Mmcheh
There were many very sweet moments in the drama between Son Ye Jin and Hyun Bin, especially when they keep reminding each other that they would eventually be separated. The 4 subordinates of HB created many light hearted moments in the drama. SYJ is so pretty in the drama, regardless of the clothes she was in. All so classy and graceful.
I am touched by the writer's perspective. They tried to show us the human side of North Koreans. I appreciated seeing things from this point of view.
The scenes in Switzerland were gorgeous.
What I dislike,
1. really weak OST. I don't understand how come they couldn't put in more effort on the OST. I can barely remember any songs from this drama.
2. The drama lacked those heart breaking moments that wld make you remember the drama. For example, I can totally remember those heart breaking scenes in Goblin 1 year after watching it, but I can hardly think of any heart breaking moments from CLOY.
I kinda don't get the hype and rating for this drama. It's not that it's not good, but I don't think it is good enough to get this kind of hype.
Just passable for me, I guess.
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This review may contain spoilers
15 episodes packed with details that will get you hooked from the get go
This drama is so worth my time. Every minute of it is filled with details to solve the mystery. Every detail is so well executed.Bai Jing Ting has a few cute camera moments but I will skip commenting on the main characters and zoom directly to the supporting casts.
Goodness, the supporting casts of this drama is just world class. So real and believable in every aspect.
I will start with the lady holding the pot. Wow... Her acting skill is unbelievable. I don't know how she does it so well to portray someone who is empty and soulless. It's incredible that she can look so determined and hopeless at the same time. I took extra effort to look at her hands and feet and realise that she actually looks very good as an actress of her age. Her features were very fine. Her performance was just crazy.
The man with the luggage bag. I believed 100% of whatever this man is portraying. His wrinkles, skin tone, facial lines demonstrated the hardship he had gone through. The way he searched his luggage to find the item for the main FL and when he passed it to her... I am completely sold on who he said he is.
The blogger. He is so cute! It's incredible how direct and straight forward he could be when he talks and yet no one was angry with him filming them all the time.
The old grandma with medicine bag. She is another cute character. Really look like any other grandma we would see on public bus.
Xiao Long and his mum are so believable as well. That weary look on her face. His disappointment with himself and the helplessness were all portrayed well.
Old Zhang policeman. Nothing to say. He is a seasoned actor. He can sell any character he plays.
Jiang policeman. He did a very good job as well playing the young hot headed policeman. I am sold by his performance as well.
All in all, I think why I find this drama so good is because they developed the story behind every passenger well. It would have been so boring if it was only focused on the infinity loop that the ML and FL are experiencing. Luckily, this is not one of those drama.
Very happy that this drama doesn't waste our time by dragging it long. Every sequence that took place had a reason and it was not for nothing.
I would definitely rewatch it again just to catch more details that I could have missed.
Highly recommended it everyone.
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A strange unsettling feeling may wade in you after watching The Wolf.
Scripts and scenes from this drama appeared to be overboard as the scriptwriters tried to make it look realistic. Throughout the drama, except for the last few episodes, I felt most episodes heavy to watch . Words and scene were so harsh on the main female character, Ma Zhai Xing. Sometimes, when Bo Wang was saying things to hurt her, the conversations were so unbearable that I had to fast-forward the scenes to escape all the harsh words MZX had to go through. I find this kind of scenes very unsettling , edgy and not refined.
Costume was an overkill. The designer tried too hard and tried too many new things. Bo Wang looked heavy in some of his clothing, which made him look awkward. Xiao Zhan also looked weird in his clothing after he became the prince. It's too shiny. Overall costume was weird and didn't fit well on most of the main leads.
The cinematography of this drama is just weird. They tried so many new angles and compositions, resulting some of the martial art scenes to look completely ridiculous. There wasn't a need for a good martial art choreographer in this set. The cameramen virtually stole the job of the choreographer. There was also a lack of attention to detail, they simply caught a Tom, Dick or Harry to be the stuntwoman Ma Jing (MZX's sidekick) without caring if the stuntwoman had the same body shape as Ma Jing.
Darren Wang's performance in this drama was not on the dot. Very often I can't really guess the next moment of the drama because I couldn't read the expression of Darren correctly. Watching a good drama is alot about anticipating what will happen next. As audience, we would be satisfied if the actor could bring us into the story by setting a mood as to what would happen next. This didn't happen all the time with Darren in this drama. I felt that he was either too stiff or too jubilant. It was as if he couldn't own his character. On the contrary, Li Qin and Xiao Zhan did better job in expressing themselves and owning their characters. Many smaller details of this drama also didn't jive well, a lot of holes. The editing was not well done but I guess this wasn't important compared to the bigger problems above.
The only thing that I liked about this drama is the OST. I like most of the songs as they are contemporary and modern. It takes away some of the negativity of this drama.
