Heart rending

This drama was much awaited among Chinese dramas followers and did not disappoint. And I think it is under rated on mydramalist.com.

I rate this drama as 60% romance and 40% action. The pace was quite moderate but there were enough events to keep you interested. The battle scenes were intense and impressive, and the interactions of the lovers were heart rending. The cast is outstanding - everyone played their part so well.

Haishi grew up in a village which fished for luminous pearls formed by the tears of the merfolks. As a child, her father died fishing for these pearls and she blamed the emperor for his heavy taxation which resulted in the death of her father. When her village was raided by soldiers, she hurt an officer, ran away and was saved by Fang Jian Ming, a close friend of the emperor. He took her in as his disciple. She chose to dress up as a boy and eventually enrolled in the emperor's military. She fell in love with Fang and so did he in return.

Throughout the drama, it is heart rending. Fang would consistently pushed away Haishi's advances although he loved and cared for her with all his heart. The clueless Haishi could not understand what was going on. She suspected that her Shifu (tutor) was in love with her too and blamed him for putting politics above their love. On numerous occasions Fang sent her away and she was sure she was being abandoned. When Fang met a rival in love and he was obviously jealous in spite of efforts to hold it back - that was double heart rending. As the drama went on, the reason behind Fang's rejection of Haishi were slowly unraveled.

There were a lot of events which would keep you in suspense: coups, rebellion, people who were not what they appeared to be, wars with tribes at the border, internal feuding for the throne, Haishi's attempted assassination of the emperor, sabotage in the court targeted at Fang instigated by hidden political rivals, conspiracies and counter conspiracies, Haishi's participation in the competition for a position in the military amidst a conspiracy to hurt her, her appointment as consort to the emperor, which she resented, and so on. There were a lot of common themes similar to other period dramas involving imperial families but these were played out differently.

There were 3 couples and a total of 9 persons in love. Only 1 couple eventually led a happy life together. The other 1 couple could continue to see each other but had to keep a distance. 2 persons died, not getting the love they were seeking. And 1 couple died in each other's arms. I shall not reveal which, but this tells you that this drama has a rather dark setting.

I wish the director would stop the drama at the 46th episode. It could have ended as: they lived happily ever after, for all. But it went on for another 2 episodes which twisted it into a tragedy. There is something sadistic with either the writer or the drama production community.

All the three lead couples did very well. I enjoyed watching William Chan and Yang Mi as leads - there were great chemistry between them - their acting were very natural. William is one of those actors who looks good even when he puts on a cold stern face. He could switch from a look ladened with a mix of sadness and heavy responsibility to one of relief and quiet happiness - and you can see an obvious difference.

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A far-cry from series 1

This sequel is a far cry from its prequel, not only because of a change in some of the cast but in the tempo and ending. The first 15 episodes were filled with time fillers as Ning Que and Sang Sang tried to escape persecution as her identity was uncovered. The new lead actor is good looking and acted well but does not make up for the lack of other elements. The last couple of episodes were a drag - with me hanging on just to find out the conclusion.

There were intense moments as the battle against the Tang and the academy were underway and possibly the best part of the story. The story very much climaxed at this battle and then went downhill again. The ending was unimpressed.

The only thing that I am happy with this sequel is that the story is a continuation from the prequel, unlike a lot of other sequel where the sequel is an attempt to leverage on the name of its predecessor.

To make it worse, I was watching the Pillow Book along with this as they were released around the same time. I was glued to YouTube for the Pillow Book and watched this only to fill in the time in-between the releases of the Pillow Book. The contrast was immense. Although the Pillow Book had its occasional slow moments but it held my attention to the very end.

The script for all dramas should be carefully reviewed before production. This script did not keep up with the grandeur of the set and investment, and not worth the time of the audience.

