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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Hilarious and delightful

The enemies to lovers plot is nothing new, but, the show makes it hilariously entertaining. What I love about it is that the writers manage to create comedic characters without turning them into infantile nincompoops. Mi Ran and Kang Ho are very well matched in terms of intelligence and assertiveness. She sees through his fake charm and he appreciates her assertiveness.

The show is very well rounded in terms of pacing and storytelling. Because it has only 10 episodes, there are no boring story arcs and the plot moves at a very good speed. I also appreciate that the writers don't unnecessarily drag out plotlines and resolve any misunderstanding fairly quickly. The rest of the drama is focused on the main leads' explosive chemistry. He loves her not because she is a cute, but because she is brave and not afraid to put her well being on the line to save other people. By getting to know each other, they lose some of their cynicism and realize that there are good people in the world. Not all women are opportunists, and, not all men are cheaters. Kim Ok Bin impressed me in "Arthdal Chronicles". Here, she shows her versatility in a comedic role. And, I absolutely love Kim Ji Hoon. He can be a convincing psycho serial killer and a romantic character. We need to see more of him in main roles.

The final episode gets a little bit convoluted. The writers decide to throw a last minute curve ball for the sake of tension. I don't think it was necessary to expose Mi Ran's serial dating life style and to create drama between the main leads. It felt very forced and unnecessary compared to the drama's otherwise very fluid storytelling.

Overall, the drama is very enjoyable. All the characters are likable and the romance is very satisfying.

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A lackluster attempt at a time travel murder mystery

The drama has an interesting idea that gets lost between multiple character arcs, loose ends, and a draggy plot. The main characters are likable, but everything else is longwinded and forgettable.

One of the biggest issues is too many characters to keep track of. The writers thought it was necessary to drag out the plot by giving each character a meaningless story arc. And, the characters that are actually interesting are reduced to tropey stereotypes. Go Mi Suk is built up to be a super manipulative sociopath who has a keen sense for people's weakness to be used against them. But, she is reduced to a typical troubled teenager who acts up because of family problems and whose only transgression is plagiarism. The murderer is supposed to be a big bad mysterious villain but he turns out to be a stupid, self-serving kid with mommy issues.

If you expect a grand love story, you won't find it here. Yun Hae Jun and Baek Yun Yeong have no romantic chemistry until the very last episode. A lot of their interactions in 1987 are filled with infantile conversations about food and going to nice places. Only towards the end do they start acting like a couple.

The ending is very sweet and satisfying. Everything returns to its rightful place and mom achieves her life-long dream.

Overall, the drama has its good moments, but for the most part it is very draggy. I ended up fast-forwarding through a lot of scenes past episode 10 because I was bored out of my mind. The murder mystery was no longer mysterious and most characters were bland.

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A good attempt at an epic fantasy

Part 3 delves deeper into the concept of nation building and the fact that common and personal interests often supersede blood ties. The storytelling is complex and very well written showing Wahans gradually breaking away from the tribe and joining Tagon, and, Eunseom helping the Ago tribe to destroy narrow-minded clan leaders and unite the tribe. At the end, a need for security and survival always prevails.

Characters go through more major changes emotionally and make tremendous steps in their quest for power. Tagon becomes the king and finally accepts that cruelty is the only way to consolidate and maintain power. Taealha starts to plot her own schemes to preserve tribal secrets and attain her own brand of power. And, Eunweom finally gets a large following. One of my favorite things about the drama is how well the writers portray the fundamental differences between Eunseom and Saya. Eunseom is kind and very straight forward. Saya is cunning and cruel. Kudos to Song Joong Ki for playing two different personalities so well.

The ending feels like a new beginning. All three parts serve as character arcs for Tagon, Eunweom, Tanya, and others to find where they are meant to be before any major events start to take place. I really enjoyed the drama. It was a very good attempt at fantasy with great world building and story telling. I hope there will be more to come in the future.

