in the end someone had to serve him the solution on a plate. A very poor character.
- Soun: She was a nice person but she did many wrong things because she wanted to spare others. Her good intentions mostly led to complications and misunderstandings. She really lacked courage and could not stand for herself and take responsibility of her feelings.
- The daughter. She was cute at first and the kid actress was good. But in the end she was annoying because she mainly was used as a pretext foor Lada to get closer to the father.
- The two servants: super annoying nosy persons who are just here to make you believe this is love and family.

MUSIC: I found the music very repetitive and finally became annoying especially in the last episode full of flashbacks and moments of spleen. I had to skip the scenes.

REWATCH: Surely not

OVERALL: This drama has a great cast with Mookda and Weir who are two of my favourite thai actors. Sadly the drama is super disappointing. Mostly because there is nothing romantic in this so called romance. The drama is just a promotion of nice and kind rich middle age men marrying teens in a "love" forced by the situation, the people around you... I never thought their love bloomed in a natural way and was genuine. There is no moment or event which tells that she started to like him sincerely. Yes she acknowledged he is nice, helpful and respectful. But that's not love. Same for him. Sure he cares for her and he enjoys seeing her take care of his daughter but that's not love.

The drama is watchable for fans of the main actors but overall it is not entertaining. It's a boring old cow eat young grass tale.

Leia Mais

Not as good as expected due to some huge flaws in the logic.

1/ STORY:
After her father, a notorious gangster, is assassinated, Yoon Ji Woo goes to take vengeance on the killer. She is helped by her father's best friend to learn how to fight and enters the police where the killer is hidden. The plot is thin like a paper of cigarette. But there is a huge twist and then a huge counter twist which lead to a very predictable final. The fights are the best part. They are bloody but the choreography of the violence make them very enjoyable. Overall the story is nothing surprising. It would be good enough if there was not a few illogical things:

- Why a 17yo girl would decide to avenge her father who was a gangster for16 years and made her life miserable?
- Why she was trained for years and sent as an undercover gangster among the police for a task that only needed a killer just like for her dad?
- Why the bad guy was accused of stabbing the thug to death when he was shot dead by a cop in front of another cop?
- How come the ex junkie helped the FL out of the blue?
...
There are some weak points in the script that made the drama look not very well written for me. But in the midst of the action, it is less noticeable.

2/ CHARACTER/ACTORS:
- The FL: Loved her fighting spirit. She looks weak but she is resolute and ready to suffer to achieve her goal. In another hand, she is a bit reckless and naïve. Han Soo Hee did a good job here. She is surprisingly good in this action drama too.
- The bad guy: A scheming and ruthless guy but also a little bit psycho behind a nice facade. The actor was impeccable.
- ML: Not a very smart cop. I found the actor was not so good as he looked a bit bland or the character is supposed to look like that?
- Bad Guy's right hand: interesting guy. He should have had a bigger role.
- Gang Jae : a little bit too crazy and not realistic for someone who wanted to climb the gangsters ladder.
Other characters were ok.

3/ OST:
Good enough but a few songs were a bit too loud just to give a style.

4/ REWATCH VALUE:
Not the whole drama but some scenes are quite fun especially towards the end where the pace is faster and the action is particularly savage.

5/OVERALL:
Despite a few flaws in the writing the drama is still enjoyable because it is only 8 eps long and the vengeance is well told in the end and makes it a guilty pleasure. 7.5+0.5 because it is an easy watch.

Leia Mais

A very nice and entertaining drama

1/ STORY

The story is well written. The beginning sets up the plot, installs the characters, make them discover each other and interact. They go through sub plots and sub stories which are cute and emotional. Then, the main story develops with the two leads and the evil. There is also the ghost employees’ stories which needs closure before the final showdown, between good and evil. All this is fast paced and fun.

Romance is developing in a very natural way. At the beginning FL is stuck with her one-sided love. Then the main leads develop feelings, under the table for one of them and unknowingly for the other. The events and truths unveiled slowly help them to grow more confident about their feelings...

