Surprisingly good

Excellent storyline, excellent script, and excellent acting. I must admit the first 3 episodes had me thinking that this drama would be a low budget mediocre historical drama. I'm glad to report that this drama exceeded my expectation. The writer allowed the female lead character to address sociocultural issues (e.g. like sexism and double standards) in a manner that both women in historical times and modern times would be able to relate to. I'm not familiar with the female lead actress, but she did a great job acting and was the first East Asian actress who I watched that decided to have a ugly cry on screen, instead of the damsel in distress whimsical cry lol. The only character (not actress) that I was constantly annoyed with was the female lead, little sister. Due to the first three episodes and episode 20, I decided to rate this drama a 9.0, instead of a 10.0.

It's a must watch!

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I gave up after episode 30!

This drama could have easily been a 10/10 but the storyline was dragggggggggggggggggggggged out. Producers in China should consider 30-40 episode dramas instead of having 50-70 episodes. More (episodes) is not always better. This drama reminds me so much of the The Legend of the Condor Heroes. The main difference is The Legend of the Condor Heroes is focused on the male lead, and The Legend of Fei is focused on the female lead. They both travel around and meet new fighting legends who are willing to teach them new fighting skills. They both have someone they like traveling alongside with them. The pros of this drama are the fighting scenes, and the male lead flirtiness. The cons are the dragged out storyline, and the length of time it's takes for the female lead and male lead to actually become a item (don't tease us with romance, and take 40+ episodes to give it to us).

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Watch this after you've watched a complex drama.

Watch this after you've watched a complex drama. This drama does not require you to think too much! It's basically a cool off drama that you watch in between thrillers or historical dramas lol.

It started off good, but by episode 6 it becomes decent (bearable to watch). Thus far, there's absolutely nothing good about the male lead character (the writer/director). Btw, I am on episode 8. He is arrogant, he is passive aggressive, and he is overbearing. In the beginning of the drama, he planned to get revenge on the female lead character after 14 years of breaking up. REALLY? Basically, his revenge was to be mean and childish. BTW, I wonder if he's the same guy from Love Alarm? I am not sure whether or not I will drop this drama, but I do like the school teacher, and the famous actor. The very attractive gangsta has to go or rather, should have never been in the story. It would have been better for the writers to have made his character a competitive film agency (who wants to steal the female lead character, clients, movies, and talent), instead of a gangsta.

Things that make this drama weird or unrealistic are:
1. Attractive gangsta (the character, not the actor).
2. The fact that there are four attractive (some famous, some normal) men, all liking one middle aged woman at the same time.
3. If one of the four guys is her child's father (which I think it's the writer/director). It's weird that there was no emotion shown by the female lead character when dad and daughter were together for the first time ever.
4. The hot younger teacher living with his student mom (conflict of interest).

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Where do I begin?

This was one of the Chinese historical dramas that I waited for to air. So, I had high expectations.

THE ACTING
The script is well written. However, due to the directors direction, the female lead actress did not act as good as she could have. The actress did an excellent job in the Legend of Fu Yo and other historical and period dramas, but in this drama, she was lacking, tremendously. Firstly, her character acted immaturely for the first 20 episodes, even in the scenes when she was supposed to be brave.

ROMANCE
Secondly, I did not feel the romance between the female and male lead characters, meaning it wasn't captivating for a big budget drama like this. The romance between the female lead and male lead was stale...maybe dry is a better word for it. Sidenote: The actors and actress who played the king, the male lead (up until episode 20), and the consort acted their butt off (meaning they did an excellent job). Although the king was very cruel, his behavior for an ancient king character is one of the most realistic I've seen in Chinese historical dramas (check the article out on my page for details). I also did not like the romance between the adopted brother of the female lead, and the character from the fabric department. I was bored the whole time watching their love story unfold, and I skipped a lot of their scenes. Again, I think the director didn't do all of the characters justice. This drama should have had more a serious undertone, especially for these types of characters who were strong and skilled warriors. Instead of having the female lead actress and her adopted brother be shy and cutesy about romance, this was an opportunity to have these character develop from being aloof about romance due to childhood trauma, to becoming open to it, gradually (which is what the director did for the male lead).

WHAT I LIKED
I liked the fact that both the king and the male lead are healthy (not anorexic and or bone thin). There are a lot of male actors who act in Chinese historical dramas who are so thin and frail. So much so, you can see their rib cage when they take off their shirts in historical dramas. This trend in China should absolutely come to an end. Just because someone is skinny doesn't mean that they are healthy.

