Revenge was Never Sweeter

This is one drama that I had high expectations and it definitely lived up to them. I was not in the least disappointed. You will feel yourself being drawn into the world of “revenge” by two main characters. The first being FL (Jung Yoo Min aka Han Yi Joo) who is a painter and was adopted by Han Jin Woong and Lee Jung Hye and ML (Sung Hoon aka Seo Do Guk) who is the grandson of the Taeja Group’s founder.

Han Yi Joo knew how her family felt about her. She was not loved by her parents, or her younger sister Han Yoo Ran. They made sure to isolate her and make her feel worthless by bullying and poisoning her as well as attempting to kill her several times. Her world and her marriage to Jung Se Hyeok fell apart the day of the “VIP party” that was held at the family’s art gallery.

Kim Jae Woo, assistant to Lee Jung Hye had ask Han Yi Joo to retrieve a document and bring it to the gallery. As she made her way into the gallery carrying the family portrait, she noticed her husband’s car which only a few minutes ago she had called the office to find out that he had taken leave for the day. Why was his car there? Walking over to his car, she spotted a piece of paper on the ground. She opens it up and finds it's his resignation letter.

Meanwhile, inside the gallery, Han Yi Joo’s husband Jung Se Hyeok is living streaming for her sister Han Yoo Ran.

Entering the gallery with her portrait and the document for Kim Jae Woo, Lee Jung Hye and her daughter Han Yoo Ran never missed an opportunity to ridicule her, so they began discussing the portrait that Han Yi Joo had painted but several prominent women interceded. They liked the portrait so much until Lee Jung Hye was forced to display it. Han Yi Joo noticed there is paint on the edge and begins to clean it, enter Seo Do Guk. As they exchange pleasantries, Han Yoo Ran and Jung Se Hyeok join them.

Realization finally rears its ugly head for Han Yi Joo when her mother is accused of forging paintings by one of the women that Lee Jung Hye had previously sold to. In full denial, she pleads with Han Yi Joo to take the blame promising her that she will find the best attorney for her. Lee Jung Hye’s assistant, Kim Jae Woo, produces documents to the police showing it was Han Yi Joo who was forging the painters not her mother. She is the one going down in flames. But her reality is not yet done being crushed. She overhears Jung Se Hyeok and her sister, Han Yoo Ran talking. Her husband confesses his love to her sister. He tells her that he only married Han Yi Joo only to be close to her. He thought being near her would be enough until he saw her with another man. He could not live without her and said he would leave his wife.

Han Yoo Ran tells him that she knew that he liked her and that only someone as clueless as her sister would not be able to tell that. She told him that she thought he would stop. She only tolerated him because he was cute. Then she told him that he should know his place. He was too greedy for something he couldn’t have, which was her.

As they both turned around, they were confronted by Han Yi Joo who stared horrified by what she just heard. But Han Yoo Ran just walked away, leaving Jung Seo Hyeok to clean up the pieces of his marriage with her sister. He told her: “I felt sorry for you. Trying so hard to impress your parents and somehow smiling all through all of it. You reminded me of myself. I felt sorry for you, like I felt about myself. You’re right. I’m wrong.”

But after all this high drama she couldn't take it and runs to her car. Driving through tears, she makes a U-turn and another car hits her but then a truck comes and hits that car which the driver was Seo Do Guk.

Still scheming to get out of the forgery implications, Lee Jung Hye looks at Han Yi Joo as she is laying in her hospital bed fighting for life and decides this was the perfect opportunity for her to kill her daughter at last. Pulling the ventilator pull from the wall, she sits beside her daughter's bed. Smiling she leans down to her daughter, she whispered:

“It’s finally quiet, isn’t it? Just the two of us, finally. Can I be honest with you now? Yi Joo. From the beginning, I never liked you. Do you remember when we first met? You tried so hard to make me like you. And it worked. But, at home you cried because you felt sorry for the others at the orphanage. Living in a good house, eating nice food, I couldn’t believe it. More and more I became curious. How long can you hide your greed? How long will she act pathetic? I felt it in my bones while looking at you. A life where you can’t even say what you want out loud, a life where you don’t even know people scorn and insult you behind your back. How awful that is. Considering our relationship, let mom give you advice for the last time. Yi Joo. In your next life, don’t be too kind. That just makes your life harder.”

As Han Yi Joo could feel the anger, rage and tears filling her eyes, she closes her eyes only to wake up back in her room at home. Wondering what just occurred, she looks at the date and find she is back to one year earlier when she was engaged to Jung Seo Hyeok. She realizes this is her opportunity to make the wrongs that had befallen her.

She then goes to the hotel to meet the man that her sister wants to marry--Seo Du Guk. She tells him that she wants to cut to the chase and instead of marrying Yoo Ran to marry her. Before he agreed, he ask her if it was for revenge towards Han Yoo Ran and Lee Jung Hye. She told him yes it was and that is why she chose him. As you know he agreed. They married.

In the words of Seo Du Guk and Han Yi Joo:

Seo Du Guk: "Did you see your painting?"

Han Yi Joo: "But why do you have it, Du Guk."

Seo Du Guk: "How I first knew about you, was through that painting. I fell in love with this painting by an unnamed artist. I ended up buying it. As I was looking for the artist, I found out it was you. At the time, you had just married Mr. Yoo. I watched you in secret. But when I saw you at the party celebrating the Savings Bank acquisition, I got angry. At your family for treating, you that way and at you for taking it. But really, I was angry at myself for not being able to do anything about it. I regretted speaking that way to you. On my way back, the accident happened."

Han Yi Joo: "Then you came back in time."

Seo Du Guk: "Yes. I was back in 2022, a year ago. You were a completely different person. When you said that you needed me to get revenge against your evil family, I was glad. Really glad.

Han Yi Joo: "So why? Why did you accept my offer?"

San Du Guk: "I realized that I was already in love with you. Yi Joo. I love you. I am so in love with you."

Their marriage was one filled with much love and happiness. But what Han Yi Joo never realized is that Seo Du Guk also prayed to go back to give her something as well...that was his love and to be loved. She had never known that in her life. He wanted to be the one to give it to her now and forever.

In the final words of Han Yi Joo:
"I once thought happiness was something that I couldn't have. I thought it was something to special for me. Something I couldn't dare dream of. That's why a happy family only existed on canvas for me. But not anymore. After meeting you, I learned that happiness is in the every day. That it's in the moments we pass by daily. So, this is our perfect marriage."

This drama to me was perfect in every way. It will definitely leave you smiling and wishing for more, hmmm, maybe that is the sweet revenge for all of us...wanting more!

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Some Magic Where You Didn't Expect It

While I went into this drama thinking we would see a lot of magic, it wasn't from the women.

Su Fei was married for 13 years to Yan Wei and they had a 10-year-old daughter, Youran. Perfect picture of the perfect family or so it appeared. Su Fei was beginning to see cracks in her marriage when she found a sports bra in her husband's backpack to which he covered quite quickly with saying it was a "promotional item." She of course was not even believing that but took it with a grain of salt. As time went by it only got worse with his many "missteps and lies" until she confronted him and ask him was there anything he wanted to tell her. Anything that he felt that she should know. Each time he denied there was anything. All the while he was seeing his girl on the side Ding Man Man.

Everything came to a head, during their wedding anniversary, Su Fei told Yan Wei to invite all of his colleagues. He was excited and praising his wife, even giving a little speech but when he reached to kiss her, she pulled away. Little did Yan Wei know that Su Fei had her own surprise. She took the remote of the TV and gave her speech and hit play and it showed Yan Wei and Ding Man Man kissing. She then told everyone she was divorcing him, and she was no longer his wife. Yan Wei was furious and pulled the TV off the wall. Humiliation big time!

Su Fei got her divorce and Youran lived with her but saw Yan Wei on the days the courts granted for him to see her. Su Fei was on her on path now. She had her cry and all the emotions one has after such an event. But she really had no time to wallow in her feelings because she now had to be a mother. She no longer had a husband who did the cooking in the morning/evenings and saw their daughter off to school. This was now her responsibility which she had to learn to be a mother, father and also the person who oversaw those within her company. But no one has a nanny that they can make sure you can stay at the office all day/night and look after your child like she did. Who has money like that in the real blue-collar world?

Enter An Ning, single mother of the cutest boy ever, An Kang. An Ning was a woman who had been let down by Pang Nin who was the father of An Kang. Little did she know that he was married when she got with him. You know how promises are made, well that was Pang Nin. The day she was going to him with her marriage papers she was six months pregnant, and she saw him with the woman that was his wife. She decided to leave and moved back to her hometown where she ran into a childhood friend at the train station who she eventually married due to being pregnant with An Kang. Well, that marriage was dissolved and An Ning was on the move to get away from the ex-husband that would not go away and always wanted money. She met Su Fei when she was leaving her building and almost hit An Kang. She offered to help her, but she declined because she recognized Yan Wei.

An Ning was a woman that had so many secrets, trusted no one and kept her defenses up all the time. She finally began to show signs of chinks in her armor after meeting Su Fei's brother, Su Lou (kindergarten teacher to An Kang). An Ning rejected his declaration of love and her telling him why was the harshest let down I have ever heard. So, mean, she used no filter when she told him why he should just give up on her. She really grated on my nerves as to how she was so up and down and trying to be this bad ass, wonder woman to save everyone but she couldn't tell them anything about herself. Annoyed!

Youran, the daughter of Su Fei and Yan Wei was spoiled and used to getting her way. She was too grown for her age. She had several clashes with her mother, Su Fei because she felt as though if she forgave her father, they could get back together again as a family. But the realization came when she heard her father being abusive to his new bride Ding Man Man. She eventually met with her father and ask him to be an honest person moving forward. But this little girl all of 10 years old would have not said the things that she said to Su Fei if she were my child. She just basically told her mother off, and she was so soothing to her that you wanted to tell Su Fei to snap out of it and discipline her. Unbelievable.

