Binge worthy!

Wow! If I could just stop my review here, I would, but since a certain number of characters are required, I'll expound a little bit. First, the time loop premise - there are so many ways that it could have gone terribly wrong, the worst being feeling like everything is being re-hashed over and over. They did not fall into that trap, instead each loop was just a little bit different than the last, with us the audience, learning right along with the main characters. As I was watching, I felt that this was a really fresh take on the concept of deja vu.

Acting - the main characters did an excellent. As I find in most Chinese dramas, the ancillaries suffer from overacting and the terrible dubbed voices. I could forgive it here because the whole story just kept moving so fast.

There was a touch of romance to the story, and it, by necessity, took a back seat to all the action. I really felt like the main characters were drawn together because of their experiences, but their relationship was very believable. I felt like if they met under ordinary circumstances, they would still be drawn to one another.

This show gets you to thinking about, if you could go back and change things, or set them right, how would you go about it? What would you be willing to do?

I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of watching this.

Leia Mais

It grew on me

At the beginning I was getting the "how many times have I seen this before" vibes. I didn't find it too interesting, but then about halfway in, I think I just decided to enjoy the ride.

It's a story about first loves, fractured relationships, budding friendships, with the obligatory corruption thrown in for good measure. It was enjoyable to get to know the people, some more than others. I thought the 3rd couple was irritating and unnecessary - lots of pouting, whining, and other very juvenile behavior.

The main couple was cute, though I saw them more as friends than anything else, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I did like how they didn't have any misunderstandings and were there for one another at all times.

BIGGEST DRAW FOR ME - Choo Young Woo as Jung Young Joo. I've not seen this actor in anything else and he was captivating. The ultimate bad boy, but with a strong sense of family and decency. I loved the way this character was written, and Young Woo embodied the part totally. He was very serious, but when he broke into a smile, watch out. And I have to say, surprisingly, that my favorite parts were the development of the relationship between Jung Young Joo and Kang Seo Young. Trying not to be in a relationship, but falling into a relationship, their scenes in the last couple of episodes were just darling.

Disliked - the head of the school (though I was supposed to, so she did a good job). Even more than my dislike of that character was the song Dream On. I swear, they must have played the one line of that song about 250 times. Fingernails on a chalkboard!

I don't feel the need to watch it again, because I didn't love it, but it was certainly worth watching for Choo Young Woo. It's a sweet, low-angst watch.

Leia Mais

Calming

This movie is very calming and relaxing. It invites you to leave your daily cares and watch the simple lives of people in a small town. It's beautifully filmed and edited. I could almost feel my blood pressure dropping as I watched this. I felt absolutely nothing intrinsically wrong with it, just personally I felt like nothing was happening, and that's on me.

The actors did a fine job. Of course, they weren't actually required to do anything much anyway.

I don't remember the music.

I won't rewatch, simply because I have so much on my list already. Though, to be fair, I might want to give it another chance when my mental state is in a somewhat different place.

Leia Mais

Should have had half as many episodes

This drama was entirely too long. I fast forwarded through a lot of it, because I didn't really care what was going on. I was watching for the romance, and it never fully developed. So many missed opportunities!

Shen Yue as Tong Xiao You. I love this actress. I liked the character's strength, honesty, and loyalty. However, I felt that so often she was a doormat for the ML.

Jerry Yan as Lu Xing Ching. I wasn't bothered by the age disparity. I was, however, bothered by the character of Lu Xing Ching. He wasn't a nice guy, he didn't treat her well. He was emotionally closed off and unwilling to open up to her. I think that if I was her (or actually anyone that had some self-respect) I would have given up on him. Why did she love him? He was no prize. The dubbing was especially bad for this character. He, for the most part, sounded like he was talking while stricken with lockjaw. He overacted when he was required to cry. And, considering that the character was supposed to be a famous clothing designer, the clothes he wore were the WORST. And i think he only had three outfits.

Wei Zhe Ming as Lu Yan Zhi. I loved this character, and I felt that he and Xiao You would have been better together. I don't normally ship the FL with the 2ML, but I totally did in this one. He was a terrific character, just a totally nice guy. His love for her was true, and more than anything, he wanted her to be happy. To be honest, there were times that I thought she acted like she liked him more than the ML.

I liked the second couple, and we got a wedding.

One open-eyed fish kiss and one good kiss. The couple spent more time apart than they did together, so I felt that the chemistry was lacking.

