A striking retell

Excerpt:

“He lived a thousand years and he’s beginning to learn to love. But he is yet to understand that love doesn’t come from just one person”

“I have nothing but time” he said....

****
This short film is an adaptation, a compilation, or whatever you call it of the 2008 film of the same name - Painted Skin. The original movie which runs close to 2 hours, tells the story of Xiao Wei (Zhou Xun), a fox spirit who feasts on human hearts in order to maintain her beautiful and youthful appearance. General Wang Sheng (Chen Kun) rescues her from a band of Xiongnus and brings her home. Peace didn’t last long in that house as the demon falls in love with the general who happens to already be married to Pei Rong (Vicki Zhao). Thus, this heartbreaking plot proceeds to show the length the demon will go with her tricks and schemes to get the man she loves and the length Pei Rong will go to protect the man she loves.

In this short film which is about 30 minutes long, we have a condensed version of the plot but with a twist. This short movie swaps the sex and roles of the characters. Xiao Wei (played by Ding Cheng Xin) is now a man. While Wang Sheng (He Cheng Xi) and Pei Rong (Wang Chu Ran) are still a married couple, they have now switched roles. Pei Rong is the general protecting the town, while Wang Sheng stayed home recuperating from an injured leg. So in this film version, it's Pei Rong that rescues and brings Xiao Wei home to her husband. And the rivalry is between Wang Sheng and Xiao Wei.

The visual was aesthetically pleasing. The majority of the movie was shot in the general’s courtyard but the cinematography was beautifully executed it accomplished creating the tragic, poignant ambiance it intended to. The initial meeting, the unspoken suspicion, the subtle and not so subtle rivalry, all took place in this courtyard. The little sword fighting scene it had was very well done.

The acting was surprisingly very good. I was especially moved by He Cheng Xi’s Wang Sheng. He managed to emulate the despair, the fear, and raw emotions his character was feeling. This is not to say that his counter-part Ding Cheng Xin’s Xiao Wei was any less captivating. He succeeded in conveying his character’s seemingly sweet and fragile as well as cunning side beautifully.

This retelling removed the fillers and supporting characters and all the extra fanfare that went into making the 2 hours original movie and just focused on moving the plot around the three characters. Because it did just that, the emotional impact was even more powerful than what I felt with the original. I remember when watching the original, I only watched it for Chen Kun (a girl’s gotta do what a girl's gotta do). I enjoyed the film but I don’t recall it invoking the kind of emotion this mini-film did. Maybe it’s because it’s been a while and I forgot.... but I think I’ll remember this one.

Another thing this movie did differently is it put the focus on Xiao Wei and Wang Sheng. How they interacted, how they competed, how they observed each other. In the end, it may seem you are left to wonder - Who did they love exactly?

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Love is Sweet.... and apparently dull as a door knob.

It may seem odd to find such a low rating among the sea of 9s and 10s. While watching the drama, I wondered the entire time how come everyone is falling in love with this except me? There is nothing that makes this drama distinct from the hundreds of other rom-coms that are coming out. There is no novelty to the plot, no substance, unimaginative and is quite frankly a nicely packaged ordinary thing.

Premise
Twenty-eight year old Jiang Jun is trying to join MH, one of the top investment banks. At MH, Jiang Jun meets her childhood playmate, Yuan Shuai.

The drama starts with our FL sitting for a job interview. She is confident and kind, as she helps calm the nerve of a fellow interviewee and has a pleasant exchange with another female candidate. Although Jiang Jun gets to the final round, our ML (Yuan Shuai) who’s one of the managing partners, deems her “a sheep in a business filled with wolves” and lets her go.

Determined to get the job, she attends a function held for the who’s who of finance to bypass Yuan Shuai.
The drama didn’t even give viewers the chance to dip our toe in before it hit us with clichés in the first episode. Evidently in a world where physics is obsolete, our FL trips and falls not only in the arms of our ML but with their lips align to land on each other’s. This phenomena doesn't happen just once but twice as the gravity defying lips of our leads end up entangled again in a latter episodes.

I initially thought this drama would avoid the distasteful cliché of pitting women against each other given the early interactions between Jiang Jun and other female candidates. Alas drama world dictates that no two women, be it in love or career, can occupy the same space and time unless its to be rivals.

The male lead was written with the protagonist halo. Not only is he a genius in financial markets, but he's unbeatable in car racing and he can throw a punch or two. This financial wiz, in an industry filled with “wolves” is not a ruthless businessman but rather one with a heart of gold, who fights for the little guys. Of course a ML like that can only be matched with a FL with equal caliber. Our FL who has no prior experience in investment banking, not only is good at her new job she seems to do every task well. Her fellow new hires with their fancy degrees and experience can only be disappointed and jealous. I wish to take them aside and tell them that its not their fault they are written as supporting characters.

Romance

The ML has been in love with the FL since childhood so he does everything to protect her and make her like him. If you doubted they’d be good for each other, the writers made every effort to rid you of that doubt. To squash the idea that the love rival might have a chance, the writers took it upon themselves to prove to the viewers in a “scientific” way. The 2ML's dating app matches our leads with-100% compatibility. Yes, 100% match! Who is 100% with anyone? Not even twins are this compatible. To add to this preposterous plot, when the male love rival tried the app he had a 0% match. I honestly wish I had dropped the drama at this point and saved myself.


The romance of course also has the usual cliches, like the noble breakup, and 2 love triangles on each side. Mercifully two of the characters unrequited love plot was tackled without any major drawn out blood.

The main third party is another investment banker who is both a work and relationship rival to Yuan Shuai. This is by far the most inconsequential, irrelevant character in this drama. His entire existence is bewildering. The work issues and challenges were laughable and as for love he never even had a chance. And yet this character takes up too much screen time where he was neither a villain nor a hero until the last episode when the writers decided to use him as a last pebble our leads need to stumble over. What a pathetic existence. I really felt bad for both the actor and character.

Second Couple

The 2FL is our leads best friend. My initial take on the character was, strong, slightly wacky but confident and sensible. That assumption quickly evaporated. The 2ML played by Riley Wang is a college student who is working on a dating app. The algorithm he is working on for this app is based on his belief that data has a better chance of finding you a life partner than randomly meeting people and letting emotions dictate. This is the guy our 2FL decides to hang her love life on.

It is well known that a drama can enhance its quality with a good side story. A strong side couple can not only make boring parts of the drama bearable but can even salvage one. However, in this drama we have one of the dullest, uninteresting frankly quite annoying side couples. Our 2FL walked off her job to be a writer. However, this woman saw a handsome young man at a 7/11 and after learning he frequents that store for its Wi-Fi decides to answer the “help wanted” sign. She goes on to chase the guy in the most cringy, clingy way possible. I got confused if I was watching a middle schooler or a grown woman of 28.