On the brighter side, the political storyline in this drama was great. It is the reason that I didn't give this drama a rating of less than 7.5. Additionally, the reason why I am not going to drop this drama at episode 20 is because I'm invested in the political plot. The actor who played the king by far, was the best actor in this drama. Seriously, pay attention to his mannerisms, his voice fluctuations, his facial expressions, and his body movements. It is not as easy as it appears to act, especially as a king during ancient times. I'm amazed by his acting skills. Kudos to the casting director for casting this actor.

I will edit this review at another time to fix all grammatical errors. I'm typing this review from my cellphone. I'll also let you know what I thought about the end!

FINAL UPDATE:
I decided to drop this drama. Episode 21( or 22?) was horrible and it didn't make any sense.

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This was so hard to watch....

This is the first J-drama that I watched and it was very hard to watch. I had to force myself not to drop it atleast once per episode because the Japanese cultural norms for romantic relationships tend to be so sexist, and easily seen in the male lead character, and even the female lead character. In the first 6 episodes, I hadn't seen the male lead character cook or clean once, the female lead character overly apologies, even when she isn't in the wrong. Additionally, she's obedient to the male lead, and even her male best friend. After watching this, I can sense why romance is dead in Japan.

This is drama is a little similar to Boys Over Flow/Meteor Garden/F-4 in the sense that the school has 3 hot guys whom the female students swoons over, and one female student who isn't caught up in the hype.

I'm not going to drop this drama yet because I want to know what's going to happen with the female lead and the guy who work at the Ramen restaurant.

I dropped it.

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Why are the ratings so low?

I stopped trusting the recommendations/ratings after I watched the first 3 episodes of Untamed. I am not sure why this period drama has low reviews, meaning why the overall rating isn't over an 8.5. I am glad that I ignored the reviews, and watched this drama anyways. Granted, I am only on episode 6. I plan to update this review after I finish watching this drama. However, within the first 6 episodes, this drama is worthy of at least a rating of a 9, and here's why:

1. Strong female lead - the oldest DuGu sister is honest, outspoken, and fair. As is the youngest DuGu sister!
2. This period drama storyline is focused on romance, more than it's focused on politics. Although, I like historical/period dramas with a storyline that focuses on politics, it's good to have some that focus on romance. The female lead (the oldest DuGu sister) has a lot of romantic scenes. I was shocked when I watched episode 6, as she was "doing the do," with her new husband while her ex lover dreadfully watched. There are only a handful of Chinese dramas that show married characters having any form of intimacy more than hugging or kissing on the cheek/forehead. This romantic scene wasn't oversexualized like western shows (btw, I am a westerner), and it wasn't childlike like eastern dramas. Thus, it's a perfect blend of both.
3. The storyline is actually pretty good. Thus far, there isn't any loopholes in the writing/script.

I will write an additional review below this sentence after I've finished watching all of the episodes.

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Why is the male leads' face beat? Flower boy!!!

I can't but help to overly notice that the males leads fact is beat, meaning he is wearing women makeup and wearing it well. I am not into feminine looking men. Also, in the first 18 episodes he gave the female lead a weird look (innocently confused). At first I thought it was the way that the male lead character was acting due to his position (I didn't dislike it). However, it wasn't until episode 19 that I realized it's because the of his eyes (maybe the actor had eye surgery and they look super wide). Overall, the drama is good. I like that the female leads character isn't the traditional damsel in distress character. However, I dislike how they feminised the male lead character. Additionally, I disliked how the characters mentioned in almost every episode how attractive each one were, and how much money the female lead character and her family had (felt redundant and shallow). Lastly, I liked the strong relationship that the female lead had with her family.

BTW, whoever retouched the dramas' MDL picture did not do well. The female lead is pretty, why make her look like something else (an alien)?

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At times the storyline is unrealistic and loopy.

I actually found out about this drama via AvenueX's YouTube channel. While I disagree with most of her negative comments about this drama, I can understand why this drama doesn't have a rating over a 8.5.

Characters:
The female lead was married as a princess (episode 1), but engaged as the physician's daughter around episode 3; she broke off the engagement, but then got married to her sickly cousin just to treat him, solely because he was too shy to allow her to treat him without clothes on; but again, she broke that off too by getting divorced. The only one she liked was her childhood friend, who was a prince. While the characters don't drive me crazy, I still don't understand why she hated her husband so much, the one who she married when she was a princess in episode 1. Granted, she didn't ask for the marriage but as a princess, this is what came with the title, the fortune, and comfortable life. Her husband, at least in the first 19 episodes actually loved her, and did her a favor by marrying her sister, in order to protect her from their uncle. So, I would have liked for the scriptwriter to have either made his character totally evil (referencing the character the female lead married during episode 1), or given a better reason why the female lead didn't like her husband.