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Action packed political fantasy

Part 2 flushes out the plot a little bit better breaking it into separate character arcs. Eunseom is still on the quest to save his tribe but gets captured. Tanya learns that being a pacifist will only get her killed and changes her strategy. Tagon still tries to dodge the machinations of Asa Ron and Hae Mihol while attempting to consolidate the Union power.

The plot starts to get more complicated with various twists and turns. The pace picks up with a lot more action and less conversations, which makes the story a lot more engaging. Characters start coming into their own and going after their goals. Tanya gets the most character development. She finally stops asking stupid questions about why bad things happen and realizes that life's not fair. The only way to have a chance is to gain power leading her to making cynical choices. Tagon makes a giant leap towards his goal with the help of now powered-up Tanya. And Eunseom goes through a cycle of deep depression.

Unfortunately, Eunseom does not get as much screen time as the other characters, which leads to choppy writing. He experiences the most suffering by witnessing his friends being reduced to animals groveling for food and committing suicide in a moment of despair. This completely breaks him down mentally leading to severe depression. But, the writers do not do a particularly good job at giving him character growth and allowing him to come out of it gradually. In the same episode where he is at his lowest, he miraculously gets his self-esteem back to plan an escape. This wasn't very well thought out character development and seemed like the writers tried to backtrack to him after leaving him out for so many episodes.

Overall, I enjoyed part 2 a lot more than part 1 because it is action packed and finally shows substantial character development. Now, off to part 3.

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A great start to something new

There is a lot to unpack with this drama. Part 1 introduces a violent world of Arthdal with warring tribes entangled in a timeless struggle for power. People do not dream. And those who do, are unique and destined for great things. The plot explores complex themes of what it is like being part of a nation vs. a smaller community, loss of innocence, and surviving stigma and harsh realities of life. It's a coming of age story for many characters whose lives are thrown into chaos, and who have to learn to survive and pursue a bigger destiny.

Eunseom's life is disrupted when a powerful army massacres his village setting him on a quest to rescue his friends and ultimately find his identity. Tagon plays a dangerous game of cat and mouse with his father and various factions in order to survive. What I like about this drama is the complexity of each character. There is no black and white but also a lot of shades of gray. Tagon is a ruthless warlord who is extremely cunning and manipulative. But he is written as a sympathetic characters who had to deal with stigma all his life surrounding his birth. What's more, he treats his comrades and the woman he loves with care. Tanya asks naive questions about why bad things happen in life, but doesn't blink when cursing her enemies. And, Eunseom has a violent side he has to learn to control. The writers did not draw many lines between heroes and villains. Everyone has a compelling story to tell. I got a lot of Game of Thrones and Conan vibes, but the drama is unique enough to stand on its own.

Part 1 has good pace and story telling. There is not a lot of action because the plot focuses on character interactions to allow them to learn about each other in order to set certain events in motion. However, the drama would've benefited from better editing. There are some conversational scenes that are too long and draggy or completely unnecessary, especially the ones between members of the Wahan tribe. Other than that, I enjoyed the first 6 episodes and will continue on to part 2.

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There is no glory at the end

One of the best things about this drama is acting. The cast is nothing short of perfection making the story a lot more memorable and impactful. I really cannot praise them enough. And, while everyone deserves an A+, I feel like the supporting cast outshine the leads only because the villains are much more dynamic than the main characters.

One thing I like about Part 2 is that the villains are written to be so fundamentally irredeemable, they become destructive and often self-sabotage. These so-called "friends" ultimately become each other's worst enemy making their individual endings very satisfying. The storytelling and pacing continue to be smooth without filler arcs and incoherent content. I like that writers did not concoct unnecessary plot devices to create more drama. Everything is very well balanced.

