Reviews

don't go into this drama expecting something extraordinary

despite good acting, portrayal of characters is heavily biased. all the morally grey or outright negative characters are non-communists, while communists are uniformly depicted as virtuous and compassionate (usual propaganda). this lack of nuance detracts from the realism of the story, as no group is entirely free of flaws. another thing that really bothered me was the handling of a romantic relationships. if screenwriter intends to tease romantic subplots, it would be better not to do that. these tiny moments make watching experience more frustrating. despite WWs being overused theme in cdramas, this drama is able to stand on its own

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Dramatic and Historical

I have seen a lot of negative comments about the focus of the silk and brocade business aspect of this drama, and it saddens me a little.

What people fail to understand is that this drama *is* historical, and is relaying to the audience the great efforts it took by the Chinese to establish what is known as “The Silk Road”. It was then, a trade route that stretched from China to the Mediterranean region spanning over 4,000 miles or 6,400 kilometers. That it itself was astounding.

The Silk Road not only opened up that then monstrous trade route, but it also gave opportunity for cultural as well as goods exchanges through foot traffic. Many of those who traveled the Silk Road after it was established were Chinese merchants and Buddhist monks. It brought trades of silk, spices, metals and a myriad other items to areas that had not been exposed to them previously. Currently, since it has been rediscovered, the Silk Road has been reopened and the United Nations sponsored a trans-Asian motor highway and railroad project, and China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aims to revive and expand the ancient routes through modern infrastructure development.

The history is diverse and rich. If you are only interested in romance then this drama is not for you.

If you drop your expectations and truly watch this drama for what it is, a look back at the establishment of a massive trade route, the often overwhelming and demoralizing structure of family clans, the unjust and often brutal treatment of women and servants with a love story mixed in, then watch and enjoy.

First - just a big shout out to Mr. Beauty ( the nickname for Zheng Yecheng from Love 020). His martial arts are made incredibly beautiful due to his background in theatrical arts and majoring in opera. He is perfect for roles like this. I cannot say enough about his wire stunts or his acting as they are stellar.

Tan Songyun is as usual, fabulous. Fiesty, protective

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I love this remake

I watched the original series in 2023, Seasons 1 & 2 plus the short Series ReminderS. I also re-watched a cut version where most of Jeed's and Tangmo's stories were deleted; I preferred the cut version because the focus was on the main leads.

In this remake, it's definitely focused on Noh and Phun. There are sub-plots but they don't take too much time away from our leads; Hard to believe but there are actually fewer characters in the remake than the original. They consolidated certain characters and attributed certain roles to the more prominent characters, and these were well executed.

Noh and Phun have amazing chemistry and their longing for each other is so evident in every scene. I admired Noh's patience waiting for Phun to figure out what he needed to and just stayed by his side the whole time, but also gave him space if that's what he needed.

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Pure and mature love

I just so in love with this drama!!
I love Zhousheng Chen and Shi Yi relationship. Thier love is very pure, kind, healthy and mature❤️ No selfish, no childish. Watching this drama makes my face can't stop smiling! Their interaction is really cute and sweet. I love Shi Yi, she is mature, brave, kind, humble and always support Zhousheng Chen. While Zhousheng Chen is really cute, brave, and always put Shi Yi first. They always learn to know and accept each other. I think everyone need a man like Zhousheng Chen. And I hope someday I can meet my Zhousheng Chen💗

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First Time Finishing a Thai GL Series

I've watched little GLs in the past but this series is the only one I've finished until the end. These are my honest likes and dislikes on Idol Factory's 2nd GL.