Finally, Ding Man Man who was so arrogant due to how her father raised her giving her everything. She at first just wanted to have fun with Yan Wei but that soon turned to love until she was just out of control. She finally got Yan Wei after his divorce, had her father agree to the marriage and sold her gallery to pay off his debt. I wish I would have sold my gallery for a man that had this debt before he married me. Then the icing on the cake, when Ding Man Man invited Su Fei to her wedding with her ex-husband, as if she really cared! But all was not roses for Ding Man Man after she married Yan Wei. She found out that he had created a company which listed her and her father as owning which got her father fired from his company. She confronted him and he beat her up big time. Yan Wei was just crazy. She finally left him and turned him into the police for all that he did.

So, after watching these "magical women" I thought to myself, where is the magic? How were they magical? The situations that they covered is nothing new. There was nothing magical to getting out of these situations that they encountered. We as women deal with being mistreated or abused by men either physically or mentally. Now, the two men that healed the hearts of Su Fei and An Ning were Yang Kai and Su Lou both understood what each of these women had gone through. I feel the magic came from these men not the women. They showed their magic by listening, making them laugh, cry, helping with personal issues, standing by their sides when they felt they had no one and showing that they were not like the men that they had dealt with in the past.

If you are looking for magic in this drama, it was by these two men and the journey they had in showing these two women that you can open up your hearts to love again, that was the magic to me.

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Never Stop Beating Your Drum for Justice

"A brave girl sought justice for her friend. With the help of righteous men, she forged a revenge plan."

This drama was well-written, and it resonated so poignantly as to what happens within our society today.

Faithful sets the stage of telling a story about a young woman by the name of Lin Ru Lan who enters the Yanyu Tower to learn the art/skills of embroidery and how her life takes a turn for the worse at the hands of Wu Lian who is the master there.

During the unfolding of this drama, we are told through flashbacks of each of the nine individuals who touched Lin Ru Lan's life prior to her committing suicide to prove her innocence at the hands of Wu Lian who sexually assaulted her. Seven years later, Meng Wan, who was a good friend of Lin Ru Lan's plotted and planned the most intricate revenge plan to clear the name of her friend by assembling those nine people to aid in her quest to seek justice on behalf of her.

We see what happens when you do try to get justice.

Disregarding Meng Wan's objections, Lin Ru Lan decided to risk her own reputation to sue Wu Lian. She went and beat the drum calling the court in session to hear her story. She tells the court how Wu Lian violated her. He basically makes it seem like she was in love with him, and he rejected her, and this was her way at getting back at him. She does have Liu San Niang, who is a courtesan as a witness. But you know she was disregarded because of her profession. All and all she lost the case.

But Lin Ru Lan was not to be deterred. Meng Wan had a cousin, Zhao Yucheng who she found would litigate the case for her. We see excitement from both of these women that they are finally getting somewhere. Not so fast, Wu Lian had found out there was a handkerchief that Ding Ru, who he also had assaulted and committed suicide had been found by her mother. Ding Ru's mother went to Lin Ru Lan and gave it to her for evidence. Thinking this would finally seal the deal with getting Wu Lian, she gives the evidence to Zhao Yucheng. Little did she know that Zhao Yucheng was bribed by Wu Lian to fake the evidence in return to giving him a high position and to let him meet Mrs. Ning who was influential within society. (Note: Wu Lian never helped him. He used Zhao Yucheng for his purpose.)

The downside of this, was Meng Wan was going to support her friend only to find out that her mother (who you will not like) knew of her pregnancy (which was by Wu Lian), gave her an abortion cocktail the same day as the trial to get rid of the baby. Being in so much pain, and bleeding profusely, she did make it finally to the court only to find out it was over. Meng Wan made her way to Lin Ru Lan only to meet Gao Cheng Cheng who she had convinced to testify, which she didn't do because Meng Wan did not show up. Gao Cheng Cheng did not allow Meng Wan to defend herself as to why she could not make the trial due to what her mother did. She stood silently as she was berated over and over again by her. Lin Ru Lan had enough and defended her friend once more even though she lost her case, and it would never be heard again.

To show support of Lin Ru Lan, Meng Wan tells her they will leave the city the next day and just travel together. As Meng Wan is getting ready to leave, her mother once again intercedes and stops this from happening. She has a coughing spell and tells Meng Wan that she needs her medicine. Meng Wan goes to get it while her mother goes to the city gates to meet Lin Ru Lan. She asks her where they will go and how will they survive on ruined reputations. She gets on her knees and begs Lin Ru Lan to let Meng Wan go. She wants her to get married and have a stable life. Lin Ru Lan decides to say that she never showed up and leaves. Meng Wan stays at the city gates all day and late into the evening.

Everyone is coming at Lin Ru Lan--her brother, her mother, her father, everyone until she tells them that she will marry Wu Lian. Her mother not trusting her locks her in her room. Meng Wan comes to see Lin Ru Lan. She asks her why they have locked her up. What happened? Did they find out she was leaving? Lin Ru Lan tells her no, that she never had decided to leave as she embroiders her wedding dress. Meng Wan is just flabbergasted as Lin Ru Lan says how can they survive on doing embroidery alone. She said marrying Wu Lian was her best choice. Meng Wan does not believe her but she tells Meng Wan that she can marry and live a peaceful life with him.

At last Lin Ru Lan's brother tries to help her and even Meng Wan breaks her fingers never to do embroidery again to pay the debt to Wu Lian to let Lin Ru Lan go. But in the end, it was for nothing. Lin Ru Lan had her own plan to let people hear her and give her justice. Before her wedding Meng Wan and Lin Ru Lan spent time together. She asks Meng Wan to give a letter to Shen Mu at 7 p.m. the day of her wedding.

As I said, Lin Ru Lan was exhausted by everything and had to figure her own way out. She decided the day of her wedding to take Wu Lian up to the top of Yanyu Tower because she always thought this would be a perfect view once they were married. Meanwhile, Meng Wan delivers the letter to Shen Mu that tells him that she is in danger at Yanyu Tower and to come quickly.

Going up to the top of Yanyu Tower, Lin Ru Lan has already set the stage for what was to happen. She had already relented to the decision she had made and settle it within herself that this was the only way to be heard. Wu Lian grabs her by the throat, and she ask him if he has the guts to kill her. He asks her does she think he doesn't. She then removes her hairpin from her hair and grabs his hand and puts the hairpin deep into her throat. Pulls it out and her blood goes everywhere on him. She places the hairpin in his hand as her body falls from the tower. Shen Mu and the other guard watch as her body falls to the ground. They look up and see Wu Lian staring down at her. This was the end and the drive that pushed Meng Wan to seek justice for Lin Ru Lan.

The assembly of these nine individuals took Meng Wan seven years but there were two deaths along the way before the retrial--Liu San Niang and Li Chun Feng. Here is what happened at the retrial:
- Wu Lian said Lin Ru Lan retracted her petition and admitted to false accusations.
- Lin Ru Lan's brother is the one who admits a letter to reopen the case to vindicate his sister.
- Meng Wan and Tian Xiao Ling testify.
- Liu Xin goes to the jail to get Wu An to testify against Wu Lian.
- Zhao Yucheng who represented Lin Ru Lan is called to admit that Wu Lian got him to fabricate the handkerchief with a different one and to lose the case. The maid to Zhao Yucheng testified to the change as well.
- Huang Jiao Jiao says that she saw Zhao Yucheng leaving Wu Lian's study the day before the trial.
- Wu An comes to testify but turns the tables on Meng Wan and tells them that she was holding the maidservant that he liked and threaten her.

But what will get you the most is the testimony of Tian Xiao Ling and what Wu Lian did to her. It is truly unbelievable:
"Seven years ago, the night I met him. I wanted to leave quickly. But he seemed to have had a drink and was in a good mood, so he started talking about embroidery with me. When I said a falling plum blossom seemed desolated, and a plum blossom on the tree showed more dignity, it provoked his anger. In his fury, he pinned me to the embroidery table. But that wasn't enough for him. At that time, I was out of my senses, filled with despair, like the living dead. He took a needle and embroidered this plum blossom on my shoulder stitch by stitch, trying to leave this plum blossom on me for a lifetime."

Can you imagine the pain she felt?

But when you see Episode 19 "The boy gave up his studies for embroidery" we are told the story of Wu Lian. We see how he is left to his own devices without the love of either his mother or father but by Lady Wu the concubine of his father. She is the only one that shows interest in him. He goes out of his way to be around her, even to learn to embroider.

Lady Wu tells him to hide this from his father that he is doing embroidery because this was not a profession that men did. He didn't care. He found out that Lady Wu like plum blossoms and he perfected them. Even being bullied by his friends he didn't care.

But his father did find out about him doing embroidery. He tells Lady Wu that she can no longer stay there, and he was sending her away. Wu Lian raced home because he wanted to see her before she left but he was to let, he found her--dead. She had hung herself. Was this what lead Wu Lian to go down the path he did? The plum blossoms that he felt so drawn to? Were they based on Lady Wu and what happened to her?

We really do not get a definitive reason why Wu Lian assaulted all of these women at Yanyu Tower or why he was the way he was. This was something that was lacking for me. I felt the writers should have given us more when they told his backstory.

There was finally vindication after all, and justice did prevail in prosecuting Wu Lian. Mr. Lou by order of the emperor handled the case as he saw fit and was told to bring closure. And with that, Wu Lian's sentence was: According to the law, he was sentenced to the punishment of flogging and exiled to the northwest for three thousand miles, never to be pardoned in his lifetime. Fitting do you think?

The final encounter of Meng Wan and Wu Lian was when he had already been flogged and was in jail. Meng Wan sees Wu Lian as he is lying face down and doing embroidery. He still doing plum blossoms with fingers that really can no longer hold a needle. Meng Wan asks him if he ever regretted in the slightest what he had done, he never said a word.

As he was lying there, he heard Lady Wu call him (he was hallucinating) and tells him not to do plum blossoms anymore and to put the needle down. He starts calling Lady Wu. Wu Lian swallowed the needle. Meng Wan hears the jailers yelling that Wu Lian had swallowed the needle but she just kept walking out of the prison. All the while smiling. So ended the life of Wu Lian.

In Episode 25 which is called "A Mere Dream" we are given the opportunity to see what life would have been like if none of this had happened. Want to see?

Wu Lian's life changed because his family was loving towards him. He had his mother and Lady Wu together as well as his father with him at dinners. He became a pastry chef. He headed to the capital to open up a shop. He meets Wu An along the way whom he helps.

