The premise is simple enough, but everything else is like an overly melodramatic soap opera. The script, the direction, the sounding editing, the soundtrack usage... Everything is bad. More often than not, scenes cut in and out without much connection between each other, and when the drama emphasizes important plot devices, the plot device doesn't end up being too featured or too talked about in the aftermath. It's a horribly cheesy, horribly melodramatic Taiwanese drama. I skipped 8 episodes in between (out of 14 total episodes - I watched the Taiwanese version, and not the Mainland version), and I still give this review. So all in all, watch at your own risk of wasting your precious time, lol.
This drama had a lot of potential in the first half of the show, but it takes absolutely forever in getting down to the romance triangle. But when it does, the show becomes all sorts of melodramatic - hospital scenes start happening, people become super close to dying, parents disown children, people get fired at work, people get pregnant, etc. You know, the atypical Asian drama requirements. To top it all off, the TV direction becomes super lazy in the second half of the show. It's as if the director sort of gave up too. Wallace Chung does what he can with the script near the end, but even then, the show is still super tacky.
This TV drama really shows how talented Bryant Chang (now Ray Chang) is, and how deserving he is of the Best Newcomer award he received some years ago at the Golden Horse Awards. It kinda sucks that his career didn't take off after that award win, because he's one of the few "idol" actors in Taiwan right now who can pull off such a geeky character so genuinely.
Well then, that took a really awkward and sexist turn. Maybe Taiwanese TV drama producers need to take notes from Canada and be all, "Because it's 2015." Also, I advise everyone to skip all the dumb sibling scenes because they really add nothing to the main plot, and they're just there as distractions.
The Cantonese accents of these Mandarin-speaking actors are sooo bad! Also, an eight-pack abs contest held in the middle of a supermarket? That's yet another unrealistic thing about Taiwanese dramas.
Man, the more I watch this drama, the more impressed I am with Ray Chang's acting. The way he handles the dual environments with the ghost and reality is just really amazing coming from a Taiwanese idol actor. I mean, he's not technically an "idol actor" since he has won a Golden Horse, but his acting is just so natural, genuine, and altogether charismatic, it's just really refreshing to watch a Taiwanese actor show this sort of performance, when typically most idol actors in Taiwan tend to overact in these TV dramas.
Annnd this is when the show gets cliché. It's only the second episode, and already we get scenes where: ugly siblings freak out over handsome guys; locals freak out over handsome guys; handsome guys lie to their parents; and handsome guys argue with ex-girlfriends without giving the audience any context beforehand.
Pivotal episode, where Hongpei finally discovers the truth of what transpired during the six years when he was dead. So sad.
Shuhai deserves a best friend that's actually human and isn't a manipulative two-sided ghost all the damn time. Mystic Dragon needs to step his game up and solve the mystery already!
The bromance is strong in this one. Also, FYI, the TV version of this drama only has 13 episodes, whereas the Line TV version aired the full 35 episodes.
Poor Pierre. He deserves all the happiness in the world. I mean, I'm super happy for Prince Andrei too, but gosh, poor Pierre :( I hope this love triangle doesn't end up being this crazy intense murderous thing because I really like the other two characters too.
Poor Pierre, poor Andrei, and poor Natasha. When will they ever find their happiness? At least Maria seems to finally find herself. Hope she gets to marry Natasha's brother at the end, because they all deserve better. Except for Anatole. Hope that prick dies. I don't think his leg getting chopped off is enough.
My God, that ending was bittersweet. It sucks that Pierre and Natasha had to go through all that just to be happy. But I suppose that's reflective of life in general - one needs to suffer to appreciate happiness that much more.
Matthew Goode is the best part of this Christmas special episode. Also, I'm getting real tired of the Spratt/Denker conflict. Does anyone actually care about those two? The Carson and Mrs. Hughes romance is kinda boring too.
Oh god, this is one of those terribly clichéd Korean dramas where rich people fall in love with poor people, and vice versa. Cue lots of longing stares, hands slamming on tables, overdramatic rants etc. Even Uee can't save this, the script is just that bad.
Park Hyungsik is so handsome. Like in a way where he can both be handsome yet adorable at the same time. Korean casting directors are real good at finding those kinda talent, eh.
Mandatory must-have scenes in every Korean idol romance drama: The leading men grabbing hands with the leading ladies and running down a sidewalk or pathway. (Optional: In the pouring rain.)
So in the end:
• Yoonha's older brother stages his own disappearance with barely any consequences, because his father still welcomes him back.
• Changsoo is suddenly able to control both Jiyi and his mother, even though in 60% of the drama, he couldn't.
