Before I begin this review...

1. I have watched all licensed live versions of this story (Taiwan, Japan, Korea and now this China remake).
2. I grew up watching the original Meteor Garden.
3. Japanese Hana Yori Dango became my ultimate favorite adaptation.

Here’s my review.

It was clear from the very first episode that there were going to be many changes made to the origin story in this new remake. One being the iconic F4 banner in the locker symbolizing F4's desire to challenge you to a poker match. Two being the noticeable absence of bullying and flaunting of wealth (due to China censorship)... which left me asking, whether this was truly Hana Dango. Why does it look so different? Third being DMS is actually quite the gentleman in this version. He is still arrogant and hot tempered but not really a bully per say. His rocky start with Shan Cai is very "Pride and Prejudice-ques" in that, it stemmed from misunderstanding and poor communication on both sides rather than bullying. Despite all of the noticeable changes, I was addicted by the first episode. The acting wasn’t very good. The story line was familiar but not at the same time. Yet, curiosity and awe at how this version looks and feels kept me going.

I compare the feeling of watching this version to falling in love when you are in your early teens. It is clear that this version of Meteor Garden is marketed towards that age group. The actors are all new people. Their youthful looks and clear inexperience with acting actually helps with the portrayal of these seemingly innocent and naive characters. These characters are not deep nor well developed at all. You can say they are one dimensional and kinda cartoony. So if you are expecting some well fleshed out story with deep characters and development... this show is definitely not for you. But, if you take this version for what it is meant to be, which is a highly entertaining, childish story of two characters falling in love despite ridiculous obstacles... then you will love this version. Hana Yori Dango is the king of all that is good and bad about cliche Asian Rom Coms and this version delivered the cheesiness in unapologetic style. Ultimately, it is silly to expect anything more from the king of all idol dramas.

Personally, I watched this version for Dylan Wang and Shen Yue. I grew to be very fond of the two actors and loved seeing their natural chemistry on screen. Despite being newbies, these two delivered strong performances in difficult scenes that really moved me. I didn’t care much for the other characters but didn’t mind them that much when they were on screen. I also grew to love the blatant product placement. It was so in your face that you couldn’t help but laugh. I also enjoyed the new scenes and the faithful adaptation to the original manga. This was the most faithful adaptation to the manga which is probably why the original author, Yoko Kamio, is also a fan. She drew Dylan as Tsukasa... so if that’s not a sign off, I don’t know what is...

As much as I loved this version, there were many moments in this drama that were so ridiculous that I wasn’t sure what the hell I was watching... it almost felt like the screen writers flat out gave up.

So, the jury is pretty split on the reception of this version. I think it’s best to watch and decide for yourself whether you enjoy it or not. I liked it and I had a good time watching.

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I signed up for a new account on MyDramaList just so I could rave about my latest obsession. Nirvana in Fire was possibly one of the best drama series I have ever watched. (PERIOD!) I am comparing the amazing quality of this show to my American favorites of Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. It is very hard for shows to wow me as I am one of those annoying critics that cannot simply just swallow what the director hands me. The screenplay, dialogue and cinematography must all pass my logical test. How believable were the characters and their motives? How interesting was the plot? At the same time, the events that unfold must be engaging and shocking. All in all, I am a tough person to impress. It might sound strange to say this drama passed all of my critical qualms when there are flying swordsmen literally fighting in mid-air but it was that type of drama. The screenplay was so believable you actually overlooked the fantastical aspects as merely interesting parts of this magical world.

With all that said, the plot, as brilliantly written and executed as it was actually took a backseat to the relationships between the characters. When Mei Changsu and Jingyan were together on the screen, you could hardly look away hoping that this would be the moment that they acknowledged each other. Each achingly painful interaction felt like eternity. At the end, you really could not help but feel for both of these characters. Their bromance and loyalty to each other felt more moving than any romance arc. Other relationships such as the one Mei Changsu has with all the members of his posse felt real and were equally moving. I honestly believe that the most brilliant aspect of Mei's character was his ability to captivate people. With that quality, he managed to use, manipulate and inspire all those around him to help him achieve his goal. The fact that Mei was terminally ill also provided an interesting dynamic to his, at times, superhuman mind.