2/ ACTORS/CHARACTER:

- Go Seul Hae: Nice unsophisticated young woman enthusiast cop dedicated to serve. She has a sad background but remains cheerful. Then she meets ML and his employees and everything changes. She fights villains, spirits, falls in love and become a pretty girlfriend etc... I only watched Jin Ki Joo in Come and Hug me that I dropped. She is doing great here. A very compelling performance.

- Cha Chawoon: A magician who employs ghosts he lives with, to enhance his magical shows. Soon, they are dragged into the civilian police to "serve and protect". From a selfish money grubber nagging boss, Cha Chawoon becomes a real savior and shows his goodhearted side. Park Hae Jin in a very good performance since Forest.

- Choi Gum: 2000 years spirit of the Cha house with a mysterious past who behaves like a silly guy but he has his importance at the key moments.

- Three ghost employees: They are the most fun part of the drama despite their individual sad story which stuck them in their ghost condition. They are fun and good employees. Even if they often complain they truly like their boss.

- Hee Soo: Seul Hae childhood friend and first crush. He is a decent man and a good cop but his timing for love is bad. The actor Kim Jong Hoon did very well in this double-faced role.

- Hae Chun Moo: Super bad guy became super evil spirit and a serial murderer. Scary and convincing enough.

- Ye Ji: young shaman apprentice who is less materialistic than she thought and a worthy pupil.

3/ OST

Good. Nothing cringe or annoying.

4/ REWATCH VALUE:

Very fun and emotional. It is rewatchable

5/ OVERALL:

One of the most fun and entertaining kdrama of this half year. This drama is a great mix of romance, action, fantasy, comedy. The ending is epic and delivers more than expected. Totally recommended. 10/10.

Leia Mais

Mixed feelings. Could have been good if it was shorter.

OK:

- The first part with the set up of the characters. Fast paced, fun and intriguing. Many couples and potential couples look cute (main couple, Sheng brothers and their love interest, Han couple, Pirate man and the girl hitting on him). Good for nothing ML becomes a reliable son and a general. FL enters the palace as maid. Some actions and they find each other and loose each other again.

- The third and final part. The evil guys have to come into the light as they need to finalize their schemes. The plotline is clearer but it is full of plot holes as the finale is rushed. The end is not satisfactory but there are some enjoyable plot twists. The main villain's demise is too easy. The schemers who caused so many deaths get away with it because they suddenly turn good and they are royalty. But it is ok because the ML and FL mend their relationship while fighting the bad guys and they have their happy ending.

NOT OK:

- The second part full of atrocious or illogical moves and schemes from most Royals and people seeking revenge, influence or Love or a way to own someone... People start to be beaten for free,. They drop dead like flies for a word, a paper, an accusation, bad luck... Or they are saved by a scroll or by Deus ex machina .The main couple's relationship is nowhere as ML is relagated to an extra role. More schemes from people completely immature, perverted, evil with no other goal than to have your blood boil.

OVERALL:

The drama could have been a lot more enjoyable. It had numerous and interesting characters but passed their introduction, the plot becomes messy piling schemes on schemes by unsufferable characters for rotten purposes just to enrage the audience. It was annoying and destroying the entertaining quality of the drama. I had the feeling the writer piled outrageous situations just to add episodes and make money without trying to tell a comprehensive and consistent story using the characters. Some important parts of the story are obviously missing and make the drama even more erratic in his storyline.

RECOMMENDATION:

This drama seem to have been quite successful in China. I don't know how people can like this kind of drama. All these inhumane palace plots are just physically hard to tolerate. Maybe they are people to like these "palace plots" dramas.

Would I recommend this drama? No. Because:

- The leads have a too little part. It's a sham. It is not a drama about them. It is a drama about Royals and their court and palace schemes.
- There is a huge part of this drama which is only made of useless schemes, useless violence and deaths, outrageous rotten or completely dumb illogical people you can't sympathize with. At some point you just don't care about them anymore.
- Many people get away easily with their wrongdoings. The end is like : Everyone is suddenly nice nice people.
- 55 episodes but not many opportunities to laugh and cry with the leads. Surely I won't say : I spent a good time watching this.

