Really good

Season 1 (episodes 1-27) had slow start. It took a whopping six episodes for Shaoshang and Ling Buyi to finally meet face to face. Before that, nothing was happening aside from Shaoshang showing absolute disdain towards everything and acting like a spoiled brat. She was supposed to be a neglected and abused teenager who was left as a baby with her relatives while her parents served in a war. The writers didn't do a really good job flushing her out her character at the beginning. She stumbled between being portrayed as a neglected teen to acting very whiny and entitled. In every scene she would go out of her way to act out and complain about everything, instead of trying to reconnect with her parents. Fortunately, the writers didn't let her fester into an unlikable shrew and her character development picked up nicely. It turned out she loved to learn about how things worked. She was very sympathetic to other people problems. And she was a great problem solver.

Her mother's actions were very confusing. For someone who was a seasoned general, mom showed extreme shortsightedness when it came to parenting. She knew very well about her daughter's accomplishments, but instead of looking at the big picture and appreciating the fact that Shaoshang did not grow up to be shallow and spoiled, mom always fixated on her daughter's smaller problems - a lack of education and etiquette. Mom's inconsistency showed even more during Shaoshang's engagement. She did not want the marriage with Lou Yao because he was unintelligent, weak, and wasn't able to protect Shaoshang. Mom also picked up on the fact that Ling Buyi liked her daughter. However, when Ling Buyi proposed, mom immediately put her daughter down to be some awful and unintelligent simpleton who was unworthy of anything. It was no wonder Shaoshang wanted to get away from that house. The icing on the cake was mom's favoritism towards the cousin, instead of trying to reconnect with her daughter.

I really wanted to see the mom and daughter's relationship grow where Shaoshang realized that her mom wanted to prepare her for the adult life and teach her how to navigate society. In return, mom would realize that Shaoshang was a very special and beautiful person and finally got over her fixation on Shaoshang's upbringing. There were some very good moments where I thought mom and daughter would finally grow close - the one where mom slapped one of the ladies at Lou Yao's house. But then there was the scene with Lin Buyi's proposal where mom was a total let down.

The way the Cheng family was portrayed as a "military" family was odd. General Cheng was a general, just like Ling Buyi. But General Cheng didn't seem to have any kind of influence or power at all. At 21, Ling Buyi had an awful lot of power and influence, and even an army to command. General Cheng was nowhere on that level even thought he spent his entire life fighting and was at least twice as old as Ling Buyi. The only person who seemed to have any kind of military discipline in the Cheng family was mom. The two brothers, who were with the parents when they were away, acted like spoiled and pampered aristocrats, instead of military children. They also looked like they never handled a weapon in their lives.

Some storylines needed serious cropping, like the very long engagement to Lou Yao that wasn't going to work out anyway. Shaoshang and Ling Buyi playing catch up with each other could've been sped up a little bit too. I wanted to see more of them hang off the roof together instead of watching Lou Yao bringing her snacks.

There were also some very great scenes showing the build-up of Shaoshang and Ling Buyi relationship. The scene where she pulled an arrow out of his chest was hot and very intimate.

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Nope

Honestly, I didn't expect much from this adaptation because the plot of Hana Yori Dango (HYD) is quite awful. Yes, it is a beloved classic, but it can't get away from its very horrible storylines - normalization of bullying and abuse of power, entitlement, abusive male lead, toxic relationships, betrayal, flaky female lead, absent parents, abandoned children. A re-make means recycling these terrible storylines because they make up the main plot.

One of my biggest gripes with HYD is that the F4 are portrayed as rich and popular boys who are good at everything, except they don't do anything to be good at everything. This show did a very good job at showing them wasting time not going to class, bullying their classmates, partying, and drinking alcohol all the damn time. I would think a modern adaptation would flush out this plotline to show them participating in some activities to make their talents more believable and to give them some goddamn personalities. When Domyoji /Thyme is not a psychotic bully, he obsesses over Makino/Gorya making her want to get away from him.