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The Ascension to the Throne

My review to Season 1 and 2 are at:
https://mydramalist.com/profile/7403249/reviews/402084
https://mydramalist.com/profile/7403249/reviews/402278

Could Tanya be the descendent of Asa Sin and therefore the rightful religious leader of Arthdal? If so, then the Wahans could also be the descendents of Aramum Haesulla and Asa Sin. This mystery was unveiled in Season 3.

With the help of Taelha and Tanya, Tagon rose to become the Union Leader. Asa Ron was not going to let Tagon rose to power so easily. Tagon hid two secrets and Asa Ron knew one of them and he was determined to expose it to the tribal leaders to topple Tagon. He set a trap for Tagon. To hid both his secret, he massacred the tribal leaders and set out to be a king. Tagon had wanted to become a benevolent leader loved by his people. But this rebellion changed him and he became a tyrant.

Meantime, Eunseom escaped from the mine. He rescued a Momo tribal leader and her baby. The Momo tribe had a motto of returning favours. The tribe became indebted to him.

Unfortunately Eunseom was captured again, this time by the Ago Tribe who captured humans to be sent to Arthdals to be sold as slaves. But by a twist of fate and help of his fellow prisoner, a sly and treacherous man, he became recognised as the Isainagi re-incarnate. The Ago tribe was a lost and disunited tribe. They had been hoping for a powerful leader and Eunseom fitted the role.

Now, two powerful regions were formed. One led by Eunseom and the other by Tagon. Friction between the powers were inevitable. And this was to be presented in the sequel produced 4 years later in 2023.

Might I also add that Song Joong Ki did an excellent job acting a pair of twins with opposite characters - one was kind and innocent, the other ruthless and cunning. I rated 10 for all seasons.

Now I am going to start on the sequel filmed in 2023, 4 years later but covering Arthdal and Ago 8 years later. But in the 2023 sequel, Song was replaced by Lee Joon Gi who is also and excellent actor.

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The Fight Continued and the First Prophecy was about to be unveiled

You can refer to my review on Season 1 at https://mydramalist.com/profile/7403249/reviews/402084. Each Season comprised six episodes. Season 2 started from episode 7.

The Wahan tribe in Iark where Eunseom had taken refuge was attacked by the Arthdal Samaras. A peaceful tribe without any advanced weapons, they were quickly subdued. The Wahan villagers were taken to Arthdal as slaves. However Eunseom escaped and vowed to rescued them and his love, Tanya. In one of his rescue missions, Eunseom was captured and sent to a mine as a slave miner. He was also blamed for the death of Sanung, the Union Leader.

Tanya's mother was killed by the Samaras. Tanya was set to be the next tribal mother, a religious leader in the tribe. In Arthdal, Tanya discovered a man hidden in a Tower, who looked very much like Eunseom.

Legend had it that Aramum Haesulla was the hero who united the Arthdal Samaras. It was said that he ran away with Asa Sin, the Arthdal's supreme religious mother. It was not known where they went.

The current Asa clan was led by Asa Ron, a power-hungry religious leader. This clan was known not to be a direct descendant of Asa Sin. Prophecy said that the direct descendant of Asa Sin would return one day and led Arthdal. And this person would be able to find the bell hidden by Asa Sin.

Asa Ron disliked Tagon as he was viewed as a hero in Arthdal for his military conquest and set to sabotage his ascend to power. Tagon and Taelha were eager to find this descendent. If found, she would replaced Asa Ron as the rightful leader of the religion sect.

A lot of viewers said that this season was better than Season 1. But I find them equally good. In Season 2, there were some draggy parts around the miners. My Season 3 review would follow soon. I had given all 3 seasons a full rating of 10, in spite of some small imperfections.

This drama was interesting as it had so many events borrowed from events in history. More about the entire drama can be found in my review of Season 1.

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Ruthless fight for power in ancient barbaric times

The three seasons spanned a total of 18 episodes. This is to-date the best Korean drama I had watched, in my opinion beating the Goblin or Hotel Luna. The story was intriguing, convoluted and kept the audience wondering. There are some predictable bits, and fighting and wallowing in sorrow dragged it out a bit, but by and large it locked-in my attention. This drama was only the first of four sequels and set the stage of more to come.

