Kotori
Singapore
This review may contain spoilers
Season 2 was better but still more room for improved storytelling
Last week I finished reviewing season 1, and here I am with season 2. Season 2 was slightly better I would increase my rating by 1, to an overall 7 - I still think it's a drama for which you will need to leave your intelligence at home to enjoy it.
Let me look at this drama from my seven criteria point of view (for more details in the footnotes).
1. Fantasization: 3/5 ★★★☆☆: I was pleased with how the drama has started, especially the setting in the modern world was funny and delicious to watch. I was pleased to know the entire cast of season 1, except for the king, is also starring in season 2.
I wished the couple could have spent a bit more time in the contemporary world. Overall, the story is still adorable to watch. The main couples, Qu Tan Er and the future 8th prince, have great chemistry; especially the 8th prince is a lot more easy-going and positive personality as compared to season 1. Also, hat down to the improved acting skill of Xing Zhao Lin, who manages to depict the two 8th prices. Sometimes I had problems distinguish which is which, but somehow it was a fun element of this drama. Noticed he just turned 20 years young when filming.
It was pleasant to see that the crew had a larger budget for this season. The sets, supporting characters, shots look more polished and proper. The OST is very good as well.
2. Emotional Rollercoaster: 4/5 ★★★★☆: I give the maker team credit to come up with the story of the two 8th princes. No, not only that, they even add Liu Shang's face disguise as a sort of lover 2.5? And we also have the eldest prince who is in love with the Qu Tan Er's body; this makes a total of 3.5 people in love with the FL. What a lucky girl she is!
In terms of acting, Liang Jie's role was less challenging than last season, and her character seems to be a bit more simple-minded. Her naive and careless modern self enlightens the drama with a great deal of humor. I gave this category a 4 out of 5 is also for the sincere love the 8th price expresses towards the FL. There is a great scene in the garden of Liu Qian Shui, at which QXT met the blind Mo Lian Cheng, which was heart-wrenching.
I also enjoyed the acting of Wang Rui Chang, which advanced markedly. Also, his style has improved, and he sounds much kinder and the tone smoother with the use of a voice actor.
On the other hand, the acting of the 14th prince continuous to be weak. This is especially noticeable as it was paired with the outstanding performance of Jing Xin.
3. Sleepless nights: 2/5 ★★☆☆☆: Like season 1, I did not have a strong urge to binge-watch this drama. Despite the delightful love story between the leads, there was not enough suspense and drama (except for a few episodes in the middle) that pressured to click on the next episode.
4. Natural and intelligent storytelling: 2/5: The Eternal Love series is not a very logical drama. If you care about these elements, you will suffer. I did enjoy the start of the show, but if you think about everything in-depth, many question marks will pop up. The biggest one: what happened with the modern QXT? She must still be alive because otherwise, why would the future MLC still be alive? So is it ok for MLC to just go after the QXT from the past? Questionable! There was this whole section in the middle between the main leads and QTE's evil dad, which was so ridiculous that I even found funny. And the story improved slightly but got worse with the last ten episodes.
5. Loveable supporting role 4/5 ★★★★☆: Supporting roles have its ups and downs. Overall, the quality has improved as compared to season 1.
I enjoyed the acting of Wang Rui Chang, which advanced markedly. Also, his style has improved, and he sounds much kinder and the tone smoother with the use of a voice actor. I also really enjoyed the acting of the king, Zhang Lei's performance. His last scene was heart-breaking.
Lai Xi's role as Liu Qian Shui continued to be a joy for the show.
Chen You Wei, as Liu Shang, did a decent job. I was not all over him, but he managed to convince me as the 8th prince despite having a completely different appearance and atmosphere.
On the other hand, the acting of the 14th prince continued to be weak. This is especially noticeable as it was paired with the outstanding performance of Jing Xin.
I found the first antagonist, the father of QXT, really awful. Motivation and behavior are questionable, and the acting was exaggerated and weak.
6. Proper Pacing: 5/5 ★★★★★: I enjoy a short episode number of 30 episodes. Thanks to this, the pacing is proper and did not feel draggy.