To make up for the lack of character development, the actors overacted the characters' feelings making the scenes look very forced. There was very little motivation behind their actions and everything looked thrown together just to move the story forward. Thyme's mother had a lot of screen time, but the writers didn't give her any personality. In the original, she was already very cold. Here, she was a female terminator in pursuit of some mythical "perfection" while treating her children as stepping stones to achieve that perfection. Some plot lines were not in chronological order, and I quit the show as soon as the fiance showed up. I hated that storyline anyway.

Gorya and Thyme spent most of their time yelling at each other and having no romantic chemistry. Watching them together quickly became a chore. The cheating kissing scene with Ren was turned into an awkward hugging scene which wasn't properly resolved. And, the acting altogether was quite terrible. I did like that Gorya's parents were tolerable and not as stupidly annoying as in the original.

Overall, this show was just another awkward attempt at resurrecting an old skeleton that should stay buried.

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A cliche mess

This drama is a testament to everything that is wrong with the xianxia genre. It's too stylized with little to no room for imagination. A stoic ML in a position of power? Check. A childish FL with a baby voice? Check. Immortal realm - good, demons - bad? Check. Self-righteous Taoist sects? Check. Incomprehensible love rectangles? Check. Everyone under the sun falling in love with an immature FL? Check. Rebirth and amnesia? Check. B*tchy and jealous side chicks? Check. This drama follows the same tired tropes without skipping a beat, and it only gets worse with the next episode.

The first 15 or so very slow episodes were mostly about the relationship between ML and FL. FL started out as a child-like fairy and became more serious as she developed feelings for ML. It was a good character development for her because of the life-changing trauma caused by heartbreak. Unfortunately, as the story moved to the mortal realm, Yan Dan regressed back to the childish turd that she was in the immortal realm, but even more so than before. Even though she lost her memories, I thought the trauma she suffered would be a life changing experience leading to a more mature and thoughtful person who was given a second chance at life. But, that was not the case here.

The drama reminded me of Ashes of Love, which was a dumpster fire, with Yan Dan being a slightly smarter version of Jinmi. This was a stark contrast to Love and Redemption, where FL was only clueless about love, but she was sympathetic and thoughtful otherwise, and, her interactions with ML were meaningful. Similar to Jinmi, Yan Dan acted like a child continuously bickering with ML and having a multitude of braindead males falling in love with her. And, because of her over-the-top behavior, her interactions with ML lacked romantic chemistry looking more like an adult babysitting a kid rather than two adults falling in love.

Another issue was Yan Dan's lack of motivation. In the immortal realm, she had some purpose to protect her sister. After she lost her memory, she went wherever the wind blew. First, she swore allegiance to Yu Mo and became his "concubine". Then, she ran off with Tang Zhou and did not give a second thought to Yu Mo or the fact that he could be looking for her. I also thought that the writers spent way too much time on Yu Mo's and Yan Dan's relationship. It was apparent from the start that they will never be a couple, so milking that unrequited love and giving them more screen time than necessary completely deviated from the plot and unnecessarily dragged the story.

In all honesty, I hardly have any interest in finishing part 1. So, it's unlikely I will be watching part 2.

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Toxic dumpster-fire of a love story that needs to be burnt with pure glass fire

STORY AND CHARACTERS
The show just wasn't that great. The story dragged on for 60 episodes with unnecessarily long story arcs that could've been cut down to one or two episodes. It took fifteen episodes to reveal who Jin Mi was. The girl had no character development. Her one talent was to inadvertently get the two most eligible bachelors to pine after her. This is such a stupid trope because it is completely undeserved.

One of the creepiest things was everyone going along with Jinmi getting engaged to Runyu. She was a child in a woman's body who didn't know the difference between friendship and romantic love. Everyone knew she was a moron but they still went along with her agreeing to the engagement, even though they should have known she had no idea what she was agreeing to. The fact that the flower realm raised her to be a blissful idiot was extremely shortsighted too. Jinmi was supposed to be protected from any future heartbreak, but she was given no tools to be able to protect herself from it. Everything and everyone was stupid.

The mortal arc unnecessarily dragged on for 10+ episodes. The whole point of it should have been to move the character development forward and to show that no matter how much Jin Mi and Xu Feng were separated, they would always find their way back to each other. Everything else was irrelevant. We didn't need to see the drama inside the mortal lives of immortals who were going back to being immortal in just a few episodes.