Leia Mais

Watch this at your own expense

STORY :

1 / THE QING Dynasty era:

This part of the drama has the most horrible and outrageous plotline I have seen in a while. It will present you with:

- a man who kills his godson and is never troubled because of it
- a man who uses the corpse of his victim like an accessory to frame other people
- a man who schemes plenty of plans to harm his brother but he gets away with it because he just misunderstood the situation
- a man who pays a thug to break someone's arm and he is never troubled about it even by his godson who knows the truth
- a man who knows all the crimes his godfather did against his brother but he would not do anything to help the brother out of jealousy but still call him his brother.
- a princess who is forced to marry at gunpoint on the head of her father but the husband does not sleep with her because she is not his "kind of woman". Of course. Like a pig would not eat jam.
....

Plenty of cranky farfetched unrealistic situations with iffy morals and messages like "I caused you to die but sorry for the misunderstanding and justice is not necessary as we are family".

Is this supposed to be entertaining? It is not. It is BS.

2/ THE REPUBLICAN era:

The drama becomes a lot better.

- The FL disappears as the plot is only centered on the ML
- The ML discover a new city (Shanghai), new people, new challenges. He starts to build his career and success.
- The Republican era is a time of change so the drama is richer of ideas and events
- The directing is better with nice slow mo
- The plotline is crafted with a good twist
- Then back to Beijing , back to family dumb misunderstandings
- FL appears again. Her story is quite sad.

3 / FIGHT VS JAPANESE

The usual great patriotic courageous Chinese brothers vs. the evil monstrous Japanese who kill innocent people just to bully and coerce and achieve their goal. Grotesque ending to give the bad guy his redemption when we have barely a glimpse at the main leads happy ending.

CHARACTER :
- Kang Ning : beautiful and smart and courageous, the writing of her character turned ludicrous and made her a props for 2/3rd of the drama
- Lu Yuan Zhi : idiot guy who improved himself as a great tailor but his personality is bland always trying to save his love and help his brother who constantly creates troubles for him.
- Jiang Mo Sheng : Terrible brother insecure and jealous. Does plenty of mistakes but accuses the others.
- Zhao Li Jun: Fun endearing and a fighter. I liked her.
- Su Pei Yao : Spoiled daughter
- Bai He Nian : Guy should have died sooner for the sake of his family.
- Guo Fei Yu : started a fool but had a good character development. Good guy.

OST:
Nothing special

REWATCH:
No. Packed with outrageous schemes. Nothing really enjoyable.

OVERALL : This drama is well produced with great costumes, places, props, many characters... It is too bad it drowned itself in family schemes and misunderstanding to promote usual family values and forgiveness and redemption blabla. The story is also amoral : the person who kills his Godson is never accountable but lives free. Also the endings of the master of Si He house and the bad brother are quite ridiculous.

Leia Mais

Nice but still disappointing

The story has two arcs of narration:

- One about two persons who have a difficult past and met to discover each other, heal each other and find Love. Around them are their friends who accompany them during their journey.

- One about a serial killer who had ties with both the ML and the FL in their past and they meet again as adults.

ROMANCE PART:

- I liked the two leads. They were endearing by the way you discover their hurtful past, their complicated present. These two do not start as lovers. But they slowly grow to know each other and create ties in a natural and way. They have a great chemistry, not only physically and in the way they look at each other but what they live and the words they say to each other or do not say to each other. It shows how much they are drawn to each other.

- The secondary romances. There are a few side romances developing. But they are overshadowed by the main couple. This is too bad because the secondary characters involved are cute and nice persons and I wished their romances were better presented. These were cute but kind of lackluster also.

THRILLER PART:

- The thriller starts with a huge surprise as the possible culprit is not one person but a pair of twins. The part is well introduced and has plenty of mystery to dig in but soon it becomes draggy and disconnected from the two leads. It is like a story next to the story. The ML and FL are not involved directly but they are supporting characters in the thriller. The interest depends on how much you like the two twins or not. And I liked none of them as for me their actions are not justified. Towards the end of the drama, it is very messy and includes plot holes. The final has loose ends, is too unrealistic and wrong on the aspect of Justice.