Then we were given to see what if they didn’t have witnesses.

We are shown the different side of Meng Wan's mother. How her mother was a lot stronger and fended off her husband, not as she did before when he was in a drunken state. Their relationship was much better.

Meng Wan goes off with Xu who she married and was his only wife.
Liu Xin was married and had two children by the girl he first like at the booth selling buns.
Liu San Niang this time saves her master and pays his ransom so he could leave the troupe.
Shen Mu was a fugitive. He robbed from the rich and gave to the poor.
Feng Da was an owner of his own embroidery shop and he was an embroider.
Tian Xiao Ling and Li Chun Feng married.

As for Rulan she gets married, and she sees Meng Wan as she is in her wedding chariot and they both feel they somehow seemed familiar to each other.

Lin Ru Lan is in the market as are all of the nine individuals who played such an important role in her previous life. As the ending comes, everything is just like a dream. Hope it wouldn't come true even if we could never meet again.

I loved all of the lantern sayings:
Meng Wan – To accompany her to see the splendid views in the world.
Lin Ru Lan – An adult girl is fearless.
Liu San Niang – Wait in the boudoir for seven years, but nothing is forgotten.
Lin Xiu – Give a treasure hairpin to the hero. Ignite a candlelight.
Feng Da – The wilderness also has emotions.
Tian Xiao Ling – Troubled by worldly affairs, seeking tranquility in the mountains.
Huang Jiao Jiao – Pray to Silkworm Mother at the door. Worship the God of Wealth inside.
Shen Mu – The young man goes with the wind and returns in time.

When I watched this drama, I was filled with such anger. Why? Because it is still the same today in some ways. We beat our drum and call the injustice that we see to ourselves as women every day, but it can fall on deaf ears. We saw in this drama, the physical and mental abuse, the bullying, the assault of these women over and over again, family and friends turning a blind eye, stereotyping of how women should act and behave, reputations put on the forefront, citizens who tried these women every day. Can you imagine how exhausting it is? And yes, you do give up. You want to keep beating that drum, but how long can you beat it to be heard. I hope, we as women never lose the drive and desire to beat our own drum when we see injustice not only for ourselves but for others that may be so scared to do so. We are in this fight together. It took nine of them. How many will it take for you?

If one only thinks for one person, it's not kindness. A single lantern creates limited light, but so what? As long as this lantern remains luminous, it can light more lanterns, leading to a million lights. As bright as the rising sun, it can illuminate the long night.

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Simply Romantic

I really had no expectations as I started this drama. I read the overall review and thought, "why not." But I was surprised to find that this is really a hidden gem of a good, simple romantic story with a wonderful undertone of the craftsmanship that Ji Chen wanted to keep viable.

Si Qing and Jing Chen are by far polar opposite but as they say opposites do attract. Who would have imagined on a winter solstice night Si Qing would propose marriage to Jing Chen. That is how this romance started. I was blown away myself by her direct and "in your face" proposal. At first, Jing Chen is stunned but after he knew she had something of value that would make his grandfather happy, he agreed.

Like all romances love for these two came slowly but gracefully. It was Ji Chen who faced abandonment issues while Si Qing was seeking a "family" to call her own. This is what drew them to each other because each had what the other was seeking in their lives and was the catalyst that bound them together.

Ji Chen who was silent and held his emotions in, but knowing that his grandfather was going to pass, and Si Qing had what he needed he raced to her office only to knock over and see the winter solstice art that he created, and she had bought six years ago. This realization, and knowing who she was, gave him an added edge in wanting this marriage. As he got to know Si Qing,
he realized so much about how she had such a good heart, kind, generous but also how she was treated by her parents and co-workers, this further added to him falling in love with her, accepting her as his family and being her "one and only" who would protect and shield her from anything that would harm her.

Si Qing had parents that were never around, and work was her go too. Her father had remarried and had another family so when holidays or her birthday came, they were brushed aside. Basically, she was always alone, working late and working hard enough to have the money to buy that apartment that she always dreamed about was her goal. But when she met Ji Chen, and really seeing him with the gold dust when she inadvertently opens the window, everything stopped. He was the man that had moved her heart and wanted as her family.

They did go through several ups and downs but in the end love prevailed. The SFL who you would think would be dramatic was at first but when she realized that Ji Chen was willing to sacrifice and go back to a job that he never wanted to go too...she knew he loved her, and it was time for her to let her dream of being with him go. Si Qing and the SFL both met each other before she knew that she was married to Ji Chen so a bonding with Si Qing had started, so their friendship remained even after she gave up on Ji Chen.

Ji Chen who had an older brother with the same name put to rights all the misunderstandings that they had growing up. He admitted that he did bully him growing up because he didn't want his grandfather to replace him, and he felt that Ji Chen was his replacement. But doing an intervention was what finally help Ji Chen face his demons of his childhood and abandonment issues.

The director did beautifully intertwine the story of those who have a skillset and craftmanship that in this day and age is being forgotten. It was nice to see how they touch upon and let myself as a novice see those who do basket weaving, lanterns, umbrellas, craving wood, etc. It was such an eye opener to see that generations upon generations have handed down these skills but with modern day machinery the elegance of love that is put into each piece is lost. It makes me hope that younger people would want to carry and learn these crafts so we will get to enjoy them years from now.

The scenery was just breathtaking. The field of flowers, the fireworks, the temple of all those craftsmen, it was just a scenic tour which I felt that I was really in and enjoying. But you really will fall in love with the puppies. They are just too cute when you see them following Ji Chen around. I just wanted to keep one.

I can only say that I hope you would take the time to enjoy this drama. It is one that you can sit back enjoy and feel like you are going on vacation and seeing two individuals that you would not think they would ever find love, but they do, in such an unconventional way.

The fireworks for me not only were in the sky but bursting from my heart....

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Tea for Two and Hot Kisses Too!

This is a cute drama that I found myself enjoying.

You have the ML (Eric Hsiao aka Lu Ming Yu) the cute and handsome ex-bodyguard who meets the FL (Qi Yan Di aka Ye Xi Yan/Xiu Fen) daughter of the Ye Group approximately three years ago. Lu Ming Yu was on assignment, he was injured and was fleeing from his captors when he encountered a drunken umbrella carrying Ye Xi Yan who saw him and told him that she was in a bad mood until she decided to help him. She then promptly dropped the umbrella and kissed Lu Ming Yu.

Fast forward after that meeting, and we now have Lu Ming Yu who has a tea plantation that he owns and sells tea. The whole town is close-knit, and everyone knows pretty much everyone. His two closes' friends are: SML (Tan Jia Tai aka Jiang Cheng Cheng) and the girl that he has liked for years, SFL (Fang Si Chang aka Su Qi Ran).

Lu Ming Yu meets Ye Xi Yan after she is in an automobile accident and men try to kidnap her. He helps her escape. Pretending that she has lost her memory, she lets everyone believe that she is -- Xiu Fen. No one has seen her for years so this became quite plausible for her to be her. She doesn't dissuade anyone from thinking otherwise and even gets Su Qi Ran to help her unknowingly with information about her to make her appear to be believable to everyone.

Eventually we have Lu Ming Yu and Xiu Fan begin to bond together and live together. Oh, and she inadvertently becomes engaged to him as well. But you cannot have this type of happiness last long. Enter Gao Kai aka Cui Zi Hao, the son of Cui Group who was looking for Ye Xi Yan. When she sees him, she denies even being the person he thinks she is and says she can't help the similarity. Lu Ming Yu stops Cui Zi Hao at all costs eventually telling him that she is his girl, and they are engaged. This does not sit well with Cui Zi Hao.

Misunderstandings abound between Lu Ming Yu and Ye Xi Yan primarily due to the tea plantation and how she wanted it to be established as part of the Ye Group. But stock prices began to fall, and the company was going to be lost, stepping in to save the day is Cui Zi Hao who tells her if she does not marry him the company will be bought by him at a rock bottom price. She agrees. Breaking the heart of Lu Ming Yu. He knew that all of this was a ploy to get the company from falling into his hands.

With the help of Lu Ming Yu, Jiang Cheng Cheng, and Su Qi Ran they were able to get the evidence to help Ye Xi Yan get away from Cui Zi Hao once and for all and relay all of misdeeds even kidnapping Ye Xi Yan three years ago and Lu Ming Yu was the bodyguard who saved her.

You have a lot of kisses throughout the drama and ML really gets into his kisses -- check out his steamy hot shower scene with the FL. Wow! Is all I can say, didn't see that coming. But you won't be disappointed with the kisses of these two.

Yes, there is a happy ending with both couples. Jiang Cheng Cheng and Su Qi Ran each of have their businesses and are together. As for Ye Xi Yan and Lu Ming Yu they were of course going to get married and oh, and she tells him that she was pregnant.

I would suggested get yourself a nice cup of hot brewed tea and enjoy this drama, it is worth the cup!

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When the Bells of Love Stop

If you are thinking this is going to be a romantic love story -- it is, but tragically sad.

You see this is about a love that spans over 500 years...

Shen Qi (Amber Song) lived in a village where she fell upon the wounded Chi Ye (Li Dai Kun). The two eventually fell in love and married. But on the day of the wedding, Chi Ye picked up his sword (we don't know why he wanted to kill everyone in the clan) to kill Shen Qi's clan. The clan chief foresaw what would unfold and told Shen Qi that her mission was whenever Chi Ye's sword pointed at her clan members, she had to die under his sword to make Chi Ye feel guilty. She assured the clan chief that no matter what she would do exactly that.

She blocked the sword with her body and died in Chi Ye's arms. Chi Ye was filled with so much grief holding the bloody Shen Qi in his arms, he couldn't bear losing her, "How can I live alone" as he held a dagger in his hand to end his life. Just then he hears bells and a woman's voice, "Do you want to save her?" As he turns his head around, he sees an old woman, cane clicking on the hard ground with bells ringing. She says, "I can let her wake up but there's a price to pay. Her bells turn into a nail on your chest. She'll wake up 500 years later because of you and you never get hurt in endless years. You can never be with her, or their will be punishment. Chi Ye asks, "What is the punishment. Will it hurt her?" Amanma response, "Since red rope is tied, disaster lurks within good fortune. Remember what I said. Even if she wakes up you can never love each other. Love stays so long as you are alive. Only the forever-running water knows the melancholy." She repeats the last words until she disappears.

