I gave this drama another chance, and I still think it's overrated

I originally dropped this drama because the plot started to get slow and repetitive, but I decided to give it another try.

The premise about the curse and immortality was interesting. Unfortunately, up to about episode seven there wasn't much of a plot. The Goblin was an ancient being with centuries of life experience, but he acted pretty silly quite a lot. The Grim Reaper wasn't much better with his obsession about business cards. These characters should've been portrayed as more mysterious and dangerous. Instead, they often acted like dorks.

The pacing was inconsistent. The plot tended to drag with prolonged angsty moments of reminiscing, crying, and filler scenes. Then, the story would suddenly pick up. The show should've been done in 12 episodes if all the filler was taken out. The last few episodes were unnecessary. Since the villain was already defeated and the sword taken out, there was no longer a conflict that needed to be resolved so the story should've ended there.

The romance was also kind of underwhelming. ML and FL acted more like a niece and an uncle. This was probably because the girl was barely an adult and still in high school. Only after the story went forward nine years did we see adult romantic chemistry with kissing, hugging, and acting like a couple.

The villain and the final resolution was a bit anti-climactic. The flashbacks made him look more dangerous than he actually was, even though he looked pretty darn creepy. He appeared in the present timeline for just a few episodes with nefarious intentions to kill everyone, but didn't do much except threaten some people. Then FL pulled the sword out, ML killed the villain and disappeared. The end. I really expected there to either be a plot twist, a battle, tension, more struggle to defeat the final boss.

The one thing the show excelled at was acting. Gong Yoo, Kim Go Eun and everyone else delivered really good performances. No complaints there.

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As exciting as watching the paint dry

The drama has a very good start. FL gets transported into the past and undergoes through a dramatic character development transforming from a hoodlum to a more mature, empathetic, and thoughtful young lady. But, the drama does not do a very good job keeping track of all of the characters. FL's interactions with most princes are superficial making them very forgettable. For the most part, they seemed more like place holders to make Ruoxi look good, rather than serving an actual purpose.

The romance is very long winded and takes forever to develop. After it finally ended at around episode 15, the writers decided to bore us with episodes upon episodes of Ruoxi and the 4th prince pining after each other without any movement on that story line. The last 15 episodes were unbelievably boring. There wasn't much political intrigue or romance either. People were just talking, reminiscing, and pining after each other. Even though the drama only has 35 episodes, it could've been wrapped up with a much better pacing a lot sooner.

EDIT
I watched the last 3 episodes and I ended up skipping through most of them. I stand by my opinion that the drama is unnecessarily long and boring. Lots of scene could've been edited out to improve the pacing. The acting was very stiff making character interactions look forced and unnatural. The camera work was goofy and made dramatic scenes look comical. After the last episode, I did not feel the same sense of tragedy and loss I felt after watching the Korean "Moonlovers". In 2011, "Scarlet Heart" was probably ok. But considering how much Chinese dramas improved in the last several years, it did not age well.

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Mediocre

I started watching this drama because it received such high praise and I don't understand why.

FL was incredibly boring and one dimensional. She had no spark or personality and only had one pained expression in every scene. The males were intense, angsty, and spent a lot of time pressuring FL and yelling at her.

What I found annoying was the constant rotation of men around FL. In many scenes, after Lee Hwon left, Yang Myung immediately appeared out of nowhere to beg FL to love him, and it was happening in the most random locations. The writers did not put a lot of thought into creating a believable organic story. They just wrote random scenes forcing FL and the two competing love interests to interact with each other. And, Yang Myung was one of the most pointless characters in the story. He had a lot of scenes being chased by some people without any explanation why. He was just there to create an artificial love triangle and nothing else.

The romance also did not feel believable. I could understand why Lee Hwon was in love with her, because they were engaged at some point, had meaningful scenes, and spent time together. With Yang Myung, it was completely arbitrary. He barely knew her, did not spent much time with her, but kept pining after her for eight years.