The ancient world of Arthdal was dominated by two homo species: the bronze-age humans, Sarams, and the Neanderthals. The Neanderthals was the physically stronger of the two species. There were inter-species mating between the two races giving rise to a mix-blood race called Igutu.

The Sarams tried to make peace with the Neanderthals but unfortunately were rejected. Tagon, son of the Saram Union Leader proposed a devious method to eliminate the Neanderthals by infecting them with a deadly disease which both weakened and killed them. They took the opportunity of a Neanderthal festival to present them with gifts carrying the disease.

Asa Hon was deceived by the Sarams to bring the gifts to the Neanderthals. When the Sarams attacked the epidemic ridden Neanderthals, Asa Hon discovered too late that she was used. She rescued her Igatu baby, named Eunseom, and brought him to Iark, a land separated by a high cliff and a desert and unknown to the Sarams. Eunseom was brought up by the Wahans in Iark, and was kind and trusting.

Tagon discovered an Igatu baby. He took him away and raised him in secret - his intention for doing this was unclear. Saya, was brought up by the TaelHa, Tagon's lover, and was cruel and distrustful.

Tagon went on to kill the remaining Neanderthals and Igutus, and further military conquest to become a powerful general. As an Union Leader, his father, Sanung faced a power struggle with Asa Ron, a religious leader who used the superstition and ignorance of the ancient humans to manipulate their obedience.

Numerous prophecies circulated among groups of people. My reviews on the rest of the seasons will follow.

I found this drama such a good amalgamation of borrowed historical events, very nicely pieced together. It showed how a more developed civilisation subjugated the more primitive tribes with their 'advance' bronze weapons. You would have seen this in modern history with western colonisers taking over Africa, Americas, Oceania and parts of Asia.

The killing of the Neanderthals certainly reminded me of how the white settlers killed the American natives by spreading leprosy through gifts of blankets used by lepers in their own countries.

And Asa Ron reminded me of the various religious cult leaders who distort facts to instigate people and manipulate them. Tagon, Eunseom and Tanya, all used this tactics as well later in the drama. Humans were so easily manipulated by words and a good show. In contemporary times with all the high-tech digital communication, it is difficult to tell fake and real apart at times.

All the three seasons were very good.

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Not the usual theme

What I appreciated most about this drama is that it was based on the decline and revival of a family's fortune. This was a departure from the usual themes of fight for the throne, god vs demons, gang/clan revenge type of stories - these had become very stale for me since I watched a lot of Chinese and Korean dramas.

The head of the Hua family offended the emperor who was narrow-minded, narcissistic, domineering and wicked. The family was driven out of their home and the men were sent into exile, leaving the women and young children to fend for themselves. Worse to come was they were cheated out of whatever minimal valuables they could bring with them.

The newly appointed Commander of the Security Bureau, was assigned the duty of driving them out and confiscating all that Grandfather Hua had written. Hua Zhi, the grand-daughter rose to the occasion to lead the family to earn a living through selling whatever they were capable of producing. The family, being of scholastic background looked down on such careers and it was a challenge to overcome their mindset and stereotyping.

It was interesting to watch how a young girl struggled against family's prejudices against new means of earning a living, and also the bullying that came from business associates and the public as a girl with no backing. You would witness how the different characters in the family responded to the situation. - some were supportive, some resentful, some had other schemes up their sleeves.

Along the way, the younger generations girls found their marital partners - each leading to different outcomes. The older generation Hua daughters were bullied as soon as the Hua family fell from grace. And you get to see how each situation was dealt with, often with keen intelligence, although some were tragic.