While, for the most part, the story is well written, the ending becomes too contrived with unnecessary twists blurring the lines between good and evil. The good guys become murderers and the villain become victims. But, we are still supposed to be sympathetic to the "good guys" because the villains deserved it. I guess the writers wanted to convey that the world is not fair and at the end even people who seemingly can do no wrong are capable of heinous acts. But to me it makes the good guys no different from the villains, which is very disappointing because I rather liked how the writers portrayed certain characters to be exemplary in contrast to monsters like Park Yeon Jin.

I did not love the ending because it felt like Joo Yeo Jung's revenge story was thrown together last minute. The plot reached its logical conclusion with Dongeun finally getting her revenge. I was ready for the drama to end only to be forced to watch Yeo Jung's revenge arc, which at that point wasn't that interesting. It is not because his story wasn't compelling, but because it was not properly developed early enough and was only written as a tiny side arc in comparison to Dongeun's grand revenge. The ending did not really feel like a happy ending where the main characters get their revenge and move on with their lives. Now that their roles switched and Dongeun became Yeo Jung's "executioner", they got stuck in an endless loop of revenge with the last scene showing them entering the prison with Yeo Jung father's murderer. It made me feel bad for the characters because they deserved better than this.

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One step forward, three steps backwards

This drama should serve as a cautionary tale for women to choose wisely in a marriage. It tells a story of empowerment, healing, and new beginnings. Lin Shuang gives up her brilliant career to be a housewife and a mother just to find out a few years later that her husband is unfaithful. Instead of sulking in depression, she picks herself up and pursues self-improvement for the sake of herself and her daughter.

The plot moves between different storylines of friendship, marriage, workplace, parenthood in a very realistic way. Lin Shuang achieves through trial and error overcoming multiple roadblocks all the while having to deal with her soon to be ex-husband's dirty schemes. She is kind and likable, hard to anger, and tends to avoid confrontation, which makes her an easy target for manipulation, especially by her overbearing in-laws. But, while I enjoy a good tale of female empowerment, Lin Shuang's character is just too good. She lets a lot of things slide for the sake of dignity, which is unsustainable and quite often hard to stomach. The breaking point is when she checks Wei Ming's parents into a nice hotel after they abducted her daughter to use as a bargaining chip in the divorce proceeding.

The pacing starts to drag as soon as the drama introduces secondary and tertiary characters nobody cares about. I couldn't care less about Jiang Xi mom's cancer or a continuous marathon of her brother's failures. I am here to watch a woman brave through a divorce, not filler characters being ridiculous. Another issue is that Lin Shuang has to deal with too many roadblocks. It's a drama, not someone's life story. For every step forward, she always takes three steps backwards, which makes the drama tedious to watch.

Lastly, the story reaches its logical conclusion at around episode 28 when the divorce is finalized. Everything moving forward is Wei Ming's new set of matrimonial problems with the next missus and Lin Shuang's incredibly slow and uninteresting romance with Gu Xu. The romantic development with Gu Xu should've been part of the story much earlier. After the divorce, it felt like the writers tried to scramble the plot because they forgot something.

Overall, this is a good slice-of-life drama with likable characters and semi-decent pacing. I recommend having a fast-forward button on stand-by.

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A pleasant surprise

After watching several fantasy k-dramas that were totally disappointing, this was a pleasant surprise. At first, the story centers around lighthearted ghost stories. Then, the plot makes a connection between the supernatural and police corruption involving a 20 year old hit and run accident and focuses on uncovering the mystery behind the accident and a string of murders surrounding it.

The story moves at a very good pace. There is a nice balance between comedy, horror, and romance. Some ghosts are very scary and have compelling stories. The main couple has cute and funny moments without both acting like infantile nincompoops. Their chemistry is excellent making them convincing as a couple. There are a lot of genuine interactions involving kissing, flirting, and touching resulting in very believable romance.

