Reviews

Great Acting but the Storyline was a Choppy Mess & the gun was STOLEN not lost!

I only came about this series last minute because I had previously watched DYX in 4 costume dramas this year so wanted to see him in a totally different genre. Now he and the rest of the actors (some I've seen while others I haven't) did a phenomenal job at their characters but the script was just a choppy mess and I was so sick of them talking about the gun being lost and how he had to take responsibility when the dude was knocked out and the thing stolen off his person.

Pros: Honestly, just the acting of the actors; DYX did a wonderful job, just wish the script was strong. Every character was believable and did their part for as long as they were needed. DLE or as I called him the Hawaiian shirted gangster was literally the comic relief of the show. How everyone was able to convincingly speak in whichever dialect of mandarin that was, was very cool. Mastermind was truly cruel and used everyone to his advantage. The worst was NF; because he killed her father but made her believe he was her benefactor until right before she was shot by the SWAT team. He manipulated this poor girl her entire life into becoming a spy and assassin for him and then called it her atonement for what her father did. Losing LTY, then her, then Bao Ge (though that was inevitable) was hard. But the mastermind being very smart that he planned everything for something like 12 years and his actor played him well. Sad part was that LTY didn't like nor trust him from the beginning but no one believed him and than he was killed by the guy, that one hurt the most.

Cons: The storyline was a mess. Ok there's a mastermind that had ML's gun STOLEN but that was constantly referred to as a lost gun and he was suspended over it not to mention yelled at because all of these other cops SML included would somehow be super human if knocked over the head with a metal pipe and be able to retain his service pistol. That was a crock of shit. The cops themselves couldn't catch a bad guy red handed if he came to them on a silver platter which included whole departments, SWAT included. Meanwhile WBB (ML) and his best friend LTY were always in the path and somehow either slowed the person getting away down or caught him for said flailing cops.

Furthermore, no one could really tell when ML met NF; one moment you think they just got to know each other a little while ago and he just has a crush on her and then a few episodes later you find out he’s been in love with her since they were young. That’s what I mean by choppy and messy. There was absolutely no need for romance in this drama or even the slight possibility of it. And the way it was written, was screwed up as well.

For 26 or so episodes, the bad guys were running circles around the cops. They couldn’t put 2 + 2 together to save their lives. The flashbacks in the beginning were slowly necessary more or less to piece together who the mastermind was and why (he was of course right under their noses) but his why was just a self justification for the bad things his "nephew" did and why his sister and husband died. I also had problems with the way LTY and even NF died; they weren't given proper deaths; like ok killed, next scene. At least Bao Ge had a funeral but the main antagonist's death was a total copout happening in literally the last 5 minutes of the series with the reinstatement of WBB as an officer before stupid words about characters being charged (who cares, this was fake!) and role credits.

Would I recommend it? Honestly only for the acting because the storyline was just really dumb especially when you start to realize what's happening. It's a good in between anticipated dramas show but that's it. DYX did a good job; hope he gets better scripts for modern dramas in the future.

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It's great! Go watch it!

The way the director, writer, producer, and actors approached the story of a character who transmigrates into a fictional novel is brilliantly executed. They truly did justice to the emotional and psychological complexity of being transported to an unknown land. In many previous dramas, leads are often shown as mildly confused but able to assimilate seamlessly into their surroundings within seconds. However, this drama takes a refreshing and more realistic approach. Ling Miao Miao’s immediate and desperate desire to escape her unfamiliar circumstances establishes her as a character who is self-aware and relatable. This quick, instinctive reaction defines her personality right from the start, and impressively, her growth throughout the story—particularly in the context of love—remains cohesive and believable without diminishing her initial characterization.

Speaking of love—despite the severe lack of kisses (lol)—the chemistry between the leads is nothing short of explosive. The drama doesn’t rely on overt displays of affection to convey their bond; instead, it is built through meaningful dialogue, their constant need to be near each other, and the intensity of their gazes. Mu Sheng’s unwavering looks toward Miao Miao, in particular, speak volumes about the depth of their connection, as though their very existence is intertwined. Their love feels almost fated, transcending the typical tropes of romance, and resonates deeply with viewers.

