This review may contain spoilers
Light-hearted Romantic Comedy
I love love love love this drama!!! The first half of the series was so hilarious, it often put me in stitches. Then it got a bit more serious in the second half. ****Spoiler**** It was a nice twist when it got revealed that he was the missing Prince. Then the story moved to be more palace like, compared to when it started (it was mostly about the silk business).The chemistry of the main leads are amazing too. Bai Lu is so likable, she never failed at creating perfect chemistry with her onscreen partners. I actually watched this drama straight after I watched Love is Sweet (she's the FL there).
The ending song is so mesmerising. It matches so well with the ML! I'm so in love with him 😍. I first saw Lai Yi as Die Feng in Eternal Love. I watched The Legend of Fuyao merely to watch his story arch (and fast forwarded the rest - the main leads there got stabbed to death every couple of episodes and managed to survive every single time, it was just too much for me LOL). Lai Yi is such an underrated actor. He has this elegant aura, yet he can play evil role so well too (as in The Flame's Daughter).
The second male and female leads are so good that your heart bleeds for them. It's their bad luck to be fated as second leads!
I often drop drama series after watching several episodes if the storyline got a bit silly/ridiculous/draggy, regardless how much I ship the main leads. But Overlord is definitely not one of them. It has been very enjoyable thoroughly.
A light-hearted romantic comedy drama worth watching. It's just the right amount of palace politics, right amount of total episodes (36), and excellent performance by all cast members!!
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As Good as Season 1 - Love the Cells!!!
To be honest, I wasn't Ba Bi's fan in season 1. Like Yumi, I was 100% team Woong. Like Yumi, my heart was broken by the end of Season 1 and I couldn't imagine Yumi to end with anyone but Woong, that I swore I wouldn't watch Season 2.Then one day I didn't have anything else to watch and I hesitantly clicked to watch episode 1 of season 2. The cells!!! They won me all over again. It reminded me the real reason why I watched Season 1. Yes, of course Yumi and Woong's relationship was fun to watch. The whole season was essentially just a slice of life - but thanks to the cells, they bumped it up to the next level.
So here I am, just finished episode 4 and can't wait for Friday next week for the next 2 episodes.
There's a big change in Yumi's life this season, career wise. So this is not just about Yumi's romantic life. It's showing her character growth - the risk she's willing to take to achieve her dream.
I am now officially in love with Ba Bi (just like Yumi). I know he's not going to be "the groom" but nevertheless, I'm enjoying the ride very much. I always take to heart that it's thanks to Ba Bi that Yumi ends up as a famous writer.
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Great Soap Drama
I haven't watched a drama this long for a very long time. I normally didn't want to touch it. Mostly because of lack of time in my part.I accidentally came across episode 94 few days ago. It was so interesting that I went back to episode 1, through episode 97, within less than 4 days. It means I barely have slept in the last few nights. But it's so addictive, that I can't help not to hit the next episode button.
The plot is the usual Korean drama: accident, hospital scene, switched at birth, memory lost, childhood sweetheart kind of thing. Which I usually sneer at haha. But the storyline seemed to put all those plots together so nicely. And the acting are amazing (By the way, I didn't know any of the actors/actress in this drama to begin with).
The story never gets boring. I'm on episode 97 now. The end is near and I'm so going to miss this!
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Drama on Finding Your Identity
What can I say? This drama is just so beautiful to watch.I normally choose drama by the main leads, and youth drama is not my go to (because I'm in my 40s and prefer more grown up topics). It's only because I kept on seeing the drama's commercial in Insta that I got curious. So glad I peeked - and got hooked instantly!
The acting is oh so very good. Kudos to the casting team, both the main leads look great together. Watching them, I can feel their love for each other. What a sweet pairing!
It has been a very long time that I have seen a drama which I don't fast forward here and there at some point. I don't fast forward AT ALL watching this!
There's not really a bad guy here, but it's just so nice to see the characters grow from when they started high school, till adulthood.
If you want to watch something which make your heart smile, watch this.
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Thrilling and Chilling All The Way Through
At first I expected this drama to follow closely to the American Little Women. At least it would be that kind of a drama. This turn out to have very little resemblance to the American version, except that there are four sisters.But while I love the American version, I dare say this Korean version is very gripping and makes me want to see more. While the previous is all about warm hearted sibling love and some romance, the later is fully crime thriller with the romance as a small part only. Well I'm still currently in ep 9 and I still have no idea if the first sister's suitor is actually a good guy or a bad guy!! But I love all those uncertainties.
If any, I feel that the second sister often does things without thinking of the consequences. But again, she's an alcoholic so it's part of the character written for her I suppose. Also, the first sister carrying that bag with 2billion won on the street 😂. So I won't say there are no silly bits here and there. Just saying the storyline is so good I am willing to let those random silliness go.
As usual, Kim Go Eun doesn't disappoint.