I won't rewatch this drama mainly because I find it too heavy.
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I think we can all learn many things in life by watching this drama. It's mature, considerate, well played by all the actors and actresses. It's not overly done, not cheesy, not stupid, not a waste of our time watching this. Most of us see ourselves in many of the characters in this drama. I love dramas where they show us scenery of a city and in this drama, I saw a beautiful side of Shanghai's everyday life.
One of the best cast characters in this drama - the mother of Luo Zijun - Xu Di as Xue Zhenzhu. Goodness, she played this character really well. I just cannot imagine this drama without her. On her, we can all see how fashionable older Shanghainese people are. Her clothes are so bright! On her, we can see all the good and bad of everyday Shanghainese in her. An absolute gem!
The other character that I find absolutely brilliant is Lei Jiayin as Chen Junsheng. Wow, there aren't so many supporting actors who can show that kind of expressions he did, and he did it mostly without talking, just with his facial expression and his eyes, he showed how helpless and speechless CJS is in many scene because he is sandwiched between so many responsibilities he is carrying.
Don't waste your time reading. Watch the drama now!
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What a waste of time!
I really don't know what were the scriptwriters doing when they were writing drama. It's so horribly written, so boring, so banal, there weren't any plot in this drama that have not already appeared in another drama.Despite all the investment they made in the costume and the set, the editing team managed to make this drama look cheapskate by forcing irrelevant scenes (that show off palace dresses/embroidery of the Ming dynasty) into the drama. I am not saying the dresses or the embroidery weren't pretty. They looked nice. But it shouldn't be forced into our views with specific scenes. It's such an unelegant way to present pretty things, like hey-look-we-splurged-so-much-money-on-costume-but-couldn't-pay-more-for-decent-scriptwriting.
The only thing which I found was OK was probably the efforts they made in showing us so many different dishes.
I started watching this drama because of XuKai. He is able to make half the women population drool. But even with his dashing look, I can't bring myself to finish this senseless drama.
Will be dropping it.
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Best xianxia in 2020
This is the best Xianxia drama I have watched in 2020. Highly recommended if you only want to watch 5 wuxia/xianxia drama in 2020. To me, this drama is of the same level as Ten Miles Peach Blossom and Love and Destiny. Will definitely bring you on an emotional roller-coaster ride.The story developed well and the rhythm is great. Not too fast or draggy. The director spent a lot of time to make sure every dot of the story is well connected and that the audience can follow the development. I have watched too many dramas where dots are not well connected and audiences are left with wide gapping holes. Love and Redemption is definitely one of the better dramas where a lot of efforts on logic and rationale are made to avoid audience losing track of the plot.
The casting director did really good job in casting the characters. I love xianxia drama that gives a very contemporary and modern look. All of the good and bad characters in this drama look really gorgeous. Even the small and insignificant actors/actresses look really good on screen. They didn't just find any Tom, Hick or Harry. The casting team spent a lot of time to make sure the ppl who got their roles look amazing on screen, making this drama really pleasant to watch. The funny thing about this drama, both the lead actor, Cheng Yi and lead actress, Crystal Yuan, aren't the prettiest in the drama. I especially like the persons who played Hao Chen and Chu Ling Long, really good looking, even more than the main leads.
This is the first time I am seeing Cheng Yi and Crystal together. They look nice onscreen. It's rare when you find both main leads aren't the best looking persons in the drama hence they don't have to carry the baggage of 'idol' when they perform. As audience, you get to enjoy their pure acting talent and be taken away by emotions that the script writers have scripted. This is a nice feeling as an audience, to feel the high and low of the story without having to worry that about the pretty face of your idol.
The martial arts choreography is AMAZING. The person who taught them the martial art movements really deserves a prize coz all the martial arts movements in this drama is so swift, crisp and beautiful. We can hardly see any flaws or awkward movements and there were a lot of fighting scenes, all looked so perfect.
The funniest character in this drama goes to Teng Se, zhuan ji's pet. He is hilarious ?. I won't mind having a pet like him as well.
After finishing the drama, I watched it twice again because I find the story line so beautiful.
The set is beautiful, with a lot of details, the production team spent effort in picking outdoor scenes, many scenes look really nice and pleasant to the eyes. The studio set looks great too. I especially like Shao Yang's Mansion, ie, Zhuan Ji's house. Every room, garden, hall look so crisp and comfy. Not at all cheesy or cheapskate.
The costume was OK, just nice for this drama. Ost was good too. Songs were contemporary. I am a big fan of Li Qi and he sang one of the sweetest secondary songs so I am quite happy. The CGI in this drama was a bit 'oppfff' but I guess it didn't matter too much coz the characters looked really good.