Directing:
The female lead actress, is a great actress. I know this because I've watched Good Bye, My Princess. However, in this drama, she acted with a, 'I don't really give a f,' kind of attitude throughout the whole drama. I don't like the fact that the director directed her to act this way. I believe the director should have directed her to act as a princess would have acted (e.g. a bit arrogant & privileged but strong willed), instead of a princess who is aloof most of the time.

Storyline:
The storyline is actually good, although not great. The reason why I gave this drama a rating of a 8.5, instead of a 10 for the story is because some of the scenes were not well crafted, and there are loopholes in the story. For example, somewhere around episode 2 the princess gets surgery and is turned into looking like the physician's daughter. I thought to myself, this is super unrealistic, and the scriptwriter and editor didn't even bother to come up with a logical explanation to why a ancient physician would be able to change the face of the princess, while in a cave. All she had around her head when she woke up were bandages, which btw, were loosely wrapped around her head... SIGH.

Editing:
Overall, I am enjoying this period drama thus far. I am currently on episode 19, but I did take a break to watch other dramas! For some reason the faces of both the female lead (same actress from Good Bye, My Princess) and the male lead (same actor from The Princess Weiyoung) look strange. I know that these dramas are often edited (e.g. lightening the actors skin to make it appear closer to the color white). However, the editing this time, in terms of changing their facial shape, was not done well. At one point, I even thought that they both may have had plastic surgery, which honestly there's nothing wrong with, but I concluded that it was just bad editing.

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Overall it's pretty good!

REVIEW OF EPISODES 1-7
I was really enjoying this drama up until episode 6 (sigh). What happens in episode 6? A new character is introduced, and it's the trope of a teen female dressed like a male. I dislike damsel in distress female characters, and characters who do aegyo/sājiāo. In episode 7, you will see the female character doing sājiāo. When I was watching episodes 1-5 I thought to myself, wow this drama is really good. How come it doesn't have an average rating of a 9? Just from watching episodes 1-5, you'll think it wouldn't have filler episodes which consist of commonly seen tropes in Chinese historical/period dramas (see link below). Although I am disappointed by the female lead character in episodes 6 & 7 (I assumed this drama would go in a different direction), since I really enjoyed episodes 1-5, I am going to continue to watch this drama. I will update my review as I watch more episodes.
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REVIEW OF EPISODES 8-20
After watching episodes 8-20, I start to like the female lead because either her character develops, or I understand her character better. The female lead unlike the male lead character is very sensible and smart (she don't take no crap). What I dislike about episodes 8-20 is how the scriptwriter obsessively wrote how dumb/slow the male lead. Get ready to hear it about 40 times within the 12 episodes, I kid you not.

I can honestly say from episode 1-20 (thus far) this drama is full of action, and I am enjoying it. I did notice however, that they are reusing some of the characters and putting beards or mask on them so that they can look different. It doesn't bother me, but just be aware so that you will not think that that one actor represents the same character.
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REVIEW OF EPISODES 21-52
Episode 21 at the 4 minute 50 second mark is not cool. Her dad said he slapped her for her good, because she wasn't focused on her writing skills. People, using physical abuse except for self defense is not okay. I hope Asian dramas do away with justifying toxic behavior and physical abuse in dramas (it is not love).
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To learn more about tropes visit the following link (it's safe and virus free): https://www.solarina.ca/dramaddicts/dramaddicts-blog/2020/10/11/nosebleeds-mission-impossible-masks-in-ancient-china-and-the-cold-executive-a-crash-course-in-asian-drama-tropes

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Good, but what a sad love story ...

This drama was really really really good. The only reason why I did not give it a 10 is because I really did not like the fact that the female lead waited and somewhat wasted her whole life for the male lead; she suffered so much. This drama had me reflecting on modern day life, and I thought about how much the righteous and integral people in this world suffer. Despite the female lead waiting for the male lead to die when they're both in their 80's, I did like the ending, because the female and male lead separated. The reason I like their marital separation is because he, the king (male lead character) never put the female lead character first. His priority was the thrown. He was late for their wedding, they didn't spend the night together on their wedding night, when he escaped from imprisonment he went to see his mother before his wife, he lied to her constantly, and he allowed his mom to try and behead her (his wife-the female lead), etc. Additionally, she faced so much emotional trauma (e.g. being a hostage, parents being murdered, almost dying twice, etc) that I don't think their marriage could have been peaceful. Thus, it was better for them to separate and hold onto any peaceful memories they had left.

The only con that I had is I believe this drama could have been 18 or 19 episodes instead of 20.

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Ignore the low ratings, and watch this drama!

