Ranking Dramas I Watched In 2024

In my list of: 'The GOAT Dramas That Will Stay With Me Forever'

Without spoiling anything, one of the best Korean dramas ever. Full on emotional rollercoster. A true slice of life. Severely underrated. I hope more people watch this gem instead of trashy populars.  The score here angers me, but at least it's rightfully a 9.0 on douban. That says a lot since it is too hard to reach even 8.0 on douban. 

Strongly and highly recommended. 

In my list of: 'The GOAT Dramas That Will Stay With Me Forever'

This short and low budget drama happens to be the highest rated period drama on douban (8.6). People called it a dark horse. Now that I watched it, I realized why. Because this drama is so well done! The budget was smartly used and the makers of the show truly cared about the story. This is a passion project which is remake of a series of FMV an user on BiliBili made taking Liu Yi Fei & Zhu Yi Long as main leads. This drama exists all thanks to that user, so I want to appreciate them for it. 

A fun fact: you can watch this show in reverse order too, from ep 14 to ep 1. However, I'd say that you watch it in it's intended order first and then rewatch it in reverse.

The cinematography was amazing, the production quality was amazing, the lighting was amazing, the acting was amazing, the music was amazing, & the story was amazing too. Everything in this was amazing. The rain scene from episode 7 was so well done I could not help but rewatch it over and over again. 

I highly highly highly recommend this show. Also, after watching the show, do read this analysis. If you hadn't noticed all the details in this before, this article would make you realise how well done and attentive to details this show is: https://www.tumblr.com/dramavixen/727755290489094144/for-those-who-arent-quite-over-an-ancient-love?source=share

Although I have been watching it since 2022 and watched from 104 episode this year, I have to talk about this wonderful asadora. It was a long ride, and although there were minor parts where I felt uninterested, most of this was excellent. So excellent that at all along I have been thinking of giving it a 9.0, but as I approached towards the end, I realized that I can give it no less than a 10. I literally saw Suzume grow up from a baby to an middle aged woman. Her life journey was so beautifully portrayed in this asadora. The community in this show is one of the best I have ever seen in E.Asian dramas. I had tons of characters I fell in love with here: Akikaze sensei, Wako san (Ritsu's mom), Haru san (Suzume's mom), Yuko, Bokute, both the father's, Ryoji's aunts (the way they supported Suzume instead of Ryoji), and so many more characters. I think it will be difficult to list them all. There were tons of moments where I almost cried. This show hits you right in the feels EVERY. DAMN. TIME. 

Also, the way some people refuse to watch some shows just because it doesn't have a lot of romance is insane to me. Imagine judging a drama based on how many romance scenes it has. Explains why on MDL so many trashes have high ratings while shows like these are so low rated and less watched. If you are looking for just a mindless romance show with tons of kiss scenes, please don't watch this. However, if you want to watch a show which beautifully shows the life journey of a female character, a show that is very wholesome and full of life, please watch this. Highly recommended. 

Edit: This just made it to my list 'The GOAT Dramas That Will Stay With Me Forever'

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This is bound to go in my list 'The GOAT Dramas That Will Stay With Me Forever'

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I had watched this drama's trailer back when it was about to release and was highly interested in this drama. However, due to AvenueX's review I chose to lower it's priority. It was back when I didn't know about douban and put AvenueX's reviews in high regard. Now that I no longer agree with AvenueX's opinion on Chinese dramas, I chose to go by the highly rated reviews here and the douban rating which is great for this (7.3. Anything above 6.8 on douban I give a chance. According to douban, 7.3 is a great rating). 

And I am glad I chose to watch this. This is so good! Father daughter relationship focused plot is so my type! Those always make me cry. We barely get dramas that mainly focus on the relationship of a father and daughter in such a heartwarming way. I keep seeing people not liking the fact that the romance is less, but for me it is a plus. Not everything needs to be romance heavy, don't know when people would understand this simple fact. I especially hate it when people go to comment sections of brilliant non-romance drama just to lament about the lack of romance or undermine the show due to it not having any romance. 

The child actors are brilliant in this! Wang Sheng Di is one of the most incredible child actor out there. I just love her too much. However, Fu Bo Han as the young Ji Jiang is also stealing my heat. This child has got insane skills! He single-handedly outdid tons of handsome and popular but unskilled and bad acting oppas and geges in the E.Asian industry. I am just in awe with both these kids. Young Pei Zhi has just arrived, and I am sure he will impress me as well. This drama is gold do far.

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Edit: Si Teng revival scene is now officially one of my favorite drama scenes ever!!! That was so epic and magical I just fell too hard for her. This is THE BEST female lead entry ever. The cinematography, the vfx, the bgm, the make up, the costume, the everything!!! So perfect!!