Fast forward 500 years later...

As Chi Ye walks to the tree of bells, he remembers his last parting words with the Amanma.
Chi Ye, "When will she wake up."
Amanma: "500 years later when the bells on the tree stop ringing, Shen Qi will wake up."
Chi Ye: "Okay. I'll wait for that day."

Looking at the bells and hearing them ringing as they blow upon the breeze of the wind, he contemplates when will the bells stop ringing. Just at that moment...they stop. He finally will get to see her. Turning and looking around, one of the bells falls from the tree and lands on the ground in front of him. Bending to pick it up, he hears a voice, "That's my bell." Hesitant to look up, he eventually does. In the tree, is Shen Qi, "I can't get down. Can you help me?"

Thus begins Shen Qi and Chi Ye's love story on Silver Bell Island.

Somehow, six years goes by until the next meeting of the couple. When they do meet, Shen Qi falls in love at first sight with Chi Ye. She will not be deterred in any way and begins to chase him. However, Chi Ye's constant rejection and avoidance of her makes Shen Qi think that it's all just wishful thinking, until she tells him "My wish is to be with you". With those words Chi Ye's heart begins to loosen.

They begin to spend endless days together just enjoying life and begin with each other so much so until they decide to get married. But all good things as they say.

Shen Qi finds out about their past life together and breaks up but they both realize their love is what they both want so they decide to face everything that fate has for them together. Their wedding was held, with all of the islanders looking on. Chi Ye finally got his moment with Shen Qi -- to make her his wife -- to be husband and wife.

But again, he was faced with the memories of what Amanma had told him.

Chi Ye: "What if we still love each other?"
Amanma: "Then punishment shall befall us. To avoid it, there is only one way, that is to forge a small knife with the silver ringing on Shen Qi and remove the nail from your chest. But once this contract is broken, her life will come to an end. And you'll return to your normal self.
Chi Ye: "I will never do that."
Amanma: "Cause and effect are always there, destiny is uncertain."

Cause and effect, haunting words which plagued both Shen Qi and Chi Ye since things were beginning to happen on the island. People were getting sick, crops dying, flowers wilting, etc. They knew they had to do something. As they walked along the trail and Shen Qi shared with Chi Ye the six years when she appeared on the island and how she had no memory, they both heard the ringing of bells and the click of the cane...Amanma.

Amanma: "You came here after all. Ling Yi Gu Shu. Infinity of force method. Once offended. There must be a disaster. Chi Ye, with his obsession with you. Change one's life against heaven. Now you two violated the taboo of ancient art will be punished."
Shen Qi: "What if the contract is terminated? Is there any way to terminate the contract? It can make everything go back to the past."
Amanma: "Once the contract is broken, can only accept punishment. And the real punishment is the fall of the island."

Shen Qi has a recall of a memory while Amanma and Chi Ye look on.

Amanma: Shen Qi, I thought you saw it all.
Shen Qi runs away while Chi Ye confronts Amanma.
Amanma: "Do you know the problem now? "
Chi Ye: "Problem. What's the problem? What's wrong with our love?"
Amanma "Now Shen Qi realizes that Silver Bell cast into a knife if you cut out the silver nail from you with a knife Shen Qi will die. I'll give you one last chance. Come to me when you think it's over. Silver nail removable. The collapse of the island can be solved."
Chi Ye: "What's the price this time?"
Amanma: "The life of you and Shen Qi will all end. There are only seven days left in my life. Ruthless is too bitter. Love is evil."

With that said, Chi Ye went back and told a distraught Shen Qi that there was another way. Amanma gave him two rings that that would let them share each other's pain, when they take the silver nail from his chest, they will only have seven days left. She agrees.

You see them spending those last seven days with laughter, love and so much happiness. The gray begins to show in their hair. Shen Qi rest her head on Chi Ye's shoulder. Chi Ye smiles as he thinks of the memories of their love story. He closes his eyes, smiles and rest his head on Shen Qi's. They quietly pass away on the swing holding hands.

Do you believe this was a true story? You see a couple at the end who is listening to a woman telling them this story. They both are in disbelief whether to believe her or not. The woman assures them it is true. She is selling silver bells which leads them to believe she is duping them only to sell the bells.

We also have a second couple Luo Fei (Yu Yi Lei) and Qi Yang (Miao Wei Lun) who fall in love and have a beautiful love story. Qi Yang was the assistant to Chi Ye and knew his secret. Luo Fei came on the island to get away but ended up leaving but coming back to the island because she had fallen for Qi Yang. Qi Yang ended up being the new island owner with Luo Fei by his side.

I really did enjoy this story. I felt there were definitely some missing pieces which could have explain things a bit better. Both couples are so good together. You find yourself hoping that there will be a change in fate for our main couple, but that wasn't to be. Touching, yet such a sad story.

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A Beautiful Love Story

This amazing, well-executed drama has come to an end. What a journey we all had the privilege to enjoy.

Looking back over this drama it was one that grasp you from the very first episode and held you fast to every episode until the nicely wrapped up ending.

I can only say, myself as a woman, and maybe for other women out there, we all would love to have a Lu Chen in our lives. This man knew from the first moment he saw her that she was going to be his and his alone because it was love at first sight. To have that determination and decisiveness of mindset is rare indeed. He may have been silent but everything he did was well thought out of. In his own way, he had guided her, as well as her with him to be the couple that through anything could withstand time.

No matter what pressures they held both within their families, their own lives and their apparent separation, they held fast and firm to their beliefs. In their own way their love of each other healed their families and just made all that were around them see how much love can endure and it was never lost between them, but recaptured and reborn to a more exquisite love story.

This drama held us all in the palm of its hand giving us smiles, swooning, laughter, tears but most of all...love. A masterpiece of craftsmanship by a couple that made us enjoy what falling and being in love is all about.

As the saying goes, all paths lead home...we all have our own road home because that is where love is.

Until next time...love....

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Teasing that Leaves You Breathless and Wanting...More!

It most certainly does! Honestly, the sensuality of this ML (Jesse Ren aka Xu Zhe Qing) goes from 0-100 in mere seconds. Talk about hot, this man is s-i-z-z-l-i-n-g! You will be catching your breath every time you see how Xu Zhe Qing comes onto his FL (Gao Rong Fang aka Wen Xi/Wen Hao), but Wen Xi is not to be outdone, oh no, she gives it back to him just as good. And just when you are so involved, the episode ends. That is what draws you into this drama and get ready for an adrenaline rush!

Xu Zhe Qing is a mercenary hired to go to the Border of Country M to save Wen Xi who has been abducted. He has to arrive by the evening to enter into a contest because the prize to the winner – Wen Xi. Of course, Xu Zhe Qing does his thing and wins her. But you probably wonder how Wen Xi got into this situation. Well, three hours prior, she tried to help a girl who said loan sharks were chasing her. Wen Xi finds out to late that it was a set up by the girl for her to be her replacement.

Winning the fight, Xu Zhe Qing throws Wen Xi over his shoulders and takes her to the bedroom. He tells her not to struggle because she will need her strength as he puts her up against the wall. Keeping her arms around his neck, he takes his hand and proceeds to take off her shoes. Sliding his hand up her leg and still having her legs and arms wrapped around him, he puts her in his arms and carries her over to the shower. Placing her on the floor and cutting the shower on (of course we see his white shirt become all wet to reveal his nicely tight chest) he begins to apply water pressure on her legs and cleans them. Putting on a t-shirt, he then takes her to the window and turns her around and tells her if she wants to stay alive that she needs to follow what he tells her to do. Carrying her over to the bed he drops her down and straddles her body and pulls his shirt off and uses it to tie her hands above her head.

Because they are begin watched, he makes it seems like he is going to have sex with her because he picks up her leg with his head down on it. The men watching are satisfied and leave. Xu Zhe Qing, once he knows they are gone drops her leg down and continues to apply ointment on her wound. He was actually blowing on a wound on her leg to stop the sting of the ointment. Now that the men outside were gone, Xu Zhe Qing tell her that he works for a private security company and that her family hired him to get her.

There is a lot of action just when you think he is going to get both of them out only to have an issue arise that he doesn't.

Some of his sexiest moves during their captivity:
- Coming up behind her after they “supposedly” spent the night together and whispering in her ear that she had to make it believable that they did, so he left a mark on her neck.
- When one of the captors took Wen Xi and he chased them down to get her back only to find they couldn't leave because there was GPS in the car to track them. He then gave the illusion when Mr. Jia and his team approach the car that the two were making out.
- Mr. Jia's daughter drugging him. Wen Xi (ok, no choice here) has to sober him up, hence the best "water kiss" you have ever seen. You can literally hear him swallowing the water, so hot!
- Catching her with one arm (girl must be lighter than a feather) all the while holding a gun.

It is funny to hear Mr. Jia say that he can't believe how Xu Zhe Qing is so into her. The true test comes when Mr. Jia's daughter tells her father that she wants him. Xu Zhe Qing tells him that he will go with her only if he can have Wen Xi come as well. This was the opportunity for her to escape with the help of his "man Friday - Ren." But again, it was foiled due to the fact that Wen Xi knew they were testing him, and to Xu Zhe Qing's surprise and to Mr. Jia and his daughter, she comes out of the dressing room asking him if he likes her dress.

Finally, the escape happens, and we now meet SML (Liu Tian Yang aka Ling Yuan) who Xu Zhe Qing was told by Mr. Jia to kill. He doesn't kill him and they too like Wen Xi escape unscathed.

Thus begins the adventures of Xu Zhe Qing and Wen Xi.

Wen Xi finds out that the contract payment was $1,640,000 which is more than two years of her sister's salary. She asks Xu Zhe Qing if there is a discount, and he tells her he does need a female partner for some things so he tells her that she can help him in order to pay off her contract. Eventually, he tells her there will be no more jobs. The contract is invalid. He rips it up. Before they part ways, Wen Xi gives him her number and tells him the next time he is in China to call her.