Although unknown to her, YanXi, the martial arts instructor was a nephew of the emperor, and he had grown very fond of Hua Zhi. The emperor wanted all of YanXi's loyalty. He could not tolerate his affection for HuaZhi and became a major obstacle to the development of any affection between the two.

In addition to an interesting story was a great cast who acted well, and chemistry between the leads were great. Costumes were beautiful, music were befitting to the mood of the drama, cinematography was excellent.

What was more interesting was some of these happening could happen to any family, even today. So it was easy to empathise with them.

The only doubt I had about this drama was it seemed all too easy to get rich in such a short time, especially in view of the setbacks. The family was moving back to the capital and setting up their businesses in less than nine months - gauged by the time it took for one of the aunts to give birth.

And also, not another child emperor again. :(

In spite of these small nitpicks, I rated it 9.5. Overall, I highly recommend this drama.

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Wacky, suspenseful, humorous

Very often, sequel paled compared to the first season, but not for this drama. It carried on the momentum of Season 1. The drama was somewhat wacky, suspenseful and humorous .

The bold and scheming Fan Xian more than matched his antagonists. Returning to the capital, he went on to expose the conspiracy he discovered in ShangJin, capital of the rival state. But the Qing emperor was not impressed and did not seem to pay much attention to the fact that his second son and his sister was amassing huge amount of money from the activities of the State Enterprise (Neiku). A huge conspiracy was awaiting Fan Xian on his arrival.

And yes, Xiao Zhan did not participate in season 2. I think his talent is best placed in drama where his acting skills could be better demonstrated like The Untamed. Yan BingYun was not that type of character for him. Even in Season 1, it was more of a special guest appearance.

Everyone loves a hero who is smart, bold, righteous and uphold justice and this was what this drama presented in Fan Xian. Also, there are great lessons to be learned - if everyone condones a shitty system and not intervenes, bad practices will continue. If you do not like a corrupt system, then do not participate in it. What I particularly like about this drama which set it apart from some other drama was that it was proactive. Instead of some up righteous capable hero who preferred to hide away, he took up his responsibilities and faced it head on and sought to improve the system.

As with the first season, the story was interesting. Suspense and mystery abound. Humour was funny. Cinematography, acting, costumes, backdrop were all great.

The story however were a couple of far-fetched illogical sub-plots. For example, Fan Xian pretended that he faked death because the envoy was ambushed by a Grand Master, in order to avoid punishment. Why would the envoy not already know that the someone had sent a dead squad and a death threat, and that Yan BingYun 'killed' Fan Xian. They were travelling together. Why not simply exposed the second prince? Afterall, Yan BingYun could be a witness and he was one who was stubborn and daring enough to do this for the country. And there was also the letters from the prince as evidence. The writer had a complicated mind and preferred to fabricate lies and cover-up. In this regard, the story in Season 1 was more coherent. Unless the intent was to illustrate how intelligent people could buy into bullshit.

The second was when Ruo Ruo was asked to operate on Fan Xian, when she had never done an operation. Furthermore, what was she supposed to operate on? It was said that poison had affected Fan Xian's organs. What organs? All organs? Sound like a lot to clean up with just one slice made by the emperor.

By this stage, I await future seasons where hopefully a lot of the questions would be answered. Aside from Fan Xian taking over the State Enterprise, I hope they would have a season on how his mother came to this age, where she was actually from and what happened before Fan Xian was born. We also knew from Season 1 that the rival state was actually masquerading an empress dowager - emperor conflict and was staging a fake alliance with Fan Xian - so it would be interesting to see how this unravel in future seasons.

It had been 5 years since Season 1. So, it would be good to rewatch that again if you don't have the best memory in the world as Season 2 made a lot of references to events in the previous season. And hopefully, we do not have to wait for another 5 years to watch Season 3. If this goes on, all the cast and audience would be old by the time the last Season comes along.

Finally, I say, if you had enjoyed Season 1, don't miss out on this Season 2. Enjoy...