Another wonderful aspect of this drama was the slew of brilliant supporting characters. Each actor/ actress dominated their roles. The music, camera work, sets, costumes... man, I could go on and on raving about it all. The world of Nirvana really came to life. The only criticism I have is that the ending felt a bit rushed and left me feeling like I needed closure. However, it was a fitting ending to the ride. In short, this is a must watch. Go on. What are you waiting for?

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Ashes of Love...

After being literally obsessed with this drama for the past 3 months since watching it, I decided to rewrite my review. These are the main reasons why I loved Ashes of Love and still obsess about this show 3 months later. Forget the cons, because if a drama can keep my attention for this long, the cons mean nothing.

1. Ashes of Love is quite simply a beautiful, multi-layered love story. Yes, there was a stereotypical love triangle, but, the way the love triangle unfolded was not typical at all. Xufeng and Jinmi were the main couple pairing. However, this drama left many people rooting for Runyu, who was not only the third leg of this triangle, he was also a main antagonist with ZERO chance at getting the girl. How does that happen you ask? Good writing. If the screen writers can make you understand the perspectives of an antagonist, I think they did a good job. Xufeng and Jinmi's love was absolutely spell binding. I was entranced by XuFeng's hopeless devotion to Jinmi and Jinmi's courage of pursuing Xufeng despite his crusade to break her spirit. This drama was 60+ episodes, but I felt like I would have loved more.

2. Deng Lun, Yang Zi and Luo Yunxi were incredible actors. Lower caliber actors would have reduced Xufeng, Jinmi and Runyu into caricatures, especially XuFeng and Jinmi. Runyu had a more blatant character arch, but XuFeng and Jinmi's had subtle arches. Without Deng Lun's warm, lovey dovey eyes and piercing stare as the God of War/ Demon Lord, Xu Feng would feel like an useless door mat. Without Yang Zi's range of emitting emotions in order to portray Jinmi in the growing stages of her character, Jinmi would feel like a Mary Sue. Without Yunxi's ability to portray all aspects of Runyu's character, we would have hated Runyu. Additionally, all three are incredibly good looking. That helps.

3. I binge- watched this show in three days, while on vacation overseas, forgoing sleep. After obsessing about this story and re-watching three times, I continue to want to re-watch clips of my favorite scenes, or listen to the soundtrack, or watch BTS videos. It is that addicting.

The only reason why this show is not rated as high as Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms is because it came later. People find the two shows to be similar so people might not want to give this show any due credit. Personally, I loved TMOPB... I love AOL wayyyyyyyyyy more.

Honestly, just watch it. If you drop it after 4 episodes, you are definitely going to miss out on an incredible love story. Also people who love TMOPB and drop AOL for being a "slow burn," like come on... YEHUA does not show up until episode 8! You have NO EXCUSE.

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Firstly, this is not a show you can binge watch.   Each episode is over an hour long.  The pacing of the story is slow and draggy.  They filmed each episode like a movie which is great to look at but not good for binge watching. I actually felt exhausted after each episode partly due to the emotional heaviness of the content and the pacing of the show.  

Pros:  I can see why this drama is rated so high. The cinematography and directing of this drama is like a movie.   The story was very well plotted and executed.   The plot itself was not overly complex, (detective in the present time converses with another detective in the past and together they help each other solve Korea's notorious cold cases).  The intrigue really comes from how the director chose to tell the story.  Pieces of the plot is told in fragments leaving the viewer wondering, how in the world does this information relate to that information.  Only during the last episode do you start to see how EVERYTHING is tied together.   The main characters were all well cast and played their parts well.  Shout out to the actor that played Lee Jaehan.  

Cons:  The reason why I couldn't give this drama a higher rating was because I felt like the cons of the show over shadowed the pros.  One major con was the pacing of the show.  The show dragged...  It was not even draggy like how Chinese dramas tend to fill up the dead time with stupid side arcs that have nothing to do with the overall story.  It dragged because they spend whole minutes of the show on dead time. Such as, walking, opening a drawer, looking perplexed or sad...things that did not need to be filmed for that length of time. I have no idea how they managed to make solving murder mysteries draggy but they did.  I get it.  If they did not linger around a bit the entire show would end in 10 episodes. After all, the entire show focused on maybe 4 or 5 cases? It really tested my patience because I found myself screaming "walk faster," and " come on, get to the point..." a lot in this show.