I highly recommend this drama. Gripping all the way through.
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A Huge Disappointment
I love Legend of Yunxi. And I was madly in love with Zhang Zhe Han. I was beyond excited when this drama came out.The first 20 episodes or so was pretty good. Then it just became so ridiculous, I didn't bother to finish it. I think I stopped at 22 or 24. I did try to watch the last episode out of curiousity, but even then I fast forwarded most of it and watched only about 10 minutes in total.
Like what the other reviewers said, the reason for the main villain to want to revenge and kill ML was way too stupid. Come on..., surely the writer can think of something else more believable??! And FL is so unbearable to watch. I did love her in Legend of Yunxi. But her character in this drama is just too dumb.
The music are lovely, though.
Writers, please step up your work!! I want to support Zhang Zhe Han and all the wonderful actors in this drama. But please don't think we viewers will watch everything just because you put lots of beautiful looking people in here. I'm being very generous by giving a 5 star.
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Short n Fun
This drama is very short so the story is not long winded. The story is like Bruce Wayne/Batman and Peter Parker/Spiderman.While the story is just ok, I feel that the main leads acts really well. The chemistry is also there.
The ML is awesome showing two different characters. One is very silly, air head like, while the other one is so cool and full of confidence.
The ending is open ended, to open the way for the second season. To be honest, I don't know why the FL felt so betrayed that ML lied to him about his other identity. She also been lying to him about her other identity too!!
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The FL is not always likeable but she is a human afterall. There are 2 ML in this drama, one is when she stayed in her hometown, and the other one is when she decided to leave to Shanghai. I like both of them equally. Personally I think Xue Yu Ming is the one that matches more with her personality. Yu Jian is the perfect guy: handsome, very talented and very understanding of FL, accepting all of her flaws. But he wants a simple life, while FL wants to go out to sea (so to speak). One of their conversation which I found so sweet was when FL said that the opportunity to go to Shanghai is rare. Which Yu Jian replied that having meals with a Xia Guo (FL) is also a rare opportunity.
I was afraid of the ending. I'm happy to report that it has a satisfying ending. I would prefer a slightly different ending, but the ending depicted in this drama really fits with the character development of Xia Guo.
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This review may contain spoilers
Nice but a Bit Annoying Too
This is the first time I don't really ship the main couple. They were cute in the beginning, but that's before they got married to each other!!!The first half of the drama was good. Then Ming Lan got married to Gu Ting Ye and the ship sailed. I fast forwarded most of the episodes afterwards as I really couldn't get myself to care about the story of Ming Lan in the Gu Manor. Before they got married Gu Ting Ye told Ming Lan that they are going to live in their own place (to avoid clashing with Gu's evil stepmother). Yet, it never happened.
The palace story (which took place after the marriage), I also couldn't be bothered about. I find the characters in the palace as weakly written. So I fast forwarded most.
The only reason I did a lot of fast forwarding, instead of skipping those episodes altogether, was because I didn't want to miss out on the story of Ming Lan's first love, Qi Heng. My heart broke for him. Yes, he's a bit naive but he's a good man and he did all the right thing. I'm satisfied with the ending as he found his good match (who's tragically, in my opinion, much better than the heroine Ming Lan - maybe the writer also secretly doesn't like Ming Lan? Haha). He so deserves it!
But, I can't believe Molan could live "happily ever after" (meaning, not dead nor imprisoned) - she's as bad as her mother. She made sure all of the pregnancies of her husband's concubines/mistresses couldn't survive full term)!
My favourite character in this drama would be Ming Lan's eldest brother, Chang Bai.
Overall, a bit disappointed. The acting of the main characters are good though, so that's why I'm not giving it less than 7.
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A Nice Surprise - A GREAT DRAMA TO WATCH!!!
I stumbled into this series couple of days ago when I was browsing list of active series.After watching 2 episodes, I was unexpectedly hooked. I was never a fan of both ML and FL but I must say that they have a nice chemistry here.
The comedy is one of the best thing for me. The Sheng brothers and their Dad are especially funny!!! The FL's character is meant to be serious yet she can be so comical around the ML, which is so nice to watch.
With other dramas I often fast forwarded the side characters' stories. But all the side characters here are well played and well connected with the main story, that I wouldn't want to miss any.
This drama has nice twists and turns which always keep the drama interesting and make you want to watch more.
Edit.
I have just watched the ending. What an ending it was!
In the last few weeks while Court Lady was airing, I had very bad sleep at nights. Because I will wake up approximately after midnight (that's when the new episodes will get released - I'm in Australia) just because I can't wait till the next day to know what's going to happen next.
Yea some of the storyline are unrealistic, but what do you expect, this is a narrative story!! Even Big Brothers on TV is not real (they follow scrips!). But they were acted so well that made me really care about the characters.