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Talk, sob, kneel

This drama was produced 13 years ago. I guess based on the standard of Chinese dramas at that time, this was outstanding and was a blockbuster then. However, with the advent of newer and better dramas releases, this drama had become somewhat jaded. In comparison to some of the outstanding production like Till the End of the Moon, Kunning Palace, The Untamed, Ten Mile of Peach Blossom, Scarlett Heart had dropped from the top league in today's drama scene.

Additionally, I watched the Korean version of Moon Lovers, Scarlett Heart Ryeo which was a remake of this drama but was based on the Goryeo dynasty, before watching this drama. The storyline was similar but I found the Moon Lovers a lot more action oriented with its fighting scenes, a lot more dramatic and faster paced. It was very clear why their 'Ruo Xi' shifted her affections from the 8th Prince to the 4th Prince. as the latter was hot in pursuit and was very proactive in winning her heart. In contrast, this Scarlett Heart drama featured a lot more talking, sobbing and kneeling. The 4th Prince was a lot more subdued in his approach and courting. Other than some gifts and a couple of scenes when he stood up for her and saved her, there was nothing very dramatic.

I was impressed with the cast of Princes - many of the sires subsequently became big names in the Chinese drama scenes - this drama had brought them to fame.

Overall, the acting was very good, story was interesting and Liu Shi Shi had excellent chemistry with her four suitors. It is worth the time to watch this especially for someone new to the Chinese drama scenes and had not been spoilt by the newer productions.

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If you have not watched much of Chinese xianxia fantasy dramas, you should absolutely watch this.

YanDan and ZhiXi were the human transformation of and the only surviving members of the Four-leaves Lotus which had great medicinal value. YanDan had a tiff with the Heavenly Lord YingYuan, God of War when she discovered that he had been bullying a turtle in the garden, flipping him over every time he saw it. Unfortunately she was sent to serve him in his palace.

A war broke out between the immortals and the demons. It was a bloody war and YingYuan returned seriously wounded although victorious. YingYuan knew that he was not going to survive and left his palace to die alone in the forest, so that he would not harm anyone when he went crazy. Fate had it that YanDan would find him already blinded in the forest and nursed him while hiding her real identity. She found out that the heart of the Four-leaves Lotus, of which she was one, would save him and decided to carve out half of her heart to do so. YingYuan knew this healing method earlier and had resisted it.

The immortal realm had a rule that immortals were not fall in love. Breaking this rule brought about severe punishment. Unfortunately for YingYuan and YanDan, the jealous fairy YingDeng who wanted YingYuan for herself was always around to sabotage them. To save YanDan from punishment, YingYuan had to play along very often with the scheming fairy YingDeng to stop her from spilling the truth about them. Part 1 of the drama continued onto Part 2.

I am surprised that Part 1 was rated better than Part 2, although I think Part 2 was more interesting after YanDan was banished to the mortal realm. She forgot who she was and called herself Bai Piao Liang.

Part 1 was very stale and more of the same to me. It was too much like the Ashes of Love where Yang Zi (YanDan) was the female lead, Love and Redemption where ChengYi (YingYuan) was the male lead and some of the earlier Chinese xianxia (fairytale) fantasy dramas. The moods, settings, some scenes and even the title of the drama were too much like these earlier dramas. For example YanDan crossing the WangChuang (River to Forget) reminded me of Ji Mi (Yang Zi) crossing the river to the demon realm to visit Xu Feng (DengLun) in Ashes of Love. There was also a jealous love rival who actively sabotaged - Sui He in Ashes of Love and YingDing in this drama. Part 1 was very emotional but did nothing much for me as it was mainly about one of the lover pretending and pushing away the other while one of them clinged on, so the chemistry between them was almost non-existent. Similarly the character Si Feng in Love and Redemption was always pushing away Xuan Ji - a similar situation of forbidden love. It was draggy, and all about deceit and hiding the truth - a lot of them were very annoying to me.