7. Solid Finale: 2/5 ★★☆☆☆: The last episodes were messy. I don't understand why Mo Yi Huai had to become this evil. You could argue he did it because of QTE, but his 100% turning to malicious felt very unnatural and forced to me.
In the earlier show, there was a sense of rivalry between the future and past MLC. The memories and even personality were slightly different. This was "all solved" by merging both princes into one person, how convenient! This makes zero sense!
The turn of events of the elder prince taking over the throne (no one in the palace noticed that!) but then evidence of his betrayal, was effortlessly found in his room (why did he keep it?!). His imperial token was stolen easily by QTE, and the entire army turned against him all of a sudden. The good people have won, and all is well. Throughout the last episodes, I tried very hard not to roll my eyes or write rant comments, but this is poor storytelling.
Despite the splendid start, the storytelling went downhill towards the middle of the drama. I enjoyed the romance between the leads, but it is not for those looking for logical storytelling. This makes me wonder whether I should watch season 3 once this is out...
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Kotori's drama review seven criteria definition:
After having watched many dramas and also written several reviews. I have detected that I rate dramas based on specific patterns. I formulated those into seven criteria.
1. "Fantasization": the degree of how much I care about the fate of the main leads, how often I have to think about them in my everyday life, and how much I wish the characters are part of my real life.
2. "Emotional Rollercoaster": the degree of how much my heart was moving from the acting, scenes, and story development (e.g., in pain, pounding, fluster etc.).
3. "Sleepless Nights.": how much I have the urge to binge-watch this drama.
4. "Natural and intelligent Storytelling.": how logically the story was able to proceed and the roles are acting within their characters. I don't have a thousand question marks when watching the drama. The feeling that the makers take us viewers seriously and that we do not always think that this looks fake.
5. "Loveable supporting Roles.": how much I love and care about supporting characters. They are not merely tools to help the main characters but are 3-dimensional and have proper motivations behind their actions.
6. "Proper Pacing.": how well the drama is pacing and not watered down to fill the number of episodes.
7. "Solid Finale": how properly the drama builds dramatic and finishes with a satisfactory ending. I have just watched too many dramas that starts to lose its grip around half or 2/3rd of its way.
Obviously, many other criteria could be important as well, such as unique story setup, visual elements, camera work, music, costumes, etc. Some of the points are indirectly included in the criteria, and others are not this important for me.
Let me look at this drama from my seven criteria point of view (for more details in the footnotes).
1. Fantasization: 3/5 ★★★☆☆: I was pleased with how the drama has started, especially the setting in the modern world was funny and delicious to watch. I was pleased to know the entire cast of season 1, except for the king, is also starring in season 2.
I wished the couple could have spent a bit more time in the contemporary world. Overall, the story is still adorable to watch. The main couples, Qu Tan Er and the future 8th prince, have great chemistry; especially the 8th prince is a lot more easy-going and positive personality as compared to season 1. Also, hat down to the improved acting skill of Xing Zhao Lin, who manages to depict the two 8th prices. Sometimes I had problems distinguish which is which, but somehow it was a fun element of this drama. Noticed he just turned 20 years young when filming.
It was pleasant to see that the crew had a larger budget for this season. The sets, supporting characters, shots look more polished and proper. The OST is very good as well.
2. Emotional Rollercoaster: 4/5 ★★★★☆: I give the maker team credit to come up with the story of the two 8th princes. No, not only that, they even add Liu Shang's face disguise as a sort of lover 2.5? And we also have the eldest prince who is in love with the Qu Tan Er's body; this makes a total of 3.5 people in love with the FL. What a lucky girl she is!
In terms of acting, Liang Jie's role was less challenging than last season, and her character seems to be a bit more simple-minded. Her naive and careless modern self enlightens the drama with a great deal of humor. I gave this category a 4 out of 5 is also for the sincere love the 8th price expresses towards the FL. There is a great scene in the garden of Liu Qian Shui, at which QXT met the blind Mo Lian Cheng, which was heart-wrenching.
I also enjoyed the acting of Wang Rui Chang, which advanced markedly. Also, his style has improved, and he sounds much kinder and the tone smoother with the use of a voice actor.
On the other hand, the acting of the 14th prince continuous to be weak. This is especially noticeable as it was paired with the outstanding performance of Jing Xin.