Rather than spend whole minutes on dead time, this drama would have benefited from more light- hearted scenes. There was some humor but seriously NOT ENOUGH. There were a lot of dark themes in this drama.  They could afford more scenes of So Hyun being a girly girl in a squad full of dudes.  I rejoiced watching So Hyun's pink bowed, pretty girl past. I wanted to watch more.

Another con was the plot holes.  SPOILERS AHEAD. So I get that our heroic duo could alter the past but keep things consistent.  Park Haeyoung remembered things that has changed in history.  At first, So hyun doesn't remember anything, but as soon as she gets in on the walkie talkie business, all of sudden, she remembers what changed too?  The heck?!  Also is every cop in this fictional world this incompetent or this corrupt?  Aside from Jaehan, do these "cops" even do any active police work?  Everyone just sits around and  it seems like Jaehan is the only one running around looking for evidence.  Which is frustrating and convenient because half of the drama is simply due to incompetence and over fuckery from people not doing anything. Where the hell is his "team?"

Deaths also lose all relevance and actually become annoying when those same people come back the next episode. It's like, man, I actually felt bad the first time. Do it three times and it's annoying.

The last episode was great but the last 20 minutes made me want to punch a wall.  Don't give us an euphoric conclusion with well deserved closure and then take it all away with another random tangent plot point that NO ONE cared for... Can you sense the frustration from me? UGH. END SPOILER.

This was the longest review I've ever wrote but I guess I felt like I needed to justify why I gave a lowish review for such a highly rated show.

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I have to be honest with my disappointment. Season one ends with a mid-sentence cliffhanger. So for anyone that is thinking about watching this drama, you are forewarned that you will finish 24 episodes feeling unsatisfied.

This drama can be broken up into two portions. The first half was about Little River God (Li Xian) and Young Master Deng (Zhang Ming'en) teaming up to solve murder mysteries. It was a fun tandem and I enjoyed that portion of the show a lot. Then the second half of the show was all about the zombies and the Ancient Evil Cult which was interesting but very one toned. The writing for the show really took a nose-dive into the supernatural, mystical turn in the second half of the show. So if that is your cup of tea, then you will really enjoy this show.

Personally, I am not a fan of zombie shows. When this story took a turn into zombie land, I really struggled with thoughts of dropping this show. My qualm with zombie shows is that the writing for the show most often take a backseat to the zombies. I hate watching zombies chasing humans (because how many times have we seen variations of that...ZzzZzz) and there is a whole lot of that in this show. Not to mention the twisted logic of how the zombies were formed and controlled... all that wompy, mumble, jumble is not my favorite.

Pros for the show. I like the general look of this entire drama. The costumes, props and sets were all really well done. I really liked how they incorporated animation into the retelling of historical events. I enjoyed the tandem between Deng Mao and Deyou and then Deyou and Gu Ying. The mystery of the Ancient Evil Cult was somewhat interesting but it kind of dragged. Really, I found myself not really caring about the cult all that much, despite the entire drama revolving around that story line.

Anyway this drama was just okay. I probably wouldn't re-watch and if they take too long to release Season two, I'd probably skip out on wanting to know the ending to the story. Truthfully, I don't care enough.

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I watched Scarlet Heart (The Original Version) many, many years ago.  In fact it was one of my first ancient Chinese dramas.  I remember feeling overwhelmed by the drama and thought about it for weeks afterwards.  It was hard to part with the characters and the story.

It is now 2017 and many more people have watched the newer Korean version.  I implore you all to give the original drama a chance.  Yes, the CGI is shitty.  Yes the hairstyle looks weird...but if you stick it out to the very end, it will leave a strong impression on you.  

1. Watch for how Ruoxi (a strong willed and intelligent female lead) maneuvers her way through Qing Dynasty China. Despite being a modern women, she adapted immediately to her surroundings and it was a joy to watch her fall in love deeply with her 4th Prince, the future emperor.

2. Watch for non- one dimensional Princes (for a stark change from the Korean version) and how they came to associate with our heroine.

Happy watching!