When the other party pushed one away, one should learn to move on, especially when so little was committed from the other person, regardless whether they reciprocated in their hearts and said nothing.

I will continue with my assessment in Part 2 for the rest of the drama.

However, if you have not watched Ashes of Love and much of Chinese xianxia fantasy dramas, or like to re-live those stories, you will enjoy this drama tremendously. A good drama to get you introduced to the world of Chinese fantasy dramas.

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Fantastic episodes 1-29 but a questionable 30

I enjoyed episodes 1-29 thoroughly and was wondering during these episodes why it lost out to 'A female student arrives at the Imperial College' in rating on mydramalist.com. Both dramas featured the tall handsome Xu KaiCheng with settings in an academy. Being a fantasy drama, this story was definitely more interesting. My question was answered in the last episode when it ended wishy-washy and open-ended with a lot of unanswered questions. In contrast, the ending for the Imperial College drama was very well crafted - heart-rending and yet with positive vibes.

The beginning and ending of a drama are very important. The beginning determines whether we would watch on, the ending leaves the parting impression. This ending looks like it is preparing for a sequel but as we all know, sequels can take years before it can even start filming - just look at Joy of Life. And at times a flop - like the sequel to Journey of Flower.

However, I enjoyed the humour during the initial one-third as the reincarnated and cunning Feng Wu (lead female) tricked Jun LingYuan (lead male) and Yu Ming Ye (second male lead) who were from two opposing camps and played them against each other. Her ultimate aim was to steal the celestial fruit to help her regain her lost power. Subsequently, they ended up in the same academy while a conspiracy was brewing. The intense rivalry was attention riveting too.

The second lead was Wang Hao Xuan who acted the good-looking evil Xue Yang from The Untamed, who left a deep impression. As I realised, he has a lot of fans from that drama. In terms of actresses, the leading actresses were all very good looking, especially the second lead.

Excellent backdrop, interesting scenes (except the last), good looking cast and some would even say nice music. Watch and you may enjoy it but be ready for a disappointing ending.

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An interesting drama, good acting and mysterious plots. I could guess who is the killer in the first murder scene but the later ones were mostly surprises. The ending was an interesting twist that seems to suggest a sequel might be coming.

Entertaining, but there are some lull moments. Very well produced but i won't rate it among the top league. Nevertheless worth a watch and it is quite a short series. Almost like Dr Qin but with a setting in ancient times.

I would have ended my review here but it would not allow me to submit the review because it is less than 500 characters long. So i have to add a few more comments.

If there is a sequel, i am likely to watch it as the ending suggested that there is more than meets the eye.

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Wow! Comparable in standard to Ten Mile Peach Blossom but livelier

The ideas of a peach garden, God of War, fighting the demon king, six realms are all ideas from the Ten Mile Blossom. But this drama has its own story line entirely different from the former. It has all the ingredients for a great drama - story, acting, costume, music, computer graphics, directing. And in spite of the intense emotional settings, there are some humorous moments which make me laugh real hard.

I can understand why more mature actors and actresses are chosen for certain dramas - few young ones could pull off the intense expressions of emotions and chemistry that Ni Ni and Zhang Zhen could. There are not that many Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo - even these two took a while to warm up to their roles in the Untamed.

I knew Ni Ni from the Rise of Phoenixes but I knew nothing about Zhang Zhen. Before I started watching the drama, I did for a moment wonder whether he could measure up to some of the popular drama actors like Hu Ge or Wallace Huo and he did. He acted the character of JiuChen very well - a powerful, responsible, canny, very stern, yet tender and loving God of War who protected the world and capable of harsh action when required. He is equally capable of showing extreme tenderness as well as giving hard, angry, stern looks.

As I started checking up on Zhang Zhen, I realised he was the handsome bandit lover in Crouching Tiger and Sun Quan in Red Cliff. I remember the 2 characters but unfortunately his name was not given much prominence in these movies. But I am sure his talents was recognised as he had a lot of lead roles, and was nominated for and won several awards in movies.