Ok so first things first, SI TENG 小姐, YOU HAVE MY HEART!!!! I mean, how can she look so fabulous? I am having a stroke every time she appears on the screen due to how otherworldly beautiful she looks. At this rate, I will have a heart failure. As a bisexual, my eyes are feeling blessed. This woman right here is the kind of female leads I am dying to see more often. Si Teng gives me so much satisfaction with her attitude and the mysterious aura she radiates, all perfectly portrayed by Jing Tian and excellently captured by Li Mu Ge, the director who never fails to capture the natural beauty of a woman. 

Coming to the direction and production, the cinematography and the production quality is top notch. Like it's too good. Rarely we have dramas that capture the outdoor sceneries this well. The sound design is also too good. I can not only see the nature, but hear it! And the lighting is so well done, I can see people on screen as 3D humans. The entire topology of the actors faces is well perceived unlike a lot of shows where the lighting is so poor you can't even make out the features of the actor's faces. The BGM is soo good that it elevates the scenes, especially that mysterious music that is played for Si Teng. The opening sequence is really really well designed and as a graphic designer and animator, I was impressed. 

Overall a highly positive impression. 

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(first impression coming soon)

One of the best wuxia shows with mystery, investigation, & action being the key themes. This also had a few side murder mystery cases which were highly well done. They leave enough clues for the viewers so that the viewers can solve the mystery alongside JBZ. I really loved that aspect of this show. I went back several times to study clues in detail and find out the killers before JBZ's revelations. Also, the main mystery was well done too. They provide clues for the viewer to guess it before it is revealed, and if you pay enough attention from episode 1 itself they give you clues. 

Another thing to love here was how subtly feminist it was. All females were strong and smart. I couldn't find a single weak female character in this, including even smallest of supporting roles. FL was a lethal and powerful assassin, SFL(paired with SML) was a smart femme fatale, and I don't want to give spoilers by revealing other female characters, as many appear later into the show. 

Also, the bromance was amazing. JBZ & ZWH were like soul mates. YXX & SMD were also very interesting. 

I would highly recommend you guys to watch this show. Better than many overrated shows on MDL. This should have the same rating as 'Reset' here on MDL according to me, as it was as interesting, detailed, intriguing, and well done as Reset. 

Amazing crime drama. One of the best. 11/10 based on my enjoyment and the emotional impact. 9.5/10 when looked at logically. Logically there were a few unanswered questions(related to very minor things tho) and mistakes seen towards the end. However, the emotional impact and enjoyment were sky high. This was addictive and very creative. I enjoyed it as much as 'Reset'. 

Also, female characters are very well written here. I can see why 'Delicious Romance' is so well loved. Also, it is a feminist show. I just love it when shows depict feminism without being preachy about it. This is one such show.

Despite the few faults, I couldn't bring myself to rate it any lower than 10. I highly recommend this mystery, thriller, and crime drama.

This was really good. As good as I would expect from this writer and director duo. Lee Woo Jung & Shin Won Ho really make the best slice of life Korean dramas that stay away from all the bad tropes that are typically present in some of the other youth, high school/university life, & slice of life (or pretend slice of life) Korean dramas. I usually prefer China, Japan & Taiwan for slice of life dramas, but there are very few trustable writers & directors who have given us some of the most well made Korean slice of life dramas out there. They are few & rare, but as long as they exist I'll watch them all in spite of my criticism for majority of Korean dramas. These kinds of Korean dramas make sure I don't fully dislike the Korean drama industry. 

The friendship and the family relationships won my heart. There were several moments where I got emotional due to scenes highlighting the familial and friendship bonds. I love how natural and real it was. The characters were so well written, you can feel they are growing up as time passes. They go through realistic situations, they face realistic obstacles, they realistically work on overcoming these obstacles, they take realistic decisions. So much realism in this.

I honestly don't get people when they say that this is not as good as the other 2 reply series. If anything, this improved on the things that seemed not so well done in the previous series. Yes 1997 got a higher rating from me, but that was because of it's impact on me back when I watched it. However, I'll say that this has certainly improved on many things that were not so great about 1997. I feel that the romance here was more mature than that of 1997. I loved both the guys and did not have any issue with the husband reveal. This was actually the first time I couldn't choose between 2 of them because both of them were nice guys. 

On a side note, this must be the first drama that shows how busy doctors are.  

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Although this one is not as good as expected from cinematography and CGI's point of view, the story is pulling. I never thought I would be interested in this kind of a drama or like this kind of a FL, but Yang Zi (also Deng Lun) is making it worth it. I wasn't so sure if I would have loved her as a childish character, but she has pulled off Jin Mi so well. She has given some of the most funny and interesting expressions here. I know what awaits ahead, and I am not a fan of that kind of a plot; but this drama could be an exception with how addictive it is.