The absurdity in this second couples plot continues when our 2FL tries the dating app and gets a 1% compatibility with 2ML. But this is drama so they have to end up together somehow right? So what does that say about the app AND the writers when this line of plot which matches one couple with 100% compatibility and our 2nd couple with a 1% chance and they all end up together? I don’t expect true and proven science in my dramas but I’d still like them to be sensible. To add to their nonsensical plot, these two people have no chemistry. No spark, no subtle vibe nothing. Every scene they were in was just dull. And they stayed that way to the bitter end. The fast forward button was invented for this couple.

So you can imagine with out an interesting side story to alleviate the dull parts of the main story, there was nothing to stop someone from sinking into boredom.

Good traits

Leo Luo’s character is thankfully not your usual cold, detached, arrogant type. He is actually goofy at times, friendly, funny. I especially love his scenes where he had to shout in surprise or shock, for some reason I find those scenes cute and adorable.
Bai Lu’s acting is wonderful as well as most of the supporting casts. There is a bit of over acting with some characters that just made them look weird, but not too much to turn you off.

The romance progressed quite quickly. Although I don't see the chemistry everyone seems to be fawning over, they at least work well. The romance was mature, in a way that it is based in reality of how actual humans their age date. There wasn't a lot of running around in circle or pretending that intimacy doesn't exist in dating world which a lot of c-dramas suffer from. They fought silly fights, and had ordinary boring nights just like any normal loving couple. Watching their domestic bliss was the only saving grace of this entire drama.

The production quality for this was definitely not cheap. From the outfits to the set everything was top notch. Which is why I was initially shocked by some of Bai Lu’s outfits. Its like the writers were confused which trope to follow. The FL showed up to her interviews well dressed in suit pants and heels. On the job, she immediately switched to baggy jeans, some weird shoes and oversized blazers until the manager scolded her like a child to dress more professionally. I don’t understand why they took this directions unless its to make the other woman look and sound mean and the FL sympathetic. It didn’t work on my part. FL was not some broke, penniless, farmers daughter who came to the big city to pursue her dreams. It just ended up making her look unprofessional. But thankfully this lapse in judgment didn’t last long and we see Bai Lu dressed fashionably for the rest of the drama. The makeup for most of the cast was tastefully done. The shooting locations seemed to be in a more affluent areas.

Conclusion

As I always say, two beautiful people does not make a rom-com. Content matters. The drama is just plain predictable and boring, littered with illogical and cliched plots with no substance to make up for its weakness. Personally even my love for Luo Yunxi couldn’t salvage this for me.

The drama would have benefited from shorter episodes. Frankly, 24 episodes would have been ideal but it could have ended on ep 32. But to stretch it from 32-36 episodes unnecessary and tasteless plots were included. For c-drama it seems to be fate that a drama can’t cross a finish line if it doesn’t shoot one of its foot and wobble through.

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Too high expectations leads to disappointment

The story is about a Prince who is trying to make reform to government and is meeting constant objections from the ministers who are not happy with him changing the status quo. His only option is to align himself with the Shen family and get their massive military power as his backing. Good thing for this is the previous Emperor has left an edict bestowing marriage between the 4th Prince and the daughter of the Shen family.

The FL (Li Ge) is an orphan raised by a wondering Shifu. She, her sisters, and brothers were raised and trained as assassins that go after Lords and ministers who ignore the blight of the common people and enrich themselves. To this object, their biggest target, and the worst of the of them all, the one born into privilege and power but is weak and corrupt, who only knows how to protect these ministers, is a Prince. To be more precise it is the 4th Prince Peng Cheng.
Hence the drama starts with our assassins, acting as a dance group, get themselves invited to said Prince’s place for the Consort Dowager’s birthday. Here is where my problem starts, the lead assassin Li Ge(Li Qin) is on the roof behind where the Royal family is sitting, the rest of the female assassins are on stage performing. You’d expect, for someone who has been preparing to kill this target for well over a year, would take this opportunity when they were distracted watching the dance and everyone is relaxed to jump down from the roof and shoot him straight. No- what happened was while she is up on the roof, the female dancers threw away their costumes and shot arrows toward the stage the Royal Family was sitting at. What happens when something like this happens? Obviously, everyone comes to attention, guards rushed in and surrounded the Royals, and this is when the FL decided to jump off the roof and shoot her arrow. It is so illogical, I caught myself screaming “why didn’t you shoot from the roof?!” at my unsuspecting screen. I was upset to have met such an outrageous thing in the first episode. But I will say this, if you leave common sense out the door, the entire assassination performance was eye catching. As you may have guessed, the year-long planned assassination went south real fast. We see a lot of fighting scenes here; I am a sucker for those, and they were pretty good.
Anyway, after the failed assassination a lot more story went on and I met my second problem. FL was trying to ambush and kill a minister that has killed one of her sisters in front of her in that faithful night, and while she is at it she runs into, you guessed it, 4th Prince in disguise. I should point out that said disguise is a mustache. Not a full-blown beard but a thin mustache. And FL did not recognize him. They made such a big show in the first episode about how they planned this assassination for a year and our lead assassin did not recognize her target because he had a mustache. [Sigh] May I ask how they had planned this assassination? Did they not do any recon? Were they told to shoot at the one sitting in the middle? How the bloody hell do you not know what the person you are supposed to kill looks like?
You will consistently run into illogical plots/scenes like the ones I point out above throughout the drama. Once or twice may be annoying but it’s forgivable if there are other exceptional stories to make up for it. But this drama neither had the sense to limit its flaws nor did it have the solid interesting plot to fall back on.

You might say I’m nitpicking, but I assure you I’m not. This drama, which is studded with talent, suffered from truly poor script. Honestly, it devolved fast with its regurgitated plot, the never-ending cycle of set-up, getting caught, getting free, getting set up again, crying, getting free, getting set up again. The plot became unoriginal, the dialogue unimaginative, the scenes draggy and the whole drama became riddled with clichés. I at one point even watched a few of the episodes without subtitles, since I was confident, I would not miss anything important. To add to this, one of the major antagonist was a “love rival”. Imagine writing in a harem drama in this setting. There are a million dramas with this same plot already, why would you bring such cliched story to a drama that should have focused more on the politics and the reforms and basically anything else especially since the FL was supposed to be a badass.
The top acting could not save this drama. I mean what can these actors do with such truly abysmal writing. They are actors not miracle workers - to be fair I count it as a miracle I watched it this far and it’s all credit to their performance.