Ni Ni is an excellent actress who can demonstrate different facets of a character. In this drama, she started off as an innocent mischievous playful girl infatuated with the God of War into a mature sophisticated lady, both capable of winning his heart. The lead characters had this amazing chemistry. It was heart warming to see how they relate to each other, and how NingXi coyly seduced JiuChen, and how JiuChen fell hard for her. Their flirting moments were entertaining. Her expression of emotions was just as good as the lead actor.

If we are to nitpick, we will always be able to find some small flaws even with the best dramas, and I can pick one out here. Much as I love most of the costumes, I must say the designer for JiuChen did not do him justice - he is the God of War not a peasant or scholar. And this black cap he wore was terrible.

Finally, I re-watched this drama and love it even more.

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Deserves its current top rating on the list

I am very selective of dramas I watched online and typically I only watched those with high ratings. I must say this drama deserves its current top rating for Chinese dramas. Good looking actors and actresses, bromance, mystery, beautiful cinematography, special effects, comic moments, heart-wrenching scenes, melodious music rolled into one.

The initial couple of episodes were rather confusing. But I was intrigued by the mystery of Wei Ying's death and resurrection, and I watched on - great job of introducing that at the beginning. When I reached the episode he was thrown off the cliff, I revisited the two initial episodes and they all started to make sense. Similarly, I was not impressed initially with the cast. But the drama improved further down the track and so did the acting of the actors/actresses.

I had not read the novel, but this drama deserves credit in its own rights. From the reviews of readers of the novel, there were suggestions of homosexuality in the relationships. But the drama was tastefully done and there were no homosexual scenes. Although I am not homo-phobic, I really do not appreciate homosexual scenes so I am glad of there were none - I do not share and appreciate the emotions - in fact, they are a bit of a turn-off.

However, intense feelings and camaraderie were enacted. The looks that Lan Zhan gave to Wei Ying were full of quiet intense emotions, and the feeling of pain at his death and suffering was well expressed. Wang YiBo acted Lan Zhan well. If WeiYing or LanZan is replaced by a female, coupled with a bit of tweak, this could become a romance story. In dramas, I have a type - I am strongly attracted to the charismatic, calm, intelligent, handsome hero of little words.

The mystery of what happened in the 16 years that Wei Ying was dead was not quite satisfactorily explained. Did he stay dead for 16 years until he was resurrected? If not, what happened to him in the 16 years? How did Mo Xuan Yue found and resurrect him?

And I love the music pieces - the theme song at the end and the music piece at the beginning.

I was impressed with the attention to details - they had chosen a boy who had dimples on his cheek to act the young Jin GuangYao - consistent with Zhu Zan Jin who had very obvious dimples and acted the adult.

Finally, to those who had started watching this drama and are the impatient type, stay on for a few episodes before you give up. And if you have not started, go ahead and you would not regret it.

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Who would she end up with?

For a drama produced eight years ago, it was still very appealing. I had not watched the Scarlet Heart produced earlier in China, which was what this drama was modelled after. But I am now inspired to do that.

Heart broken by her boyfriend and best friend who betrayed her, Go Han Jin was crying by the sea. While trying to save a drowning boy, an eclipse happened and Han Jin found herself transported back to the Goryeo era and into the body of Hae Soo. Here she witnessed the fight over the throne by the Princes.

Han Jin unwittingly attracted the attention of several of the princes and they fell in love with her. Most prominent was the 8th prince and 4th prince. The 8th prince was quietly plotting for the throne. The 4th prince was seemingly the ostracised and the least favoured for the throne, but unknown to most people including himself, he was born under the star of the King, the same as for the Crown Prince Wu.

So, who would Hae Soo end up with? The gentle loving 8th prince, the forceful 4th prince, the playful 10th prince or the righteous 14th prince?