I did like the side stories of the family dynamics, which I don't normally care for. But they were more interesting than the romance.

Sweet ending.

Leia Mais

Short and sweet

This was a fun, and funny show and I was so pleasantly surprised! This show managed to handle a few of my dislikes in a positive way:
1) I don't like historical dramas, but since this was set in modern times and the historical aspect was well-handled, I really enjoyed it.
2) I also don't care for slapstick comedy. This was found in abundance in this show, and it was well-done as well. All of the sound effects added to the fun of the production. There were many times that I laughed out loud. With all of the over-the-top special effects, sound effects and overall silliness, the show was a perfect length for it to not get tiring. *In the last episode, when they did the slow-motion nod to Goblin, I choked on my soda...so funny!!
3) Chinese dramas tend to be long and drawn out. With 18 short episodes, there was no filler.
4) The dubbing in Chinese is problematic for me. Women's voices tend to be screechy and irritating. I understand that they have to dub because of all of the dialects, but better voices would not go amiss. That said, the woman's voice worked in this one. The woman's voice is the same voice that is normally the 2FL voice - high pitched, breathy, childlike. It worked perfectly for the character of Fu Bao - she was a tiny little thing!
5) Sometimes you find a lot of overacting and yelling in Chinese dramas. Again, those things worked perfectly in this show, it added to the slapstick feel (I'm speaking mainly of the villains).
6) Fake kisses/fish kisses. Nowhere to be found here. There was abundant chemistry and good skinship in this one!

This is the perfect show to watch if you don't want to have to think too much and just want something light to watch between heavier dramas.

Leia Mais

Lots of wasted time

I'm not normally a fan of historicals. I feel like there is one script that they use for every historical, just changing the names and the actors - someone in the family trying to kill the monarch, evil people in power (especially high-ranking officials), scraggly beards and moustaches, beautiful costumes, ridiculous hats, sword fighting, kidnapping, bloodshed, mistaken identity, ginormous cast with multiple storylines. This drama kept popping up in my face, so I figured I'd give it a try. If you are die-hard fan of historicals, you'll probably like this. There is no doubt that it was well done, but there was so much filler that the fast forward button and I became very close.
There were many positive things about this drama for me:
The cast, especially -
Rowoon as Jung Ji Woon - do I even need to explain why? I find him to be very charismatic and his acting is understated. I can feel his emotions, and he tends to have very good chemistry with his leading ladies.
Park Eun Bin as Yeon Seon/Lee Hwi/Dam Yi - for me, she was the standout of this drama. I do not like the gender bender genre, because every single one that I have seen has a woman that is so beautiful that there is no way that anyone that can see at all would confuse her with a man. Her features are always soft, and they have her perfectly made up. Park Eun Bin was terrific in this role! First, her stature and her face are such that you could conceivably believe that she was a man. Don't get me wrong, she is absolutely gorgeous, but she was made up so that her face was all hard angles, strong jawline, no puffy cheeks. Add to that, she did a great job of keeping her voice deep, and she had that cold, aloof demeanor down pat. Her movements were very masculine when she was playing the man, as well.
Nam Yoon Su as Lee Hyun - I loved his characterization of unswerving loyalty in the face of having to deny his feelings.
Go Gyu Pil as Hong Bok Dong - He brought a little comedy/lightness to an otherwise heavy show. When I saw the child actor playing this part, I just knew Go Gyu Pil would be playing the adult!

Excellent chemistry between the lead actors. Honestly, if I were to re-watch this, it would be to fast forward through all the intrigues just to watch their love story.

Bottom line - I think that if historical dramas are what you gravitate to, you will probably really like this one.

Leia Mais

For me, it was forgettable

The story line was interesting, but I didn't feel the leads did a very good job when they exchanged souls. So, trying to keep track of who what saying what to who was aggravating. Toward the beginning of the show, when he was already attracted to her, the looks he would give her...sigh! But later they didn't really seem to have that much chemistry. Plus, they fought ALL THE TIME. Hated the evil mother (I know, that was the point, but she continued to have her way, even at the end, hated that). I had watched this on DramaFever and couldn't even remember it, so I watched it again to review it. I now know why I couldn't remember it. Not that impressive. Loved the architecture, even though this was filmed long before WWWSK, it will always be the WWWSK house!