CHARACTERS:

- Kang Da Jung / Joo Young Do: extraordinary couple. Their healing story is adorable. Also, the actor and actress portraying the couple did an amazing job conveying so much emotions.

- Ahn Ga Young / Patrick: She looks annoying at first as she is a nutcase acting with total shamelessness but she is sincere towards the people she likes. The couple she forms with Patrick was a bit bland for my taste.

- Park Eun Ha : An interesting character with her sad family and sad love records. She finds a surprising love, a mature and funny one but too bad it is half told half showed.

- Moon Mi Ran: Da Jung's mother. A great mother who despite her past hardships and her scars did not forget to raise her children properly, to love people, protect them, be here for them. She even kept a nice looking appearance and a good sense of humor when she threw her "son in law" to be roasted by some aunties.

- Seo Ha Neul: A fun timid veterinarian who has an unrequited love when someone is in love with him. Love is sometime just under your nose.

- Chun Seung Wo: A PD and an annoying friend of Young Do. The guy from whom the best and the worse can happen.

- Park Chul Do: Eun Ha's twin brother who is pretty useless the last ep where he fails at hooking up with a girl also.

- Min Ah Ri : A cute fun employee of the café with her rough personality.

- Han Jin Ho : Ga young's trainer who bit someone and fell in love with him. Sadly the guy was veterinarian and a vegetarian.

- Choi Jung Min | Doctor Ian Chase : There were a few switches of identity so I barely managed to keep track of who is who. Overall for me, they both had a sad past and they found the worst way to deal with their past. One may be more responsible than the other but they are both accomplice and criminals. I liked none of them and they should both have had what they deserve as per the justice.

MUSIC:

The music was pretty good especially the soundtracks for the romantic part.

REWATCH VALUE:

The romances were cute with meaningful moments, nice lessons and funny moments but it is too unbalanced to be rewatched again and enjoyed.

OVERALL:

A part very good and another very messy and disappointing. I had some great moments watching this. I almost cried and immediately laughed at some points. Anyway, the huge mess of the thriller part really impairs the quality of the drama. If I could, I would suggest to watch this and skip all the thriller part meaning all th eparts with the twins and the cops. 7.5/10 in the end.

Leia Mais

I was not expecting anything from this drama and I was not even interested at first since the plot about a girl in a military academy looked quite unrealistic and not interesting to me. I was very surprised in the end because it revealed itself to be very entertaining with nice characters to follow.

Story : the story follows a group of military trainees from admission to graduation. They evolve through adventures and hardships which are well told and entertaining for the action parts and cute and funny for the other parts. Main focus is put on 3 characters who are very interesting in their personality and their development throughout the drama. You really understand them and feel close to them. The love triangle was very well handled as you could not know how it will unfold for a long time. Other secondary characters have also nice or sad or bittersweet stories well told and this brings complexity and good density to the overall plot line.

Acting : I thought most of the cast did a tremendous job here. I have seen the two main lead in the Legends and the are very good in this drama too. Bai Lu acting is on spot portraying a strong character but less funny more calm but also daring. You totally believe her tomboyish female character as a girl and the pretty boy soldier as a man. Xu Kai was great too. He portrayed nicely a fun character quite immature but finally reliable. He was good while bickering or nagging or playing cute with Xie Xiang. Many commented he had something of Leonardo Dicaprio. I kinda agree. Toby Lee was great also. He portrayed a very serious heir of a rich family. You totally believe his character and the nature he shows in his relationships. He overshadowed the main lead some times as his chemistry with the female lead was so good. Others actors did well too specially the guy portraying soldier Song, the Shen brother but the also the Academy staff. The female friends were well portrayed.

Music : I found the intro music very surprising but contrasting with the genre of the drama and it gave it an originality. I loved the love song at the romantic moments. Overall the music was ok for me.