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So far a positive impression. I like a lot of things from this show. Let me use bullet points to list them all:

• Great production quality and cinematography for a low budget drama: Despite being low budget, they made the best use of their resources. In the end, the overall production quality including the set design, lighting, cinematography, camera angles, costume design and color grading look wayyyy better than the supposedly higher budget dramas like Ashes of Love. I love that they added their own style to the show by using neon/fluorescent theme. According to an MDL comment that I am in full agreement with, the heavy use of purple, neon, and red lighting, color choices, and color grading point to the main theme of the show, which is killing and poison.
• Li Yi Tong: I just love LYT as an actress. She is such an amazing actress who is terribly underrated. 
• Green Flag ML: I would use a quote said by ML to highlight his level of respect for FL. "If she needs me, I'll protect her. If she wants to fly, I'll lend her a hand. I've never once wanted to restrain her. She doesn't belong to me or you, she only belongs to herself." - ml to the second ml. 
• Matriarchal assassin organization: One thing I love about Chinese dramas is the amount of period dramas that contain a physically strong as well as a smart FL. What I love even more is that most of these dramas don't give off 'pick me' as in apart from FL, other female characters are also depicted as either smart or strong. This drama is the same. So many powerful female characters that are competent and are not weak-minded.  

I think this is the best BL I have seen till date. Their chemistry was electrifying. Short, sweet, to the point, & highly romantic. Beautiful.

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I went in with very neutral expectations. I did not even have this drama in my list, but certain reviews led me to give this one a shot. After watching the first few episodes, I am really impressed. Although the production quality, cinematography and CGI are not as good as that of Rattan, it's not glaringly bad and some scenes still look beautiful. However, it's the plot that matters for me first. And in that aspect, it is really doing a great job. The first side story was really good. I actually did not expect it to turn out like that. 

Also the comedy. The comedy here fits my humor. I laughed so much while watching this. Female lead might appear childish and weak at first, but that is just an illusion. Really loving the character dynamics too. Will update this impression as I watch more episodes.

W is such a creative drama that explores so many things that comes to an imaginative person's mind when they think of a situation like that of the drama. It explored so many things that similar dramas made after this one had not dared to explore. The twists got me EVERY SINGLE TIME! It is so hard for me to get hooked with a drama, usually I don't even finish a whole episode before taking a break. But this one has my full interest, so much that I had to force myself to stop binging. I found the romance good, but I felt that they could have been given more sweet scenes. 2nd half got quite messy and we barely got happy moments. However, I still enjoyed it and will definitely come back to rewatch the romantic scenes and my favorite twists. 

Just like W, MOTA was a very creative drama full of twist and turns. I have to say: Song Jae Jung is an amazing screenwriter. Although I do admit that she is not the best as she messes up the show towards the end and we also come across plot holes, but the enjoyment that I get from the good things in her writing far exceed the flaws in them. I look forward to watching 'Nine: Nine Times Time Travel', 'Queen In Hyeon's Man', & 'Yumi's Cells'(it seems different from her usual scripts). 

As for the drama, I loved the thriller part the most. Romance, not so much. W had better romance compared to this. Also, as others might've pointed out, I wish that FL also contributed more towards the gaming story. Although I don't dislike her like others, she isn't a favorite. Also, this had way less mess in second half than W, and I am happy about that. But still, I felt that the last 2 episodes could have been done better. I was left with many questions at the end and recognized a few plot holes as well. 

I would still recommend this show as I feel it deserved higher ratings, maybe 8.4. It was a very engaging show. 

One thing I love about China is it does period dramas the best. I have watched Korean rom-com historicals before, and was only able to finish one with ton lots of fast-forwarding. All of them had 3 main flaws: the boring political part overpowering the comedy, had too much angst for a comedy, or had the weakest FL I had ever seen that annoyed me to the core *looks at Hwarang, LITM, &  TTON*. 

This was my 2nd Chinese rom-com period drama, 1st being The Killer is Also Romantic(which I absolutely LOVED), and I must say, Chinese always understand the assignment. Although there were moments where we had misunderstandings, and 'pushing you away for your own good' part (first time saw a FL doing that tho, truly a reversal show) that resulted in me giving an 8 instead of 9 as I had planned; but it still remained a comedy filled show with a FL that remains constant in her personality, and not turning weak after being strong for 2 or 3 episodes *looks at TTON & LITM*. There are tons of well done comedy scenes here, and none of them use cheap comedy tricks. 

The comedy and the FL was the primary highlight of the show for me. I dare anyone say ZLS can't act well since she is the one that made me love this show so much. I enjoyed DYX's acting as well and he did a great job here. The cute moments were really cute and not cringy, and their playful bantering was enjoyable. ZLS was such a drama queen in this one. Her comedic timing is perfect. Also, I loved ML's parents. Her mother was another highlight of the show for me. 

Huayuan was a matriarchal city and it truly felt like one. There were so many subtle details with how men & women behave, even in background that it truly feels like a female dominating society. The production was not high budget, but they used their budget well and managed to create a show which is better than many high budget productions. I would recommend people to watch this drama as it is one of a kind show.