Another issue is the palace design. This created a great disconnect with me. Don’t get me wrong, it was beautifully designed. It had pools in the rooms, huge sculptures, and I would have been impressed with it if it was a wuxia drama. However, for something that is supposed to be a historical, this did not have the beauty and authenticity of ancient Chinese architecture. I like the feeling of ancient palace designs, the aura, and the mood it sets - this one did not do that for me.
As for music, they had one. There was one song that played on a loop through the entire drama. Nice song, but it was just that one. They may have thrown in another one in there, but I did not notice.

As if I didn’t have my share of issues with this drama, they went a step further and added split screens (side-by-side shots) like a music video. If they had done a fade-out shot, I would have thought I transmigrated back to the early 2000s.

I had such a huge expectation for this drama and what a letdown it was.

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How to Ruin Something in 3 episodes

I wrote this as a way to empty myself rather than anything else. Everyone’s taste and perspective is different so I have never made an effort to convince someone to like or not like anything. And I also debated a lot on whether to post it or not. But since I already wrote it, what the heck… This is a description of how a perfect 9.5 rating peddled itself into a 7.
Now I’m going to be honest, I feel some unexplainable attachment to N’Bright. Sort of maternal. I don’t know why, maybe because he’s the same age as my baby sister and my protectiveness for her is transferred, maybe because I can sense some vulnerability behind his aloofness? I don’t know, let’s leave that to the therapists to untangle that web. But the point I wanted to make before I went down the path of self-analysis and discovery is, my biased feelings also flowed down to the character which meant I tend to gloss over some issues either with the show or the actor. Don’t say I wasn't upfront about it.

Where to start; the actors?
N'Bright - Besides his good looks they say he brings all he's got to the set. I do like his acting. Although admittedly when I first saw the cast interview before the series aired, my first impression was, this is not going to be challenging for this guy. Character and his own personality seem to be too similar.
I found his strength to be when he is playing the seemingly cold, detached, flirty, cute, shameless parts of his character. His biggest weakness would be sad scenes. He squints. Basically, that’s it. I found that in scenes where I should have been more inclined to empathize with his character instead I felt disconnected. These are the scenes specially where Win has outshined him.
N'Win – I don’t even know where to start about our breakout star. It is hard to imagine that this is his first role. I guess some things just come natural to some people. When he is playing the mash up of legally blonde and clueless, I kept thinking, “this guy would make a damn good villain”. That is a testament to his ability in convincing me that he is a talent that should not be underestimated. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t have areas to work on but for a first run, he hit it out of the park.

The Plot

If you’re looking for a series to tackle serious issues, with intricate plots and multi-faceted characters you won’t find it here. This was a very straightforward simple unoriginal plot. What I like about the series was that particular fact. It never tried to be more than what it was; which is the equivalent of a chick-flick. It is a simple story of two people falling in love. It wasn’t a question of will-they-won’t-they but rather WHEN will-they. The trill was watching the chase and the fluff unfold until the expected happy ending arrives.
Whatever minor faults could be forgiven as long as it delivered what I needed; which was an uncomplicated entertaining love story.
Tine’s oblivion to his fake boyfriends real flirting, and Sarawat’s one step advance one step retreat was what excited me, asking will Tine realize in this episode or the next episode that his fake boyfriend is actually in love with him.
The choppy editing and some of the directing mishaps can quickly be dismissed. Why spend over analyzing something simple that wasn’t trying to be more than what it is, I told myself.
When people pointed out the scene with Sarawat getting beat up was unnecessary, I said no they are trying to show Tine who only saw Sarawat’s popularity, that there was another side to his life. A not so pretty side that Tine was oblivious to. For some who don’t believe boys would punch someone because their girlfriend liked their IG, I’d like to counter with my own experience with stupid, where in college I had a close friend who’s boyfriend regularly gets into a fist fight with any man who made eye contact with his girlfriend (no I’m not exaggerating, going to clubs or bars was definitely a stressful situation when my friend and her boyfriend joined us) But I digressed again, I was trying to say that I can come up with any explanation or excuse for a scene that may come off less than perfect.

The Problem

Then episode 10 happened. The first couple of minutes showed us what we have been waiting for. Finally! Tine realized his feelings and accepted Sarawat and they are now a couple. So, what comes next? Of course, the honeymoon phase! Where we are going to witness firsthand these two people we have been cheering on for 9 episodes, go on a date. We are going to see Sarawat who shamelessly flirted his way into Tine heart, is as a boyfriend. We are going to see how awkward, shy Tine is with his first boyfriend and watch him fall deeply in love ugh so romantic hu… NO! That’s not what happened. What we got was a fast transition from “we’re boyfriends” to “we are cohabitating” in a matter of 15 minutes. If it was just the cohabitation, I wouldn’t be so bitter. What they went into is from flirting and making eyes at each other to bromance territory. I mean they were one chest bump away from turning into two white frat boys “dude”! In a matter of 15 minutes the spark that had carried us for 9 episodes started fizzling out in front of my eyes. Man and Boss should ask for refund on that bouquet of condoms. But I moved on, I declared it the weakest episode, which was bound to come along in any series.
Episode 11 busted in with the Halloween special. I mean to this day I still can’t tell you what the thought process was that went into writing and approving that episode. The only saving grace was the last 6 minutes where we finally got to see from Sarawat’s perspective on what it was like for him when he met Tine again in ep 1. That part was cute and in perfect theme to the beginning of the series. I feel like N’Bright did his best work there. Now another milestone for this episode was Tine said “I like you too” out loud for us to hear. Now I’m no director or writer but shouldn’t this be an opportune moment to get in a kiss? Mind you, I’m not asking for tongue or exchange of saliva (I feel like I have to keep pointing out this part for some to understand) but a simple peck. Would it have killed them if Sarawat and Tine had leaned on each other or gave a back hug while they were stargazing?
But hey, let’s not get hung up on the missed opportunity here when episode 12 brought on a new bucket of mess. Ep 12 was a cast call for all clichés. You name it, it had it. Here, because of this series, I had to eat my words once again. Around ep 5/6, here on MDL I praised this series for not having negative female portrayals. One commenter pointed out that it still had “Sarawat’s fans”. I said I don’t consider them as normal females, at least we don’t have an ex or something trying to raise havoc. I guess this is why they say you shouldn’t put something out into the universe?