1. The story was interesting. It was difficult to predict what might happened next. We know quite early who the next king would be but would he become the cruel king who massacred his brothers? Would Hae Soo be able to change that?

2. Character development was very evident. How a gentle soul become cunning in the face of the desire for power. How someone with no interest in the throne was eventually lead to follow his fate. How a confident modern maiden bowed down to the cruelty of the time.

3. Having only 20 episodes, the pace of the story development was fast and there were no dilly-dallying.

4. The cast was outstanding. The leads did a fabulous job. Lee Joon Gi portrayed the forceful 4th prince who was very much ashamed of the scar of his face. Kang Ha Neul had such a gentle look on his face when he was in love with Hae Soo. Hong Jong Hyun was absolute evil looking and he looked really deranged later in the drama. Then there is Byun Baek Hyun with this innocent, playful and silly look.

5. However, the drama was not without some flaws. In some instance, it was clear that the drama was deliberately made very makjang. The rather intelligent Hae Soo became brainless, weak and hesitant. And she started blaming Wang So for beating to death someone who had betrayed her trust. Of course, this was to lead to the chosen ending of the drama.

However, overall I highly recommend this drama.

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Soul shifters and heart renders

The fictitious land of Daeho is dominated by two powerful groups of mages who are learned magicians: Cheonbugwan and Songrim. Cheonbugwan reports directly to the King. Songrim is a self-run organisation openly against the practice of sorcery, especially the soul shifters who are able to move from their bodies to dominate another. Soul shifting involves exchanging bodies, often with an unwilling younger person to prolong one's life and is an evil sorcery. Cheonbugwan claims a similar anti-sorcery stance but secretly rivals Songrim for power.

While running away from the pursuit of the Songrim mages, assassin Naksu finds herself soul shifted into the body of MuDeok and later becomes the maidservant of Jang Uk from a powerful elite family. Jang Uk knows that MuDeok is Naksu and uses this knowledge to blackmail her to help him lift a seal on his energy. The Jang Uk is the son of the Head of Cheonbugwan, who has been missing for 20 years but rumours goes that he is an illegitimate son from his mother's affairs.

King is plagued by the prophecy that a powerful King's Star mage would one day appears and is insecure about his position. There are dark powerful forces supporting the sorcerers and the people practicing it are in high places, who will make use of the King's and Crown Prince's insecurity. Even the Unanimous Assembly of mages is dominated by ambitious sect leaders who are secretly hoping to lay their hands on the Ice Stone which can make the soul shifting happens, while claiming to be righteous and anti-sorcery.

What I like about this drama:

a. This soul shifting story is original. There had been dramas based on soul of a person shifting to another - mostly as individuals unique cases. But this drama takes it to another dimension as a widely practised sorcery involving a cult of powerful men and women whose ambitions are to live forever and dominate the world.

b. The chemistry of the leading female character MuDeok (Jung So Min) with the first, second and third male leads is great.

c. The cast is outstanding and acted their parts well. To mention a few:
- Jung So Min - she was outstanding - whenever she was disgusted with Jang Uk, she would squint her eyes and glare at him which was often interesting to watch,
- Lee Jae Wook as the male lead - filled with a desire to break free from his bondage and to excel and at times temperamental and slackening,
- Hwang Min Hyun as the righteous mournful Seo Yul haunted by guilt,
- Shin Seung Ho as the disturbed Crown Prince knowing often that it is wrong but nevertheless unable to resist a selfish course of action.

d. Along the drama, there are a lot of secrets to be unveiled, identities to be confirmed, suspenseful moments and what would be Naksu's choices - make the story very interesting and attention gripping.

What I dislike about this drama:

a. The ending was open-ended. It takes another 10 episodes in a sequel to wrap this up. If I had watched this drama shortly after it was released, I would be cursing as the ending is so crap. But since the sequel is already released, I just hopped onto the sequel to figure out the ending.

Overall, I highly recommend this drama.

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