STORY (6.5/10)
Likes
The idea behind it is creative, Wan and Kim's relationship IRL is sucky so Wan lets her real feelings out to her in her dreams. This is the main idea at the beginning of the show. A growing actress whose stylist is her childhood friend, but Kim was blackmailed by another growing actress, forcing her to work under her (Jessie) instead as she's a talented stylist. WanKim has always had a not-so-platonic relationship ever since high school but they've always kept it a secret as they don't know how the other one feels. After their dads decided to run away together, it made them have something to relate to and connect with on a deeper level. But I love how it made the viewers feel confused about who to even support anymore when it started becoming more complicated with Kim's mom's illness, her 'dying' wish to see Kim getting taken care of by marrying Marwin, and seeing WanKim having a moment 30 minutes from her wedding with him. I also like how it made the viewers 'try' to understand their dads, by placing WanKim in a very similar situation. A lot of WanKim moments weren't 'reality' up until episode 9. It's either in their dreams, one of them's asleep, or drunk. This makes the viewers feel as confused as Wan, that none of those are 'real', but Wan experienced it, so we kind of get her behavior. A lot of the characters here except for the comedic duo (Mon, Mali, Pat) aren't 2D, it makes us think. Anyway, the overall concept of the show caught my interest at the beginning, and it became even more interesting around episode 9.

Dislikes
Wan is very toxic, I started becoming annoyed at her somewhere around the middle. When she went to Marwin to tell him not to accept Kim as his employee, that was it. Very possessive, and selfish, but it made us feel like we're supposed to somewhat...support her behavior because she's the main character? Honestly, she doesn't deserve Kim ever at all, I don't know how Kim still likes her. Wan wanted to be with her because it made her happy, but was Kim happy? Still hanging out with her even though it'd result in a loss for Kim too, being rude to Jessie knowing she can release that clip of both of them, being rude to Pam (Dokrak's GF) even though it's wasting Kim's effort to allow Pam to let Dokrak be Wan's stylist, and her ridiculously childish behavior with Kim's employer. Man, honestly Marwin is a good guy, just blind in love to insist on marrying someone he met recently, plus some unintentional pressure he made. I can see that they tried to make us dislike him by making him ruin Kim's business and making him less polite. But it doesn't work like that, I genuinely would be happy for Kim if she honestly liked Marwin. Also, let's not view kissing someone while sleeping in a positive manner, it's one of my biggest no-nos. Wan is a bad friend, how are Mali and Mon still keeping up with her annoying behavior?! It's a good thing at least that after Wan got what she wanted, she isn't insufferable anymore. But I've gotta give credit because this made me feel interested to want to know what will happen

DIRECTING
I think this director, A, is great at the comedic scenes. My favorite comedic scene was in episode 6, when Pat was trying to ask Wan out using the papers, but he showed her the wrong side so it's just a blank paper AHAHAHH that one was directed pretty funnily to me, my type. Not only the comedic scenes but the beautiful scenes too outdoors with the view. A good example would be right at the end of episode 9 when Kim told Wan she's getting married while they're outdoors, I like the pacing. If I were to express my dislikes, I'm not a huge fan of the concept of Wan's dreams sometimes from the camera concepts. At some moments, the vibe of the song doesn't match too much with the scene which bugged me a bit.

ACTING (6.5/10)
Most of them are up to the surface level, some notable good ones are May, Heng, and Looknam though which increased my rating by 0.5
Fay
Not great especially at the start of the show. For a character who's supposed to be b*tchy, she doesn't have that gaze in her eyes or the corners of her lips. A good example would be Frung (Jessie), but more toned down since Wan is more cold. I could see a clear imbalance when her face was near May, especially in emotional scenes. But I have to say, the end of episode 9 with her emotional facial expression made the whole show more engaging. It was when she shed tears I noticed for the first time in episode 10(?), she's improving while shooting the show it seems. Can't forget about my favorite scene in episode 11, I didn't think she'd cry like that 30 minutes before Kim's wedding. Her lips shaking, her voice too, it made the scene even better. I'm glad her acting got better as the series went on, looking forward to FayMay's new series in 2024 Somewhere Somehow. But a bit salty that she hasn't done it since episode 1, could've made everything better as the main character.