Why what was supposed to be a simple Hallmark drama has devolved into c-drama world with its melodrama is beyond me. Well as you’d expect, the last ep could not save the descend into the bottom with the regurgitated plots, cliched love triangle, last minute drama.
In our very last episode we got a strong montage and a character I barely recognized. I have theories, hear me out… when Sarawat broke his leg and they took him for his x-ray follow up, by any chance do you think the hospital messed up and gave him a lobotomy? Or, in the Halloween ep, did he maybe get body swapped? Guys I have over a decade worth of knowledge in this area from watching Supernatural. It could happen. And this is the only explanation that I can come up with to explain the unexplainable character personality shift. People expect you to accept that Mr. Sarawat expo, Mr. cop-a-feel even when beaten to a pulp, now gives strong shoulder hugs and high fives. Mr. I'll kiss you till you drop now gives head pats. The Sarawat, who crawled to Tine with a broken leg and wouldn’t leave his side just because Tine fainted now sees his boyfriend puking and being taken to a hospital but instead goes home for a good night sleep and a change of fresh cloth before going to see him? I mean WT actual F! To top it off, Sarwat 2.0 didn’t even say “I’m sorry” or make any effort to win Tine back or anything remotely sane but instead sang a song that he barely even finished. Man and Type showed more warmth with that hug than our main couple, who technically had just made up. To be fair, Man and Type showed more warmth than our duo in the last 3 episodes.

I have a lot more to say but I fear the only thing to be gained would be carpal tunnel. I will forever treasure you, Gunsmile and Toptap. Episodes 1-9 will be remembered fondly, especially since as far as I'm concerned this series ended after the first 15 minutes of episode 10. I loved, loved everything about the music. Thank you for that.

And at last, I will dedicate a verse from one of my favorite song to it:

“it could have been love, but it’s over now;
It could have been good, but we lost it somehow”

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My wish is to be an adult like you

***Not sure if what’s in here that may be considered major spoiler but there might be minor ones so proceed with caution***


I got recommended this drama over 2 months ago by a user whose name I forgot (i feel awful and I apologize ). I did watch it at that time and in all honesty, it's the drama that pulled me out of a very long drama slump. This drama has two of my favorite tropes - age gap and noona romance!

The drama revolves around Junko Harumi and her three suitors. Once a model student in her middle and high school days, life hasn't been going smoothly for her after she failed to enter Tokyo University. Now 31, she works as a tutor at a private institute where things are not so great. Her romantic life isn't doing any better either. It is at this point in her life that she meets Kyohei Yuri and becomes his tutor. While she worries and shows frustration about things not working out in both her career and her love life, Janko is very oblivious to notice the 3 men that show interest around her. Masashi Yakumo is her smart cousin that went to Tokyo University, who's had feelings for her for a long time. Kyohei Yuri is a disorderly high school student she's tutoring and Kazuma Yamashita is Kyohei ’s teacher in high school.

The drama shows how not getting into Tokyo University has affected Junko. Her relationship with her mother, her confidence in her own self, her feeling jaded about the trajectory of her career and romantic life. It also shows her innocence and her kindheartedness. The only thing about this woman the scriptwriters did that irked me is she pulled out her back every other episode and they use that as a sign of her “getting old”. People I promise you 31 is not that old and we in our 30s don't need to walk around in canes. What is happening! T_T

Anyways, Junko may have had an unfortunate setback in life but she was compensated by having three wonderful men vying for her affection. I love that all the men were non-problematic, genuinely nice, and mature men each bringing their own strength to the table. If I wasn't slightly biased towards one of them, I at one point was thinking she should just take all three and start her own harem. I kid, I kid... (maybe :P)

I enjoyed a lot of things about this drama and the romance. I understand to some people a student/teacher relationship is not something they like. But the relationship is developed in a nice way and no lines were crossed while they were in a teacher/student relationship. I think one of the things that I liked about this drama is the similarity to a real-life event from my childhood. We had a teacher whose love life was like a legend when we were in high school. It is said that this teacher fell in love with a girl when she was still his student. But he never made a move, in fact, he was so unforgivingly strict with her she was convinced he hated her. He waited until she finished her 1st year of college before asking her out. They are married with kids and known as having a very close relationship. It's like one of those romances you find in novels or movies so you can imagine why their story would be popular. Watching this drama actually took me back in time and reminded me of a story I had long forgotten.

*️⃣To the person who recommended this to me, thank you so much!!! I enjoyed this very much. So much so I had the urge to run out and dye my hair pink and the only thing that stopped me was my hairdresser not being available.

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How far will you go? How much will you risk?.... for justice

Is it a matter of satisfying ones curiosity or a quest for justice. A stubbornness not to let go or the conviction that justice should prevail..... What is it that will make someone fight tooth and nail to right a wrong for another man even at the risk of losing everything?

The story starts with a man caught red handed with a body in a suitcase at a subway (the train station not the sandwich place) and made a bomb threat in an attempt to escape. Everyone saw it, he confessed to it... pretty open and shut. Or so it seemed. The case that had garnered the public’s attentions and was witnessed by many took a dramatic turn when the confessed criminal denied his crimes in an open court.

The drama revolves around a group of people trying to solve an unjust crime. Two sets:
1. These are the group of people tasked with solving the subway case. A detective known for solving hard-to-solve cases was brought on to investigate the crimes of the man who was caught with a body in a bag but withdrew his confession on his day of arraignment.
2. The second group are fighting to bring to light the wrongful death of a volunteer teacher.
Two sets of people, two different timelines. The drama centered about how these two groups intersect and how one group has to know more about the other in order to solve their own case.

I watch a lot of crime dramas. To say I have watched over a thousand episodes would not be an exaggeration. I have gotten to the point where I can pretty quickly see through the plot, that I now have little expectation of mysteries to surprise me. They rarely do. Instead whether I can see through the plot or not what I care more about now is how well the drama/show executed it. I dislike mediocrity in procedural dramas, and I tend to lose interest pretty quickly. This drama, however, kept me engaged to the very end. If you are someone who might see through the mystery fairly fast than stay for the execution. Each drama has its own unique way of telling a story and sometimes what matters more, what’s satisfying more, is not what the story is but how its told.

This drama was well written and well acted. The way this drama unfolded was by giving you bits and pieces and piquing your interest to finding out what comes next. Much like the torn pieces of photo you’ll come to see at the end of every episode, you can see the plot come together bit by bit by each passing episode until everything was nicely taped together at the end.

Although the overall drama is good, what caught my attention is Bai Yu’s performance. From the wide eyed brilliant and kind law graduate to the unwavering prosecutor to a broken man, Bai Yu’s performance has been excellent and moving. He gave an emotional performance and you can’t help but be moved by the character’s kindness, raise your hope with the characters conviction and determination, feel dejected and indignant at the character’s misfortunes. I could not help myself from shedding a few tears at his wretchedness.

At the end it may all seem unfair and unjust that the people who put everything on the line to bring the truth to light may end up sacrificing more than those who did the criming. But then again, isn’t it the same as reality? Justice doesn’t always mean fair.