Leia Mais

This is one of those shows that I have watched multiple times. She is just precious. Tiny in stature, but don't mess with her! The chemistry between the two mains was wonderful, and I loved that he seemed to be attracted to her before she was attracted to him. He treats her with such care and respect, I just LOVED their relationship. They were so sweet together, and it was wonderful watching him try to deal with his feelings for her.

Her crying, however. They need to work with her to teach her how to correctly emote when she is crying. I could not take her seriously, and I wanted to laugh during one of the more dramatic scenes of the show. It was not a character flaw, I've seen her in other shows and that's the way she cries.

That said, I did NOT like the side story with the "gangsters" that were in the hospital, and her mom was a nightmare! I felt that the gangster stuff put it over the top into slapstick territory and the ending did, as well.

Leia Mais

Lots of wasted time

Granted, it's shorter than a lot of Chinese dramas, but I still found myself fast forwarding through a lot of it. It felt like the storyline was in a continuous loop. I didn't see the male lead as a superstar, he acted more like a trainee, and I really don't think his character grew throughout the drama. He was very immature and yelled A LOT. It was very sweet when he was trying to do something for the FL, but when she or someone else questioned him, he yelled. I don't like drunk confessions or drunk kisses.

The FL was gorgeous to look at. I don't think I've previously seen her in anything. Her character started out strong, in the middle became a doormat, and then toward the end got a spine again.

The second couple, just no. He had absolutely no personality and the character of Pan Duo was one of the most irritating I've seen in a while. Her voice was terrible, and she was virtually a stalker. She constantly called him "My Idol". She was constantly trying to trick him to spend time with him. I don't understand how anyone could come to want her as a girlfriend.

There were a few cute scenes in this show, but unfortunately, for me, they were few and far between.

Leia Mais

Very sweet

This was a cute storyline and there was very low angst, which I always appreciate. I watched it all in one day, and the time just seemed to fly by. Sweet happy ending, especially at the newsstand.

I really appreciated Simon Chen in his role of pretending to be identical twin brothers. I enjoyed watching his demeanor change from very cold to open and friendly. The only downside is it doesn't look like he's currently in anything else I can watch him in! His assistant trying to help him fix his smile so it looked more natural was cute.

The main couple, for the most part, had good chemistry and I found myself smiling a lot.

The acting of some of the ancillary characters was not so great, but luckily most of the time was spent on the main couple. The one thing that I absolutely did not like was all of her drinking, especially after making such a big deal out of the fact that she can't drink. I mean, who goes to try to apologize and get an interview when they are drunk, anyway?!?! And her drunk crying was really irritating and there was entirely too much of it.

Another thing that I really liked was the fact that this was short, especially compared with most other Chinese shows. There wasn't a lot of time-wasting filler, which made the experience enjoyable.

Leia Mais

Acting can make or break a show for me

STORY: I enjoyed the Korean version more, mainly because this version was entirely too long and drawn out. There was so much that could have been left out entirely, without losing any of the storyline. I'll admit, I'm a sucker for the destiny, we knew each other years ago storyline. However, here the male lead was pretty unlikeable, so I couldn't fathom how either woman could fall in love with him. I didn't feel that the male lead's character was as mean as in the Korean version, but that's mainly due to acting...

ACTING/CAST: I enjoyed Dilraba Dilmurat as Li Hui Zhen (though she was considered ugly because of frizzy hair and freckles? Although the freckles were so poorly done, but that's another issue). I didn't think she was as over-the-top as the actress in the Korean version, which I appreciated. Peter Sheng as Bai Hao Yu - his acting was terrible in this. I don't think I've ever seen him in anything else, but here he was wooden with no expressions. There are so many actors that can play the cold hero well, by use of expressiveness of eyes. He, unfortunately, appears to not have this capability. Vin Zhang as Lin Yimu was AMAZING. First, I think his part was really well-written, so there is that. He and Dilraba had amazing chemistry, which was lacking between Sheng and Dilraba. Li Xi Rui as Xia Yiao - she had a few scenes (which seemed to involve movement, so maybe acting and moving are too much) where all you could see was her acting. However, for the most part she did a pretty decent job. The rest of the cast was okay. I did like the progression of the friendships between all the workers in the office.

CHEMISTRY: Great chemistry between Dilraba and Vin Zhang. Between Dilraba and Sheng, not so much. I enjoyed the scene where they were eating together in the car, but I never really felt that they were in love.