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The Legend of Zhen Huan was a beautiful drama.  Just look at the photos of the sets, costumes and makeup...I do not think I've ever seen another period piece that paid this much painstaking attention to detail.  This drama elevated the Chinese period drama bar high after it's initial run on television and for good reason.

With that said, you need to be a person with a certain level of patience to finish this drama.  The story is well executed, the actors high caliber and the drama level high... however, it is very slow paced.  The focus is on the relationship between the leading ladies, the palace intrigue and the power struggles of the inner palace.  There are no gimmicks to entertain the audience.  Therefore, if you are someone who needs plot twists and action after every episode to keep you hooked, this drama is not for you.  

Personally, I loved watching Zhen Huan.  The acting was superb.  The costumes so beautiful.   It felt like I was watching a Chinese version of a Jane Austin novel played on screen.  While Jane Austin's female protagonists can feel a bit vanilla, Zhen Huan was a breath of fresh air.  It was a joy watching her change from a doe eyed, somewhat naive yet bright, young girl into a manipulative, jaded and vengeful Queen B.  She had the makeup and the acting chops to pull it off.  I also learned a lot about Chinese history with this drama.  My knowledge of female titles in the inner palace was limited to concubine and empress...who knew there was such a hierarchy?

All in all, this was a very beautifully executed, smart drama that felt real to its time and worth the journey.  I highly recommend it.

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This is an example of a decent story being dragged to hell and back to fit a 75 episode mark. This drama could have easily been a 10. The artistry, film work, acting, fight scenes were superb. Unfortunately, this has become an overall mediocre affair because of its unnecessary length. So much time and energy is wasted on people that really do not advance the plot (i.e. court officials, uncle princes that want the throne and his boring to death son with only one face, devil princesses who talk a mean talk but literally do nothing etc...) and on a worn down story line in which the main characters beat the same dead horse over and over.

GUYS WE GET THE POINT! Can we please have advancement in the story line along with the millionth time we hear about the emperor's love for his dead wife?

Here is the breakdown. First 35 episodes were fantastic. The storyline had intrigue and was beautiful to watch. The middle was where the story starts to slow down and drag. The last 25 or so episodes have been grueling to get through. It is such a pity because the first half of the show was really good. I suggest that people start watching the first 50 episodes...then skip around to the end to retain your sanity.

I recommend watching this show for good actors/ actresses who play their roles well. The men were handsome, the women beautiful. The fight scenes were well shot. The CGI was pretty good. Lastly, the cinematography was top notch. Every shot looked like a movie.

However, I am warning you all that the last couple of episodes is beyond frustrating. The writing has suffered and the show has become ridiculous. People are acting in ways that I cannot or would not justify. WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME after I spent 70 hours watching this show!

Shawn Dou (adult actor that plays Han Jiang) and his handsome as F face is keeping me interested enough to finish this drama.

That's pretty much it.

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I enjoyed Itaewon Class. It was not your typical K-drama focused on triangle romance, rich vs. poor and good vs. evil. Of course, it had all of those elements but the real story behind Itaewon Class is about a downtrodden good guy with a quest for revenge upon the powerful family that did him dirty. I f*** with this concept so I definitely enjoyed watching our "good guy hero," get his revenge. Does he ultimately get there? Well, you will have to watch 16 very long episodes to find out. Itaewon Class also progressively took on racism and transgender acceptance which I appreciated for being bold but felt like it was glossed over. Itaewon Class really missed a good opportunity to take the story to the next level.

The 16 episodes were an easy binge. They were long but they were entertaining enough to motor forward. The ending started to drag... A LOT. There were way too many flashbacks, repetitive conversations between characters, and dramatic slow mo editing, especially towards the end of the show. This drama could have done without all of that. I felt producers should have devoted precious minutes instead to all of those missed opportunities that I mentioned earlier.

Overall, I did find Itaewon Class to be a really interesting story. The main characters were easy to root for, the main villains were easy to despise. It did wear a bit on my nerves at how conveniently characters happen to be at the right place, at the right time. Main character goes jogging around the city, happens to conveniently run into female lead. Female lead flies off of motorcycle, conveniently happens to land on male lead. You catch my drift? Major eye-rolling ahead, people.

Anyway, I do recommend this drama. What else are you all doing anyway during this pandemic?