One of the drama’s standout elements is how the second leads, Mu Yao and Liu Fuyi, are given room to shine. Unlike many stories where secondary characters feel like mere backdrops, here they are well-developed and integral to the plot. Their struggles and relationships are treated with care and purpose, adding another layer of richness to the story.

I also want to highlight on the how they tie it to modern life of Ling Miao Miao and the author, it gave actual contrast to the world Miao Miao is transported into which added more depth to the story than a simple transmigration to a fantasy world.

There are some critiques:

1. Where are the kisses!!!! Lmao

2. The aunt of Mu Sheng, Luniang...was she necessary? Here acting wasn't as impressive but perhaps if the character had
shown more clinginess and affection towards the Goddess Mei, a more believable act of being close as kin to each other and the initial or eventual hate towards the father of Mu Sheng be more expressed more than spewed words that might be better for the plot, justifying her actions towards Mu Sheng.

3. Certain parts toward the end felt rushed, particularly as the drama tried to resolve major plot points. A slightly longer runtime or more thoughtful pacing could have helped provide a more satisfying conclusion.

4. While his decision to sacrifice himself was a pivotal moment, it lacked the emotional weight it could have had. A private, heartfelt conversation between Mu Sheng and Miao Miao before his decision would have beautifully showcased the depth of their understanding and love for each other. This could have made the moment even more impactful for viewers.

Overall, it was funny, romantic, heart-warming drama perfect for any day of relaxation or a break from life.

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I have a difficult time trying to come up with any negative point for this drama as it’s like a textbook example of how a biography drama should be in my opinion. It was engaging, makes you feel emotionally invested, and the execution leaves you feeling hopeful despite the heavy theme.

I would say the only thing that I notice is there are some scenes showcasing the agenda of CCP because most individuals in the story are part of CCP. Just want to point this out in case anyone feel uncomfortable watching those scenes. Do keep in mind that the main character is an actual dedicated party member, and this is part of her belief, so I don’t mind that the show just highlight it as is. Personally, it’s not a big issue to me as it doesn’t change my political views nor affect my enjoyment on the drama itself.

Now I’m going to highlight some positive points from this drama:

Pacing and story
Pacing is great and it’s very engaging. You’ll experience all sort of emotions, and it’s very bingeable.

The script is solid from beginning till the end and the dialogues are well written. I like how it just told the story as is because you can see their struggle and how they cope with it. All the struggle and little side story doesn’t feel exaggerated, and all the issues highlighted are real social issue that I think are still relevant to this day.

I also like that we don’t really have a proper villain in the drama, sure some of the characters are infuriating, but you really can’t blame them too much because it’s the norm for them. The government officials are interesting to watch as in their core, they want to do good and support ZGM, but they do have restrictions within their role that they need to abide.

I also like how the show portrays that it’s only due to collective effort that Zhang Guimei was able to achieve those desired results. I’m sure that there are some dramatic changes in the drama, but the story overall feels very realistic.

Lastly I want to highlight that the tone of the show leans more on the light side, so it doesn’t feel heavy to watch and even makes you feel encouraged at the end.

Acting and casts
I would like to highlight the 2 main actors, Song Jia and Lan Xiya. They did such an amazing job at capturing the essence of the characters.
Honestly, I’m so impressed with all the casts, everyone felt like a real person living in those circumstances. It feels like we just took a sneak peek into part of their life.

Overall Rating – 9.0
I think it’s one of the best cdrama that I’ve ever watched. It played with my emotions so well and leave a lasting impression on me. I was also able to learn and reflect on myself after watching it.

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Crush was another of Jollibee’s short films/commercials designed to appeal to people emotionally. This time I wasn’t as enthralled as I usually am. While it was cute it felt forced and more contrived than usual.

A college student has a crush on a girl in school, but she is in love with someone else. Can he win her over with her favorite Jollibee burger?

What felt contrived to me was that he seemed to pull the burgers out of his, uh, pocket. He always seemed to have one at just the right time. The burgers had to be ice cold by the time she found them. Also, I kept wondering if she’d already eaten or was thinking, cold burgers, again? Am I being stalked?