• Yoonha suddenly becomes VP in one year, and takes her sister's place somehow.
• Changsoo is still a flop in his own company.
• The mistress has no influence over the story line at all.
You can essentially fast forward all the scenes that don't feature the four main leads, and you'll still be able to understand the ending.
I think this mini-series would have been miles better if another actress was cast as Elizabeth Bennett. There's just no charm to Anna Maxwell Martin's portrayal.
That kiss between Tilda and the other Butterfly came out of nowhere. WTF. I'm all for showing diversity in TV shows and movies, but it's gotta be weaved into the story line better; this one just plopped in without any lead-up. The show has some killer choreography, but damn, the overall story needs some drastic improvement. Ditto with line delivery. The inexperience of actors like Ally Ioannides (Tilda), Aramis Knight (M.K.), and Eve Connolly (Ava) really shows whenever they have a long scene.
I'm so confused, what's the difference between the purple Abbotts and the regular Abbotts? I must have missed this detail... Glad to see Sunny back alive though. They could have fleshed out Sunny's memory/flashback a bit more, imho. It felt a little rushed, especially when there were so many other side stories to tell (e.g. Jade's capture).
EDIT: OK, found out the difference. Purple are apprentices, while orange ones are trained, which makes sense, since cutting the purple ones would make them go out of control and attack.
Nan Xiang's ex-boyfriend is a monster. Why didn't the girls go to the police? Instead, the audience is forced to watch the aftermath of a rape scene. WTF. That is utterly disgusting. I hope this psycho goes to jail. Gu Li does not deserve this; getting raped and getting shamed in front of all her friends for getting raped. What the fuck. What the fuck is this plot device. This is absolutely disgusting. So much for friendship, eh. Instead of standing up for your friends, like Gu Li did, they all embarrass her for cheating on her relationships. We spent so much time in this series discovering that Nan Xiang doesn't care for Xi Cheng anymore, so why on Earth was she angry that Gu Li "slept" with Xi Cheng? Chicks before dicks, man! WTF.
What in the world were the scriptwriters thinking? "Let's take the strongest character out of the four girls, and throw some shitty plotlines at her." This episode completely contradicts the entire goal of this drama series; this episode is completely and utterly misogynistic. Gross.
I have waited so long for that scene between the two brothers. Kimi Qiao's line delivery was absolutely perfect when his character confronts Gong Ming. That scene and its follow-up show how strong the chemistry is between the three actors (e.g. Ivy Chen, Kimi Qiao, and Peter Ho). They honestly have the best chemistry among all the male-female relationships on this show. Their scenes always seem organic, and never forced. I mean, compared to the male-female relationships for Gu Li, Nan Xiang, and Wanru, the relationships Lin Xiao has with the two brothers always seem much more natural.
There are two major issues with this TV drama that can quickly summarize the entire show:
The wife Yuka has some serious mental health issues. No one healthy and normal throws temper tantrums like that, throwing wine glasses and dinner plates around, and then wakes up the next morning happy and cheerful as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. What a piece of shit.
Satoko is 100% gay for Miki. Wish they had written that in instead of Satoko wanting to be Miki. It'd make a lot more sense.
I really didn't expect Masaki Okada to show up in this. I don't think I've ever seen him in a crazy villainous role like this show's Ito. He's very convincing though.
Dylan Minnette (Clay), Brandon Flynn (Justin), and Alisha Boe (Jessica) are easily the best actors among the "teen" cast members.
My main complaint about this first episode is the way they've introduced the two leads together for the first time. Their first face-to-face interaction was addressing Jenny's Maslow's hierarchy of needs - survival during a thunderstorm, and then their second face-to-face interaction was about the flavour and quality of homemade fried fish. That's one hell of a jump. I get that the show implied that Jenny had been in the house for weeks before these interactions, but to the audience, she had only been in that house for a couple of days. Their interaction with each other about the homemade fish was far too casual and far too genial for a relationship that's had only a couple of face-to-face moments so far. It also really took away from the mysterious aura around Simon the first episode had been trying to suggest with the torture scene cuts.
Anyway, I think this show isn't doing a good job so far at balancing the "love cute" vibe of Chinese idol dramas with the mysterious crime drama vibe they're also trying to implement. I'll still continue watching for the time being just to see if this show turns around.
Slightly better than the first episode because they've finally finished setting up the characters - yes, it took them 1.5 episodes to introduce the characters and their relationships - and they're finally moving forward with solving mysteries and saving their community. Let's see how the rest of the show turns out.