It sucks that this drama has such a low rating because not many people will look on page 15+ when searching for dramas to watch on MDL by rating. This drama is worth the watch because the storyline is great, the acting is great, the fighting scenes are amazing and thus far, there aren't any filler episodes!

The two things that I didn't like about this drama was the fact that it took over 20 episodes for both leads to reveal their true identity with one another, and when it finally happened during episode 22 it wasn't as dramatic as it should have been. The build up (anticipation) was well written and felt, but the actual moment felt rushed and it lacked the passion, fear, and surprise I wanted from both lead actors (this most likely was due to the director's direction). Also, starting with episode 22, I wished the writer would have focused on the romance between the two leads, instead of having a unnecessary fight scene between the female lead and assailant. Lastly, this drama could have been 30 episodes. I usually drop dramas that have more than 35 episodes for one season because usually I find that it's not needed.

Before 2020, the female lead actress played damsel in distress characters, in a lot of historical/period dramas. Although, I thought she was pretty, I hated her acting. It wasn't until watching this drama that I realized that she can act really well, and that what I actually hated was the damsel in distress characters (not her acting). For example, in the historical drama Princess Agents, she played a damsel in distress princess who was selfish, weak and immature. I apologize for the wrongful judgment.

The female lead character, sister (who is really her best friend's cousin) has eyes like the Bratz Dolls. I have never seen eyes so big and honestly, that's all I can focus on when I see her. It's obvious that she had surgery, which btw, there's nothing wrong with. Nevertheless, I wanted to mention that there's also nothing wrong with having small eyes.

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If you like the American drama Orange Is The New Black, you'd like this drama too!

I have one episode left, and I am shocked. I guess this drama was so good, that I didn't realize that I had made it to episode 15. If you like the American TV show, Orange Is The New Black on Netflix, you'd like this drama too! It's 90% similar, the main difference is Orange Is The New Black, setting is in a female prison, and Prison Playbook setting is in a male prison. Even the characters are very similar (e.g. the female lead in OISTNB vs male lead in PP - they are both ditsy, and Crazy Eye in OISTNB vs Looney in PP). Essentially the same show, but different actors/actresses, and a different country.

This drama is not your typical Korean drama, the whole vibe is different (it rings American lol). I really liked the male lead character, besides his wonderful physique, his character was so likeable, I actually really found the actor attractive. BTW, I am not into BL, and that's the reason why I rated this drama a 9.5, instead of a 10.

Oh yeah, the soundtrack is dope (meaning good). There's this one song that is sung by a woman Korean singer on this drama, it plays every time the female and male lead characters are together, and I freaking love that song. It gives me 90's R&B vibes!

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Could have been so good, but...

Although, this drama used a lot of green screens, I think it had a big budget, judging by the scene changes, costumes, etc. Nevertheless, since the writing (script) had many flaws, the big budget didn't help, but rather made it worse.

After watching the first 7 seven episodes, I didn't understand why the ratings were so low for this drama. However, by episode 9, you'll start to understand and even dread watching it because the storyline is repetitive and loopy. It takes too long for the female lead character to prove that she is the goddess. Also, by episode 11 you'll probably be fed up with her child-like character. Also, her dad (character), also annoyed me at different times throughout this drama.

This drama had the potential but failed in so many ways due to the script/writing.

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Realistic, but too depressing!

Love, Marriage, and Divorce season 1 is well scripted, well produced and well acted. However, the con is that it was a bit depressing. They should have kept the 3 couples who were going through marital issues but added 1 success story. I believe 3/4 marriages fail in real life too. The reason I believe an addition (success story couple) is needed is because it started to make me cynical regarding relationships and people. People need to cling to hope, and believe that they can be the 1/4 with a successful marriage, even though, it'd be difficult to obtain. I dropped the show, although, I would have liked to continue.

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Due to episode 12, I raised my rating from 7.5 to 8.5.

Updated:
The male lead let out much needed steam in episode 12, and for that I raised the rating. Nevertheless, I disagreed with him when he told his wife to apologize to another woman (who was touching and massaging him) in from of others, at their home.

Previous review:
Why did they make the female lead so unlikable?

The story is actually pretty good, the acting is good too (not necessarily award worthy), but good nonetheless. They made the female lead character so unlikable, while making the male lead character loveable. The female lead character (not actress) is physically, and mentally abusive; she is childish, and petty. She behaves like a 5 year old. The male lead is kind, patient, and respectful.

Ugh, I wish the writer made the female lead character down to earth, without being bratty and abusive. I hadn't read any of the other reviews for this drama, but I'm guessing that's the reason why the overall rating is under 8.0.

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