'Zhang Gong Zhu Zai Shang' couple paired again, and just like ZGZZS they had amazing chemistry. Did well for their budget.

Nice short drama with amazing lead chemistry. They did well for the budget and time they had.

A good dark thriller. The storytelling is very different here and reminds me a bit of Rusty Lake's Cube Escape game series. I enjoyed my time watching this

It was a very entertaining ride. Sure the logic was all over the place and stupid, haywire things kept happening, but if you put your logic away and watch it just for entertainment, you would enjoy this a lot. To me, if a show is not very entertaining then I'll point out all sorts of mistakes in frustration and rant about every inaccuracy, but if it is capable of entertaining me well, then I'll let even huge mistakes, plot holes, and logic flaws slide. This right over here is entertaining enough for me to ignore otherwise rant worthy things.  

• This has got amazing action scenes. 
• I love the BGMs and the OSTs in this. 
• CYJ is an interesting villainess. I don't support CYJ, but I love her as a villain. She is a layered villain. 
• I don't hate Anna like the others. She is the way she is due to the kind of life she had lived. It wouldn't make sense for such a woman to be a badass babe. 
• I like the lead romance too. 
• This show has a slow start, and for the first 2 episodes you might feel bored like I did, but trust me it gets better. Although illogical, this gets very entertaining from episode 3 onwards. 
• Also, this is one of those shows that is not that interesting at the start, but it gets better in the middle and pulls you in towards the end. The last 3 episodes were very happening and I was fully engaged. I did not skip or fast-forward like I usually do to many average dramas at the ending episodes.

All in all, I would recommend this show for those who are in search of a brainless entertainment which involves action and romance. 

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I was a bit scared of watching a healing Korean drama again after the dumpster fire that was 'Come And Hug Me', but I wanted to desperately watch a Shin Hye Sun drama. I decided to go with this as it was her first leading role drama which led to the building of her reputation as a versatile actress. The concept of this drama looked way more interesting than Come and Hug Me, so I just crossed my fingers and went for it. Result?

Just saw the 1st episode and judging solely on the basis of that episode, it is really going to be way lot better than CAHM. The ML actually has a personality and the actor is not stone faced at all. His character is quite eccentric, and eccentric characters are love. I lost my shit and almost spit my coffee when he suddenly whipped that measuring tape out and started measuring random stuff at the airport. I already love his character. 

As for the FL, I trusted that Shin Hye Sun will definitely do well in this role. True to my thinking, she is playing the character of a mentally 17 year old but biologically a 30 year old woman quite well. Although it is not Ko Chia Yen's level acting that she showcased in SOOD (in SHS's defense, KCY is way too hard for many brilliant actresses to beat), but way better than 49 Days's actress.  

Hoping to love this one. Please don't turn out to be like Come and Hug Me. It'll hurt to give this a low rating or drop it.

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Good Things:

•  The acting of both main leads is good. Kim Ji Won is really charming. 
• I can feel that the leads have chemistry, something that I find missing in a lot of Korean dramas.

Bad/Okay Things

• The writer is highly misogynist. Two of the supporting female characters in this show are depicted as exceptionally beautiful, having great fashion sense, talented, rich, and (in case of Hye Ran) incredibly successful. Yet, these 2 women are ready to stoop to the lowest levels just so that they can get the man they like. If possible, these 2 will leave their career too for the men. They are written to be exceptionally evil towards the girlfriends and female friends (both written as either tomboy or having 0 fashion sense) of the guy they like, to the point of one woman ruining the entire career of the other woman because the guy she likes likes her, and another woman openly telling a woman that she will be the mistress in their relationship no matter what. And these 2 men are not even the best catches ever. Even if they were, women like these 2 in real life, heck any woman has self respect. They'll move on and focus on their career. Why do kdrama writers, not just in 2016 but even in 2024 (My Demon) create such highly unrealistic and sexist female characters is beyond me. 
• I am not very interested in the second leads and their relationship. Sul Hee is too nice, almost to the point of being a doormat and Joo Man just frustrates me with his existence only. Can't see why these 2 are together even.
• This was supposed to be a friendship squad, however I only see Dong Man & Ae Ra's friendship scenes. Ae Ra & Sul Hee and Dong Man & Joo Man are there too, but too less focus on their friendship.  7 episodes in and I don't think that the four of them were properly seen all together.

I let go of my previous reservations of this show and decided to try it out. It turned out to be better than what I thought of it to be. Although it does have it's flaws, but overall it was a pleasant watch.  The actual rating would be above 7.5, but not a 8.0. I feel 7.8 is the rating I'd have given it if I could.