Overall, if you like angsty men yelling at women and forcing them to do things, this may be it for you. For be it was a hard pass.

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Not my cup of tea

So, it goes like this - the writers intended to tell a compelling story of vengeance and a pursuit of justice, but somewhere down the line decided to turn it into a slopy semi-comedic, semi-legal dramedy.

Bong Sang Pil is a lawyer who returns to his hometown to catch his mother's murderers and to purge the city from corrupt judges, cops, lawyers, businessmen. But, instead of creating a righteous lawyer, the writers create a character resembling a cheeky, hot-shot cop from an American 80s movie. Ha Jae Yi, also a lawyer, is an impulsive hoodlum and an embarrassment to the legal profession with her tendency to punch judges. But, we are supposed to like her because she is a lawyer who cares. Ahn Oh Joo is a poor man's version of Tony Soprano. Judge Cha Moon Sook is the only compelling villain, but the writers make no effort to explain why she is so powerful and why everyone, especially the city's top gangster, always grovel at her feet.

After Bong Sang Pil and Ha Jae Yi team up to work together, the plot focuses on the murder trial of a corrupt cop and does not move forward. In episode 6, the main couple sleeps together. Then, the writers think it's appropriate to devote half an episode of them playing on the beach. The drama has no soul, purpose, or direction with a lot of things happening on a whim. I am a Lee Joon Gi fan but watching this show was a struggle. I braved through 6 episodes and now I am done.

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Genre confusion

The biggest problem with this drama is genre confusion and a lack of a plot. The story started off with a very cruel practice of killing childless concubines and burying them with a deceased emperor. One of the concubines was rescued by a powerful eunuch leading to the two forming a unique relationship. The plot included serious elements of murder, abuse, political conspiracy, and forbidden love that had a potential to create an engaging story and complex characters. Unfortunately, the serious elements pretty much disappeared at the beginning of the drama turning it into another goofy rom com.

I like Dylan Wang and I think he does very well in other costume dramas like Love Between Fairy and Devil. But, here, he was miscast. Xiao Duo is a complex character wielding incredible power and influence second only to the emperor. Everyone fears him and his subordinates call him "godfather" (per Viki translation). He should have been portrayed by an older and more mature actor, especially because it would take years to achieve that kind of power. Instead, we had a 25 year old actor playing dress-up. Bu Yinlou's character was completely stripped down, and, a lonely and abused former concubine became just another infantile female stereotype. The whole experience felt like the writers were insulting my intelligence by introducing a serious plot with very tragic elements and turning it into a silly idol drama.

By episode 15, I was bored out of my mind because nothing of substance was really happening. There were no more hints of political conspiracy. Any kind of seriousness and danger were gone. A promising story with a dark plot turned into a slap-stick comedy. An incredibly dangerous and vicious Xiao Duo regressed to a love-sick puppy. Bu Yinlou acted like an infantile nincompoop with overly exaggerated facial expressions. At this point, 36 episodes were far too many to sit through when there was nothing to look forward to.

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Strong start but falls flat

I expected the drama to be a story of overcoming past trauma and finding forgiveness. Instead, I got an angsty melodrama with repetitive plotlines and bland characters. The first 12 episodes are engaging with a solid plot and story telling. The flashbacks are on point giving a background of Namu and Nakwon's unusual love story and their inability to forget each other. It is touching, compelling, and heartbreaking. The childhood actors give dynamic performances and show fundamental differences between a happy and care-free Nakwon and a disturbed and introverted Namu. I also liked how the flashbacks did not give a play-by-play of every childhood interaction and only showed relevant moments leading up to the murder.

Adult Namu and Nakwon are entirely different from their childhood selves. Neither of them have have any spark, personality, or agency. Nakwon is a made up doll living a life guided by anyone other than herself, including her agent and brother. Namu's entire existence is reduced to pining after Nakwon and staring at her pictures. They simply exist to run circles around each other and create angst. When they do meet, their scenes are repetitive with the same prolonged staring and recycled lines. It's completely frustrating to watch two people who still have lingering feelings for each other unable to sit down and have an adult conversation about where they are in life and how they feel. Jang Ki Yong has one facial expression in every scene devoid of any emotion. Jin Ki Joo is a little bit more versatile but her performance is nothing special either.