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This is a light-hearted, occasionally very funny drama about two very different people falling in love, mixed with a side of E SPORTS, extreme Chinese pride/ propaganda and random jarring inclusions of Beyond's "Hoi Fut Tin Hong: Wide Ocean, Boundless Sky" in Mandarin...

With all that said, I enjoyed watching this show. It was very cute. There wasn't much to it.

Li Xian is incredibly sexy. Yang Zi had awful hair and awful clothes. Hu Yi Tian is the second lead but has very little screen time (IMO, THANK GOD because he continues to have the same emotionless face). But who cares, Li Xian is really hot. Watch this drama for Li Xian. You can thank me later...

That's it.

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I started watching this drama because of Eunji.  I am a fan of her music and so I decided to give this drama a shot.

Truthfully, a large portion of why I enjoyed this show was because it was so relatable. I did not grow up in Korea but I have heard about the Korean boy band fan wars after getting into KPOP in my late teens, early twenties.  I did not live through H.O.T. versus Seckskies but I lived through Backstreet Boys versus NSync. The way Shi Won obsessed over H.O.T was similar to how I used to obsess over the Backstreet Boys.  I remember, vividly, hovering over a teen magazine and tearing out pages to share with my girlfriends and classmates, similar to the drama.  My inner 90's kid self laughed when the gang in the drama started getting into Tamagotchis and other 90's crazes like overalls, pig tails, CD players... Of course, I had a Tamagotchi!  It was also really nostalgic and heartwarming watching the friends have their reunion.  How many people still keep in touch with their high school friends in their late twenties?  Not too many people unfortunately.  This was something that I couldn't relate to but still found touching.

I also loved how the drama talked about real life topics despite some topics being controversial in a conservative country.  When I lived in Korea in the early part of this decade, it was still taboo to talk openly about homosexuality.  People were having same- sex relationships but it was still not a widely accepted mindset.  It was refreshing for the drama to kinda mention homosexuality and paint it with a warm, understanding light.  

I also commend the actors for portraying their roles so well.  Some might find the Busan accent to be whiny but I found it to be endearing.  This drama also transcend gender lines.  I recommended this drama to my fiance and he absolutely loved it.  Eunji, as Shi Won was the clear glue to this entire show.  She was so lovable that it is easy to see why people liked her.  In Guk as Yoon Je was also hilariously straight edged and goofy.  It was so funny how the main leads interacted with each other and their chemistry was palpable.  

All in all, if you grew up in the 90's...watch this drama.  You will love it.

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Wow... where do I begin?

This is all you need to know about this drama.  It is not an innovative drama nor does it take itself too seriously.  It delivers exactly what you expect it to deliver...which is lots of beautiful people in beautiful costumes with a beautiful soundtrack to go with it. It is a fantasy so of course there is going to be lots of shitty CGI. This drama is also not short on overused cliches: Female lead loses her memory (check), Male lead is stoic and cold (check), Male and Female leads are so in love they do illogical things (check), Evil, scheming, jealous women who desire the male lead (s) (check) (CHECK) and there are more but it would be a spoiler... (CHECK). I also fast forwarded a lot of boring side arcs.  This was how I managed to finish this entire thing in 3 days.

BUT!  Here is the huge BUT in this review... BUT.... boy was it entertaining.  The main story arc, which is the love between Bai Qian and YeHua, was so captivating that it made up for all of the sleep I lost.  Watch this drama for Mark Chao as YeHua.  He gave the performance of his life.  When Yehua was in pain, I was in pain.  When he was in love, I was rooting for him like a childish school girl.  Yang Mi as Bai Qian wasn't as impressive but she had her memorable moments.  I give her lots of props for portraying multiple characters.  She managed to bring to life three different characters in Siyin, Su Su and Bai Qian while still retaining the element of continuity that made us all believe that they were still part of her original character Bai Qian. She also kicked ass as Bai Qian (which was refreshing).  I only wished she recognized her feelings for Yehua earlier.  Like COME ON...GIRL... return the passion please!

Huge Con: The story does not truly start until the second act which is probably why people would drop it early on.  The main male character (Yehua) doesn't officially show up until episode 8 or 9 for crying out loud.  

