L.O.R.D Critical World (Chinese Drama)
Based on Chinese novel L.O.R.D: The Legend of Ravaging Dynasties by author Guo Jingming. Growing up in a small town, our hero knows little of the world that involves fantastical beasts and Lords that could wield immense powers. Falling unconscious while running away from an ice beast that destroyed his town overnight, our hero wakes up to find a man who matter of factly tells him that he is a Lord (the most powerful one at that) and our hero is now his disciple. Thrown into a world that he knows nothing about, our hero embarks on a journey filled with unknown dangers…and unexpected friendships.
The first episode took a little bit of getting used to but the story improved dramatically once our two male leads meet. Taiwanese actor Joe Cheng plays our hero’s teacher and boy, does he look great in that role. The show’s promotion has focused heavily into the bromance that will develop between our hero and Joe Cheng’s character. Judging by the first few episodes, the bromance between our two leads is indeed awesome and simply hilarious. Interestingly, despite all the C-fantasy elements, the show actually kinda reminds me of Pokemon (in a good way) with all of the fantastical beasts that fight for their masters.
Prodigy Healer (Chinese Drama, New)
Having just gotten back from studying medicine abroad, our heroine accidentally falls off the cliff and ends up eating a magical fruit that our hero’s tribe has been waiting to ripen for the last 100 years. To avoid becoming the next tribe leader, our hero goes home with our heroine just in time to encounter a rare outbreak. Using the special his healing special ability and knowledge, our hero teams up with our heroine to save countless lives.
This one is really interesting in that at first glance the show is set in a normal looking early 1900’s China but once our heroine barges into our hero’s world then it introduces the fantasy elements. The story seems decent but I really didn’t care for the heroine’s character set up. (Her seemingly complete lack of understanding of the danger she is in upon finding herself in a world where flowers have legs and birds that could carry people off, makes her character a bit too odd for my taste.) I am assuming the heroine’s personality will mellow out a bit as the story progress so maybe that won’t be an issue later on.
Before We Get Married (Taiwanese Drama, New)
Quite satisfied with her life where she is working hard to stay on track for the plan her boyfriend had laid out for them until retirement, our heroine wants nothing to do with the stranger she met one day who shows interest in her despite the fact that he too has a girlfriend…one he has dated for the last ten years at that. However, as much as our heroine tries to stay away from the man, there is no denying the attraction between them. What is a girl to do?
This one is like a mix between Robert Redford’s Indecent Proposal and K-drama’s On The Way To The Airport…well, except our two leads are not married. This is the second time Jasper Liu and Puff Guo has teamed up (2014 T-drama, Pleasantly Surprised) as an onscreen couple so I had thought their chemistry would be good but what I got instead was sizzling hot! I do have to admit that if our hero wasn’t so good looking and charming…he would come off like a total psycho after watching the first episode…but psycho or not, I am still counting the days until episode 2 airs.
By the way, the Chinese name for this show is actually called “We Can’t Be Friends” to describe our two leads’ need to keep their distance from each other because they are both in relationships with other people.
This one has been picked up by Viki.com
Arthdal Chronicles (Korean Drama, New)
I have to admit despite having Song Joong Ki playing the hero, I was still pretty skeptical of K-drama’s first venture into fantasy historical drama. Having read a few reviews before I watched the first episode, I dutifully read up on the show’s synopsis and even some summaries to make sure I could understand the general storyline. It was a good thing I did because I think without it, I would’ve been pretty confused by the end of the first episode and thus lose most of my interest to keep watching. Episode two was definitely much easier to follow and gave me a better flavor of the show’s overall flow.
Having watched plenty of C-fantasy historical drama, Arthdal Chronicles’ story set up is not super refreshing but I am nonetheless curious how K-drama will handle this genre. My first impression after watching the first two episodes? Arthdal Chronicles is better than I had expected especially thanks to a solid cast and good production. However, I am a fairly picky sort when it comes to fantasy historical drama (they tend to be way too long and too “epic” for my taste) so it remains to be seen if this one actually makes it onto my watch list.
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Hi, thanks for the drama updates.
But I think the posters have switched for LORD and Prodigy Healer…
P.S. Are you watching Listening Snow Tower and Silver Princess? What are your thoughts about them?
I’ve watched all the subbed and raw epis of these two shows and can’t decide which I like more….my main criterion in a Happy Ending for the main pair….any clues regarding that?
Thanks for catching that for me!
I haven’t had time to catch up on those two but they ARE on my “to catch up” list and in fact, I was having trouble figuring out which one I would watch first. I was personally leaning towards Silver Princess because I was a bit worried that the hero in Listening Snow Tower would spend most of the time pale and sickly. As far as the ending goes, I am not certain about Listening Snow Tower but if Silver Princess follows the novel, then it should be a happy ending.
You are welcome!
Happy Ending for Silver Princess!! Phew…I can watch it with an easy heart then…
But ‘m more invested in Snow Tower…the characters are not white and black but all the shades in between, even the leads, and the bad are truly bad and not just caricatures.
The hero is sickly but even then he is commanding and doesn’t even need to unsheath his dagger to defeat anyone. And his love, care, and concern for the heroine is even above his own need to live….
Ofc I feel that a 56 episode length has made the show take some unrealistic bends, like they could have killed the resident vamp a number of times but didn’t….but ‘m taking that with a pinch of salt…
I know ‘m gushing but the people are unrealistically pretty, realistically ambitious, morally ambigious, and featurelessly loyal.
The look and feel and action sequences are awesome…’m ardently loving it all!
But what ‘m anticipating the most; is a happy ending for our main leads…even though one is fatally sick and other due to die by her own sword!
Besides my current infatuation with Snow Tower, I’ve kept Princess Silver on hold after watching 19 episodes coz I know I’ll need it as rebound watch.
Ok…m done…for now!
Will you be doing any impressions on these shows or the books they were adapted from?
I am hoping to catch up on Snow Tower…after it finishes and I am certain it will be a happy ending.
I actually haven’t read either of the books (I only read Silver Princess enough to make sure it has a happy ending) but I might put them on my “to read” list.
Fingers crossed for Snow Tower….!!
Thanks for covering Before We Get Married, as I might have missed this TW drama otherwise. I liked Puff & Jasper in their previous drama together, but oh my, they are on fire here! So far, I’ve seen ep. 1 and loved it! I am intrigued about where the drama will go next. So refreshing to see a drama for adults tackling some mature themes. I like that the 4 leads are all a mixture of good and bad points-it should make for good viewing. So grateful that Viki is subbing this drama. The only bad part is the long wait for the next episode since it’s just 1 ep a week.