Three years later, Wen Xi is back to her life. Xu Zhe Qing is back to his or is he. The number Wen Xi gave him was in his pocket of the clothes that Ren washed and, you got it, the number was unreadable. Fast forward and Xu Zhe Qing see Wen Xi as she is fixing her hair in front of a convenience store window. He follows her and see her bending down on the ground. He offers her his hand. Only for her to hand him a nail that was near his car tire because she didn’t want to have his car run over it. Xu Zhe Qing is surprised that she shows no reaction or recognition of him. But in her haste, or was it, he found her key card with the name "Wen Hao" indicating to him it was not Wen Xi but at least he found out where she was working which was the same company as him. He would test her to see if she really was Wen Hao or Wen Xi.

Working in the office and same company posed as a challenge to not only Wen Xi but Xu Zhe Qing as well. They always seemed to have the steamiest encounters. You will never look at a chair in an office the same way. Trust me. Oh, and the glasses he wears, that even makes him hotter to Wen Xi. She continues, with the utmost effort not to be swayed by Xu Zhe Qing. That went by the wayside when both her and Xu Zhe Qing are basically working on the same case. He is trying to prove his father's innocence with regards to embezzlement and she trying to find out about who killed her twin sister.

Xu Zhe Qing does find out that she is the Wen Xi that he fell in love with three years ago. She gets drunk and he questions her, and she reveals everything. This makes Xu Zhe Qing very happy.

Finding information, and mind you, we find out that Xu Zhe Qing has been setting up Wen Xi in different ways to find out what she knows. Case in point, she finds papers and gets caught. Of course, Xu Zhe Qing comes to the rescue. As the guy gets away, the papers and key go out into the road. Xu Zhe Qing goes to get them and almost gets hit by a truck. Now, this has to be the HOTTEST kiss!!! She runs over to him after finding out he is safe and he takes her in his arms and he gives her the most passionate, I mean passionate (look closely, you see that tongue action) kiss. Remember, this is a man that has been wanting her for THREE years. You gonna love this man, for real!

She reveals the truth to him about her sister and everything and the papers he is holding will prove what her sister was doing and reopen the case. But what he does will surprise you. He burns them right in front of her. At that point, he lost her.

The other nemesis in all this is Ling De Chang, who is the father to Ling Quan and is the best friend of Xu Zhe Qing and lover of Wen Xi's sister Wen Hao.

But again, instead of these two working together so many miscommunications ran rapid. Due to the fact of them both wanting to find out the same things but going about it differently, but also Ling Yuan who posed a problem for both of them. He pitted them against each other to do what his father wanted. It was up to Ling Yuan to kill both of them so that the company would survive and none of their dirty dealings would be revealed.

Xu Zhe Qing was trying to protect Wen Xi so, he had her leave her job, move in with him and boy did things heat up at home too. But Wen Xi was at the point that she no longer trusted Xu Zhe Qing so she went rogue a lot which drove him insane because he was afraid, he would not be there to protect her. This reached a head after he told her everything that had happened with his father and how he used her. She could not bear anymore deception from him and told him the relationship was over.

As she was leaving to go Xu Zhe Qing snatched her back not once, not twice, but three times until he pushed her on the couch. Holding her down and beginning to cry and covering her mouth with his hand, not having the words yet to say to her, Xu Zhe Qing finally uttered “I’m sorry. I was too arrogant.” He said this to her over and over, all the while staring at her until his lips come down on hers in another passionate kiss, saying to her, "From now on, you protect Xu Zhe Qing and Yu Zhe." He then continued kissing her until he wakes up the next morning naked in bed looking for Wen Xi. He thinks she is gone only for her to appear and say that she was going to get breakfast, and he needs more sleep because his eyes are still puffy from crying.

You know it couldn’t go smoothly. Ling Yuan's dad gets her at the convenience store and calls Xu Zhe Qing and tells him to bring the phone which Wen Xi’s sister had copied all the information of where the monies went. He takes the phone and has to go back to Border M to get Wen Xi.

At last, getting to her, he gets in the car and is given the key by Ling Yuan which didn’t work because he took control of the car. Disabled the breaks. He and Wen Xi jump out of the car before it went into the water.

One last attempt to take out the duo is when they were caught by Ling Yuan's father. Xu Zhe Qing is held in a separate room while Wen Xi awakes to find Ling Yuan's father making the decision to wipe out her memories and turn her into her sister Wen Hao. But the doctor turns out to be Xu Zhe Qing who breaks out and comes to the rescue of Wen Xi. As they are leaving, they run into Ling Yuan who is dressed in black, just as Xu Zhe Qing did on his assignments. He gives them keys to the car to escape. Ling Yuan's father shoots and unbeknownst to him until he takes off the mask, he has killed his own son.

Everything comes to fruition and the illegally raised funds under the name of Yu Wan Qing, the sudden death of Wen Hao six months ago, exposing G.E's money laundering, illegal transactions brought the case finally to be tried.

There was another love match with Ren (Xu Zhe Qing's bestie) and SFL (Zhang Ya Meng aka Qiao Fei). They are too cute together because he is so much younger than her. He has the same sexiness that he takes from watching his boss. You will enjoy those two as well.

At last, our couple is together and just as we get another moment of them giving us those hot kisses. Wen Xi stops him to open up the parcel that came. To their surprise in the box is a black mask and outfit which is Xu Zhe Qing's signature outfit with a note -- "Don't slack off. This isn't over yet."

Yes, we are looking for a season 2!!!!

Jesse Ren is definitely one to put on the hot list of short dramas along with: Dai Gao Zheng (Forever Love), Richard Li (The Deliberation of Love), Yang Ze (The Killer is Also Romantic), Fan Zhi Yan (My Lethal Man), Tsao Yu Ning (Mysterious Love) and another newcomer Yu Yang (First Marriage). All of these are the hottest men when it comes to passionate kisses.

I can only say, this is another drama that is definitely worth the watch. Get ready, this will be one that will not only leave you smiling but also have your pulses racing.

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Who is the Killer? You Won't Care.

This drama is one set to give us suspense and mystery in an apartment complex surrounding the death of actress FL (Jia Qing aka Zhou Yun Qi).

ML (Xiao Shun Yao aka Detective Zhao Shang) and Cui Shan He are the first on the scene of the actress death. After reviewing, those who knew Zhou Yun Qi they narrowed the suspects to six individual who lived in the complex and who all personally knew her.

Suspect list:

Hu Jun aka Li Xu Dong: Knew Zhou Yun Qi since childhood due to him being the reason her father was in the hospital which led him to serve time in jail. Once his time was served, he opened up a restaurant and later a bar and made amends for his misdeed by giving money to Zhou Yun Qi and her mother. Zhou Yun Qi professed her love to Li Xu Dong but was rejected. Leng Mei Zhen also knew him through Zhou Yun Qi since high school.

Wang Da Qi aka Wang Lei: Private driver to Zhou Yun Qi. He had no love interest in her but always wanted the best for her. His girlfriend was Chen Jia Jia. She was having an affair with Leng Mei Zhen’s boyfriend Chen Zang.

Zheng Jia Bin aka Chen Zang: Boxing coach and personal coach to Zhou Yun Qi. He was also the boyfriend of Leng Mei Zhen. One of the prime suspects of killing her.

Qian Xiao Ming: Gamer who was a friend of Li Xu Dong who gave him his alibi. He also was a friend of Leng Mei Zhen.

He Du Juan aka Leng Mei Zhen: Bestie since high school of Zhou Yun Qi. She had some connection to everyone in the apartment complex.

Jiang Fang Ting aka Chen Jia Jia: Girlfriend of Wang Lei and who had an affair with Chen Zang. Confronted Leng Mei Zhen about her affair with Chen Zang.

As you can see by the list that all connections lead to Leng Mei Zhen who was the catalyst surrounding Zhou Yun Qi death as well as Li Qi, psychiatrist to Leng Mei Zhen and Detective Zhao Shang.

You are led through all the lives of each of the individual who live in the complex and how all of their lives intertwined with Zhou Yun Qi. Each had a motive. But who really did it and why? Was it one person? Several people?

At first, you are intrigued, but as the drama moved on you are less and less involved because some things are so obvious you begin to lose interest but also some characters go missing for a time, you forget about them. Just like this drama will be forgetful to you. When the ending comes you are pretty much left empty and why a drama that gave you a good start and cast, fell flat.

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Moments that Last Forever

From the first note of the music until the last, we are drawn into this captivating and mesmerizing drama…"What Comes After Love." When I first heard the title, it caught my attention but also the synopsis as well, which was quite simplistic – a Korean student is studying in Japan and falls in love with someone who is Japanese. Simple right. Nothing more. But it was that they fell in love. We all love a good love story and this by far lived up to my expectation and then some.

You always have to have the right couple and this pairing was exceptional. You have FL (Lee Se Young aka Cho Hong /Beni) and ML (Sakaguchi Kentaro aka Aoki Jungo/Sasae Hikari/Yun Oh) who made you feel in each scene, each frame their passion and longing desire of love for each other as all love stories begin. But life can intervene and what you thought was your “forever” lends itself to breaking up – a breakup that lasted for five years.

Life is funny. Fate can always play a part can’t it. That is what happened to Beni and Jungo. For those five years, while apart Jungo wrote “their” story in the novel, “What Comes After Love.” Coming to Korea to promote his novel, the interpreter he has is no other than the woman who has never left his heart, mind or soul…Beni. She too was shocked to see him. The play of emotion on her face, yet subtle, you could see when she first meets him. She is visibly shaken by the man she left without a word to come back to Korea, but she hid it well.

We feel the words, so many words not spoken between them, but each wanting to say but yet not say, for what, fear, more misunderstandings…neither would know until they were ready to take the step, leap of faith to find out but that was not to come…yet.

The tug of war throughout this drama was of their hearts and facing what had broken them up. The flashbacks of how they fell in love. The youthfulness of both of them. To see the beautiful smile of Beni, the illumination of light that radiated from her which drew Jungo to her. Her carefree nature and openness of love for him, you will see is a stark comparison of how we see her after those five years.

Jungo too was captivated by Beni. Love at first sight. She was just a shining beacon that he could see from afar that drew him to her no matter how far apart they were. Then life, misunderstanding, loneliness, and goodbye.