The chemistry between Jinmi and Xufeng was very stale. Watching them together was as exciting as watching the paint dry. Jinmi was pretty, but she wasn't particularly bright and there was nothing special about her. She didn't even know what gender she was at the beginning. Their kisses resembled toddlers pecking each other on the lips. Everything was dry and passionless.

After the mortal arc, the only thing left to look forward to was the emperor and empress getting their comeuppance. But the cringe didn't end there. The biggest problem with the writing was that good characters did very awful things, nobody held them accountable, and the story never addressed their bad behavior. We were supposed to just ignore it and continue cheering for team Jinmi/Xufeng. A perfect example was Xufeng getting into Jinmi's pants. I didn't fault them for falling in love. But I found it reprehensible that Xufeng did not wait for Jinmi to break her engagement with Runyu before sleeping with her. She was still a moron. But he reached a whole new level of awfulness for treating his brother that way. By doing this, Xufeng showed that he was just as immoral, callous, selfish, and entitled as his crappy parents.

On the other hand, the writers went out of their way to demonize Runyu and to portray him as a villain. All of the characters who sided with Runyu and complained about how awful the heaven was suddenly decided to abandon him after he deposed the emperor. The writers never explained why. Characters just randomly decided that they wanted to go a different way. This made them look very cowardly and cynical. Meanwhile, everyone kept cheering for Xufeng, who was written as the golden boy who could do no wrong.. He also seemed to forget that he was a prince with responsibilities. Chasing after Jinmi was all he cared about.

In episode 45, Jinmi finally realized that she was in love with Xufeng. But, really, who cares at this point? I was honestly fed up with their bs. They did Runyu dirty repeatedly and nobody held either of them accountable. Instead, everyone judged Runyu and held him to some arbitrary moral standard when he did nothing wrong. Jinmi ended up marrying him for no good reason, even though she was told she didn't have to. Runyu still kept holding on to her even after she ran off to find Xufeng. "But what about our marriage?" Seriously? I sympathized with Runyu a lot but him still trying to hold on to her knowing she was fully committed to his brother was an idiotic plot development. He should've let her go as soon as he found out she slept with Xufeng.

The drama has a terrible message. Deposing callous and self-serving tyrants is bad. But, acting without honor and a sense of duty is ok. Also, blind favoritism, betraying family members, abandoning friends, and breaking promises is acceptable and even encouraged. By episode 47, I was done. I knew that Jinmi and Xufeng were going to end up together, but I couldn't fathom why. His family killed her family and she stabbed him in the back for thinking he killed her father. They crossed the point of no return so many times. Their relationship was based on betraying those closest to them, abandoning their duties, and having no faith in each other. What kind of values are these and why were we supposed to root for them?

ACTING
The acting by the two main leads was mediocre. Xufeng always had a blank look when he was pouring his heart out to Jinmi. If he was telling her what he ate for breakfast that morning, we wouldn't know the difference. His expression conveyed no emotion of love, despair, confusion, or heartbreak. It was an awful performance, just like most of his acting throughout the drama. Yang Zi's portrayal of Jinmi wasn't good either. She had no personality.

Luo Yunxi delivered a solid and sympathetic performance as Runyu. He is very good at playing tragic characters. I thought his performance in this drama was better than in Till the End of the Moon. And Kathy Chow was fire as the Queen B---ch. RIP

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Dumb

The legal show deals with some very serious issues like sexual harassment, bullying, and child abuse, but the drama can't figure out whether it is a romantic comedy or a legal drama with romance.

As a lawyer, Yuri acted like a hysterical and unbalanced teenager who threw temper tantrums and started physical fights. She was supposed to be a strong woman, but she acted like a screeching hyena yelling every time she was faced with adversity. Every episode was filled with her yelling at something or at someone. And, OMG, her overacted crying was like watching a 5 y/o throwing a tantrum in a toy store.