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Y, Y, Y Should you watch this?

Why not?!.... Before we start,

WARNING: if you suffer from epilepsy or from chronic migraine. like me, skip 46 sec to start each episode. You won’t miss anything important from the intro, I’ll quote what they say at the end so you can save yourself.

The second thing I want to point out is that this series is not for everyone. This show is pure chaotic energy. It is not your normal rom-com, this is a sitcom, so don’t go in there with the mindset of a regular show and the bl tag because you will be disappointed. Even when it comes to comedy you’d also need to consider things like cultural context and personal taste. I have noticed that in Thai, they do a lot of play on word that Thai’s find hilarious while for the rest of us it may fall flat or even not make sense. I personally do not like Jim Carey type comedy and I’d never go for those kinds of shows but I seem to like this one. My point is - keep any open mind :)

The plot follows the lives and interactions of people that live in an apartment building owned by a yaoi obsessed transgender woman. Right off I’m going to tell you that some of the scenes in this drama are a product of someone’s lucid dream so like the warning in the intro said – don’t expect things to make sense. A true crackheads fever dream I’m telling you. Besides the crazy, you also have fake relationships (duh it’s a bl), love triangles (hello Asian drama), over-the-top-extra characters, they repeatedly bring up scenes from other bl’s and make parody of it and yet there are real, truly meaningful, moments and a few nugget of wisdom in there.

Nott (Yoon) – Frankly speaking, this is one of the most well-rounded, well written character I have seen. In this wack-a-do-doodle of a drama I did not expect to see such a mature character. The actor really did well, he comes off as both adorable and somehow serious at the same time. His character is a great communicator and his every interaction either with Pun, or his other two close friends (Arm & Ohm) will truly leave an impression.

Pun (Talay) – Pun is the cute new tenant that moved in with Nott. In all honesty, more than the character I am impressed with the actor. I watched Talay both here in YYY and in My Engineer so I got to see him play two different characters at the same time so I was able to see how well he did in his two roles with two different partners. I mean, I was rooting for his character with one person on Tuesdays and with another on Saturdays. This shows how well he worked with both his partners. My man oozes charisma on top of his ability to act. I really think people should keep an eye on him (and also bless his stylist because Pun’s outfits were good!)

Propla (Poppy) – okay anyone who has seen Poppy knows how buff and masculine he is but he put on a wig and a dress and he looks so feminine and his acting just sells it. I’m truly impressed. Poppy plays the yaoi obsessed, transgender apartment owner and provides most of the levity in the show.

The Bl part of this show is so endearing. Yoon and Talay have good chemistry and the characters Nott and Pun are just perfect!

Most of the music for this is from Why R U, but they have two OST and they are good! One you can dance to and the other one actually has really cute lyrics XD

The directing and editing is not that great (same director as WHY R U so no surprise there) but I found it hasn’t stopped me from enjoying the show. I can honestly say I was pleasantly surprised with this show and I don't regret watching it.

Much like the show my rating also defies logic. A rational rating considering all aspects of the drama should have put it between 7 - 8 but I'm basing my scores on how good this drama makes me feel.

**If you decide to give this show a try, please support the show by using the official links. Aphys has kindly posted all official links as well as those for the official MV in the discussion forum.


For those who will be skipping the intro, here is the quote as promised;
“This Yaoi sit-com show is made for pure entertainment. This show contains strong language and inappropriate contents. And useful knowledge? Meh. Zero. Only drama. And I mean LOTS. Guidance should be suggested for children 18 and under. Do not ask for any rationality. Seriously. Do I look like I’m rational? No. Give me a break. If you want to laugh, laugh your heart out. Things are stressful. Give yourself a break. Without further ado, let the show begin”

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Posterity for the birds

This is my final thought, ramble, rant... call it what you will.

This may have a mild spoiler proceed with caution.

Good plot, good acting, excellent OST. Interesting main and side characters who all managed to standout on their own. Good pacing but it did lag towards the end. I really think they could have worked to make this ended at 42. Unnecessarily dragging it out to 49 did the drama a great disservice.

What I liked:

* Hao Du - Best boy. Only character that mattered from the get-go! You can’t imagine how much I like him. I watched Zhao Lusi for you TT (okay, I'll admit this character fitted her well but still... only for Hao Du!)

* Changge- was she perfect? No. But she was a great character to watch. A strong, defiant, smart and fearless character who puts loyalty and country above personal grudge. She is impulsive, cold, unreasonable at times too. The drama shows you how each experience shapes her, how it layer by layer peals off her shell, her anger, her resistance. Overall, this was a very well developed character.

* Li Shimin - okay the actor did really well in this role (this role fits him so much better than the one he played in LoF. He really came off as comical in that)
I'm a little disappointed though that we only got to see the empathetic side of him. He's Emperor Taizong and he's considered one of the greatest emperors in Chinese history! You don't become someone like that by ruling with benevolence alone. He had to also have been shrewd, cunning and calculative and a bit of ruthless to some extent. All great men who leave their mark on history are and I'd have liked to see a little bit of that instead of just showing his kindness.

* Minister Du - I know a well written character when I see a character that you initially dislike or feel is going to be the antagonist to the end but as the story progresses you see parts of their personality that makes you reevaluate your initial impression. Not because they went through a redemption arc, they are still the same people with the same principle but you find that you understand them better now. This was a character I didn't expect to be moved by this much but I nevertheless was (why am I surprised, he raised Hao Du!)

* She'er - this is a very stereotypical character. The arrogant, seemingly cruel misunderstood character but is in fact the innocent of them all. I think I like him because he's a cliched character, sometimes there is comfort in the known.

* Princess Yi Cheng/Khatun - regardless of how you may feel about her, I thought this was a very good, multi-layered character. Unrepentent to the end, which’s a large part of why I like this character, she still manages to pull on your emotions. She is not just one person - an innocent girl, an abandoned princess, a wife, a mother, a Khatun - in every version of her I have found genuine reasons to either empathize or sympathize with.

* Richard Wang's cameo - even if it was brief, the man showed up looking like an elf and giving me LoTR's crossover images I didn't know I needed.

* Underrated CP: Xu Feng and Shi Ba ❤️

What I didn't like:

* Li Change's lipstick - and this is why I HATE cross dressing/gender bending dramas. The lack of commitment. Dilraba did a very good job acting as Li Shi Si with her demeanor and aloofness but yet time and time again they have her in bright shades of lipsticks. Why? were they afraid she wouldn't look attractive enough for fans? Didn't she still get criticize for the 2 hair strands? If you can't please anyone at the very least commit to your craft. I don't need all my leading actor/actresses to stand out. I rather they play a convincing role. I'm already suspending logic pretending I don't see their chest.