Crush was entertaining for a short film/commercial, but didn’t wow me like their other commercials/short films I have seen. But it was good enough for a quick drive through meal.

16 December 2024

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Jollibee Chicken short films are the Filipino answer to Thailand’s life insurance commercials. Heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time. How is that these companies can put together more emotionally compelling stories in two-three minutes than some films can do in two-three hours?

Young Joey plans a special meal for his mother at his father’s behest. Of course, Jollibee’s chicken plays a strong supporting character in this tear jerker commercial/short film.

If you have two minutes and thirty seconds and need an emotional release after a tough day, Date and little Joey can help provide it. Full of love and sadness, this short film might touch your heart and moisten your tear ducts.

16 December 2024

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Can I actually say this? I kind of enjoyed it.

I have said this previously, where I am not really a fan of C dramas. I take too long in completing them; I get bored easily by them, and I always ask myself, 'Why am I watching this?' especially a period piece drama. This was not the case with this series, 'The Unexpected Marriage.'

I am not saying that this series is perfect—it is far from it. Yet, I still enjoyed watching it with the banter between the ML and the FL. I was shockingly able to follow whose who in this series and was not lost/confused as I usually am from previous shows. While there was a part in this series that did begin to get draggy, I was still able to follow the storyline, and it was able to pick up the momentum after that.

I've read comments that said that up to a certain part of episode 23 would have been a good place to end the series as the main couple got their happy ending. But I actually see why it continued. This was due to the fact that issues were not yet resolved with the third prince and the fifth prince. The fifth prince still wanted the power that the third prince had. It also showed us that the fifth prince, who was portrayed as someone who only looks out for himself, cared enough for his partner as he gave up his freedom and getting the antidote for his brother in exchange for her to be released from prison and for her to live her life.

What I did not like is the remaining, I want to say, ten minutes of this series. That part was stupid and unnecessary. That's why I can't give this series anything higher than an 8.5. If it had tweaked that part just a little bit, this series would have gotten a higher score from me. I understand why the FL was seen as a jinx, but the ending was still stupid and pointless in my opinion.

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Enjoyable and refreshing healthy relationships

Pros
Healthy Romantic Relationship -- They have no communication issue at all. Anything that can cause misunderstanding basically got curbed since they discuss it straight away, it's refreshing.
ML is more powerful and help FL a lot, but their relationship still feels equal somehow because FL is also capable and support ML in her own way.

Characters -- Both ML and FL is very likeable.
FL is capable, smart, and calm. A bit too perfect imo, so it might be positive or negative depending on preference... but I do like her character.
Other characters are also pretty interesting. Some are a bit too one dimensional, but there are some layered characters as well.

Story is overall pretty interesting -- It opens discussion on women's role in the family, how to overcome conflict within family member. It gives more spotlight to individual woman in FL's family and you can see their growth.


Cons
There are too many characters, so it's a bit hard to keep up.

Story:
- All the conflict got resolved too easily, so you don't see them struggle as much, which is not realistic. Even the final conflict with the main villain also got easy resolution.

- Business aspect in this drama is not realistic at all. They took a while to set up the business, but once they did, it's going so smoothly... so you need to suspend your disbelief 😂

Acting -- The acting is pretty standard overall... But ML portrayal is a bit too stoic for my liking. I do understand his character is supposed to be like that due to his background and political position, so it's still passable. He's good on action scenes though!

Overall Rating 8.5
Pretty enjoyable watch. It's good if you want to watch a female-centered drama that's light but still got a bit of tension.

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Funny and cute drama with a slow burn romance

I finish this. I like this one. Definitely should be rated higher than the current 7.3 MDL score as I'm posting this. You have a strong FL who thinks all she needs is the general manager of her job and then the ML who's self-centered thinking he's perfect (I mean he is pretty handsome LOL!). Throughout the drama, it's a slow burn romance where they eventually finally put down their pride and admit they like each other.