3. Sleepless nights: 2/5 ★★☆☆☆: Like season 1, I did not have a strong urge to binge-watch this drama. Despite the delightful love story between the leads, there was not enough suspense and drama (except for a few episodes in the middle) that pressured to click on the next episode.
4. Natural and intelligent storytelling: 2/5: The Eternal Love series is not a very logical drama. If you care about these elements, you will suffer. I did enjoy the start of the show, but if you think about everything in-depth, many question marks will pop up. The biggest one: what happened with the modern QXT? She must still be alive because otherwise, why would the future MLC still be alive? So is it ok for MLC to just go after the QXT from the past? Questionable! There was this whole section in the middle between the main leads and QTE's evil dad, which was so ridiculous that I even found funny. And the story improved slightly but got worse with the last ten episodes.
5. Loveable supporting role 4/5 ★★★★☆: Supporting roles have its ups and downs. Overall, the quality has improved as compared to season 1.
I enjoyed the acting of Wang Rui Chang, which advanced markedly. Also, his style has improved, and he sounds much kinder and the tone smoother with the use of a voice actor. I also really enjoyed the acting of the king, Zhang Lei's performance. His last scene was heart-breaking.
Lai Xi's role as Liu Qian Shui continued to be a joy for the show.
Chen You Wei, as Liu Shang, did a decent job. I was not all over him, but he managed to convince me as the 8th prince despite having a completely different appearance and atmosphere.
On the other hand, the acting of the 14th prince continued to be weak. This is especially noticeable as it was paired with the outstanding performance of Jing Xin.
I found the first antagonist, the father of QXT, really awful. Motivation and behavior are questionable, and the acting was exaggerated and weak.
6. Proper Pacing: 5/5 ★★★★★: I enjoy a short episode number of 30 episodes. Thanks to this, the pacing is proper and did not feel draggy.
7. Solid Finale: 2/5 ★★☆☆☆: The last episodes were messy. I don't understand why Mo Yi Huai had to become this evil. You could argue he did it because of QTE, but his 100% turning to malicious felt very unnatural and forced to me.
In the earlier show, there was a sense of rivalry between the future and past MLC. The memories and even personality were slightly different. This was "all solved" by merging both princes into one person, how convenient! This makes zero sense!
The turn of events of the elder prince taking over the throne (no one in the palace noticed that!) but then evidence of his betrayal, was effortlessly found in his room (why did he keep it?!). His imperial token was stolen easily by QTE, and the entire army turned against him all of a sudden. The good people have won, and all is well. Throughout the last episodes, I tried very hard not to roll my eyes or write rant comments, but this is poor storytelling.
Despite the splendid start, the storytelling went downhill towards the middle of the drama. I enjoyed the romance between the leads, but it is not for those looking for logical storytelling. This makes me wonder whether I should watch season 3 once this is out...
----------------------------------
Kotori's drama review seven criteria definition:
After having watched many dramas and also written several reviews. I have detected that I rate dramas based on specific patterns. I formulated those into seven criteria.
1. "Fantasization": the degree of how much I care about the fate of the main leads, how often I have to think about them in my everyday life, and how much I wish the characters are part of my real life.
2. "Emotional Rollercoaster": the degree of how much my heart was moving from the acting, scenes, and story development (e.g., in pain, pounding, fluster etc.).
3. "Sleepless Nights.": how much I have the urge to binge-watch this drama.
4. "Natural and intelligent Storytelling.": how logically the story was able to proceed and the roles are acting within their characters. I don't have a thousand question marks when watching the drama. The feeling that the makers take us viewers seriously and that we do not always think that this looks fake.
5. "Loveable supporting Roles.": how much I love and care about supporting characters. They are not merely tools to help the main characters but are 3-dimensional and have proper motivations behind their actions.
6. "Proper Pacing.": how well the drama is pacing and not watered down to fill the number of episodes.
7. "Solid Finale": how properly the drama builds dramatic and finishes with a satisfactory ending. I have just watched too many dramas that starts to lose its grip around half or 2/3rd of its way.
Obviously, many other criteria could be important as well, such as unique story setup, visual elements, camera work, music, costumes, etc. Some of the points are indirectly included in the criteria, and others are not this important for me.
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