* The anime- I had initially thought it was actually pretty cool to incorporate the anime in the drama but the drama ended up replacing ALL the battle scenes with manhua. WTF! It was very underwhelming. How are you going to ask me to be invested in the outcome of a war when I'm looking at drawings? I want to see blood, and stabbing and cutting and hacking. I want to feel the panic of watching the enemy creep up on a character from behind....There was no tension whatsoever so it was less impactful. To add to this, the badly CGI'd actors pretending to charge into the manhua scenes was so ridiculous, I burst out laughing each time.
Ya, I'm not buying this was due to COVID. It may have started that way but it feels like it's Tencents way of saving money. You'd think at least they'd spare some change and get Changge a 2nd outfit. The girl wore the same blue outfit from Ep 39-46.

* Wei Shu Yu - I know air is free but really we still shouldn't just waste it. Consistently mediocre, a glorified messenger, has neither brain nor spine... I could go on but I don't want to waste any more time on him.

* A'Sun in ep 42 - I really wanted to reach through the screen and throw him off the balcony. It's fine though because Hao Du exists. (okay, this reason is petty and I know but I don't care)

* Mimi Guli - annoying for most of the drama. Am I sad? Yes, but she is still annoying as a character and the dubbing voice didn't help at all. Every time she whined my ears suffered.

Editing this to add how much I hated the birds. This drama should be proud of its accomplishment in making me have strong averse reaction to two cute birds.

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When expectation meets reality

To the unfortunate person who may end up reading this - This is really not a good review. It’s more like a short note of what my thoughts are for the movie. I have seen much better, detailed, reviews to help you decide whether to watch or not. Try WandereR’s and PeachBlossomGodesses’s to get a feel from two different sides of the rating spectrum.

****
This is what one feels when you order something really good online and when they arrive they look nothing like the picture on the website. I was so hyped for this movie when the trailer and the stills were release, but it ended up not delivering.

Maybe this shouldn’t have been a movie? I’m not sure if it’s a lack of time or the script itself, but the plot was a nothing burger. Even for a basic plot (really the motivations was nothing novel) the way the story unfolded was lackluster. One of the people I watched it with and I agreed that even if one didn’t follow the plot from the beginning, the characters pretty much narrated it like a recap at the end.

Anyone who knows me would understand that I’m ready to pick up my paddle and row any ship that has a hint of a bromance, but this ship sunk before it even left the shore. If there was time spent on seeing their relationship growth, some sort of chemistry could have been found. This movie didn’t give enough time to see the growth or bond of the characters that by the time the two leads showed concern for each other I was perplexed as to why? “They hardly know each other!” That was what went through my head every time Qingming screamed out "Boya!" or vise versa.

Too much makeup. And I don't mean Olivia Wang's, who took me about half of the movie to recognize, but rather Deng Lun and Mark Chao who in some scenes looked pasty, powdery, white.

The visuals were stunning though. From the first scene to the last, from the set design and to the CGI, I have liked what I saw. Decent fight scenes. I mean it's not one to blow one's mind, but it was very well done. The accompanying music was very good as well.

Olivia Wang looked beautiful here. I also liked her performance in this. I was pretty moved by her part of the story and could connect and empathize with her character.

Overall, it was not a bad watch but did not live up to the hype.

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Trying to watch something while simultaneously reading subtitles is too much work that I would not make the effort for anything longer than a 2 hours movie. So you have to imagine what it would take for me to invest the time to complete a 70 episode show. I only started watching it as something to pass the time until I fall asleep. I figured since it was a subtitle I would be bored and tired before the 1st episode ends and that would be that. 10 minutes in I was hooked. All idea of sleep was lost and thanks to Netflix I had 30 episodes worth to binge through. I was impressed with everything that I was seeing. Yes, the story moved a bit slow in the beginning, but the characters were well developed, I couldn’t stop enjoying the story.

Impressive acting, beautiful costume, amazing cinematography. I will not dare comment on the accuracy of the costumes or the customs portrayed in the show because as I’m not of Asian background it’s not my place. From my uninformed perspective I can only say that it looked amazing! By second episode I had already fallen in love with Ning Yi and Feng Zhi Wei. I was definitely hooked and emotionally invested.

Chen Kun’s, Ning Yi was as multi-layered as they come, he is smart, cunning, calculating and determined. He can be playful, and ruthless, surprisingly gentle as well as stern. He loves fiercely and will do whatever it takes for those he loves. The actor did a superb job portraying this character, you can’t help but feel indignant when he is, laugh when he does, and of course cry your eyes out when he cries. And that face with that long hair – Whoa!

Ni Ni’s Feng Zhi Wei is smart, a little naive but she learns. She’s beautiful as she is fierce. She has an unwavering sense of right and wrong. She is also burdened with the hopes and dreams of everyone without a single person considering what she wants. I loved how she was the more forward one in their relationship and he was the shy one.
I just loved the show I couldn’t stop talking about it. I re-watched old episodes while I waited for Fridays to bring new ones. All other shows I previously followed were put on pause. I had little time for entertainment as it is, whatever I had was going to be spent watching and re-watching these episodes to make sure I did not miss anything while reading subtitles.

This is not to say I didn’t have any issues with it. There were some weird cuts, some story arcs I didn’t care for, FZW talked too fast I sometimes couldn’t keep up and my personal small peeve, I really hated how Ning Yi walked with one hand on his waist and another holding up his cloth lol
And it doesn’t help that somethings were certainly lost in translation (Netflix do better!) But all could be forgiven for an interesting story that included captivating characters depicted by amazingly talented actors.

Then came the Minhai arc to be followed by what I would like to refer to as “an out-of-control car speeding downhill towards a brick wall”. I did not understand where one story ended and where one begun. So many loose ends, so many bad cuts, so many unnecessary characters and plot lines. By the time the show concluded I did not recognize the characters that I fell in love with at the start of the show. The second half of this drama all the way through the end, with its sloppy editing, weird cuts, uncharacteristic actions by the characters at this point you know very well, did a disservice to the incredible actors, production crew who put all the hard work and to the fans that devoted time and emotion.

Now, I am not bitter that it was a sad ending. I will admit I’d have preferred a happy one, especially as I could see multiple opportunities in the story they could have seized on to give the characters a better ending. But it’s a creative decision and I can respect the production choice to end on a sad one. I can respect it, IF it were done properly. What pissed me off about this is none of the characters got what they deserved. Helian Zheng deserved better, Hua Qiong deserved better, even Master Zong deserved better - Ning Yi and Zhi Wei DEFINITLY deserved better.
You can watch a sad ending and feel content. That’s not what happens here. This particular end just leaves a bad taste in your mouth. This feeling was compounded by released photo’s or clips of scenes that you never got to see. I was left feeling cheated and let down and completely unsatisfied.
It wasn’t a sad ending – it was a BAD one.
There are some that say the journey is worth it, not in this case. This is, as one reviewer described it “a best forgotten relationship”.

