Jing Tian is a Star!

This was my first drama with Jing Tian and she is gorgeous!! I don't really watch republican era dramas but I ended up watching this one with my grandma and I fell in love. The outfits, the hair, the whole aesthetic really was so alluring. The first episode pulls you right into the scene and is truly a great first episode. The chemistry between Jing Tian and Timmy Xu is electrifying and beautiful. I truly enjoyed their romance and in a lot of ways the spy plot felt very secondary. A little cliche but I enjoyed the spying and political scheming. The only problem was the ending and it was quite disappointing. However I did have a wonderful time watching most of the show and I can't wait to see more of Jing Tian!

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Like a shiny new game but as time goes on you eventually end up frustrated and bored

First 20-25 episodes were great and engaging, as someone who likes gaming dramas I was curious to see what this one would bring to the table. Bottom line it didn't bring much. The last about 10 episodes, the writing started falling out and there were random plot lines brought in to create drama which I was not a fan and was got completely bored of. The cracks were definitely showing and the story dragged.

Cheng Xiao is not an actress and it definitely shows in this. Her costars outdo her by a mile, her best friend was an outstanding personality (she was my favorite hands down), xu kai was great, even the teammates I had more laughs with and enjoyed a lot.
And I just wanna say that Cheng Xiao is a beautiful girl but that haircut is NOT IT. I get she's supposed to be a normal girl and not as outstanding in looks but damn when her and xu kai stand next to each other, she looks boring and stiff. They couldn't even dress her up a little more for interviews or events?

Story was fine, I like competition of esports and it's obvious what this drama has to say about idol and fan relationships, especially with the new law in china about fans interacting on the internet. But definitely a downgrade in the last few episodes and totally could've been a 24 ep drama.

Anyways I enjoyed most of it but I would def say it's not on my list of top gaming dramas, definitely would pick king's avatar or gank your heart over this.

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A lot of GO

This is basically a mix of Queen's Gambit and Haikyuu. My favorite thing is that I literally have no idea how Go works or what each move means (even after finishing the show) but I still really enjoyed this show! The competition is great but falls from the biggest part of the story, friendship. ShiGuang and YuLiang are literally Hinata and Kageyama, always pushing each other to win and improve. ShiGuang and ChuYing are like two brothers bickering about stupid stuff but always there for each other. I don't really like to criticize these dramas because they are obviously just a fun watch and I had a lot of fun watching ShiGuang's journey of GO. Very motivating, inspiring, and a great watch!

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I wish I didn't watch this

Don't get me wrong, I still love this couple and the first season will always put a smile on my face. However this season did the exact opposite. I don't think I was happy for a single scene in this season and I truly wished I could forget this season happened and go back to my happy couple days. I actually hated what they did to HJW character and I hated him for everything he did to KSJ. I also hated how KSJ still loved him and forgave him despite everything. I couldn't justify their decisions and I still can't accept it. Despite this, I actually learned about love. I genuinely sympathized with KSJ and his love for HJW. You could love someone with your whole being and they still might not be your soulmate or the one you're meant to be with, and when KSJ thought that about HJW I felt so extremely sad for him.

I learned about love but at the cost of my happy couple.

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Gangs, Drug Lords, and Revenge

Going into this show, I was a huge fan of the director because of my love for Extracurricular. This show is a great follow up. First of all it's bloody, violent, and vengeful; and I'm almost impressed with how much I enjoyed it. The acting is top quality: this the 3rd drama of Han SoHee that I've seen and she is just amazing at playing her character with conviction and goes above and beyond what you expect. Park HeeSoon is beautiful to watch and I loved every single scene with him in it. Lee HakJu stole the show, honestly I loved his grey character and how he portrayed it, he had me scrambling trying to figure out who's side he was on.

Some criticisms I do have: fight scenes start out great but later on shaky camera is induced and it starts getting a little messy. Plot was great but can be predictable, I already figured out a lot by the 4-5th episode. The relationship between JiWoo and PilDo, loved the friendship but didn't really want the romance (it felt kinda shoved in and more like a pity thing).

Overall it's heart pounding binge that will keep your attention for at least a few hours. Can't wait to see more from Kim JinMin!

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PAIN

This goes on my list of beautifully depressing shows/movies that literally will tear you apart. I binged it fully and although I haven't seen the original Korean or Taiwanese movie, I think I can say that a series was the very suitable for this story. I can't even imagine how they crushed all that love and heartache in under 3 hours. This 10 episode series puts you in the perfect balance and pacing to completely convey the feelings and story of each character. Acting for everyone was amazing, their expressions genuinely showed raw emotion and love. I tried to limit myself to very little tissues but by the last four episodes my sleeves were soaking wet.

Anyways be prepared for sadness and if you want more heartbreak after, I recommend the movie Us and Them by Rene Liu.

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Came for the romance, stayed for the politics

Yang Mi has proven once again that literally any costume drama she touches will be a hit. Since her last costume drama of FuYao, I was anticipating this drama for years especially since the delay with covid. I am satisfied.