In summary, I loved this.  It was a great ride and I will definitely rewatch (and skip all of the nonsense filler story arc again) just for my dose of Bai Qian and Yehua.

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Dropped but picked up again

I initially dropped this drama after the 10th episode.

Pros: Watching this drama is like watching life through rose colored glasses. Everything is beautiful and sweet. This drama is appropriately named. There were only sparks of love though which I will get into later. The writing for this drama is realistic albeit somewhat childish. Yet, even with the childish lens, there were occasional moments of great acting from our fresh faced actors.

Cons: One major con for me is the length of time the producers chose to focus on the high school portion of their lives. I had no qualms with the time period. I was more annoyed that our protagonists had to remain in that simple and childish mindset for nearly 17 episodes. I got way too bored. I hoped that with the group moving on to college that things will start to pick up in drama land. It does a bit but not in the way that I expected. I was not expecting that college and career life meant spending a LOT of time with Xiao Xi and Jiang Chen while everyone else just falls into background noise.

Moving on to our love duo of Xiao Xi and Jiang Chen. I am sorry. I just didn't buy it. Jiang Chen spent a lot of time in the first few episodes closing doors in Xiao Xi's face, looking annoyed that she's around and overall just looking like he was just not into her. Even when he ends up falling in love with her, I just did not see it in Yi Tian's face. His face is like an emotional void. It might be his character but Yi Tian was a man of few expressions so who knew what emotion he was really trying to portray in that scene. Maybe it was supposed to be love but it came across as bleh...?

Also for heaven sake can this drama be any harsher to Wu Bo Song? He spends the entire time playing 5th wheel while also selflessly being the sweetest human being alive to Xiao Xi. I don't have second lead syndrome. I have "can my boy catch a break" syndrome. That poor pitiful fool.

Anyway, I did find the height difference between Shen Yue and Hu Yi Tian to be quite adorable. Definitely a plus for all of the cute koala hugging moments.

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I finally watched it. I finally had time to watch Reply 1988, the third installment of the Reply series. Considering how much I loved Reply 1997, I had pretty high expectations about Reply 1988 and thankfully, I was not disappointed. Reply 1988 was a much longer, more thoroughly fleshed story than its' 1997 counterpart. Therefore, it may take a bit more patience and time to go through the story. It is also not nearly as straight forward as 1997. For example, the husband of our main female lead does not get revealed until the pan-ultimate episode. There was a lot of controversy online about the revelation of the husband, which goes to show that it was not as straightforward as fans of this franchise may be used to.

Ultimately, I had little complaints about the ending of the show. I found the show to be very well written. All of the characters were thoroughly fleshed out with personalities, ambitions and weaknesses. I really enjoyed how much Reply 1988 focused on all of the families of the friends. It was not just main male and main female lead and their families, it was about the neighborhood and the people who lived in that neighborhood. With all of the focus on the group and location, it really brought together the feelings of nostalgia and youth that this franchise is all about. I was born in 1988, in a western country so there really was nothing about this story that I was able to immediately relate to yet, I was able to relate to the feelings of youth. It was really well done throughout this show. It goes to show that everyone, no matter what age, can relate to these characters.

Reply 1988 was a hit in more ways than one. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

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I first watched Autumn Concerto ten years ago. I remembered liking it a lot. Ten years later, I re-watched it with fresh eyes and a new outlook on life. I love it more today than I did back then. There are a few things that Autumn Concerto did really well, despite using all the cliche drama tropes in the book...

1. Thoughtful dialogue: You actually wanted to sit through long monologues and watch the tension unfold between two characters. You actually did not want to throw a chair at the screen. You might even shed a tear. It was well done.

2. Addicting story line: This is a highly addicting, binge worthy show. My husband was able to sit and binge watch this show with me over a weekend.

4. Good use of flashbacks: Flashbacks usually suck in most dramas. In this case, the realistic style of the flashbacks (short bursts of selected scenes) aided in the tension. It made the scenes better.

I do have to criticize the overuse of the same soundtrack throughout. I can still hear it in my sleep.

Overall, this is a highly addictive, well written, romantic drama that takes you on a journey and leaves you feeling changed afterwards. There aren't many shows out there that can do this so don't hesitate and watch now.

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