Unfortunately, because it's a short series, some important story points weren't resolved or explained well enough. Had this a regular filmed drama (around 30 to 45 mins for each episode), then I think this would've been explained in detail. Even the last-minute secondary couple would've been nice to see from the start of this drama because it's a short series.

Still, I like this one. Love the ML's character and surprise I can't find this actor on MDL. I definitely want to watch more of his dramas.

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most devastating 2 hours of my life

throughout the first 2 episodes i was kicking my feet and screaming into my pillow. every time i saw yin smile i wanted to explode he was so down bad for war… i mean aren’t we all. however, this is all a trap. first you are dragged into this story of a cute silly war wanarat called best, he literally is the best and he has a FAT crush on yin anan wong called dew and he literally makes a song for him and dedicates his entire life to him bla bla bla delusional high school war, perfect! dew is not like vee, he’s literally the sweetest person on this earth like why was i honestly expecting him to be one of those popular boys at school who like bully the nerdy friend group for no reason. that is actually so sad if i’m just used to that now because it’s a common theme ive seen in other bls, guys let’s bring back nice popular guys in bls! anyways everything is going fine until this absolute BITCH pops up and goes to dews mum and says like oh you know best likes men, i think him and dew are more than friends… what the fuck is wrong with you, just because dew obviosuly doesn’t like you because he’s been admiring best does not mean you can just expose them to dews own mum, are you brain dead? and to top it all off dews mum is homophobic and sends dew off to chiang mai so he doesn’t fall in love with best. the last part sent me in even more tears than i could ever expect, i even cried more than the time i got told off at school for my skirt length which was not even that short i just forgot to pull it down it’s not that deep. anyways, i could not bare to see the end of this like i was so convinced it was going to start raining outside then best would be crying his eyes out in the rain then dew runs out of his house to confess to best. but no. they never confess properly, like at the end of the day at least they know they like eachother but thr stupid part is that this would have a happy ending if that bitch fern didn’t exist. anyways im in a mood and need a reason to vent abt this. i love this show though and the ending is good but like terrible and horrible at the same time, i can’t find much wrong with this series like even though it’s only three episodes i feel like that’s enough! anyways if anyones botherd to read this i hope you enjoyed my rant

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Cute and simple

I'm glad I was able to finish this drama. For a moment there, it seemed to be an impossible task and I was heartbroken but I finally had the chance to finish the remaining episodes. So I first thought this was going to be 10 episodes then someone said it was 8 episodes which made me sad but we ended up with 12 which was exciting but on second thought, this should have been 8 episodes! It was actually too long!
So this show is very simple and average. There is no huge and revolutionary events in it. It's the epitome of average. I liked the beginning better as it started very funny and mysterious but as it went on and the romance developed, it became more like a sketch of a drama rather than a fully developed one.
The acting is just alright for them to get away with it and the production and music and everything else is just enough too. If you want to watch a BL which isn't just a romance and has plotlines that exist independently from the romance but are still not too complicated, then this show is a good choice. It's a really light watch.

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So Annoying

This series is not so bad that I want to stop watching, yet I'm really annoyed by a couple of things about it. First off, just how stupid is the ML that he can't put 2 and 2 together? How many episodes is it going to take before he can finally see what's right in front of his face? IMO it should have happened in episode 2 or 3 at most. And I refuse to believe that the FL can so easily control herself in difficult circumstances so as not to reveal her big secret. I find it easier to believe in zombies and I hate zombie series. Naturally, the 2 episodes a week format isn't as enjoyable as the binge-them-all-in-one-shot opportunities. Netflix arbitrarily skipping a week didn't help. As it is I have to watch everything at 1.5 speed due to the prolonged pauses inherent to a lot of Kdramas. Overall I just want this series to move faster. Hopefully it will ripen into a good romance, but it's just a bit too green for me right now.
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Just watched the finale and it was tot the ending I was hoping for:

The dramatic ending of episode 11 left us hanging (well, for a day) as to what Bad Guy (BG) said to his Uncle ML. I tried to think what new twist could have been so devious that ML would look so sad and made him disappear from FL? When I realized that BG was regularly calling FL "Sis" it occurred to me that maybe BG and FL WERE actual half-siblings! (Her mother would have some explaining to do.) I chuckled for at least a minute. That would have been so wrong! ML would be FL's uncle also and that would make their marriage a very bad idea.