The title says “The Rise of the Phoenixes” as far as I know Phoenix rises from the ash, it represents rebirth. Who/what rose in this? The Dacheng empire? The lovers? Certainly not FZW. By the end of this drama there was no phoenix to be found, only ashes.

My advice to anyone who wants to watch this drama is, watch is until somewhere between 50-55 and then stop. Let your imagination complete the rest. Whether you believe the story deserves a happy ending or not I guarantee you your imagination will do the story, the characters and yourself much justice then what this show did.
I will say this though, kudos, bravo, well done to all the incredible cast, particularly Chen Kun and Ni Ni. I definitely have become a fan.

I read somewhere the book was a better ending. Hopefully it will get translated into English and I can replace this disaster with a better version

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Long Live “The Royals”

To be honest with you I wasn't a whole lot impressed with the trailer when first released and with a title like "My Engineer" I went into this with minimum expectation. I was fairly impressed.

There are four main couples and the series gave justice to each by giving them ample screen time. The pacing was good, and although there might be some awkwardness in the acting sometimes it wasn't to the point it'd put you off. The series also had moments where is has brought up common and worn out cliched plots in the bl genre and dissolved the misconception.

The couples:

BOHN-DUEN : okay, this relationship is on the immature/inncocent side. I feel this couple get a lot of flak because their personality combo is one that frustrates people the most. I too am among those that have felt like smacking sense into either one of them in a scene or two but at the same time I understand their dynamic as well. Bohn is the popular boy who is used to having everything his way who fell in love for real, for the first time, with the innocent boy. Duen is innocent, with zero experience on how to be in a relationship. Bohn comes off as an arrogant bully but he always gives in to Duen at the end. And Duen is not your typical cowering submissive boyfriend either. This pairing is one that asks for a LOT of understanding and patience on the viewers part or else they'll just be misunderstood. But I really believe that if done well, this pair has room and a good opportunity for to allow the production to explore real character growth and development.

MEK-BOSS : This couple's relationship is one for the angst. It's a story of Mek who's in love with his oblivious best friend Boss. The heartache for the viewers gets worse as Boss is always chasing after girls and dragging Mek with him. I have to be honest, with the whole drama with Rayan (Mek), I tried very hard not to get invested in this couple so I don't get disappointed, but it couldn't be helped. They are so cute together I ended up invested.

RAM-KING : The VERY BEST pairing of the drama; hence why I have dubbed them "The Royals". Right off the bat, this pairing was a favorite. I couldn't get enough of their scenes, not a single one can be called just a filler. This pairing tells the love story between a plant and dog. King understands Ram like he understands his plants without Ram having to utter a single word, while Ram, the dog-lover, likes to care, feed and pull King around . I love how intuited they are with each other and to be honest this pairings visual is no joke either. Their character and relationship development was done really well. Really I can go on and on about these two but I'm worried I'd veer off of even the bounds of spoilers lol I'm all in for Monarchy all the common people be damned!

THARA-FRONG: The slooooow burn couple. Theirs is the least developed relationship in the series but I believe we will have more story for them in season two.

Honestly I would have given this a higher score but the "fan-girls" and King's iseenobounderies sister were too much for me. I dislike how they show girls chasing around a cute boy or a "couple" like they have nothing better to do, that it's a complete turn off for me every time they appear in any drama. I don't find them cute or funny, and I don't see their inclusion as nothing more than ridiculing young girls. I hope this is a part they improve on for the second season.

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Meh

The first episode had excited me. Taiwan is known for making nice Bl’s so of course I was excited to see another one. But as the episodes went on I found the plot not interesting enough, the chemistry practically nonexistent and I just got bored. There was something missing in it, this one was just bland and it lacked that spark.

I understand it’s challenging to produce a drama with well fleshed out plot and real character growth when you’re making a 10 minutes episode drama, but past experience has shown us how cute and fluff can be done with such time limits. Maybe in a time before Because of You, Where Your Eyes Linger and Mr. Heart, this could have maybe, barely squeaked through as passable. But not now. Not when there are other dramas out there that has shown that they can produce good content with fluff or a little angst and with great chemistry can this be acceptable.

Great kiss scene though, but this is a Taiwanese BL, it can’t pass the test by just a kiss scene. That is at the very least one norm we have come to expect from it.

I really hope Taiwan steps up its game. A country that can produce contents like the HIStory franchise can do so much better than this. And I honestly like Taiwanese BL’s so I wish them luck.

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Failure to Launch

How to describe this drama… this was one part fluff, one part serious and one part SFX and poop jokes. When I complained about the SFX punctuating every conversation, every serious topic I was told “its satire don’t expect it to set a serious tone”. But then they hit you with heavy duty stuff about coming out, family struggles, relationship insecurities and in between they fill you up with fluff and a blatant display of product placement. The entire way I didn’t know what gage I should set my emotions to.

As you read below you’ll see that I didn’t hate all of it. There were actually decent plot lines, interesting character developments and genuine scenes in there that I have liked but that only magnified its week points and made it glaringly evident how much the drama ultimately failed to fully utilize its potential.

Kao is the Thai version of “Your Oppa can’t act”. Okay, he’s not completely terrible but his acting is not smooth and his dialogue delivery comes off robotic. He wasn’t always able to create that connection between his character and the audience. His character comes off unpleasantly aggressive at times, territorial/controlling and also sweet and sincere. I’ll be honest, he isn’t the kind of character that will leave any lasting impression on me.

Up’s acting and his character Gene were the selling point for me. He was the perfect amount of reserved, awkward, antisocial and insecure without coming off as weird. Gene is shown as he deals with the pressures of an overstepping book agent, a new awakened desires, and lingering insecurities as he is shoved into new and unfamiliar environment in both work and social life. The confrontation between Gene and his family has to be one of the most memorable part of the drama for me. Whether its Gene’s defiant stand, the protective brother, the mediating mother or the hard on the outside soft on the inside father, the entire thing was set for maximum emotional impact and it delivered.

Aey a character damaged by both family and love; shows the self-destructive nature some have when they feel hurt and betrayed. Like either the world delivers what it owes him for his pain. or its scorch earth to everything and everyone so they can join him in his hell . The irony of someone who craves attention, validation, acceptance and love from everyone and anyone but alienates, manipulates and burn everything he touches. Although, ON SIGHT, I’d come at this guy with a can of gorilla glue spray, I’m glad that the drama didn’t feed us some “love overcomes all” BS with him. Not everyone can be redeemed nor want to be saved. Not everyone’s pain can be eased/erased nor can their wounds be healed. Some stay angry and hurt and twisted to the end.