The constant yelling was so annoying that it was hard to take her or the show seriously. Did the writers honestly think it was an appropriate way to portray a strong female character? And it wasn't just Yuri who behaved like that, Jeong Ho did the same. Both of them spent the majority of their time bickering about some stupid crap, yelling, and cursing. Everyone's behavior was rude and tacky, making the characters annoying and unlikable.

It wasn't only the constant screaming, the writers purposely put the characters into situations where they acted ridiculously. In episode 8, Yuri unintentionally ate a bunch of marijuana rice cakes and behaved like a clown. So now, we had characters who perpetually acted stupid in a story about lawyers. Oh boy.

Finally, the show would've been more believable if Yuri opened her own practice and got Jeong Ho to work with her, them being childhood friends at all. Running a coffee shop while doing legal work, and presumably not getting paid, was a pretty silly plot idea. A hard pass.

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Crappy soap opera disguised as a medical drama

If you are looking for a medical drama showcasing professional ethics, you won't find it here. The so-called doctors act like hoodlums constantly yelling in front of patients and purposely setting each other up to fail. Instead of writing a story about complex medical issues, the writers proceed to bore us with a trashy soap opera and hospital politics filled with juvenile bickering and medical malpractice. There is also no plot. The show just moves along from one medical emergency to another without a central idea tying everything together. The characters are shallow and unlikable, focused too much on their interpersonal relationships instead of doing their job as doctors, and, there is hardly any romance. Do In Bum could've been interesting, but he is just a prop with no purpose or a personality. The writers do attempt to utilize cliches but they go nowhere. The reason behind Yoon Seo Jung's silly trauma is incredibly asinine and feels like a half-assed attempt to manufacture tension that is pretty much forgotten in later episodes. And, the love rectangle between the main couple, Im Bum, and Woo Yeon Hwa fizzles out as soon as it starts.

The villain is a cookie cutter bad guy with shallow motivations and no coherent reason for any of his actions. He mindlessly tries to destroy Master Kim's career because of some medical mishap over a decade ago and behaves like a petulant child rather than an experienced medical professional in charge of a hospital. Moreover, he has an absurd amount of power for a hospital director who is somehow able to influence the military, press, politicians, and pretty much everyone around him without any explanation why.

I don't understand all of the positive reviews. The show is a marathon of trashy melodrama with no plot or interesting characters. Pass.

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Starts with a bang, ends with a fart

Don't be fooled by the drama's clever start - fantasy/crime thriller with a splash of romance. The first few episodes are interesting with a promise of a compelling story and characters. The dream plotline is very easy to follow, which I liked. But, then the plot devolves into a series of comedic tropes, filler characters, overused flashbacks, workplace gossip, and a very boring romance. Instead of developing interesting crime story arcs, the writers proceed to bore us with immature behavior by the main characters and recurring childhood flashbacks.

One of the biggest issues is the writers being unable to pick a genre. The plot randomly changes between drama and comedy and makes the characters act differently in every scene. One moment, Jung Jae Chan is a serious prosecutor trying to solve a murder, the next, he is a clumsy, blubbering idiot. Because of this inconsistency, it is very hard to take any of the characters seriously. Jae Chan is completely unconvincing as a prosecutor looking more like a young guy playing dress-up with his father's suit. And, the best way to describe Nam Hong Ju is "annoying". She is argumentative and full of herself while doing close to nothing as a reporter. Working at her mom's restaurant would've been more appropriate for her characterization. But, she is a professional reporter with no class and self-restraint, and, similarly to Jae Chan, looks like someone playing dress-up.

Another issue is there being no character development. All of the characters are bland and one-dimensional. Being able to see the future through dreams is the one interesting thing about them. The investigator is the only character who has any depth. Choi Dam Dong is thoughtful, meticulous, and takes his job seriously. He is very convincing at what he does, while the rest are goofy caricatures larping as professionals.

The pacing slows down around episode 7-8 when the plot starts to flip flop between romance and a crime drama. Jae Chan and Nam Hong have no chemistry making their romance as exciting as watching the paint dry. Most of their scenes are very bland and worth skipping. Because the writers do such a half-assed job with the plot and characters, the story fizzles out into a snooze fest very quickly. Hooray to the fast-forward button.