They both have others in their lives that wanted to get close to them but their always seem to be a barrier particularly for Jungo. Sung Ryung aka Manager Kong wanted Jungo in her life, but she knew once he saw Beni again. It was over, for her. The thoughts of what could be, we feel she had portrayed in her mind vanished. Her overall conclusion was to be his manager/friend. That is all his heart could give her. But being his friend, she gave him advice to take the steps towards Beni and look in her eyes without any more reservation and tell her his feelings that he could not do so before.

Beni had Hong Jong Hyn aka Kim Min Jun as the man that loved her, but which was not reciprocated in kind. I feel Beni never felt anything more for him but friendship as well. We all like to live in an illusion that a person has feeling for you and the misunderstanding of love is what was between her and Kim Min Jun. I feel he knew she was never “all in” but he was willing to overlook it because he loved her. He was the anchor that she did need in some respects when she came back from Japan. I felt like no one really ask her about what she thought but she just went along with the program. But once Jungo came back emotions that were hidden deep within her came rushing back so much so until she told Kim Min Jun, she couldn’t accept his proposal.

You probably are wondering what broke them up. It boiled down to me -- communication, misunderstanding, complaining and learning to say, “I’m sorry.” Loneliness for Beni was a big factor and Jungo after years of self-examination understood that he was the catalyst that pushed Beni even further to want to leave because he always left her alone. For Beni’s part it was her arguing and constant complaining wanting him to be with her.

Taking the first step towards rekindling the love was Beni. Going to him on his birthday and bringing flowers only to see he was with Manager Kong. Departs without a word. I thought Manager Hong wouldn’t tell Jungo that Beni was there. But to my surprise she did, leaving him to chase after her.

You see the utter defeat as Jungo sees Beni is gone.

Beni has never read Jungo’s novel, which she does after we find that Jungo has come to the office because he was leaving to go back home, leaves the keychain which symbolizes never begin apart but together. Jungo makes one last attempt to get Beni's information which he does from the interpreter. Getting ready to call, Beni calls and they meet. Sadness, no communication, words still left unspoken. goodbyes once again.

This is our first glimpse of seeing Beni’s rawness when she realizes how deep her love is for Jungo. You see the resilience of holding strong, the armor that she worn just fall fast and hard, exposing her to the harsh reality that he might finally be lost to her. Her crying uncontrollably makes your heart go out to her. And just wish if only….

At last, love does prevail...

Jungo is getting ready to depart for the airport when one of the concierges approaches him. Apologizes for not giving him the flowers that were to be his. He takes them and sees the card in the flowers as he is riding to the airport which simply states: "I'm sorry about earlier. Happy Birthday - Hong." Beni took her step towards him to let him know she was wrong; all of their misunderstandings were not only on his part but hers as well. The tears and sadness in Jungo's eyes make you scream at him to go back and get your girl.

Now it is Jungo's turn. Take his step to Beni but it wasn't steps it was running. He found her and ran alongside her every step of the way. Until they stopped and looked at each other, really looked at each other and talked.

Jungo: "Ever since we broke up, I wanted to be closer to your heart. So, I just kept running. I ran around Inokashira Park...and I thought about you. At first, it was because I missed you. But as I kept running...I started to understand.... how you must've felt back then. You were running to get over your loneliness. I thought...that I knew everything about you. But now I know...that I didn't understand the most important part."

Beni: "You know what? After we broke up...I couldn't even run for a while. It's just like you said in your novel. I was the same. I regret everything I did, too. When we were together...all I did was complain and didn't even try to understand how you felt. I was just the same. I didn't see what was actually important. I didn't see it until it was too late. I made you feel...lonely and miserable too."

Jungo: "No. It was my fault. I made you lonely. I'm sorry."

Beni: "No. It wasn't just your fault. I'm sorry too."

The simplest words to say, "I'm sorry" yet at times we cannot say them, can we. But through the tears and laughter, we see our couple clasping hands as they walk together hand and hand as the first snowfall of the year comes bringing a new beginning of the changing of season as well as new moments for them to share in their next chapter of.... forever,

The beautiful thing to me about this drama is we all have moments in our lives, particularly that all-encompassing love. The love that sets itself above all other loves. The one that made you smile to yourself when you thought of them, your youthfulness, your carefree spirit, a glance from someone who resembles them, all these things will bring you back to that "moment' that moment in time that has stayed etched in your heart and mind forever. Oh, we will love someone again, but we all have that "one" that you will never forget. So, we remember them and embrace them, hold onto them because even though they are moments they are ones we always will love and remember.... forever.

As a side note: The OST to this drama is so beautifully composed. You will definitely keep it on your playlist. Each track is better than the last.

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What Do You Call Love?

I took my time writing this review because I wanted to digest such a wonderfully well executed drama.

We all have high expectations when watching these dramas. Why? Because we invest so many hours each week watching episodes. This drama is a hidden gem that you will definitely want to watch. The title, "Call It Love" you are drawn to it because we see these two beautiful people looking at each other and think what a great love story, I'm getting ready to watch. Which it is but, it isn't your "traditional" love story; we all think of as, Boy meets girl. They fall in love. Couple has issues with their families, an adversary to break up the couple, couple gets back together, and, in the end, true love prevails. In my opinion this isn't that type of love story.

Lee Sung Kyung as Shim Woo Joo is our main character that has decided to make things right by seeking revenge and getting justice in the loss of their family home. She does this by getting close and working at the same company as Han Dong Jin. Seeing Shim Woo Joo for the first time, you see a woman that has eyes that are expressionless, you can't read her due to the aloofness. She has a coldness that emulates her every fiber along with her no-filter type of personality which I believe is her mechanism to keep people at bay. But there is another side that she saves and hides which is a supportive, caring, loving individual that has such pain that you want to just want to wrap your arms around her. The first few minutes of just seeing her I could tell she would give us a performance to remember. And she did in spades!

Kim Young Kwang as Han Dong Jin was the male lead that was in some respects a man that had the "weight of the world" on him. He was reserved, quiet, thoughtful, and loved his mother unconditionally, which was his weakness and his downfall. When he found out everything that Shim Woo Joo had done, he felt more pain and sorrow for what his mother had done to Shim Woo Joo's family. So as the saying goes, "the sins of his mother" became the "sins of the son" which HE willingly accepted because of his love for his mother. But then after all was said and done, we got to see him go his journey of self-discovery and eventual happiness. Another poignant performance which held you.

Lee Sung Kyung and Kim Young Kwang in this drama were so well suited and cast. Each scene they were in together just held us all in the palm of their hands relishing such thought-provoking performances. We didn't even need them to speak because them not speaking made us get to see the emotions that their silence portrayed to us their every gesture, look, glance, smile, and we were so honored to be a part of those beautiful moments by this extraordinary couple.

There were so many nuances that touch you but two in particular for me.

The first was when Shim Woo Joo's mother was meeting Han Dong Jin's mother at the home which her husband had left to the children, and it was first time they were meeting. This to me was a pivotal moment for Shim Woo Joo's mother because she had the flashback to when she left the house and smashed the potted plant at the bottom of the stairs. Her remembering this, and seeing her expression, the sigh that she let out, meant she had finally left all those emotions of her husband leaving her with that smashed potted plant all those years ago. She now had the strength to confront this woman that no longer held any meaning to what had happened.

The second scene which I believe was so meaningful was when Shim Woo Joo and Han Dong Jin were standing in front of the house and Shim Woo Joo was telling him everything about the revenge that she wanted to take to get the house back. But as in usual fashion for Han Dong Jin he knew that Shim Woo Joo did not mean to hurt him per se, hence him saying to her, "Because you didn't. But in the end, you couldn't take your revenge on me. I wasn't ruined." He wasn't ruined. How profound is that? After everything that had transpired, his only thought was she didn't ruin me. He wasn't feeling any animosity towards her because he had fallen in love with her as she with him.

They both in some respect would have come out of this situation unscathed but there were still ramifications that did follow so they accepted their fate and broke up. But like all things it takes time for everyone to take a beat, step away and just let go of what no longer matters. Love in the end did go full circle bringing the happiness that everyone deserved.

This drama really had so many meanings that everyone of us can take as we see. I fully enjoyed every moment of it. There is so much more I could write but I feel you need to experience this drama for yourself. Take the time and watch it.

And keep in mind as you are watching it; What is your meaning of love? What do you call love? Think about it...

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Can I Please Go in the Novel with Ji Chu

How would you like to become a female lead in your own novel? Such is the drama of Different Princess. Hua Qing (Ireine Song) is a novelist who has been writing her novel online. Hua Qing was proud of herself as an author for being innovative and keeping the villain evil up until the very end--killing off the male lead successfully. She had thought this idea would captivate her readers. As the novel uploaded “The Tale of Yun and Xi,” Hua Qing was excited to see all the comments. Only they were not as positive as she had hoped, as a matter of fact, the readers were livid. She had killed of their beloved male lead. The readers began to type, “Curse her, Curse her.”

Being the author, she didn’t care and told them to go ahead and curse her. She was never changing the ending and a bad ending is an ending too. Well, be careful what you wish for. Her keyboard began to move on its own and her screen turned red with the words ‘Curse.” Taken aback she wiped her eyes to make sure this was what she was seeing.

The following words appeared: ‘Dear Author, your reader enmity level has reached its limit. Please change the ending of “The Tale of Yun and Xi.” Revive Ji Yun and make him topple Ji Chu. If not, the plot will backfire on you.”

Of course, Hua Qing thought it was nonsense. Reader enmity? What kind of stupid setting is this, she thought.

Then the next choices came up:
A. Change the ending.
B. No way in hell.

You know she picked “B” – no way in hell. Her computer went black and cut off. As she banged on her keyboard as well as her screen--nothing happened. She thought it just died. Tired from all the nights of getting the novel completed, Hua Qing went to sleep. Falling asleep, her computer cuts back on and takes the pages of the novel back to Chapter 3: To suppress Ji Chu, Hua Qingge marries into Liang. She was murdered by Ji Chu and thrown into the pond.

Waking up, she finds herself in wedding attire as Ji Chu with sword in hand—kills her.

Her computer states: “You’ve been killed by the backfiring plot. As you failed to change the plot, the plot shall be replayed.”

Waking up the next time, she is still in wedding attire, and very much alive.