Things I loved:

• The cinematography. I especially enjoyed the Joseon part, the scenes with the sea, and the aquarium scene.
• Jun Ji Hyun. She is incredible in both her looks and acting. She is so classy, she looks gorgeous even if she wears clothing from trash. And her acting was too good. Only an actress like her can play Shim Chung without annoying you, and making you love her instead. 
• The comedy. I really found the comedic scenes funny.
• Those little previews at the end are not to be missed. I wished I got to see them in later half
• OST was really good. I especially loved the song 'hidden story'.
• One of the first Korean drama to show past life connection, and it did really well at it. 

Things I disliked:

• At times, ML was way too possessive for my taste. Telling her not to wear short clothes and putting a curfew on her did not sit right with me. But I must say, he was very loving and never misunderstood her.
• The inheritance and evil stepmother story. It was very old school. I was glad they kept minimal focus on it in the first half tho.

Good enough parody of all kinds of period Chinese dramas. Very creative show. It was very funny at certain parts and not so funny at few other parts. Overall, recommended this to people who have watched tons of period Chinese shows. 

This one, like most kdramas, started out really well. But after 4 to 5 episodes it started to get average-ish, and as the end approached, I started to watch it on 2x and used skip watching to quickly finish it off. This had quite the potential to be really good and meaningful, but in the end it never utilized it, resulting in it being this average and boring. Like most kdramas, it's length could have been reduced (then again, whatever the length, if a writer can't write well they'll mess it up anyways).

The thing I disliked the most was the secondary love triangle between SFL, SML & 3rdML(?). Like both the dudes were so toxic, I wished she ended up alone. Things that CJI did in the past with her really irked me. I feel that the secondary romantic line was not needed at all. It led to the complete butchering of CJI's character. I liked him before the romantic development. Kdrama writers really need to let go off wanting to write romance every chance they get too. Like it destroys a lot of dramas. One of the reasons why I love other E.Asian countries dramas more than Korea. There are a very few kdramas that are unique or add something unique to a done to death plot. In this situation, AI can write better scripts than these kdrama writers. AI would be infact more creative.

It was a good drama and I really enjoyed watching it, but from episode 19 I started to fast forward and skip. I might probably rewatch the entertaining parts of this show again someday. This was actually a good romcom that should have ended by episode 18, if note episode 16. If only the makers did not drag this show, I would have given this a 8.5/10 rating. 

This drama had all elements that annoy me in Korean shows, but I ended up enjoying it. The rude ML didn't annoy me for the first time. The screaming didn't bother me. This was messy. Very messy. However, this mess was the most entertaining mess ever. However, due to the dragging of the show to 24 episodes instead of 16, the mess became less entertaining and more annoying. After they started to date, ML started to behave in a manner I did not like much. However, I shipped PNR with him only. 

The comedy in this is what I loved the most. I laughed a lot while watching this. I also discovered that 1994 song 'Wrongful Encounter' through this. 

Started out good enough, became average in the middle and had to watch on 2x towards the end. It became boring real quick. 3 beautiful females but I only liked NJH towards the end, despite the loath worthy things she did at the beginning. FL was a little too naive and bubbly, SFL was fiery hot and her entry was cool and all, but she quickly became pathetic and made me lose interest. I found lead chemistry averagish in the beginning, but they became so boring towards the end that I skipped their slow mo scenes and even their kisses! Both of the actors have better characters in their other dramas. All in all, this was BORING.

Started off funny, however soon I lost interest. Yet another internationally popular Chinese drama whose popularity I couldn't get. The low budget did not help at all. Had the comedy being really good, the low budget itself could have been used as a comedic point, and this show seemed to do that in the first few episodes. However, politics and insertion of serious events messed it up. I had started to play it in 2x speed and fast-forwarding since episode 12. 

All in all, came here for Liang Jie since this was her breakthrough role. The only thing I love about this show is that it gave us an actress as good as Liang Jie. So glad she is getting better roles now. She deserves them. 

Dropped 12/35

Zhou Yu Tong is pretty much the only reason why I was watching this. I can understand why this show fascinated so many people when it released back then. I was one of the people who was also happy to see an overbearing female CEO for once. And Zhou Yu Tong acted her role so well. Also, her fashion here is just sooo good. ZYT was carrying this show alone. If not for her, I would have not even started watching it. 

I care next to nothing about anyone apart from her in this show. Yeah, occasionally ML says respectful things and is nice to her, which I like. But his acting and role is not really impressive. He is a surgeon with so much free time. I can let go of this while watching rom-coms because I don't care about unrealistic profession portrayals in romcoms when they serve. This one does not serve. 

And while I am not that fond of ML, he is still okay when compared to the other characters in the show. Simon guy is irritating and super unnecessary, and Cai Si Yu girl is a total turn off in the show. It was as if the show makers couldn't resist the temptation of adding a stupid, childish, poorly dressed, quirky, warm, poor, and clumsy 'everyday girl' stereotypical FL that is 'different from other girls' into the show and hence made her the SFL. Worse of it all, she is paired with the Simon guy, who is like every other idol modern drama ML: overbearing, rich, and cold. These 2 form the 2nd couple, which is too similar to the usual cheap idol dramas favourite 'Overbearing CEO & Cinderella' trope. 