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Miserable and boring

Don't get fooled by this drama's promising start - overcoming past trauma, a touch of intrigue, a promise of a bright future. After just a few episodes, the show turns into a endless loop of misery with characters doing stupid things and refusing to be happy.

Instead of telling a heartwarming story about healing, personal growth, and finding happiness, the plot gets high-jacked by filler arcs, side characters, and the main couple's constant "woe on me" whining. The writers milk the past trauma trope until there is nothing more to milk and completely abuse the use of flashbacks. In the second half, the show turns into a cheesy melodrama full of overused cliches. He breaks up with her and runs away because he loves her. They spend time with rival love interests and avoid each other when they shouldn't. There is no hope and nothing to look forward to because everyone always falls back on being miserable no matter how much they accomplish. The atrocious storytelling culminates with Lee Kang Doo's liver failure due to nose bleeds and fainting all the while he sees ghosts and hears voices.

Moon Soo is unbelievably frustrating and unlikable. She is portrayed as a typical innocent female who is supposed to be extraordinary in her simplicity. In reality, she is selfish, clueless, and has the emotional maturity of a middle schooler. Although, she eventually starts acting her age and dressing like an adult, that doesn't help her character development. She continues living in her little bubble and playing a martyr when it suits her. When she wants Lee Kang Doo to give her attention, she relentlessly pursuits him. But as soon as she is uncomfortable, she gives up and disregards him when he needs her the most. Her ignoring him when he begged for her attention before fainting really highlighted the awfulness of her character.

Romantic chemistry between the main couple is very bland. They hold hands, hug, share a jacket, but as soon as he comes close to her, she recoils like he has the cooties. For a righteous nutjob who exudes unapologetic, raw masculinity, it was rather disappointing to watch Lee Kang Doo share such vanilla and chaste kisses with a woman he was so passionately in love with. Lee Jun Ho is so good he can have chemistry with a potato, but even his talent couldn't save the drama from Won Jin Ah's awful acting.

Overall, the fast-forward button saved me, otherwise, I would've dropped this disaster after episode 5. The pacing is slow and the plot is riddled with side arcs completely irrelevant to the main story. I was looking forward to this drama because of the high ratings, now I want all those hours of my life back.

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Cringe fest

Clearly, the show didn't know whether it was a comedy or a drama. The plot had very serious elements relating to mental health, trauma, and PTSD. And, then we had Jeong Woo rolling in bed and throwing temper tantrums in every episode. If that was supposed to be comedy, it was cringey as hell.

The romance was underwhelming with very bland chemistry. I wasn't sure why because they did have some cute moments. Maybe because it took them half the show to finally kiss. Maybe because the funny scenes looked stupid and extremely overacted, mostly by Park Hyung Sik. Maybe because their trauma was undermined by immature behavior that was completely unnecessary. If a man acted like Jeong Woo in real life, no amount of good looks would make him attractive to women.

The villain who caused the medical incident was also badly written. His motivations were just so very shallow. He decided to punish Jeong Woo because his mom didn't let the villain see his dad and dad died. So, Jeong Woo, who happened to be his best friend and who did nothing wrong, had to be put through hell and back for the villain to feel vindicated. Crappy reasons, motivation, and extremely lazy writing.

I like Park Hyung Sik and I was looking forward to this drama, but it left me extremely disappointed. I am going to take a break from him and watch something else for a while.

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Overrated

Interesting premise, definitely something new. I really enjoyed the first half with fun cases and all the whales. After episode 12, it was time to wrap up.

The romance needed work. Firstly, it's already difficult to write romance between an autistic and healthy person. Secondly, the romance between FL and ML was rather shallow. He started liking her after he saw her in a wedding dress. It was hard to root for them because there were more red flags in that relationship than the positives. Yes, he at first listened to her talk about whales, but it became apparent that he was getting tired of it. The recurring theme of her having no social cues and consistently disregarding his feelings was not looking good for them. Perhaps, breaking up or just having a platonic relationship would've been better for the plot. Young Woo showed no signs that she could adapt to his emotional needs and he was increasingly hurt and frustrated by her disregard of his feelings. They broke up, then they got back together and that was it. The writers showed no growth in their relationship or her fundamental understanding of how to treat her partner. That would've been an interesting plot idea to teach an autistic person how to navigate relationships.