This is actually a show that you could watch the first few episodes and then skip to the last 10 episodes and not miss out on anything.

Leia Mais

Is our destiny fixed?

This show addresses the question of whether our destinies are fixed, and the concept of parallel universes. I found this interesting, especially since I just recently finished Blue Birthday, which addressed time travel. Nothing like sticking with the same genre, it helps things to flow more easily. If you know something that is destined to happen in your future, do you try to finesse it or change it? And, if you can change it, was it really your destiny? I also liked how the concept of healing from past wounds was brought into the story.

Beautifully filmed in light and dark and shades of brown.

I did find the story very confusing because of the women that were in it. Was it one person, two people, what? That is totally on me, however. I thought it was the perfect length, and I'll go to Season 2 soon.

Leia Mais

I think the writers were wrong with this one!

The storyline was okay. I liked the idea of the two main characters having known each other for years. The acting was good for the most part (some of the comedic relief stuff was a little over the top). It was going along quite well until, WHAT THE HECK!?!?! Warning, rant coming...

Most of the episodes demonstrated how Yoon Tae Oh and Han Song Yi had been friends for years, and that she never thought of him as more than that. He had first love syndrome but then moved on to someone else. Multiple episodes served to show the developing relationship between Song Yi and Seo Do Hyun, including discussions about heart fluttering, confessions of affection, first kisses. They had beautiful chemistry together and his character was warm, caring, sweet, and genuinely a nice guy. Then all of a sudden, he's out of the picture and Song Yi and Tae Oh get together!?!?! In the first place, Tae Oh was not the most likeable of characters. He was selfish, immature, entitled. And let's be honest, you've known each other for 20 years, if you were going to have a relationship, you would have done it in that time. It also left a bad taste in my mouth because it made her seem too fickle. She really liked Do Hyun, then she didn't all of a sudden?

This show actually made me mad for having wasted my time.

Leia Mais

Some surprisingly swoony lines from teen ML

The first couple of episodes didn't impress me, mostly because they were rushed (it is a web series) and I didn't particularly care for the FL. Understandably, she had a chip on her shoulder, but honestly, she'd had 18 years to get used to her destiny and do you really want to go your whole life hating everyone and have everyone hating you? But then, the show really started to grow on me. This is an enjoyable show to binge watch, as the episodes are short and there are only 12 episodes. This drama demonstrated that the living are often scarier than the dead; and that if you open yourself up a little to people, your burdens might be halved because you have someone to share them with. Everything was wrapped up nicely, though because of the short duration, there were questions that were left unanswered (mostly missing back stories), but I wasn't bothered by that. Honestly, even though they've confirmed a season 2, I don't really see the need for it, other than to see more of the actors' work.

Kim Sae Ron as Ga Doo Shim was very good in this role. She was able to convey the bitterness of her lot in life, yet with that vulnerability that, perhaps this time things will be different. This was a very physical role and she did a good job with that as well.
Nam Da Reum as Na Woo Soo. I've loved him in things he's been in so far. I think he did an okay job as the male lead here, mainly because it was short. I'm not saying that he's not ready for a lead in a longer drama, just that this was a good starting point for him.
Yoo Sun Ho as student ghost Hyun Soo. He brought a lot of life to the story, especially considering that he was a dead guy! He had a lot of humorous scenes, and when he played it straight, I really felt for him. I would have loved to have actually seen a scene with him resolving issues with his mother.
Bae Hae Seon as Hyo Shim (Doo Shim's mother) - she did an excellent job. She has a very lovely and calm demeanor, and she didn't play her character as over-the-top and cartoonish, as I was afraid she would. I would have loved to have seen more scenes of her and Doo Shim resolving some of their issues.

Writing - there were the typical high school drama issues: terrible parents, the pressure to be the top of your class (I thought the premise for the deaths was excellent - it was coming from a different angle), school bullies, the other girl that likes the ML and is mean and conniving. Every time I watch a high school drama, I think that there is no way I'd want to go to school in Korea! However, there were a few surprisingly swoony lines from the ML that I was VERY impressed with. Not only with the lines themselves, but with the way Nam Da Reum delivered them.

Music - to be perfectly honest, I don't remember the music. It wasn't out of place, but I wasn't impressed enough to notice any of it.

Rewatch value - I've got too many other things on my list.

Bottom line - if you've got a few hours, don't want anything long and drawn out, and would like to see something a little supernatural, give it a try!

Leia Mais