May
I absolutely have no complaints about her. Every time there's a crying scene, it just feels so real, she makes every sad scene even better. She also portrays her slightly tired/annoyed expression when with Wan well. There wasn't a single time I thought 'hmm this was a bit awkward' with her acting. awesome since the start. Of course, FayMay has decent chemistry with each other here, especially in the cute scenes.

Frung
Ever since the start, I knew what her character was supposed to be like from her intonation and gaze. Even though she doesn't have sharp and angular facial features like a lot of villains do, her acting itself can get the job done well.

PearPloy
Not sure if it's because they were introduced as an established couple already or what, but I didn't see much chemistry in them that it felt a bit awkward when they called each other 'my love'. Pam (Pear) is always annoyed at something, and Dokrak (Ploy) is just happy to be there. GrumpyXsunshine dynamic, but nothing else. Except for when their kiss was shown at Mon's club. Their characters didn't give them a chance to showcase much, their characters were pretty simple.

Songjet
As the comedic character, her intonation, exaggerated expressions, and body movements were natural. It didn't seem awkward or anything. Since her character is mostly whining about something, it didn't give much of a chance to showcase her acting either. But she can play a funny overreacting character for sure, a little bit bland though.

Looknam
As a comedic character, she did amazing. Her playful expressions, annoyance, etc etc no complaints. great great actress who is able to switch up in an instant.

Heng
No matter if he's playing a good or evil character while standing still without any expressions, we'll know right away what he's trying to show. Before the wedding incident happened, his expression looked very kind. Then when WanKim talked with his character, you could see he had bitterness in his eyes very clearly that you feel scared if he'll do something. Excited to see him in PoomSaint's show in 2025 'My Sweetheart Jom '

Poom
Playing a comedic 2D character, we didn't see him doing much other than smiling and looking like a lost kid, except when he had a workshop with Wan and Jessie in a serious scene. His expressions didn't seem 'deep' enough, mostly his gaze.

Tack
Even though he just appeared as a guest, I already know he's great at comedic scenes, I actually paid attention to the thing he was sponsoring LOLL

MUSIC (9.5/10)
My favorite thing about this show is easily the amazing music, both BGM and OST. The vibe of the BGMs is very soothing when they need to be. The theme song is also cute, got me singing along. Let's not forget about one of the OSTs sung by boy sombop, the king of BL songs with the title 'Awake'. whenever that song plays, my focus instantly increases.

Rewatch Value (8/10)
Well, the reason why it's high is because of how frustratingly interesting the show is with Wan's behavior. Will probably rewatch for memories in the future

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Starts off really promising and then farts at the end

I watched this back when it was first on TVB but I didn't write anything about it as I was not on MyDramaList at the time. But recently a suggested YouTube video played the intro music to this drama and it brought back so many memories, so I thought why not talk about it.

This drama started off really well and it felt special, like a break from the typical TVB nonsense as it was full of cool CGI and style. The Chinese title of the drama was very simple. just one word and it was designed in a very clever way along with some really cool style choices. And there were cool scene transition b-roll where it is a close up of Kevin Cheng and it panned a little around him, just like on the title screen with Raiden in Metal Gear Revengeance. I was excited to find out more about what was going on with the drama as the story initially felt really compelling and the whole thing was dripping with style, but holy crap, it fell hard on its face as the drama continued.

So the show is about vampires. Yes, vampires. Nothing wrong with that as long as they do it properly. And at first it felt like it was all mystical and cool, but we eventually discover that everything - and I mean everything - is purely scientific. That destroyed all the mystical aspects of the drama and immediately made it crap. Imagine if Journey to the West had Sun Wukong doing magical stuff because he was a deity, and then halfway through we discovered he was actually an android. How many WTFs would you throw at the drama? For a more real-world example, do you remember the awesome movie Highlander? There can only be one! It was all magical and mystical and it never deviated from that fact in the storytelling. And then, Highlander 2 came out and it goes "oh you thought it was mystical? No! All science and different planet stuff." That p***ed off a lot of people, and this was what happened to this drama for me.