After avoiding death, she discovers that she had now become a character in “The Tale of Yun and Xi.” Where she is Hua Qingge, Princess of Fuyu to be married to Ji Chu the villain. Her mind goes back and sees the novel in her head and remembers that she is the niece of the current empress. She came all the way from Fuyu to marry Ji Chu. People thought she died because she fell into the pond by accident, but he killed her on their wedding night.

Since the princess died on her wedding night this caused a huge conflict between the two kingdoms. That was also the reason why Ji Chu committed the deed. Under the emperor’s order, everyone acknowledge the fact that Hue Qingge slipped and fell to her death. They buried her in secret.

Thus begins Hua Qing’s journey with rewriting the novel.

The drama gives us everything that you would want – palace intrigue, villains, jealousy,
misunderstandings, poisons, deaths, stabbings, fights and solving crimes. Pretty exciting, huh? You will not be disappointed in the least.

Hua Qingge found herself at every turn trying to dissuade Ji Chu from his villainous ways, but little did she know that he had his reasons. She remembered that his mother had been poisoned, turned into a demon and killed at the emperor's birthday. Ji Chu was out for revenge to prove that the empress was the killer of his mother and plotting a rebellion.

Empress Hua Yunni always lived in the shadow of Ji Chu's mother who the emperor adored. So much so that he kept her picture hidden behind another one just to look at her. You see, he wanted Ji Chu's mother to be the empress, but jealousy prevented that by her being killed by Empress Hua Yunni who wanted her son, Ji Yun (Sun Zu Jun) the crown prince to have the throne, not Ji Chu.

We also have Ji Wan Er who was the sister to both Ji Chu, Ji Yun and Ji Feng. Sadly, Ji Feng dies at the hands of the empress. Ji Wan Er falls in love with Gong Ye Qi, owner of the Mystic Medicine House. The two fall in love. But the empress had other plans and broke them up and decided to marry her off. Then we have the marriage of Ji Yun to Lin Xi Yao. Ji Yun had his heart set on Hua Qingge, but he knew that Ji Chu would never give her up because he truly loved her.

There isn't a story without the other woman and in this case, it was the Princess Wei Nan Yi from Liang that protected Ji Chu as he was an envoy there along with Gong Ye Qi as his friend and doctor. She turned out to be a good person that knew when to give up fighting for Ji Chu but was willing to give advice to Hua Qingge in understanding him.

I found the saddest and most preventable death was that of Ji Wan Er. Ji Chu did help his sister by faking her death as she went to the other kingdom for marriage. He eventually told Gong Ye Qi who was in love with her that she was still alive. They got married and she were expecting a child. After the rebellion started by the empress at the palace, Gong Ye Qi went to settle the score of her killing his family. Getting ready to kill her, one of the panels to the hallway opened. But that time, he had already thrusted the blade towards the empress, but it was Ji Wan Er that he stabbed not the empress. She unfortunately opened the panel just as he was going to stab the empress. To see his anguish, he killed both mother and child. He never recovered from the loss.

So shall we talk about Ji Chu (Ding Ze Ren). This man will send your pulses racing. Yes, they will. His smoldering eyes, those pillow-kissed lips and that voice. You can’t help but swoon when you see him. Your eyes cannot leave him. Especially when he is with Hua Qingge. At first, we know they will not get along but when he finds out he loves her and can't be without her. You will be screaming for her to stay with this man, even though it is a novel.

Sadly, Hua Qingge realizes that the novel is coming to an end as she notices her hand fading. She makes the decision to start pushing Ji Chu away from her.

As Hua Qingge sits on the floor crying and fading, she says, "I still have so much to tell you. I haven't seen you let go of your hatred. I can't leave." Ji Chu is walking away from her until he hears her scream his name. Turning around quickly, "Qing, Qing, what's wrong with you? Don't scare me. Qing." She jumps surprisingly into Ji Chu's arms still crying, "Ji Chu, I've never betrayed you. I just wanted to duplicate a fake fish-shaped token for the empress." Comforting her as he held her in his arms he says lovingly, "I know Qing. As long as you say the word, I'll always believe you no matter what."

But as time goes by, Hua Qingge knows she has to leave him without saying a word. Ji Chu goes to find Hua Qingge but when he doesn't find her, he becomes frantic. He sends his men out to search for her. He eventually finds her fending off a would-be attacker, and of course, he gets rid of him.

JC: "You are wandering around the streets in the middle of the night instead of going home. what are you trying to do?"
Hua Qingge walks away from him only for him to get in her path.
HQ: "What is it that you need, Prince Chu?"
JC: "You are my princess consort. Of course, I'm here to take you home."
HQ: "I already told you very clearly. Why do you want to keep me by your side? The marriage between us is just a conspiracy. If everything went as planned, I would've been dead already."
JC:"I was wrong before this. But now, I can't be without you anymore."
HQ: "I'm a spy sent by Her Majesty. You know that."
JC: "I don't care."
HQ: "I do. Ji Chu we are doomed, to begin with, you are with Wei Nan Yi and are meant to be together. The two of you grew up together. Both of you are childhood friends."

Best moment ever (trust me, there are several with this man)! Ji Chu, he doesn't let her speak another word and he gave her the most passionate "don't say another word kiss". Ever, wow! His hand is locked behind her head, and he is working, I mean working that kiss. He took her breath away and will yours too. The way he looks at her after the kiss...his eyes, the love in them is really overwhelming. If you look at her, I think she even surprised herself, for the passion that she had for him.

JC: "Qing, I've never fallen for any woman other than you. How many times do you want me to tell you that? (Once is good for me) You are the only one in my heart."
She starts to fade again, and she leaves. As Ji Chu goes to grab her his hand goes right through her.
JC: "Your hand."
HQ: "Ji Chu, isn't it better to let me leave quietly?"
JC: "Leave? What's wrong with your hand? Stop keeping it a secret from me."
HQ: "Ji Chu, I'm not from this world. I am an outsider. I come from another world. I'm going to leave soon. And I won't be able to return!"
JC: "You are not from this world. Of course, you are not from here. You came from Fuyu. When everything has settled down, I'll take you home to visit your family."
HQ: "You know that is not what I meant."
JC: "If you think that's not enough, I'll conquer Fuyu after this. If you want to live in Fuyu, I'll make Fuyu the capital city of Liang."
HQ: "I'm not talking about Fuyu, Ji Chu!"
JC: "I know. I'm arrogant and cold-hearted. And I'm emotionally unstable. I'm not proactive enough and not considerate enough. Qing, if I change all of my bad habits, can you stop leaving me? " (Didn't that just break your heart?)
HQ: "Are you just going to ignore the truth?"
JC: "How much time do you have left?"
HQ: "I don't know."
JC: "Hua Qingge, I don't care who you are or where you are from. You are not allowed to leave me."

From that moment on, Ji Chu became very possessive of Hua Qingge, so much so that when he was doing his work, he made her sit on his lap while he read. (Not a bad option in my opinion). But Ji Chu did want to have a more meaningful wedding and night with Hua Qingge, and it was a good one from the looks of it.

But the novel was ending, it was time for the demise of Hua Qingge. As the empress was going all crazy and tried to kill Ji Chu. The empress holds a knife to Hua Qingge's throat. Instead of Ji Chu dying, Hua Qingge takes the knife that the empress has and slits her throat. Ji Chu is devastated. He cradles her in his arm and cries and cries as her body disappears, only to leave her gold bracelet.

Hua Qing wakes up in her bed as if no time has passed. She is crying and calling out for Ji Chu. The clocks begin to tick. She jumps up from the bed and goes to her computer and there is a new ending.

On the day Ji Yun ascended to the throne, he took poison to atone for his mother's sins. Fortunately, Gong Ye Qi saved Ji Yun. From then on, Ji Yun and Lin Xi Yao lived in seclusion at Melodious Serenity Abode, leading a peaceful life. With Gong Ye Qi's treatment, Emperor Xuanqi was saved from the brink of death but still required long-term bed rest. Therefore, Emperor Xuanqi abdicated in favor of the third prince, Ji Chu. After Ji Chu ascended to the throne, he changed the era to Xian De ushering in the flourishing age of Liang. Emperor Xian De mourned the passing of the late Princess Consort, Hua Qingge. He lived the rest of his life without remarrying, passing away peacefully in old age. - The End

The novel was well received and a guaranteed blockbuster. Leaving the office, the assistant told Hua Qing that her boss was interested in seeing her. She said that she really didn't need to see him and for him to just offer a higher copyright fee. She just bought a new laptop. She was broke. Rushing to leave, she turns around and standing in front of her is Ji Chu. She drops her new laptop. If you pay attention closely you will see the slightest uplift of his brow when she drops it. He opens up his suit coat, drops down on his knee and says, "Hua Quingge. Do you actually have no feelings for me? Are you picking me up and tossing me off?"

The ending is open to your interpretation but if you remember his parting words on the palace steps when he was the new emperor, you will understand:

"Xiao Yan, do you know what is my current wish? I'm now impatiently looking forward to finishing this life. Then go to Qing's world and take a look. "

Wouldn't we all like to take an opportunity to go into a novel? I know I would, Ji Chu, I'm coming....

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There was No Future Here

This drama had great potential based off of the synopsis and also having one of my favorite male leads Luo Zheng. But it faded fast after just the first episode.

Luo Zheng again is playing the role of CEO. At this point of playing a CEO in his last three dramas, including this one, I feel it is time for him to start looking into other roles. He has mastered, in my opinion, how to truly be a CEO that he is being typecasted. It is time to refocus. Let him move onto other roles. But let me tell you about the drama.

Shen Jun Yao (Luo Zheng) is CEO of a tech company that he has put all of this scientific equipment into the home that Xia Mo (Ji Mei Han) is coming back to reclaim. After literally "falling" for him at the airport, the media cast her as the "new" woman that he is seeing. When Xia Mo comes to the house Shen Jun Yao is only willing to share the house and not give it to her. Due to his problem now with what the media misconstrued at the airport he devises a way to keep the house and have her be able to stay as well. How do we handle this? We create a "contractual" couple agreement. Meaning they would be a couple which killed two birds with one stone. Letting her stay in the home but also fixing his problem with the media by having them be a couple. We also have "Starlight" a robot which Shen Jun Yao created to ease his mother's mind after losing his brother in a fire and Danika an AI that is able to access and handle things as needed for Shen Jun Yao and his grandfather, who is the president.