At the beginning, the plot is interesting and runs at a comfortable pace, but it falls completely flat later on with repetitive scenes, conversations, and the serial killer/stalker trope. The acting is subpar, the pacing is draggy, and the plot development is as exciting as watching the paint dry.

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House of cards

The Glory is definitely on the next level with the storytelling and character development. Although it recycles the old combination of bullying and revenge tropes, it is not your average revenge drama. It's dark, gripping, and with no promise of a happy ending.

Part 1 sets the stage for Moon Dong Eun's revenge. It weaves between the past and the present painting a complex picture of each individual character and uncovering a history of violent bullying. It also shows the source of the heroine's determination. Being a victim built up her character and gave her a purpose. She is no longer a downtrodden victim of violence, but someone who uses that victimhood to eventually push back against her abusers.

The story is a psychological game of chess. Dongeun concocts a careful plan to bring down her childhood tormentors' house of cards and illusions of a happy, carefree life. She uses their weaknesses, arrogance, mistakes against them. But, although revenge is her main objective, Dongeun is not someone who blindly aims to destroy her abusers. She carefully applies pressure on their weak points to reveal their true selves to the world, so they can be judged either in the court of public opinion or being held criminally responsible for past wrongdoings.

The story also draws parallels between individual characters. Dongeun matures from a meek and obscure teenager to an intelligent and calculating woman. She is level-headed, manipulative, and carefully plans ahead. But, the bullies did not change in the slightest. They are still the same bored, rabid, shallow clique of sociopaths and drug addicts who preyed on the weak in high school. And, this lack of maturity and extremely predictable behavior will contribute to their eventual downfall.

My favorite thing about this drama is Dongeun and Joo Yeo Jung's relationship. Yeojung first comes off as a care-free young doctor from a privileged family who does not know struggle. Dongeun even comments about him talking in platitudes without knowing life. In reality, Yeojung is just as broken as her because of past family tragedy. And this trauma is what develops their relationship and brings them close making Yeojung her ally and "executioner".

This is only part 1, but it is already one of my favorites. I am exited to see where the story goes in part 2.

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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 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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Good production but what's the point?

I would've had a lot more appreciation for this movie if it served as a character prequal arc to Kingdom season 3. Otherwise, there is little to no point to this story without season 3.

Ashin is purely driven by her desire to avenge her village and family. She is cruel and insane and wants to see the world burn. She is the one who unleashed the plague of undeath on the world and her motivation is no other than complete world destruction. She is a typical one-dimensional villain who might've had compelling reasons at the beginning, but turned so completely evil that there is no sympathy for her.

The movie has good production, cinematography, and acting, but it has nothing else to offer in terms of plot and character development. So, she is driven by vengeance, big whoop. Without Kingdom season 3, none of it means anything.

Overall, I watched it just because I watched Kingdom and wanted to see who the mysterious woman at the end of season 2 was. I am completely unimpressed by this character. She is just another lunatic blindly driven by revenge to destroy the world.

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The show continues to be funny, clever, and very very entertaining. However, the story is missing a central plot that ties everything together.

It's not clear what the drama is trying to achieve. Is it a find your origins story? A quest for power? I have no idea because the plot is all over the place. Season 2 gave more explanation about Fan Xian's background, where his mother came from, but still left a lot of questions unanswered. Several key characters discussed finding the temple where mom came from, but no steps were taken to actually find it. Fan Xian constantly talked about bringing justice to the world, but the never-ending slew of conflict between the royal family and officials always kept him occupied with the current problem at hand. What is the end goal here?