So, to explain my disappointment I'll explain the story how I remember it. In the future, humanity is all messed up and near extinction because of a vampire virus. Yes, a vampire virus, so it was taking a page right out of the Underworld IP. Two uninfected humans from the future - yes I said the future - played by Joel Chan and Kay Tse decided to take a sample of the virus and travel back in time to retrieve an extinct holy water that could cure the virus. How do they know this could cure the virus? Dunno, it was simply brought up without much explanation from a terribly voiced computer AI. While they were flying to the past in their time machine, they encountered problems that led to crashing, leaking of virus, Joel Chan and Kay Tse getting infected, and then the both of them emerging 500 years in ancient China where they went crazy and started biting everyone.

While these new vampires were going nuts and biting everybody and making new vampires, Kevin Cheng and his band of Imperial Guards from ancient China - yes Imperial Guards who were supposed to be guarding the Forbidden City but were now outside - were on a mission to defeat the vampires who were terrorising the town. They obviously lose because they were only human, but then suddenly all the guards - including Eddie Kwan - get struck by lightning and become immortals with superpowers. Yes, immortal just like immortals in Highlander so they can only die by being beheaded. Now we have human immortals and vampire immortals, both with super powers running around unchecked. The immortals continue their mission to hunt down vampires to the modern day with the belief that they would become human again when all vampires are destroyed.

Since this was a TVB production, you bet your ass that the characters all decide to set up base in Hong Kong because you know... Hong Kong is a great place to be when you are immortal and stuff. I didn't really mind this too much. There were some great effects and fight scenes, some great - if predictable - conflicting drama when Eddie Kwan, as an immortal, decided to make his son into a vampire so that he wouldn't die, but it is all overshadowed by the darn annoying reveal that vampirism was a virus and there was time travel involved. They didn't just jump the shark, they skipped over the blue whale as well.

Besides my main complaint, there were other issues. The main cast loved going to Amsterdam for some reason, and the story makes everything - and I mean everything - happen in Amsterdam. Where was that super magic holy cure water? Yes, it is in Amsterdam. This was purely because TVB had a tight budget so they had to choose one country and then write the entire story based in that country to save money. This meant that vampires also came from there, which made me laugh because weren't vampires historically from Transylvania, Romania? Not here, everything is in Amsterdam, yo. Every time there was a scene where they had to return to Amsterdam I shook my head like why Amsterdam? I bet they only went there for the redlight district and to smoke weed at the cafes while they tried to write themselves out of the plotholes.

Speaking of plotholes, the biggest one was how the immortals came to be after getting struck by lightning. I thought maybe some higher being gifted them that power to fight the vampires, but the drama never gives us a true explanation. We are given a half-assed explanation that some things cannot be explained by science. Wtf, the drama used science to explain vampirism but the immortals we have nothing?

The vampire acting in this drama was also so over-the-top it was hilariously bad. When Joel Chan and Kay Tse use their vampire modes they get this really stupid growling voice and they do the old-school Hong Kong movie ghost claw hand pose that kept making me laugh when I saw it. It was so bad, man, you have no idea. Joel Chan being the big bad was not a problem for me because he had the acting chops to pull it off, but damn the effects and poses they decided to use here were so bad that it removed everything intimidating about the vampire forms. Even the vampires in Buffy the Vampire Slayer are scarier, and that's not saying much.

And man, I found Grace Chan so annoying as well. She spends the entire drama just hopelessly in love with Kevin but Kevin turns her down because he is an immortal. When she discovered this, she chose to become a vampire so that he didn't have to worry about her dying, completely ignoring the fact he wasn't into her to begin with. The best part about this is that in real-life she succeeds in getting with Kevin and they got married and had kids, so she sorta succeeded I guess?

Finally we have Kay Tse as the female lead and boy she sucked. She has no, and I mean NO charisma at all. I had more fun watching Anjaylia Chan being an awesome martial artist learning under Kevin but hiding her skills, but later she becomes a vampire. Kay Tse's acting is so wooden and I really did not like watching her, and she has no chemistry with Kevin at all. I have seen more chemistry between Kevin and Chun Wong (the fat guy in the drama) than between her and Kevin.