Re-watch: Not sure I would re-watch it since it is so long but this drama has many fun or heartbreaking scenes I will gladly re-watch just for the feeling of it and I seldom have the chance to do that with Chinese dramas.

Overall : despite some usual clichés regarding the vilains it's a very entertaining and recommended drama.

Leia Mais

A drama full of horrible people and wrong doings

STORY:
An old man has a wife and 3 grown up children and they all have communication issues and his wife wants to separate. He has an accident which makes him forget all his souvenirs since he was 22 and he becomes again a loving guy. And his family members start to build bridges and talk to each other again. They all slowly heal in the process. Great. But it was annoying most of the time because most characters reacted and kept on reacting like children which explain their misery well deserved. In the last part I just fast forwarded many scenes as I could not stand many of these people anymore and did not give a damn about how they will end.

Also I did not like how the director made the drama a succession of very short scenes between the characters/group of characters and kept on with that till the end. Plus he sometimes created some fake cliffhangers just to lead the audience. Lousy.

CHARACTERS/CAST:
- Eun Hee. One of the characters I really liked. Because in the beginning she is kind of a bad person who is not very mature and take reckless decisions which make her isolate herself. But it is because she is not confident into herself and she is hurt. When she starts to change herself, she is able to get rid of her pride and apologize and try her best to improve things among the members of her family. She starts a new realtionship and she tries to find her happiness. I thought she was a good person I could sympathize with. I just regret her real "love story" was a bit draggy and lacked a bit of sparkle.
- Chan Hyuk, the friend : He was fun and a great friend, a good confident, a cool guy who cares for others. He is ready to listen to people and he is patient enough to let them make their decision. I found he was a nice character to follow.
- Eun Joo, the older sister: Never liked her. She is cold, she is proud, she thinks so high of herlself, she loves to criticize while dissing people... I thought all the shit happening to her was well deserved. She improved a little and I found she was lucky to meet a guy in the end who is fun and cool and smart enough to know how to handle her poor character and demeanor. The actress was great though.
- Sang Shik, the dad: A terrible man and a terrible husband. Seriously, the guy is unable to see his priorities and responsibilities making his family suffer for years and years without even noticing it till he is old and an accident is his redemption. Or not because his nature remains the same. Good for him. He will die with a smile but he did make his people suffer most of his life.
- Jin Sook, the mother: I thought she was too much of a quiet woman and nerver able to ask for explanation and then she just renounced. I did not like her personality but I can relate as I know some of old asian women who lived like that. In the end, she takes a break and her life becomes brighter. Good for her.
- Ji Woo, the baby brother: He was a little immature but still fun.
- Tae Hyun, the son in Law : I hated him the first moment I saw him. Something weird and annoying about him. We will learn why but it made me hate him even more:. Because of his cowardice, he put the life of many people in troubles and he knew about it since he is the son in Law. I can't understand how a man like him can see himself in a mirror. Or maybe he cannot. Seriously, Lame. In the end, I did not care he was dead or alive. He was just unforgivable.
- Seo Young the Golden goosse staff: She was smart and refereshing to watch.
- I have to mention here Min Woo, Eun Joo's junior who tries to woo her in the last part of the drama. I hated him in Whisper. But here he is full of charm and coolness. He made the last part a lot more bearable for me.

MUSIC:
Nothing special to mention

REWATCH:
Surely not. Not even some scenes.

OVERALL:
This drama is a roller coaster of emotions and I can understand that many people like it. But for some people like me who try to rationalise a lot, I thought most of the emotions created here were born from ignorance, bad or too good intentions, wrong doings, lack of communication skills. Too much of this and it made me dislike the characters and in the end I lost my sympathy for them (the dad, the son in Law, the older sister... ). I do not regret watching it as it has it share of emotions but I did not enjoyed that much.