I liked that the side characters had their own stories giving them some depth, however, they were also the weakest point of the drama. While I appreciate that the writers gave Baek Nam Goo and Go Seong Ho backstories and made them more than just goofy sidekicks, their arcs took an obnoxious amount of screentime slowing down the plot and dragging the story for more episodes than necessary. The main plot reached its conclusion in episode 14 when the good guys won. That's when the story should've ended. But, because of the side arcs, we had to sit through two more episodes of boring secondary plotlines watching Baek's wife being sad and Seong Ho's ridiculous ghost romance with Bom's friend. Moreover, the writers had to invent more plot with the netherworld to make it seem like the story was still ongoing.

But, I would still recommend this drama because the pacing is mostly good for about 14 episodes, the plot is engaging, and there is plenty of romantic chemistry.

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A slice of happiness with zombies

This is not a zombie apocalypse drama but a slice of life story showing how people deal with each other in the midst of chaos. Influenced by the events of Covid-19, the drama somewhat delves into the problems society faces when having to deal with an unknown deadly disease, the balance between safety and individual liberties, and people's biases.

The show starts off with a virus putting people into a zombie-like state making them crave blood. The first two episodes are about the spread of the disease until the plot switches to the main characters getting quarantined in a massive apartment building with no access to the outside world. The story mostly focuses on the best and the worst of human nature showing various residents dealing with their own problems and human-made happenings around the building. This reminded me of the movie "Clue" where a group of strangers got stuck together trying to solve murder-mystery.

If you are looking for passionate romance, you won't find it here. Although, the two main characters eventually kiss and become a couple, the romance is very subtle and focuses more on how Yoon Sae Bom and Jung Yi Hyun treat and protect each other without the use of cheesy romantic cliches. There are no tropey moments of staring and forlorn glances. The characters are very mature. They are not afraid to be alone and have physical contact without awkwardness.

The biggest problem with the drama is pacing which slows down somewhere in the middle. This is not so much about the plot, but the setting never changing. Characters run around various locations around the building and do the same things in every episode. This makes the show a bit tedious to watch.

The best thing about the drama is Park Hyung Sik. He truly shines as a serious character proving that he can play something other than stereotypical semi-comedic heroes. Here, he is a badass cop and a total stud. I want to see more of him playing generals, kings, and other males in positions of authority.

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Like a big sneeze waiting to happen but never happening

This drama had its good moments but a draggy plot and poor writing made it a lot less entertaining and a whole lot frustrating. The bossam part wasn't even the story but rather a mechanism for the main couple to meet.

The romance started great with a promise of a touching love story, but it completely fell flat. Even though Ba Woo and Hwa In didn't start their relationship on a positive note, they were never truly enemies. They bickered, cried, supported each other and had some of the most touching moments. I liked how their romance was portrayed as a love story between two mature people trying to survive. Unfortunately, in the second half, all of the emotion and angst completely disappeared leading to a very vanilla relationship completely devoid of passion. They basically became an old married couple who barely touched. And there wasn't a single kissing scene.

Poor editing was the drama's biggest flaw. It had 20 very long hour+ episodes that felt like they would never end. The political intrigue plotline was interesting and the villain was compelling enough to keep me engaged. But, then the writers started introducing filler characters and plotlines. There was a little bit of a mother-in-law from hell who wasn't quite evil, and baby momma drama that only served as a plot device to move the story forward. None of this was necessary, because the writers already had enough material to work with instead of creating new plotlines that were not particularly interesting.

In the last few episodes, everyone started doing stupid things leading to people getting hurt, killed, or captured. Dae Yeop was a terribly written character. I cannot stress enough how much I hate the rejected lover trope. His unrequited love for Hwa In dragged on for the entirety of the show. He just wouldn't move on and kept carrying the torch for a woman who will never love him. On top of that, he single handedly got himself killed because the writers decided the show needed a last minute emotional response from the audience. But it wasn't a heroic death fighting in a battle or sacrificing to save a loved one, but the dumbest death possible that should've never happened.

The ending was disappointing. The political intrigue culminated in a rebellion which ended before it started. The happy couple reunited and lived happily ever after. The end.

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