I liked what the writers did with Waner's character. In season 1, I didn't think she fit Fan Xian's personality very well being very submissive and non-confrontational. I always found him having way more fun and chemistry with other female characters. But, in season 2, she came a little bit into her own and started making her own decisions. I also liked how she was able to figure certain things out without falling victim to someone else's manipulations.

Some of the character personalities completely changed. The crown prince was a lot meaner in season 1. In season 2, he is a lot friendlier and nicer. The second prince went from being kind of ambiguous to more villainous. The show spent too much effort subverting viewer expectations, than creating a central plot.

The best part of the story is the music. It's very goofy and completely out of place. We go from fighting sequences with Spanish-esque party music to Nordic yodeling. It's completely ridiculous and hilarious.

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Bland

The drama was exciting for the first few episodes and in the last few episodes. Everything in between was boring.

I did not like any of the characters. Both ML and FL had no personality and chemistry. The crown prince had a resting bitch face 90% of the time. And FL had one surprised/confused look with pouty lips. When he confessed his feelings for her he had the same expression when complaining about being uncomfortable.

There was no growth or character development either. The writers could've done so much with Yul's character when he lived in the village with amnesia. He hardly did anything but still complained a lot.

When I read the synopsis, I was excited about the plot. The story ended up being completely uninteresting.

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Dumpster fire

Season 1 left off on a positive note with a promise of a lot of future character development. Unfortunately, season 2 did not develop said development.

Niao Niao (NN) was portrayed as an abused and neglected teenager who learned how to navigate life with her intelligence and ingenuity. Unfortunately, this intelligence and ingenuity was left in season 1. In season 2, we didn't actually see the thought process behind her ingenuity. She liked to build things. But we never saw her build anything. We only saw the finished product. On look, she built a small cross bow. Oh look, she can do a deep tissue massage. Oh look, she can improve farming equipment. What? How? We never saw her learn how to do anything. For someone who did not actually enjoy learning, it remains a mystery how NN achieved these tremendous heights.

When it came to character development, there was no character development moving forward. We knew NN was an intelligent and independent free thinker. But, there was nothing intelligent about her in this season. She was actually quite self-absorbed. Ling Buyi was a total package. He had the power and influence. He was a warrior general in charge of an army. And he was head over heels in love with her. She was previously concerned about missing out on a good husband, yet her bitching about him supposedly "oppressing" her because he cared too much was legendary. He was a bit too over-protective but he did nothing in bad faith. She agreed to marry him and then told him to his face that she wanted him out because he kept giving her unsolicited advice. Apparently, for someone who cared about boundaries, having a conversation about setting boundaries was out of the question. I didn't even know why he was in love with her at that point. In season 1 she was intelligent, courageous, quick-thinking. In this season, she was stubborn, unreasonable, and self-absorbed. All the qualities that made her interesting were gone.

Instead of giving her the transformation she needed, the writers arbitrarily decided to give NN unearned princess treatment. She quickly became the new palace darling who could do no wrong. Everything she said was gold. Everything she cooked was delicious. Everything she made was awesome. Everything was handed to her without her making any effort to earn it. The most ridiculous thing was that her teenage wisdom was completely unquestioned. Basically NN: I am only 15, but let me teach you about life.

She stuck her nose into everything and always had something to say, which quickly became very annoying. When Ling Buyi asked her not to interfere in palace politics because it was literally bad for her health, she made it all about him trying to control her for the Nth time. The emperor and empress seemed to have replaced her parents, which was a stupid plot development because her entire character rested on the premise of her parents abandoning her. There were so many scenes where NN could reconcile with her parents, particularly her mother. For example, mom bringing her a blanket could've led to an honest heart-to-heart conversation. Instead, we got the usual scene where NN asked mom an uncomfortable question, mom looked away, NN walked off. Later on, the writers made her parents virtually non-existent. Her entire time at the palace was spent cozying up to the empress as her new mom, instead of receiving lessons and moving on with her life. Even the lessons were just a pretext to create more drama for the sake of drama, which contributed nothing to NN's character development. It would've been way more interesting to have her learn to navigate through conflict using her intelligence to outsmart her enemies, making friends and allies, and then winning using her brain. Instead, she either went to the emperor to complain or poured dirt on someone because she was "vindictive". Her vindictiveness made her look just as bitchy as those spoiled brats who bullied her in the first place.