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The best "highschool" drama in recent years from C-land
This drama is so amazing that I think I am not exaggerating when I say viewers won't be able stop watching this drama even when it ended. We would go back and re-watch the episodes (many) many times until we can find peace with our emotions.If you have watched the K-drama "Extraordinary You" or the Taiwanese drama "Someday Oneday" and liked these very much, then "Shining on One Thing" is the drama for you.
The story depicted the adventures of the FL (Lin Bei Xing) whom somehow traveled back in time (or perhaps traveled to parallel world) when she deleted sms messages on her old highschool mobile phone. These time traveling experiences made her realised that there was someone who was madly in love with her since she was a little girl, yet she has never set an eye on this boy (our ML) named Zhang Wan Sen.
Very often, I find myself not able to follow highschool dramas because I find them a bit childish but this drama absolutely stands out. It is filled with bitter sweet moments that capture those youthful years in highschool (the anxiety that everyone goes thru taking the pre-u exams , the uncertainty they feel when they have to leave highschool, the excitement of the summer before leaving for university and those moments when we all fall in love for the first time as young adults)
The script writing is really good, despite a few melodramatic moments which can be too coincidental or dramatic, I find the story acceptable to logical sense. The pacing of every episode is good, it doesn't drag too long on one issue.
The casting of both the ML and FL were very well done. They played their characters so well. It was such an amazing experience watching the FL and ML playing highschool kids who looked absolutely convincing despite in reality, the FL is already 30 yo and the ML 25 yo respectively. Most of the supporting roles were really good too. Convincing for most parts.
The OST was good. I especially liked the song "Goodbye" sang by Ding Dang. There were a lot of bitter sweet moments in this drama that teared me up because of OST.
I really don't have much complaints about this drama except the ending. I really wished it could have been more conclusive. I am guessing that's why they are doing a movie to give all of us a closure. I look forward to this movie.
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I lost count of the times Wan Peng (Chai Xiao Qi) laid her hands or forehead on his chest. Man I wanna do the same, lol! Obviously Bie is so handsome here, but I think Wan Peng is not too bad too. She is at least very cute, though not irreplaceable.
The scenes were scouted in pretty places too. Many buildings, gardens and houses which are cute pretty. The tortoise is funny . Though the CGI not very well, but it's ok, This isn't some kind of high budget drama, so let's keep our expectation reasonable.
OST is so so only, but I remember I went back to rewatch it a few times coz some of the scenes were just too hilarious and cute.
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Review at 18 episodes
If Xianxia drama is your kind of thing, then this drama is worth watching.It's incredible how Cheng Yi acting skill has improved since Love and Redemption. He is way more expressive in this drama, a lot of micro expressions on his face, his profile (side face) is just so good looking and there are rarely scenes where cameras caught him ugly. This drama really portrayed the best sides of Cheng Yi.
Yang Zi on the other hand looks very cute in this kind of drama. Though I find it a bit boring that she is once again playing FL of this kind of character/role, her acting skill remains consistently good. When you need her to be funny, she is funny, when you need her to be cute, she is cute, when you need her to cry her heart out wrenchingly, she delivers it perfectly. There is little that you can complain on how she understands the character.
The pace of this drama is great, not draggy and your eyes will definitely be pleased with the amount of time Cheng Yi and Yang Zi occupy the screen. They have a lot of screen time in this drama. Other supporting actors and actresses almost didn't matter much. Viewers like me are just happy watching the good looking FL and ML ?
The OST is iffy. Not sure it's the best OST for Xianxia genre. The only song that pops out is the one sang by Zhang Lei. What a heart wrenching one.
Will update this review again once the drama is finished.
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I gave up after 30 episodes, despite the fact that I love Hu YiTian's face. I started watching this drama because I like Hu Yi Tian but the rhythm in is drama is just too slow. Too many unnecessary conversations and scenes. It's a pleasant surprise for someone of my age to see Gallen Lo Kar Leung again on TV. Reminds me of the good old times of HK TVB series. Vicky Liang is very pretty. She carried the character well.
Costumes and scenes were decent. Story plot was ok.
I don't think I will continue or rewatch and it's a shame.
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The OST is simply amazing, almost as good as The Goblin. Two of the songs which I really liked are Yang Da Il's Only you and Heize's "Can You See My Heart(내 맘을 볼수 있나요)" . Many of the songs gave the drama very dreamy feel, further reminding the viewers that this is just a drama and can never happen in real life, hence, there is no need to keep our logic and rational, just go with the flow of the drama.
I love the main actress, Lee Ji-eun (as Jang Man-wol). She is so pretty in this drama! Of course Yeo Jin-goo ( Koo Chan-sung) is quite cute too, but I think Ji-eun kind of steals the spot light here. Her character is much more difficult to play as it spreads over several hundred years. In the fighting / combating scenes, she was quite good.