My first reactions to this drama was a little skeptical as I wasn't completely on board with the student-teacher relationship and their potentially 10+ age gap. But I have to say it didn't really matter because the main romance really took a backseat compared to the side couples and political storyline. I thoroughly enjoyed the action and politics and how well they mixed it in with the three couples involved. Loved seeing people defying gravity, throwing swords, and the microfantasy elements of the mermaids and the baixi.

Romance-wise.... My favorite couple was the third couple and my only complaint is that they completely left the scene in the third half. I would've loved more episodes with them. Second couple was hard to watch in the beginning and toxicity was STRONG but they later on proved to be a wonderful and strong relationship full of trust and love. Big fan of KaiCheng now, he can really act! On to the main couple, I'll be honest I couldn't feel that much chemistry between them and that just might be because of the comparison to FuYao and TMOPB. However they were still enjoyable to watch and if it weren't for this I wouldn't have discovered William Chan's marvelous eyebrows.

Overall story, production, and romance were great! Not the best but definitely had a good balance and pacing and kept me waiting for the episodes constantly. Mu De Qing is the GOAT.

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Beautiful dark and riveting

I keep going back to how genuinely gorgeous this drama was. The colors, aesthetic, every shot was so beautiful and cinematic I couldn't get enough. I think a lot of dramas are beautiful but suffer from low budget and these days the 3D printed costumes and props are cheap and common. This drama doesn't rely on any of that but solely on the beauty of the environment and the actors themselves. God, every single person in this drama is beautiful. When Esther said that the director promised he would give her the most beautiful shots, he was not lying.

Watching this show felt like reading a book in the best way possible. The plot was intriguing and I was obsessed with every character's thoughts and motivations. I will admit the ending fell and I was quite disappointed but I still very much enjoyed every minute of watching this.

I will be watching everything this director does from now on because he is my new Greta Gerwig.

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Cute average rom-com

Had a good time with this one, it was more of a casual drama to me because it didn't require a lot of concentration to know what was happening in the story. I loved both main characters and I even enjoyed the side characters. The story dropped off towards the end which usually happens so I didn't mind it. Acting was pretty average for all characters, it didn't take me out of the story and I wasn't embarrassed by any of them. I enjoyed how the FL stayed pretty true to her personality throughout the drama and I thought the romance was believable and well reflected. I didn't particularly enjoy her best friend's husband drama because I thought it was quite a stupid reason for drama. But I did enjoy the 2nd ML and the friend's relationship development, and I thought it was actually quite sweet.

Overall I thought it was a pretty average but enjoyable rom com.

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Had so much potential, but doesn't hold up

Starting with positives, I loved the general storyline, it had great highs and lows and kept me engaged with the story of our characters. The actors (for the most part) pulled it out of the bag, I have fallen in love with the actress that plays Fairy Shunde, I can't wait to see more of her! The score and ost is the most memorable and amazing one I've heard this year. I genuinely loved all the songs that played and I thought they were used quite well in the show. Halfway through I thought this could be the new Eternal Love, and I was ready to recommend it immensely, however some things stopped it from it's full potential.

I'm gonna be honest, I could not feel the chemistry between Allen and Dilreba. Maybe its cause I just watched YAMG but the kisses were fishes and Allen's acting felt statue to me. There was some really good moments of his acting that I thought I was wrong, but his moments with Dilreba felt the worst. She actually looked like she liked him, but he kinda looked indifferent all the time. I feel like if the chemistry were up to par with eternal love it might've been a lot better.

Another negative is sacrifice. fucking sacrifice. If I counted all the intended and committed sacrifice in this show it would be like 50 plus. By the end of the show I was over it. I get that many dramas use sacrifice but I swear I have never seen it this much. The last like 2 episodes were just back to back people dying for each other over and over again. I literally felt like I couldn't keep track of who died and who came back to life. Tone down the sacrifice and I'll make this show a 10/10.

Overall could have been so much better and I'm glad I watched it, but I probably won't ever recommend it to someone.

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Waiting for ep was the actual horror part

Covid has eventually hit the entertainment scene and this is a fresh and original take on the aftermath and how us humans deal with global crisis. Have to say my biggest comment is that I wish I could've binged this. This show was made for watching all 12 episodes in one sitting and waiting every week was what actually tortured me.

Story and characters were truly original. I was hesitant when they started addressing the pandemic because its still a sensitive topic for me and many people and dramas are usually my escape. However as the show progressed it became clear that this is a real take on the political and humanity side of the pandemic. I didn't realize SK also had their problems with fanatics and crazies who deny the virus even when it's right in front of them (call me an ignorant American but yeah).
Acting was top notch for every single character. I was frustrated and seething with these people's greed and choices. The resort to murder stealing and insanity in it was extremely terrifying and had me terrified of these people. I was so pissed at MANY of the character choices even the main characters and I was this close to dropping because of the stupidity. However I persevered and really enjoyed the end result. This is an 8.5 because of the actual frustration I had with these people and some logical plot holes/gray unexplained areas.

My ending complaint is that I wish we got more story for the end and how the other characters ended up, it was very open and almost rushed but I'm satisfied. If I could erase my memory and binge this show all at once I definitely would have given it a better rating.

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