Then that TPP. She was supposed to be a frenemy of FL, but why is she this screechy and annoying. Her pouting and childish speaking & childish actions are ANNOYING TO THE MAX. I think they will make her and FL friends later on, but I can't bear the journey which finally leads them there. 

Dropped 24/45

After watching more than half of it, I fail to understand how did those who rated it a 10 or 9 even enjoy this? This drama is so stupid and illogical in many parts, the plot is boring, & the production quality sucks as well.

Good Things

• A well layered and 3D female villain. To me, she was smarter than the FL.

Bad Things

• The costumes look nowhere near 1930s Shanghai or China fashion. Some of them are straight out of 2020s fashion. A huge red flag for me. More so when it occurs in Minguo dramas. All those beautiful qipaos, yet the FL was given such basic and modern day looking western clothing. 
• The production quality was sh*t. It seems like the team behind this were really bad at their job. Bad lighting, no harmony of colors within the scene, awkward and poor camera angles, and a lot more. BOC & TD were 2 Minguo dramas from 2015 & 2014 respectively, yet their quality in every aspect was top notch. So it does not get the 'it is a product of it's time' pass here.
• The plot was poorly written. I expected this to shine at least here. But no, a complete disappointment. The spies, including the supposed to be a genius FL made too many mistakes. Too many plot holes and illogical stuff happening. Do they think that the audience is stupid?
• The FL was too arrogant and over smart. Smart and genius? Where? All I saw was a woman who was repeatedly failing at her tasks due to her arrogance. LYZ is so smart, LYZ is our only hope, LYZ is the only one who can do this. I got tired listening to it again and again. If that was the standard they set for a genius spy, then they are in a serious problem. 

I have seen WAY smarter and stronger FLs in non female centric Minguo dramas. Thankful that I have a lot more and a lot better ZLY dramas to watch as I love her as an actress. I'll just forget that she ever did this.

Dropped 33/53

I actually expected this drama to be not that great plot wise, and it turned out to be true. The plot is too mediocre and fails to keep me interested (still better than that of Korean historical though). The only reason I am slogging through this is the FL. The only reason this drama was even on my list was because I LOVE Li Qin and I knew that she plays the most physically strong FL here. She single handedly carries this otherwise mediocre show. That's the Li Qin's effect on this show. That's her power. I don't know if this will end up in my dropped list or if I'll complete it, but if I do complete it, it's solely for Li Qin. Her styling here is too good. I am in awe with her styling here. Although the drama has left a bad taste in my mouth, Shen Li Ge will be the most ICONIC FL in E.Asian dramas to me.  

Other positive points include ML being a great actor who made me like his character as well. I love the chemistry he and Li Qin have in this show. The Shen family is also a favourite. Zi Jin & Shen Zhi were too good, another favourite couple of mine. The thing about this show is, the good characters (non-villains) are written well enough to keep you entertained, compensating a bit for the boring and illogical plot. The characters shine here. A lot

Now for the not so positive points, the villains are too 2D and seem evil just for the sake of it. There is no depth to them, especially the adopted sister character. She is the most irritating character that ruins the entire drama for me. Her character was given too much plot armor. For Lu Yuan & Tai Fei it is understandable, but a character with a no such noble status being able to survive for so long is just unrealistic. Also, villains are too overpowered. 

Apart from being highly mediocre, the plot was too illogical. Strategies that the characters employ are way too simple and came with too many big mistakes. 

Dropped 15/32

Edit: Dropped at ep 15. Almost halfway and it got more stupid and overdramatic. It did well in pretending to be a slice of life healing show in the first 2 to 4 episodes. Rest of it was cartoonishly childish and unrealistic as f*ck. 

Ok, so after it jumped to present the magic starts to fade away a bit for me. The teenage actors were both so good in their respective roles. However, as I am watching the adult version of both leads, they don't really give the same feeling as their teenage self. The FL still seems a bit like her teenage self, but the ML. THE MALE LEAD's ACTING IS TERRIBLE. Oh my god. I have never seen Jang Ki Yong before and this is my first show with him, but his acting leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

People might say that it is what his character is like, but I would counter that point by asking: "then what about the teenage actor for the ML? How did he portray the same character a 1000 times better?" He acted the personality of his character so well. He also played a nice, calm, and reclusive character so well. And whenever he had adoration for FL, you can feel it through his expressions. 

JKY however is so bad at portraying the character that his nice and righteous self appears to be so caricature like. He just appears to repeat all the righteous lines with no emotions, making him look like some sort of a robot. He speaks all the lines with a blank expression on his face, and all the actions that he does gives off 'I am the ML'. 