Tiffy/Tum were the cute second couple everyone roots for. Not a lot that could have been were explored with them, so in the end I felt neither one way or another.

I had a decent (okay, slightly higher than decent) expectation for this drama before it started airing, but it didn’t end up delivering for me. It actually upsets me when I think about scenes like the one with Gene and his family, his conversation with his father, Aey’s relationship with his family, the issues related to BL industry and fandom and how much more this drama could have been if it hadn’t half-assed it.

If I were to be honest, this is more of a 6.5 for me but I’m giving it a 7 for Up’s acting and the memorable scenes.

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It should have stayed in draft

Is their story original? No. It was a basic rich arrogant guy falls for the naive poor guy kinda story. For what it lacked in originality it made up for by... not being bland. That’s it. There wasn’t anything outstanding or special about this couple that set them aside from others. I may not have been on this pairings bandwagon even in the first season, but I found them entertaining enough and can admit to their appeal. Besides I love Techno so there was also something to be excited about for me.

I know fans of this couple have waited two years to get this sequel and it should have been an overall success.

Right out the gate, this series turns off most viewers by deciding to restart the TinCan story afresh. Afresh wouldn’t be bad if it was an overall new storyline, rather they pretty much retold what took place in LBC1 in a long winded lackluster way. It took 6 episodes to reach the point of the story that wasn’t already told in LBC1. Its lack of continuity led to a lot of confusion and frustration as it also showed changes in character personality.

Plan’s character seems to have digressed in personality, Mean looked like he didn’t want to be there. I’m not even going to touch Techno and Kengkla’s plot nor Ae’s for that matter. The awkward and bad acting that hasn’t improved in these two years becomes even more evident, by the abysmal script, unimaginative plot, poor choice in OST, overall low quality production. Rather than a highly expected series, this comes off as one of those unknown small company production with first timer production.

The fact that Plan doesn’t even know how to command the muscles around his lips to part for a kiss scene while the script makes him sound like a horny teenager has managed to raise the cringe factor to high level. The only slightly interesting plot in this drama came around the end of the series between Tin’s brother Tul and Gonhin.

I had initially started taking notes so I can write an objective review but by the 3rd ep I chucked the list away since it wasn’t worth the effort. It was bad all over and if I kept making lists than it would be miles long and I can’t do that to myself. I’ll say this much though, This series owes Gun and Mark a huge apology for taking their characters plot from crap in season 1 to still crap here. Thailand owes Mark a better drama! Another apology to Perth, since I have no idea why both he and viewers had to suffer while he was mopping around for an entire season. And another one to Yacht for making him go through this when he had played such a lovable, fun Pond in S1. The only credit this series deserves is it washed off that incest-adjacent relationship between Tum and Tar.

For a series with a highly successful prequel, everything about this series showed the lack of preparation, commitment, and care for quality. If the purpose of making this series was to make the fans wish they could wipe out everything they have watched, I can say this drama has succeeded. If the intention was to give the fans the drama they have patiently waited for, to give the actors who have chosen this as their last project and their fans a chance to bid farewell to these characters, then it was a miserable failure.

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I hadn’t expected to actually like it this much but I was pleasantly surprised how much enjoyable I found it.
I think the strength of this drama is definitely the female character. It's been a while since I saw a woman written like a normal human being. Writers seem to confuse strength in a woman with aloofness, coldness, and belly full of schemes especially if they are writing a career woman. Because a woman can’t build a career if she’s not a ballbuster. Or they’ll give you a woman on the other end of the spectrum so immature and whose sole focus is on a man and a man alone. I half the time question if these writers have ever met a woman or it's just misogyny and patriarchy shining through.

The female lead here is an ambitious woman in her 30s. She is smart, good at her job, and here is a kicker, she’s actually nice. She knows how to draw boundaries, is firm but never arrogant or rude. She works hard, knows when to fight and when to retreat. This woman actually looks and acts like someone who’s matured with wisdom gained through lived experience. Even when she was breaking up, rejecting a romantic advance, or responding in a workplace exchange she was never a screaming shrill woman. She never threw tantrums or cursed out people even in places you wish she had. She did everything with dignity and poise. She really was the selling point for me.

The other thing I loved about this drama was how it used our female lead and her best friend to showcase two women, who made different choices in their lives and what problems they face. And more importantly how there is no such thing as a perfect life. One chose to work, the other to get married and when things get tough they look at each other’s life and say “at least your life is better than mine” only for life to show them that what seems perfect is only surface level. Each choice has its own issues, its obstacles, its own freedom, its own happiness. The drama showed us how each woman navigated through it while supporting each other until they came out the other side. It wasn’t dramatic, it wasn’t heroic or epic it was ordinary life. I found it very relatable.

The romance was indeed a slow burn. It was also sweet, mature, and more importantly very much less cringe 🙏

Now having gone all gaga like this doesn’t mean it doesn’t have problems. I found the work issues rather repetitive at times. I strongly feel this drama should have been about 5 episodes shorter.

The best friend seems to have things available to her at each moment she needs it — having a hard time finding a job, oh I happen to know the kitchen has an opening and omg a housewife for a while and you happen to be a great cook… you don’t want to cook anymore and need something else... Uhm you used to play the drum in college? my band just so happens to have our drummer walk out on us, what a coincidence… what’s that you say? You don’t feel like being a professional drummer.. wait here’s a random guy who happens to own a music school for kids who coincidentally happens to hear your performance and want to hire you at your own term, you don’t like kids ah, not even your nephew? but that one odd kid whom no other music teacher can get through miraculously clicked with you and wants you and you only… 🙄 — please it wouldn’t have killed them to make her struggle just a little.

Another issue would be the terrible taste in jewelry this drama has. Be it the “expensive” dream catcher looking thing they claimed to be a necklace and draped over her neck or the “charming” simple necklace made out of love or the one designed for competition under grueling mental and emotional gymnastics, all looked cheap and tacky. This may seem like a nonissue but the male lead is a supposed wanna be jewelry designer. You can’t tell me the character you want to make a successful career as a designer make things that look like ones my baby sister picked from Clairs. Sorry, I can’t accept that.


"Compared to the 18-year-old or 20-year-old who's still searching, I like myself better in my 30s. Although nobody thinks I'm cute anymore, and I'm aging by the minute, the 35-year-old me compared to my past, knows me better than I've ever before." — As someone in their 30s, I related to this on a spiritual level.

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