On the bright side, it does have a great intro song.

Ultimately, a real letdown of a drama. Kevin Cheng did have a topless scene showing off how buff he was despite his age of 47 at the time, but that doesn't make up for all the awfulness of this drama. This was just disappointing and it was made worse by having a great start and then doing a stupid science twist later that just ruined the entire mystical mood it started off with.

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Dark horse drama turn into a ...

The director plus the acting crew didn't expect the drama blossom would flare better. Topping the chart . Both the ML were low traffic actors. The director were darned good with his visual filmography and story telling were pretty awesome. The scene from the first episode where both the ML was shot by the arrow both fall into the abyss, It was differently done.
The film setting was set-up during ming dynasty. The costume was posh and stylish.
The story of the Rebirth was done so well. The audience understood the reason for them to be reborn again, It wasn't like other drama where they left the audience hanging in the air.

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Fangs of Fortune: A Surprising Hit with Stunning Cast and Intense Villains

I was originally really apprehensive about watching Fangs of Fortune, but I'm really glad I did, as it turned out to be quite a good drama. The entire cast is full of really good-looking people, so there’s eye candy in almost every episode. I really liked how the villains weren’t push-overs and definitely put up a decent fight against the main team. They brought many tactics and well-thought-out plans to the table, and I'm glad the leads didn’t just defeat them in one move. ZYZ and ZYC had a really interesting relationship to me, kind of a borderline love-hate dynamic, but they both need each other for their own interests and benefits. The male leads had really great acting, and so did WX, but when it comes to PSJ, portrayed by Cheng Xiao, it felt a little too stiff. I understand the character isn’t the most expressive, but it seemed like a bit of an overkill with the straight face. The cinematography is absolutely phenomenal, and I really enjoyed the OST for this drama. It matches well and sets the mood, especially during the fight scenes. LL is, unsurprisingly, my favorite character. I actually didn’t realize it was Yan An until I read something about it; he certainly has better acting skills than most K-pop artists transitioning into acting. Overall, this is one of the best shows released this year, and I definitely recommend watching it. I’d rate it 7.5/10!

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Good guys don't win

Two things irritated me. The vertical filming and the expected outcome. The narrowing of the screen would put a greater strain on your eyes to watch. Not a very good idea. Watching like this did not enhance the plot or the enjoyment.

The script tried to be introspective and cute. I said tried. Pa Rang sees Tae Min seduce a guy and just as quickly dumps him after having fun. Yu Bin, kind and friendly, openly shows Pa Rang he is interested but guess which one he chooses. No brainer. When will shows stop portraying the good guy as a loser? Is this supposed to make it more interesting? It didn't. All three had issues but it is Yu Bin who fully understands his and keeps trying without looking for pity.

The acting was done well enough. The 2 seconds that Pa Rang's mother was onscreen did more for the story than everything else. The despair, the pain, the words uttered before she jumped were portrayed very well. Tho the script had too many references about drowing and sinking and looking up from the bottom. Ok, we get it.

The expected outcome: Pre-planning to die on the same day his mother died, Pa Rang goes to jump. Yu Bin recognizes something is off and tells Tae Min, who instantly knows where to find him, he rushes to save him. Yu Bin - see what I mean about the good guy. Tae Min, who supposedly loves him so much, didn't know. Tae Min reaches in time, pulls him off of the box he stood on and tells him he loves him so much. No intensity, like standing on the wall, but a box next to the wall. Lazy writing.

The theme of Pa Rang planning his death could have easily shown to change by him falling in love with Tae Min and by seeing how Yu Bin keeps pushing no matter his limitations and finally facing up to his father about how he blamed him for his mother's suicide. As is, there was no electrifying moment that warranted the cost of paying to see this. It's now available on YT for free as a full length series combined but for how long, no one knows. I will not watch this again. The irritating background music was not to the show's benefit. Everything felt dull and monotonous.

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