Also, the reporters. Damn the reporters. Is life so makjang-ish in Korea? Because that is what it felt like from what I saw. This is supposed to be a healing and realistic show. Give me the harsh reality, not over dramatized reality.  Whenever any reporter appears on screen, it feels like the genre is suddenly switched to makjang. 

Dropped 11/24

Edit: I thought I would be able to watch this for the sake of nostalgic vibes if I ignored all the irritating elements, but the ML is such an a** I can't with him. He is always an a** with her and never talks properly with FL, often insulting her. I bare with it. But when he f*cking CHEATED ON HER and showed no remorse, even getting angry at her for asking about it from him when she got to know about his cheating scandal was it for me. The audacity of this a**hole. I wanted to BURN HIM ALIVE. I can't with older kdramas, I really can't. Even if the acting of both leads was way better in this than that trash Playful Kiss, I can't. Why are old kdramas SO BAD? Every other E.Asian country still has better old dramas that have aged like fine wine, but Korea oh Korea, you've disappointed me SEVERAL TIMES! Outrageous. I will think twice before watching old kdramas now. Oh My God. 

Also, older kdramas and their obsession with showing SFLs that are very career oriented and wouldn't let a man get in between her dreams, only for her to turn out a pathetic b*tch who sacrifices her career, puts all her hardwork and smartness in a dustbin and ends up pathetically clinging to the ML and humiliating and scheming against the FL. I HATE SUCH FEMALE CHARACTERS. It is so unrealistic. That is not how a career oriented woman would ever behave in real life. The way these female characters were portrayed so evil, yet the males were all mostly amazing was baffling. The hate towards women was real in old kdramas.  

The only positive things were good production quality and the FL actress, Yoon Eun Hye. She really did her role well and was a perfect fit for this role unlike Jung So Min who looked too mature to play a cutsey role in Playful Kiss. 

The score is 5.0 solely due to the above mentioned positive points. Otherwise it would have been a straight up 0.5. 

Dropped 12/24

Halfway into this and its a drop. AMA is my ultimate favorite crossdressing drama with the main couple being my ultimatest number 1 favourite couple ever. So I expected to like this as well. Unfortunately, this was too stupid. So many things done wrong. This is the living example of the routes AMA could have gone, but avoided swiftly. 

The FL was too bubbly and carefree for my taste. She is like any other typical crappy cliche idol drama FL. ML was portrayed as non cold too, but he was not as playful as expected. Beside, like every other MLs in crappy cliche idol dramas, ML was the best in his field. I wanted to see reversal of the cold man warm woman trope, but was highly disappointed in that respect. 

Also, too much unrealism and stupidity going on. I usually don't mind unrealism in rom coms when they are well done, but this was anything but well done. So those things also started to bother me. Especially because it was too stupid even for a rom com. 

Lastly, the overdose of cliches nearly killed me! Accidental kiss, multiple times FL trips into ML's arms, and what not. I had to hold in the pangs of cringe that I had whenever these cliche scenes played out. It was as if they were trying to force the otp on the viewers. Their chemistry was good enough, so they didn't really need to use these lowly techniques. 

Overall, I was disappointed in this. If you happen to be like me and are crazy after AMA's GYZ & XX, avoid this. The otp here is nowhere near theirs. 

Dropped 8/24

Came for Bai Lu, left due to everything else. A badly written drama with some of the most irritating ML & side male characters ever. Bai Lu did her job very well as an adorable and cute character that avoided infantilization. However, she shines the most as strong or/and smart FL characters. Stupid romcoms are not what my bb girl is made for. 

I do not recommend this drama at all. If you have a lot of time in your hands and have watched all the good shows to ever exist and are suddenly in the mood for trash entertainment rom-com, watch this. I'd call this a 'background drama'. Watch this while eating or working on something else. If you pay attention to it, I'm afraid you'd lose your precious brain cells.

Dropped 8/20

I thought I would love this due to a smart and capable female and a soft and nice guy and would be able to ignore the bad parts, but the historical inaccuracies are getting too much and it is irritating me. On top of that, it got boring.

I can't shake off the fact that how much 21st century like this show is. It really is a cosplay show than a historical. Especially annoying is when they keep switching from behaving like how they should in Joseon to behaving like 21st century people. Too inconsistent. Females drink and willingly do hazing rituals with their superiors that are all male, and their families have no problem. Then all of a sudden the women are bullied by court women for being female historians and labeling them as 'women of the king' since all women in the palace are just that. The drama cannot decide whether it wants to be a cosplay show or a proper historical. It is mostly a cosplay show tho. And the show takes itself seriously rather than being aware of their inaccuracies and making it more fun by doing absurd or campy stuff, which would have honestly been very fun. 

Every new and successful method of medicine is being credited to Western Europe or England; when in reality the English and West had only recently discovered these method through their expeditions and these practices had existed long before in Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, and the Islamic Medicine. I did a little research on the methods they were talking about and can say it with confidence that the English DID NOT invent these methods. Nothing irritates me more than the West getting credited for things they discovered very late when the rest of the world had long invented and practiced these things. Looking back at it, the show portrayed FL's smarts by showing how she mostly read Western European literature and looked up to their lifestyle. Truly pathetic in my opinion. 