I do agree that in the second half of the story, the side characters had much more screen time than the main leads. But nonetheless, I enjoyed watching them all! One of the thing I'm disappointed at is how Prince Zhou all of the sudden turned from the second male lead into thin air. Yep, he practically disappeared and only turned up again in the last 2 episodes (ok, he only showed up for few seconds in the last episode!).
Now that the show has ended, I will miss the characters a lot - but at least I will start to have decent sleep at nights again 😂
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New Concept
I wasn't sure what to expect but I gave it a go as I love the actors in Love in the Moonlight. I didn't watch Itaewon Class nor The Sound of Magic, but of course I know Ji Chang Wook and Park Seo Joon (it's hard pressed for a Kdrama lover not to know them!).It's so nice to watch all the stars interact with each other. It looks like it's unscripted. If it is, then they must all be very good actors haha. It feels surreal to see them as themselves.
Some parts are soooo funny, I watched them on repeat LOL
Love it. Can't wait for next week for the next episode!!
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Reminiscent of The Sound of Music
In the beginning, I like this drama very much. But then it became irritating, so I dropped it. I normally would still check the last episode, especially after investing so many hours into this (I see dropped this around ep 40, so imagine how many hours I've put into this) but for some reason with this series I just never bothered.I read that because this drama was so popular, they decided to extend the episodes. I wish they didn't - that could be why the drama turned so annoying!
The lead actor and actress act well and looks like decent people (I mean, morally). The ML is rich but he isn't a snob, he treats all his employees and friends with respect, which is a really nice thing to see. And how adorable is his youngest son!!!
I like the pairing of ML and FL. Mr. Lee is warm hearted and Ms Park behaves her age (27). I just love seeing the smile on Mr Lee's face whenever he sees Ms Park.
Aesthetically, the leads are not the most good looking people. But they really win me with their acting. Their smile, sadness, their emotions, won me with each passing time.
And I love the theme song! I even searched for it on Spotify and put it in my favourite folder.
The FL's acting has improved by heaps. I dropped a couple of other drama in the meantime (including The Red Sleeve) as I've been busy, but I can't resist to check out this drama everytime a new episode comes out. Well, until when it got too much!
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Smart Female Lead
If you enjoyed Love is Sweet, you'll love this!I'm always drawn to dramas with smart/strong female leads. I like Seven Tan and Kenny Lin, so I gave this a go. I like that she wasn't being the secretary for too long and that she doesn't let anything to stop her ambition to be an investor.
What I love most about this drama is the slow burn romance and the banters between the ML and FL. The character development of ML is amazing. His character is not just one dimensional - in fact it's three dimensional. Kenny Lin is great at portraying the character with many different emotional levels.
The supporting characters are also so adorable I have a tendency to fast forward supporting characters' storyline but not with this. The supporting characters are all so adorable.
This drama is just getting better and better the closer it is to it's ending. I always get so excited to watch the next day's episodes.
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This review may contain spoilers
Mature Aged Viewing
This drama was so good in the first half. Then after episode 5/6, I just lost interest on continuing. I fast forwarded so much that I end up only watching about 5-10 minutes each episodes. Very very disappointing.The charm of this drama lies in the super good looking casts and the realistic portrayal of modern love (friends with benefits). The chemistry between the leads are incredibly sizzling (in the first few episodes anyway, before the FL turned nasty to the ML).
This drama reminds me of "Cheese Trap" K-drama.
From episode 5/6, the FL was trying to avoid ML like a plaque. Whenever she sees him, she always gave him the hateful look, which really creeps me out. We're talking about few episodes of that - what a joke!
PS. The butterfly tattoo on the back of Song Kang's neck is soooo totally hot!!!
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Slow Burning Love
This drama is the same genre as Go Ahead. I might say it's somehow much better because it deals with more adult matters, and how the relationship of the main leads are very respectful and mature.The main leads have a very strong chemistry. Li Xian is so adorable, the way he looks at the FL, you can really see love! I wasn't really his fan before, even though I liked Go Go Squid, I watched it mainly because of Yang Zi. But this drama made me his fan!
Crystal Liu, she's so beautiful and so calming. I also wasn't her fan before, I watched her in Once Upon a Time (with Yang Yang). That movie made me cringe even though I love Ten Miles of Peach Blossom. Anyway, I love her in this drama.
The reason for not giving a 10 is because the side characters storyline. Some of them are okay, but some I really don't care about (like the singer, the guy who meditated a lot, the spoiled girl who's Dad has a supermarket, the novelist, the waitress - wait aren't they all of them hahaha). I understand the side characters storyline are important to bring the drama to intertwine together. And I did watch them all (fast forwarding the singer and the meditate guy).
They have lots of very catchy beautiful songs, some which I put in my Spotify playlist.
Overall a beautiful drama to watch and I will wholeheartedly recommend this (and recommend you to just fast forward the sideline stories you're not interested on haha).
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