Imagine my disappointment when finding out that ML went away because he felt bad. Yawn. And then there was the whole foreign war-torn adventure in the finale...all to set up some cozy time with a view of the sunset. Far too many footprints in that sand outside their window BTW. The rest of the victory lap episode was ok, not particularly earth-shattering.

Overall I felt that ML and FL didn't spend enough time smiling, or rather I should ask did they cast FL because she cries so well? And at the very end of the finale when 406 becomes a thing again, FL missed an opportunity to be more emphatic and demanding. "Get your a$$ back here right now or you'll be eating my cooking for the next two months!!!" Ah well.

Note: The preceding comments represent my opinions and are published as a personal record (and maybe for the entertainment of others.) Please write your own review about this show rather than critiquing mine.

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This is why I have trust issues

Why is this show so popular?! It was trash; basically. I'm not trying to be cruel, it was just a very badly made melodrama. I would have dropped this but I watched it with my mother and for some inexplicable reason, she was obsessed with watching this to the end even while complaining that the show is terrible...so we watched it, all the way to the end. I think maybe part of the issue is that this show is just very old and from a time when Kdramas didn't always try to be good. But this was just so cheesy! And it wasn't like Moon Lovers, that show is so obviously cringe, I mean the first time we meet the princes they're bathing! That show was so unserious and in your face with its awfulness that it was fun to watch it but this show was almost good! There are so many strong actors, the plot is serious, and it's like it's trying to be taken seriously but it falls short, my god it falls very short!
So first off, the plot here is convoluted but also underdeveloped, with a bit of tweaking this could have been so much more interesting. How? Some mystery would've been nice! The audience knows every single mystery of the plot the whole time (minus the one in episode 19 but by that point, you know these characters so well you will never fall for the plot's tricks.) So basically if we knew a bit less, it would have been so much less tedious to watch characters find out about stuff 10 episodes late. Secondly, this romance had less substance than cheese puffs! Why are these characters in love? Meeting twice and having three interesting conversations is a good build-up but it was just not enough for the epic romance this was set up to be. Also, the plot seems to have given up on using brain cells the moment the characters reached adulthood. The childhood era was actually nice, it tricked us into thinking the show is good. But then, everyone is suddenly dumb as an adult, especially the female lead who was so sharp and intelligent as a child. I get that that's what the amnesia plotline does to any respectable woman so I guess I just hate amnesia plots then. ._. And that's the other thing, the female lead is so passive. The literal moon that is in the sky and is shown, frankly too frequently, was more proactive in this plot than her. In fact, despite being the female lead, she barely has any role throughout the story. She's just there for everyone else to act around! Then there's the fact that events have no consequence as long as the female lead is involved. In fact, a major issue is how hard the show bends logic to protect the female lead's protagonist's halo. It's so frustrating. It was all so frustrating. I was either falling asleep from boredom or rolling my eyes from frustration while watching this.
So the casting...it's really good?! But why is everyone behaving so weird?! I don't know why but these really class actors were delivering absolutely no emotional impact. I could not care less about these characters and the acting made me so uncomfortable, everyone was so cheesy. I only liked Jung Il Woo, he was surprisingly a very strong actor and seemed a bit wasted here. The female lead was a nightmare and I bet Kdramaland unanimously sighed in relief when she married and gave up acting 'cause YIKES! what is that?! It was like she was allergic to expressions and having a personality...though the second one is probably the writer's fault! Everyone else was over acting. I like Fl's mom though. She was in Jewel in the Palace and I just like this woman a lot and her crying scenes were the only emotionally touching ones.
Music....do not even ask...
Production was terrible too but that should go without saying.
And I will not rewatch this, I barely wanted to watch it!
Overall: So many shows are popular on this website for no logical reason! Maybe they made sense 15 years ago, barely any of them hold up now. And I know there are good old shows but none of them are as popular as the bad ones! At least, so far in my experience. I'm gonna watch Goblin and hope for the best...

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