Dropped 6/16

Cannot believe that it has the same screenwriter who wrote one of my absolute favourite 'WFKBJ'. This drama is so much different than WFKBJ. I can sense no chemistry between leads. Honestly, I can't see why anyone will see any chemistry between these 2. The ML loves another girl (who, again as seen commonly in Kdramas from 2015 and earlier, was a much better of a female character than the FL. She is amazing till the much I saw of her.) And when he seems to get over her, he barely gets to interact with the actual FL. Most of the interactions are with the ghost, yet the show tries so hard to push the fact that he likes the actual FL. Which is unbelievable because of how much annoyed he was by her in ep.1. Without the ghost, he would have not even given her another look. 

And coming to the FL, she is such a poor representation of an introvert. As an introvert myself, I hated her character the most. She was bland as a cardboard. She apologizes endlessly for EVERY. SINGLE. THING. Even for breathing. Her character could have worked for a psychological friendship drama, or even with an understanding, kind, and warmhearted guy. But the ML here with this rude personality is the worst pairing for her. 

Overall, I'd recommend that you avoid this one.   

Dropped 15/30

HOW THE HECK DID THIS GET SO POPULAR AND WELL RATED? I saw comments where people said they rewatched this 4-5 times. I can only wonder about the taste of those people because this is SO BORING!!! I started FFWing and skipping since 3rd ep. Finally at ep 15, I decided I cannot take it anymore.

The acting is so bad. Both ZS & YY are bad actors. I remember there was this scene where her facial expressions were being shown as she pooped in early episodes. That scene was so horrendous it made me laugh. What exactly was the actress even doing? And the ML, all that he does is speak slowly and stare into nothingness as camera focuses on showing how handsome he is.

The characters are so bad. They promise you a smart FL, but that is all a trap. WW is the worst and weakest FL I have seen. Her inner thoughts are all about how great the ML is. Some of her worst thoughts include her thinking she has to work hard to be capable of being called MLs girlfriend. Also, FL is shown as a great gamer, but not greater than ML and 4 other male players. Because FL can be smart, but not smarter than the ML. And our ML, who is barely shown working is the smartest person on this planet who can hack any site within seconds.

Healthy relationship my a**. He stalks her before meeting her in person, even going as far as to hacking her laptop. I read comments on YT and was horrified at how the audience was fangirling at his stalking. The way he talks with FL is so condescending. FL behaves as if she is his maid.

The female portrayal was so bad. This is a huge misogynic & sexist show, because every other female except for FL & her friends is a b*tch for no apparent reason. Every other female plays the game to act cute and pitiful to score boyfriends and date in real life.

The filters are so bad. WW looks like a ghost due to those filters.

There are 100s of better modern cdramas to watch than this trash.

Dropped 4/24

I knew I would have hated this, yet I brought this torture upon myself. Just to see if the chemistry was there. I mean, yeah these two do have a good chemistry, but this kind of a drama I hate the most. Had the ML been a nice guy, like WZM in his typical idol contemporary dramas is, I would have still enjoyed it. However, he is the biggest piece of trash in here. I loathed him. Even if these 2 had chemistry, ML's nature repulsed me so much that it angered me when they got together. Hoping that their other drama is better than whatever trash this was. 

Overall, if your drama taste is anywhere near mine, stay tf away from this drama or else you might break your PC/phone. Only touch this one when in the mood for some hate-watching & trash entertainment. 

Dropped 3/20

I did not think this would have been this bad. But it was awful. As awful as Boys Over Flowers (Korean). I want my 3 hours back. This was that bad. 

The FL was one of those FLs that was strong in name only. Her intro was cool, but then soon we see her pathetic self. She tells the ML that she is not a pushover, but she is the biggest pushover ever, uttering 'sorry' for even breathing. She told all the rookie stunt doubles that this is a respected profession and we should have self respect as their coach, but she herself behaves like such a huge pushover it annoyed me. She apologized when it was not her fault, she apologized when there was no apology needed. Her sorrys were too much to bear. 

Add on to that the ML, who is rude and annoying. He falls in love with her, for which FL bears no responsibility. Yet he had the audacity to lash out at her that why can't she dress up and why is she so dirt poor and why is she messing with his heart, yada yada. He told her why can't she have little conscience and acknowledge his feelings, when he himself never confessed to her, and even if he did; she has no responsibility to accept his trashy a**. It was at this scene that I could bear no more and dropped this hot piece of sh*t right away. 

Will start after 'Rattan'

Will start after 'Bloody Romance'

Will start after 'Bloody Romance'

Will start after 'Ashes of Love'

Will start after 'Ashes of Love'