Leia Mais

Flawed, Disappointing and forgetable

1/ STORY:
A demon living in the body of the King is trapped in a painting but it is unleashed 14 years after and Chun Ki and Ha Ram must find a way to seal it in another painting. This is the plotline and this is all what the drama is about. The writer was spinning this around for 16 episodes using various characters telling each other the story and the challenge some working to achieve it and some working against it for their personal interest. I found the drama:

- Very messy because of multiple sides fighting each other when sharing the screen time bit after bit.
- Very draggy for the first half of the drama with little developments of the plot during many episodes.
- The turnarounds were coming out of the blue with new elements added which were not logic or consistent. One thing applicable to one character was not working for another character.
- The Love story was annoying with a boring love triangle and also cringe with kisses out of the context and an annoying game of "yes but no" and then "I like you but I must sacrifice myself to protect you". Some "romantic declarations" just arrived too abruptly for me.
- Plot is repetitive. I don't remember how many time they did the painting adding new factors each time which came from nowhere.
- Some weird twist like the revelation about Ha Ram's father and the end of the revenge plot.
- Some loose ends like the character who wanted revenge and betrays her side but she just disappears.
- The ending of the big evil guy is not properly done. His arc of narration is not closed and to do this in the epilogue was wrong and the proof that the writer just mishandled the character.

2/ CHARACTERS:
- Ha Ram and Chun Ki are a nice couple and Kim Yoo Jung and Ahn Hyo Seop did their best but it was not enough to save a failing script. I liked both characters'personalities and the ending is cute.
- Evil Ha Ram: He just looked like Johnny Depp's Tonto in Lone Ranger and he became a bit ridiculous in the end.
- Prince Yang Myung was not wery sympathetic with a grandiloquent way of talking.
- Prince Joo Hyang could have been a proper villain but his arc of narration had a silly twist and we just don't know what happens between him and his brother in the end.
Many characters are superficial and do not contribute that much to the story (Hwacha, the father, old man in prison...) They just basically repeat what we have know since p1. or they appear here and there to determine a change. Characters used as comic reliefs like the two friends or the three thugs are not very funny. The spirit of the tiger was more fun than them.

3/OST:
It was ok. nothing special to remember anyway.

4/: REWATCH VALUE:
None.

5/OVERALL:
I just don't know if the original Manhwa was bad already or if the writers of the drama just completely mishandled the story and the script. Because overall the drama is a huge mess and boring. The story of the two leads is convoluted and many characters have no depth and are not endearing. I was expecting a lot from this drama but it is really a let down. I will probably forget about it very quickly and I would not recommend it. 6.5/10

Leia Mais

A very particular drama but I enjoyed it a lot.

1/ STORY : Its a spy action drama filled with politics. The romance is just here to make the ML and FL endearing and it works but their romance is a missed romance rather than a real romance. If you like simple plots, spy movies, political schemes, rivalries between stupid henchmen, silly ajhummas, you can try it. It is about poor people who fight the powerful ones and some escape their claws. Some don't.

The drama follows 3 rules: One plot, One place, One time.
- One plot: “Higher ups from NK and SK collude to uses pawns to achieve their respective goal and the pawns fight back”.
- One place: Almost all the action is happening in an all-female dorm of a university.
- One time: the action happens in continuous over a span of time of two or three weeks. It is short and it is has an impact on the psychology of the characters.

ACTION PLOT: Simple and well made. The bad people are clearly identified and their action are outrageous but readable. The situation is complicated for the good guys in the beginning because they need to come together from different sides (this part is quite dark) but when they do, their strategy and actions are quite clear and the tone is more fun and comical.

ROMANCE PLOT: The romance is a sub plot but it is what makes the story endearing. ML looks a very human and sensible person. FL is a naïve young woman who is friendly despite having plenty of family issues. They meet and fall hard in love at first sight but they don’t have the time to express their feelings that they are stuck in such a situation where their blooming feelings can hardly find a way to say “I recognized you are the first moment”.

2/ CHARACTERS/ACTORS:

2.1/ Good ones

- Romantic Spy Soo Ho : Great character. A NK spy but he is motivated by family values and brotherhood rather than blind fidelity to the party. He looks a liaison agent, not an action spy and he is quickly overwhelmed by the situation. His priority is to save lives and protect people. Jung Jae In at the top of his form and of his talent.