And what was Joon Ho's position with the law firm anyway? He wasn't a lawyer. A paralegal? A secretary? An errand boy? While Young Woo was running around with other lawyers solving cases, he was mostly in the background getting far less screen time than everyone else. The romance felt like an afterthought.

The acting was really good. Park Eun Bin did a very good job portraying an autistic person. Kang Tae Oh is also talented and very very hot. I want to see more of him in major roles.

Overall, the legal procedural was mostly fun, although it became kind of boring after episode 12. The romance was pretty underwhelming.

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Decent drama

The drama was mostly enjoyable, although the slow-burn romance between ML and FL started to get really painful by episode 30. After being married for two years, they still had no sex, slept in separate beds, and had very PC tropey interactions where the female repelled from the male as soon as he came near her. That could've been flushed out a lot better without taking 30+ episodes for them to finally confess and consummate, when it was evident much earlier that they had feelings for each other.

Some of the story lines were very cliche but in reverse. If there was any miscommunication or a misunderstanding, it was all planned. Every cliche trope was a scheme between Shiyi and company, which wasn't very clever or original. It felt more like a cop out from making an effort to create something meaningful. The writers recycled old tropes backwards in a gotcha way with lots of flashbacks to show what really went on, instead of coming up with something original.

I did like the nature of Shiyi's and Linyi's relationship being based on mutual trust and respect, instead of following the same old cliches where someone felt wronged or betrayed due to an asinine misunderstanding, and then we were back to square one.

MIL was unbearable throughout the entire show - a pompous, shallow, narrow-minded geriatric moron who only fully started to appreciate Shiyi when she was about to get executed, which was a lazy way to completely avoid holding any character responsible for their wrongdoing. I would've much rather preferred MIL being poisoned or "accidently" falling down the stairs. She was just terrible. And, the biggest letdown was how the story treated Ou Yanxing, who was the nicest character. He was treated completely unfairly - banished forever because of the actions of his stupid relatives.

Although, the drama had a happy ending, it didn't really feel happy. ML was a terrible and negligent husband and a grown man completely unable to make his own decisions in everyday life, although he was a military hero. He was also incapable of standing up to his mother and let her get away with some very terrible schit, just because she was an elder. I didn't buy the filial piety trope. Mommy dearest wasn't just a moron, she was a cruel moron who punished Shiyi without any evidence while always reminding her that she was the "matron" of the house. A matron who had no power but all the responsibility. Because of Lingyi's callousness and negligence, a lot of women suffered, which made me wonder why we should cheer for him and Shiyi at all when their relationship was built on the backs and tears of other women. It was rather convenient to banish one concubine, poison another, and send the last one away to live with her son. The Ming dynasty was a nightmare for women.

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An uptight snob meets a disgruntled simp

Interesting premise, lackluster execution.

Although, I love Liu Yuning, I didn't like his character in this drama. He was like a wet noodle with no personality and existed exclusively for FL's convenience. If He Huan said jump, he would ask how high. Watching their romantic development was as exciting as watching the paint dry. I didn't like her either. She was a bit snobbish and had an inflated sense of morality. She also used Jiang Junhao without giving anything in return. For some reason, she decided to take on her husband's debt, although she had no legal or moral obligation to pay it back. This required her to take on side gigs and work late nights. Jiang watched her son, cooked her meals, fixed things in her house, took care of her parents. They had an incredibly unbalanced relationship where he went out of his way to help her, and she continued doing her own thing without giving anything back. Their entire relationship was incredibly one sided. She bebopped through life pursuing her own goals while he patiently and conveniently waited for her to reciprocate his feelings. I like caring and loving characters, but there has to be equality where two people grow together and both contribute to the relationship. This wasn't the case here.

I really liked Yuanyuan's character. Although she made some questionable choices, she had a very dynamic personality and experienced the most growth. And, watching her finally dump that momma's boy was very satisfying. She wasted too much time on him.