All of that sounded good but this drama went downhill fast.

Xia Mo (Ji Mei Han) was so annoying, bratty, whiny and so miscast as his love interest. I have no idea why Shen Jun Yao, yet alone his brother Lin Heng were so enamored of her. To watch them fighting over her was just sad. Why Shen Jun Yao was even interested in her yet, fall in love with her was so beyond me. Even though these actors have appeared in at least three dramas together. In this one, there was no attraction. It felt so awkward and forced every time they kissed. I cannot tell you how many times I cringed just watching her, yet alone them as a couple. She does get a job at Candy which was a subsidiary to the tech company that Shen Jun Yao was CEO of. But the unbelievable part is she had no experience at all, yet they let her head up major projects. She dressed like she was 12 years old, even her mother mentioned how she was dressed. Watching her go to head up a presentation in front of executives in tennis shoes, suspender blue jeans was just so wrong. I could not stand her when she came on screen.

I was looking to find out "who" was from the future. I guess it was Starlight the robot. I could not think of anything else. There were not that many things I felt were that futuristic. Again, a title that served not purpose for this drama. Yang Ze (Starlight) was the saving grace of this drama. Playing a robot was so well done that I wanted him to have more screen time.

To make the drama even more interested we had Lin Zheng (the real brother of Shen Jun Yao) kidnap Xia Mo. For what? Who knows just added drama. We have Lin Zheng admit to Shen Jun Yao that he was the brother that he left in the burning building. They brothers fight and Starlight saves Xia Mo as she is hanging from the ceiling. But to have more added drama as Lin Zheng has a taser like instrument that he uses on Starlight which damages his core. Shen Jun Yao and Xia Mo have to decide if they save Starlight or let him go due to his core damage. Since Xia Mo is really the owner of Starlight when he saved her in a house fire, she is the one to make the decision on what to do. Of course, it is to save him no matter what the cost. Yeah! Starlight lived.

The brother come to terms with their estrangement over the years and make up. Shen Jun Yao proposes to Xia Mo in front of family and friends. But you would think the ending would consist of a wedding or the family all together, but they show his brother in a police car in handcuffs headed to jail to pay for his crimes. The End.

You notice there was no promotion for this drama. I can see why. It was so poorly thrown together that when it came to the ending you were happy to see it done. If you feel this drama has something futuristic in it, then you definitely have the wrong drama. Don't do it to yourself.

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Do You Wear a Mask?

This drama was led by four women: Do Jae Yi, Yoon Hae Mi, Go Yoo Na and Ju Yu Joeng. These women were not only beautiful, strong, influential but had a sense of bonding, friendship and loyalty. It was nice to see in this drama that no matter what twist, turns or malicious behavior befell each of them in the end they remained true to not only themselves but to each other.

We were dealt with two crimes in this drama which was the catalyst or driving force throughout. Who killed Gi Do Shik, son of the assemblyman Gi Yoon Chul and fiancée of Ju Yu Joeng and the rape of Do Jae Yi by a masked assailant in Suite 2401.

Another subplot was who was the mastermind of the Angel Club which was below an orphanage that belong to the Yeongun Cultural Foundation. The club's criteria consisted of each member wearing a mask to attend all events and they must be rich, powerful, political, and influential.

Of all the ladies that suffered the most it was Do Jae Yi. She never shared with any of the women what had happened that night in Suite 2401. She privately dealt with this matter, and it was horrible to see. She endlessly collected every type of mask to find the one that was worn the evening of her assault. Never allowed herself to become close to anyone especially the man who loved her silently, Choi Kang Hoo. But just when things were finally getting better (meaning she finally knew who her rapist was), we watch the happiness that they both waited for so long end as he dies in front of her. His death really tore me up. It was so sad to see his throat being slit just as he called her name for the last time. That death led to other surprises. Such as: Ju Yu Joeng marrying the rapist of Do Jae Yi and Do Jae Yi finding this information out the same day of her best friend's wedding.

There were many twists and turns throughout this drama that kept you guessing. Just when you thought you were on the right track something else would happen. But the thing that remain true were these women. They may have for a minute thought of being disloyal and thinking of only themselves, but they always knew there was a better way that they could survive without hurting each other.

In the end to find out who was the mastermind behind the Angel Club was the biggest surprise to me. You never really look his way because he seems so insignificant. He hovered in the background always looking smug. In listening to the reasons for him doing all that he did with killing Gi Do Shik, Song Je Hyeok and Choi Kang Hoo along with all the other tasteless things he did was shocking to say the least. His explanation to Do Jae Yi: "Power defeats the law" really didn't help him in the end. He tried to take everything away from Do Jae Yi and even tried to get her to run the "new" Angel Club which he envisioned for her, but the one thing power couldn't buy him was his own mortality. His own man that he trusted all along ended his life. So much for loyalty.

One final thought that was said: "To survive in this world people put on a mask either knowingly or unknowingly. You think you get credit for living without a mask? What do you see behind the mask? Truth? Look. What do you see right now? Truth is always ugly and dirty. Thats why you have a mask. Because the ugly truth gets hidden if you put on a mask. Are you wearing one now?"

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One...Two...Three...Click

There is a saying that goes like this, “A tiger leaves its fur after death and humans leave photographs as evidence of their life.’

The Midnight Studio is now opened.

We have countless memories in our lives, but there is one we can’t photograph – it is the memory of the last breath.

If there were a studio that took photos of your last memories, the ones that you couldn’t take when you were alive, wouldn’t you want that? Somewhere between life and death. Somewhere on the treacherous and arduous path of death. It only allowed you to want it desperately. You cannot go back once you get lost on the path to death. You have to walk in the skin-cutting snowstorm, across the valley where the ground splits and fills with molten lava and go through endless mazes to finally reach this place. What place is that? A photo studio only for the dead – a photo studio that only opens at night.

The secret of this drama was based on the camera which could not only take photographs of the dead but also the miraculous power to bring them back to life. Many intruders tried to get the camera, but the Grim Reaper was the guardian and its protector.

One soul came to the Netherworld and stole the reaper’s belongings. His Excellency made it back to his child who was ready to die with the camera, but the Grim Reaper followed him. Chastising him for taking the camera and he wanted it back. His Excellency begged the reaper to let him have the camera to save his child and let him live until his age, 35. The reaper agreed telling him that his sons and all his descendants that follow will all end with the same fate. The dead would chase them during their very short lives. His Excellency agreed to the reaper’s demands. But with this agreement, little did he know that he created a curse that lasted thousands of generations.

The ML (Joo Won aka Seo Ki Joo) was the 7th photographer in his family that ran a photo studio that only ghosts frequent. The FL (Kwon Na Ra aka Han Bom) is a lawyer who unbeknownst to her would become involved with Seo Ki Joo due to their past history.

Seo Ki Joo has two ghosts who were earthly bound which were: Assistant Manager Go (Yoo In Soo aka Go Dae Ri) and a former police officer (Eum Moon Suk aka Baek Nam Gu) who were in charge of bringing in ghosts as customers as well as handling closure to cases to help the ghosts move on.

Assistant Manager Baek Num Gu was a violence crime unit detective who married his childhood sweetheart. On the night of their anniversary, he promised her he would be home on time. Chasing and cornering the perp they began to fight and in split second Baek Num Gu was stabbed and died. His partner came too late and found him dead. Staying bound and not leaving he wanted to help his partner find who killed him which eventually he did. Baek Num Gu had the ability to hold objects and move them.

Assistant Manager Go was earthly bound due to dying of a heart attack on the job from overwork. The day of his heart attack he was to go on a blind date. He thought that Han Bom was his blind date until he realized her roommate was the woman he was looking for. His ability was he was able to take possession of another person’s body for approximately 20 minutes. This allowed him to go on dates with Kim Ji Won. She did figure out that he was a ghost.

Han Bom was connected to Seo Ki Joo based off her car accident with her parents and also his uncle being at the scene at the time. He died trying to save Han Bom.

This drama gives us various poignant moments as we learn more about the studio and are given beautifully crafted stories of the "ghost" who will or are facing death.
.
- The Virgin Ghost Bride
- The child is Han Bom (she was in a coma)
- The husband who the police believed killed him in the hospital
- The priest
- Han Bom’s grandmother
- The CEO
- The high school senior
- The twin brothers
- The con
- Seo Ki Joo's uncle
- The evil stalker

There is one particularly funny part when all the "ghost priest" are dancing to Aespa. Hilarious. They do get out of character; you will definitely enjoy that.

Of course, everything cannot all be happy and light. We do have an evil spirit that possesses a stalker and finally takes full possession of Lieutenant Lee Seon Ho. His demise comes on the death of our favorite detective...Baek Num Gu.

Each moment with the “soon-to-be-departed” Seo Ki Joo would take a photograph. The camera would only allow him to take two shots. The first one of the living and dead to meet each other. These are such heart wrenching moments that you better have some tissues nearby. The second photo signifies – goodbye or their final departure. This is also so gut wrenching. The lovely part is as they watch them leave and fighting through their tears, the last photo of the desperate souls last moments falls down giving them that inner peace and memory of their final goodbye.

Seo Ki Joo did find out how his brother did die. He did have the opportunity to take the last photograph of his brother.

To lift the curse Seo Ki Joo had to take the camera back to the Netherworld and to the Grim Reaper. He was successful but unfortunately, he could not leave. It took him one year to come back with the help of the twin brother who he had helped cross over.

The ending -- we see them all sitting ready for a photograph together and as we know that Seo Ki Joo and Han Bom will be happily together but unfortunately for Kim Ji Won and Assistant Go, he was just a spirit who one day would have to cross over.

I can only say how much this drama touched me personally. Dealing with the loss of my mother and sister made me wish that I would be able to really afford to have such moments one last time. I believe we all would. You will feel so much during this drama as I said, have tissues ready because it just helps in its own way to help all of us seek closure when dealing with death. We never can get over the loss of a loved one but if watching this drama can help, then I say do so, it did in its own special way for me.

Final thoughts regarding the studio: That it helped people who’d only been chasing tomorrow, cherish the precious moments right now. And I’ll ask you to cherish them today.

One, two, three…click

The Midnight Studio is now permanently closed.

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