- Pragmatic efficient spy Kang Cheong Ya: Total allegiance to the Party but smart. She quickly sees the broad picture, adapts herself, she has ideas and instinct. Annoying at first but she is she one who makes things happening. Superb Yoo In Na.

- Naïve heroine: Endearing young woman who is cheerful despite family issues. She is a fake strong person and she feels guilty all the time. Her infatuation for the ML is cute. A typical “well educated” girl of these times in her first crush. Good portrayal from Ji Soo and promising performance.

- Bad cop and good cop Lee Kang Moo. A reckless cop who would do anything to catch the bad guy in his eyes but in the end, he must acknowledge everything is not just black or white. The actor did well.

- Funny cop Jang Han Na: looked good then bad then good again.

2.2/Bad Ones

- Silly Kye Boon OK: She should have not survived. The theory of evolution strictly forbids it. Don’t know why she survived. Kim Hye Yoon was great.

- Reckless NK soldier Joo Geok Chan who made everything complicated just to be granted the most miserable demise of the drama. Liked the acting tho. So different from what I have seen of the actor so far.

- NamTae Il: really dumb and coercive and abusing at the same time.

- Eun Chan Soo: delinquent dad, rotten politician, traitor to the nation. Young Ro, you don’t choose your family.

- Ahn Kyung Hee : A valet and a rascal at the same time.

- Miss Pi: sad fate and questionnable choices.

OST:
It was nice. Still have some songs in mind

REWATCH VALUE:
Well when you know the format (80 mins an eps*16) and the 3 rules and the outcome… Hard to watch again but I have to say, yeah it was the hell of a ride. The kind of drama to follow week in week out to really appreciate it. After it is too late because the spoilers are everywhere…

OVERALL:
A very courageous drama which did not hesitate to take the most risky format and the risky 3 rules of traditional theater and a risky context of story as well. In this end, the ride was really good for me. I was really able to put myself in the shoes of these people and I enjoyed following them in this journey. 9.0 overall but I will give 1 more point for being such a particular drama but still it managed to be entertaining.

Leia Mais

A lot of qualities and many flaws too but it is enjoyable overall

WHAT I LIKED:
- The many characters with different personalities and tempers. They are able to form a good team supporting each other. The relationship between them is well told.
- The background story of the counters. Each of them has a well made backstory which give them depth and makes them endearing.
- The pace: the drama is fast paced with a lot of good action. I enjoyed the fights.
- The mix between thriller and supernatural is pretty well made even if I wished the realtionship between the bad humans and the evil spirits was stronger and lasted longer
- The supporting characters are interesting: the sponsor, the female cop and her trainee, the two friends of Mun...
- Most of the actors are very good.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:
- Too much unnecessary violence
- Sometimes repetitive: Abducting someone and making a call to threaten to kill him. This is done several times
- Some flaws in the story: How come visiting your own memories can lead you to enter the memories of another person and fight in his memories and so find where he is hidden. It is a stretch.
- Some events and elements do not serve the story and are just here to create emotions: the ankle broken and repaired several times, the bullying and beating by the schoolboys thugs, the kid with disease, the orphans, the old folks... plenty of usual tropes.
- The main lead allways accuses himself of being responsible for everything bad happening and cries too much. It became annoying in the end.
- The story is thin: they catch bad persons and evil spirits. It was so thin, from the middle of the drama, it started to be draggy like they don't have a good story to tell and they focus on creating repetitive and useless scenes focusing on the characters' emotions. The bad guys are catched way too easily between two emotional scenes. The final fight was also disappointing.

OST: It was ok for the genre.

REWATCH VALUE: I won't rewatch it.

OVERALL: This drama is a huge success. Personally I found it was emotionally a roller coaster ( a bit too much sometimes) but storywise it was not so interesting. It is entertaining mostly because of the sympathy you have for the main characters, their story and their suffering and their success but I was clearly not amazed by the complexity of story. I still recommend it as a good and easy watch.

Leia Mais