The overall pacing of the show was very slow. It could've reached its logical conclusion in under 30 episodes. I couldn't bring myself to care about most side stories, including He Huan mom's cancer arc. It just wasn't that interesting. The other plotlines involving journalism were somewhat entertaining, but they didn't really move the plot forward. And, if you are like me and watched the show for Liu Yuning, you would be disappointed because he played more of a support role and was absent from many episodes.

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Not great

I like Hana Yori Dango even though certain plot lines are problematic. It's a little disappointing that a live-action remake has yet to show any kind of romantic chemistry between the characters, including this one.

This drama is supposed to have a great love story, except the characters have no chemistry. She is already in love with him but acts like she wants to run for the hills every time he comes near her. I understand the story is about teenagers, so the writers have to be careful about how much sexual tension they put into it. But dear god, their romance is just so dry. This is one thing I hate about Asian dramas - so many of them have very little romantic/sexual chemistry between couples who are supposed to be madly in love with each other.

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Mostly fun with a lot of plot holes

The drama starts out strong but mid-way falls flat. Park Yun Woo travels to the 21st century where she meets Kang Tae Ha who looks exactly like her dead husband. Then, hilarity ensues. The drama is light-hearted and funny. The main couple has cute interactions and really good chemistry. The show is engaging with good pacing until mid-way there are plot holes everywhere.

The writers attempt to draw a connection between the past and the present. They try to utilize the reincarnation trope but keep changing their minds. Tae Ha is very similar to Yun Woo's dead husband. The writers drop hints of reincarnation but build him up as a different person. Towards the end, his heart condition is pretty much abandoned, even though Tae Ha is on a brink of death. And, a warm-hearted grandpa is inexplicably turned into the evil mastermind while the nasty step mom changes her mind about being evil. Instead of moving the plot towards a logical resolution, the writers turn it into a confusing mess.

Although the drama is short with only 12 episodes, the last two episodes are boring and draggy. Barely anything is happening as the characters just move through the motions. But, I enjoyed watching Yun Woo traveling back to Joseon to right the wrongs and give all the wrong-doers their comeuppance. The rest felt like filler.

Overall, the drama has a really good first half, but completely falls flat in the second half with unexplained plot holes, abandoned story lines, and very draggy last two episodes.

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Starts off great but turns into a trashy soap opera

The drama pretends to be funny and light-hearted but inadvertently hides very dark themes that the writers fail to address. Kim Da Li and Jin Moo Hak have an incredible first encounter and form an instant connection. The show starts off as funny, cute, sexy, refreshing, and full of explosive chemistry. Da Li is a well-educated daughter of a wealthy family. Moo Hak comes from "new money" with no education or class. Her book smarts compliment his streets smarts creating a unique match. Unfortunately, after Da Li's father dies and she returns to Korea, everything falls apart.

Moo Hak is boorish and materialistic, but he is kind and sweet in the first two episodes. However, as soon as he finds out that Da Li owes him money, he becomes cruel and shortsighted just so he does not look weak. He insults, berates, and threatens Da Li while being fully aware of her bankruptcy, obnoxious family members, and creditors, then proceeds to relentlessly harass her despite witnessing her struggling to survive. Instead of bringing the two together to save the museum and build a great relationship, the writers turn him into an overbearing jerk and her into a perpetual victim.

What's worse, Da Li's intelligence and spunk completely disappear making her unable to stand up for herself. She takes abuse from everyone who berates, insults, and physically hurts her without any push-back. She allows Tae Jin to talk over her about his delusions of their non-existent relationship without getting a word in. She quietly sits still as Moo Hak's stepmother proceeds to assault and pull her hair without fighting back. And, this continues for the entirety of the show. Her character completely devolves into a doll with no agency or a personality allowing everybody to walk all over her. Moreover, she never demands that Moo Hak gives her an apology for his crappy treatment, and, neither do the writers make him apologize without being asked. The show makes no effort to correct past wrongdoings of any of the characters and force feeds us a happy ending.

Overall, the drama is somewhat entertaining, but Da Li's lack of a backbone and the characters' atrocious behavior make it very tedious to watch. For a brief moment, they address each other's shortcomings when Moo Hak demands why his mother hit Da Li, but it leads nowhere. This was a one time watch for me.

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