The plot is quite interesting , many strange things, not conventional and quite entertaining.
Would recommend to watch .
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This review may contain spoilers
How to NOT love a drama like this ?
One must not watch this drama thinking that it's just another drama revolving around an autistic lawyer or autism. This drama is so much more than that.Let me first acknowledge that I do find this drama overly romanticize autism by featuring a highly functioning autistic person as the female lead. We know this is far from the truth in real life. But let me just share with you why this drama is so great in our times.
I love how this drama made me reflect about very difficult issues in our society today.
1. The case where the female client's wedding dress slipped from her body during the wedding ceremony . It turned out that she is a lesbian who didn't want to marry her husband because she already has a longtime partner. She is forced to marry into a chaebol family because her father said so. Haven't we all heard stories like this in our life? Isn't it amazing to see this story in a drama that is so mainstream?
2. The judge who kept questioning other's family root. It incredibly patriarchal to have a male judge asking you about your family roots to check out which clan/ tribe/ lineage you are from. Yet, this is so common in our times. In our life, we often meet ppl who wants to know what family we come from so that they can decide if we are worth their time or not. This has become so common in our life that dramas don't even bother to talk about it anymore. It's that banal. Hence, I am so appreciative of the efforts the script writers to put small details like this so that we can reflect on how patriarchal our society has become.
3. Nepotism. Allegedly, WYW got her job at Hanbada be cause her father knew the CEO of Hanbada, Madam Han. She is accused of joining the company using "connections". Again, I am speechless at how the script writers made this into an issue. In our times, isn't this very common? We don't think about ppl like Attorney Kwon who has to work so hard to get into a lawyer firm like Hanbada (sometimes, they don't even get in because they don't have connections). The script writers really want us to think about the nepotism we see on a daily basis.
4. The "unindependence" of autistic person. This is probably one of the issue I spent a lot of time reflecting on. Very often, as members of the society, we hope that autistic people can be independent, ie have a job, be with the people they love, be fulfilled, not hidden from society. Unfortunately, we can see from one of the episodes, autistic people can hardly be independent because we don't allow them to be. Parents/ doctors/ organisations are so protective of autistic person that they don't have the right to say what they want and don't have the right to say what's best for them. It's like their feelings don't count because they are not able to articulate it. It's so difficult to find a balance between wanting to protect them and robbing them of their rights to love/ to do what they want . It's amazing that we are able to see this in this drama.
5. The position of women in society and family. Literary , women are asked to leave the job to protect their husband's ricebowl or face. It's so straightforward here. I am sure it's happening everyday in our life but no one wants to feature this in their drama coz it's not nice to be letting the worm out of the can like this. Well, it's here.
6. Social mobility. We see it in Attorney Kwon ; he is trapped and can't move upwards. Maybe that's why he hated WYW. No matter how brilliant you are, the only way to move up social mobility is probably to marry up.
How to NOT love a drama like this when the script writers give us an opportunity to reflect on so many issues in our society?
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Absolutely brilliant OST! Despite all the negative points on this drama, I think what made me persisted to the end was the OST. The other song which is brilliant is 네 옆에 있을게 (I Will Be By Your Side) by 멜로망스 (MeloMance). The OST also made me go back to rewatch this drama again despite its shortcomings.
The plot was ok, rhythm is ok too.
The character I liked most in this drama is Cha Seung-won as Woo Ma-wang. He made this whole drama so hilarious with his comical expressions. I cannot think of anyone else that could replace him in this character.
The character I dislike the most in this drama is Oh Yeon-seo as Jin Seon-mi. Haiz.. .. so forgettable, so replaceable. Some of her expressions were just too cake-ky, like a thick layer of buttercream on a cake.
Shortcomings - I think some scenes were not well edited, but honestly, I completely missed it. Didn't even notice the shortcomings until I read it online.
If you like to watch romance fantasy that defies logic, this is a good one. Just surrender yourself to the story line.
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I love that some parts of this drama were done in English, helps to relate. It's incredible what diversity does to a drama. By just adding an additional language in this drama, the feel completely change. The story line is good. I wouldn't bear to rewatch the last few episodes. It's just too heartbreaking.
I love how this story portrays women. Many girls would be inspired after watching. It's unfortunate that I feel Kim Tae-ri (as Go Ae-shin) didn't really shine in this drama, she didn't own the character , meaning if she were to be replaced, I don't think many wld noticed. The OST is so so only. I can't recall much since it has been over a year since I watched this.
a must watch if you like ancient times winter Korea.
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I think this drama helps easing the taboo of dating a much older woman. It questions our status quo of today's world where it is totally ok for men to date girls who are 10 years younger, but when it comes to women doing the same with men 10 years younger , it becomes the fault of the women.
The two protagonists did well in bringing out this drame. Would definitely recommend this drama.
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