NN's relationship with Ling Buyi was also very confusing. There was a very sweet moment at the empress' birthday party where she drank from the same cup as him because the wine tasted "better" that way, and then she gave him a kiss. They looked very much in love. But, as soon as he found out she was pushed into a lake, we were back to square one how he was oppressing her and how she was "afraid" of him ... because he wanted her to confide in him? The writers never made it clear why NN was afraid of him. He was always nice to her. And now apparently every bad thing that happened to her in the palace was his fault. Huh? "I've always been like this! Why must you force me to change?" How dare he ask her questions about being bullied. Seriously, who decided this was good character development? She was absolutely insufferable.

Yet, everyone loved her and she could do no wrong. The writers couldn't have made her more mary sue level boring together with her perpetually constipated looking fiancé with no personality. (And there was still no wedding date!) Even the freaken canning of Ling Buyi was instigated by the emperor to make NN finally act on her feelings for him. *barf* Everyone literally became an NN simp. Speaking of Ling Buyi, he had a whole of two expressions in the entire drama - constipated and more constipated. This was some of the worst acting I've seen in a c-drama. Even for a stoic, no nonsense character, there should've been times for him to inadvertently show emotion for a person he cared about.

This show had such tremendous potential, and it was completely wasted on martyrization of the main character, turning her into a perfect princess, while making everyone else continuously kiss her princessey arse without her actually deserving it. What a waste of time.

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Boring plot and toxic characters

I am not against backstories if a backstory is on point. In this drama, the backstory went on for multiple episodes showing every interaction between the main and secondary characters, most of which were irrelevant to Li Xun and Zhu Yun's relationship and the reason why he went to prison. All I wanted was to see how we got to where the story started in episode 1. Episode 13, and there was still no explanation why ML went to prison and why he was such an asshole. It was just a mind-numbing trauma rollercoaster. In addition to that, none of the characters were likable. ML was just a stereotypical asshole because reasons. Even if there was a reason, it's still not a justifiable excuse to be toxic and treat people badly. He was just an asshole for the sake of being an asshole. And, FL fell in love with him just because the writers decided so. Toxic people and toxic relationships, pass.

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nope

I am not sure if it was a good idea to remake Hana Yori Dango into another live-action. Cliche plot and ridiculous storylines about bullying made this story hard to follow. Fortunately, the writers toned down the bullying in this version, but it did not improve the plot.

One of the major issues that plagues all of the live-action version of this drama is the fact that none of them show genuine romantic chemistry between the two main characters. There may be justification for it because the story is set in high school, so it can't be too mature. However, this version is set in college so the characters older. Yet, romantic interactions are still dry and uninteresting. The female lead acts like the male has the plague every time he comes near her. There is nothing to look forward to in their scenes together.

If there is another live-action remake of this manga, I hope the writers show real chemistry between the main couple or stay completely away. We don't need another live-action cringe with more of the same.

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When a show takes itself too seriously

If you enjoy a good plot, you won't find it here. This is a very character focused drama. In every episode, there are scenes upon scenes of flashbacks and characters reminiscing on their tragic past. We know this guy and that guy had sad childhoods. We've already seen that in the last 20 flashbacks and teary scenes. We don't need more. There is no actual plot to be derived from it.

I am on episode, 6, and nothing has happened so far. Instead of developing an actual plot, the drama abuses every possible cinematic cliche, including stills, slow motion, dramatic music. If the showrunners wanted us to derive something profound out of it, the only thing I derived was boredom. I am not sure why this drama is so highly rated. There is no plot. Characters do the same things in every episode and there are melodramatic tropes everywhere.

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