Guardians of the Ancient Oaths (Chinese Drama)
Viki.com has this one so I will let you guys go over there and read the long synopsis. Long story short, this one is about three siblings (two brothers and one sister. The sister is adopted so the romance line will be between the adopted daughter and the younger brother) who despite their loyalty to the young Emperor are still constantly feared and suspected by those in power. The thing that makes this story a bit…ok, very confusing is that palace intrigue aside, this is actually a fantasy story about gods who had sacrificed themselves to seal up a demon force but the seal had failed and now the gods have reincarnated as humans (yep, that’s all of our main characters) they need to overcome their personal desires for revenge and put their ancient oath of protecting the world first…again.
This one is going to challenge the viewers’ patience. For those of us who are used to a simple story structure where most of the screen time is devoted to two main leads and their love story, Guardians of the Ancient Oaths is certainly going to be a disappointment at first. There were so much story and characters to set up that the first four episodes pretty much focused on anyone else BUT the two leads. I think the main reason for that is that our two main leads are actually NOT the leads. They are certainly vital to the story but the story is more about a group of people/gods having human experiences and ultimately putting their differences aside to save the world…so, the love part of the story is more antidotal than the main point. I do have to applaud the show’s ability to create very intriguing secondary characters (such as the calculating young emperor who wants to pit his mother’s clan against the three siblings so he can be the ultimate winner when they take each other out or the oldest brother’s new wife who is hiding a secret of her own under her gentle appearance), so much so that I almost wish we could just make the secondary characters the main leads.
Anyhow, this one looks like it has potential IF you are the patient sort but patience has never been my strong point so I will probably only check back on this one once it has finished airing.
Beautiful Time With You (Chinese Drama)
Excited at first when she was assigned to sit right next to the handsome class president on the first day at her new school, our heroine soon finds out that our hero is as cold as he is brilliant. Unable to understand our heroine’s ability to stay positive despite her tendency to attract bad luck, our hero slowly finds himself helping his deskmate every time she encounters a problem.
Meh, I am not feeling this one. The show played it so safe with its story and characters that I found the first episode really boring. I talked myself into watching the second episode, which thankfully improved but not enough to keep me going.
Perfect Partner (Chinese Drama)
This one felt a bit disjointed at first because the story was split in two directions between our two leads as they both go through their own individual crisis. Our hero, a top PR crisis manager finds out at the most inopportune time that he is suffering from a psychological condition. Our heroine, a young girl who rushed back home from overseas on her mother’s order only to find out that she has somehow become the new CEO of her father’s corporation.
The chemistry between the two leads looks very promising but the show is taking quite a while to get our two leads together. I will probably check back on this one once the show is about 20 episodes in. Xuang Xuan is the actor playing our hero and he usually does pretty well with this sort of inspirational career drama.
Hi Bye, Mama! (Korean Drama)
Our heroine (Kim Tae Hee) is a ghost, a ghost who refuses to enter into reincarnation because of her desperation to stay by her five year old daughter’s side. Horrified to realize her stubborn refusal to leave has unintended consequences, our heroine vents angrily to the mighty deities above and is rewarded/punished with a “reincarnation project”.
Oh, boy. I cried through the first episode…I really want to keep watching but these kinds of stories usually only end on a sad-happyish note right??
Sigh…I couldn’t help myself and watched the second episode. I am afraid I am trapped…
This one is on Netflix.
Wait in Beijing (Chinese Drama)
As a fashion designer steadily making her dream into a reality in New York, our heroine’s world could not be more different than our hero, an orphan who grew up on the street of Brooklyn and is now a lawyer used to dealing with unsavory characters. Her world turned upsidedown after meeting our hero, our two leads’ strikes up an unlikely friendship (and romance obviously) as they support each other through the many obstacles of achieving their dreams.
I liked the chemistry between the two leads and liked the “chase after your dream!” part of the story well enough but the secondary characters don’t really interest me so this one might end up as one of those where I fast forward through half of it.
Ninja’s Watch Party: Hi Bye, Mama Ep 3-4
I am really liking this one…even if it’s making me cry buckets every episode. The thing that surprised me the most is I actually love the fact our heroine seemingly has no intention (at least right now) to get back together with her husband. The most obvious answer for our heroine’s choice is that her husband has already remarried and she doesn’t feel like it would be right to destroy his new life. However, as our hero finds out in an enlightening conversation with the nurses in his hospital, he might very well be the last thing on his “newly resurrected” wife’s mind.
I think most women have wondered what their other half would do if they were to die. I can obviously only speak for myself but here is my constant struggle when it comes to that question. The romantic side of me of course imagine the guy would pine the rest of his life away, missing me every day. The practical and perhaps less selfish side of me would want the person I love to move on, to live a life full of happiness with another person by their side. If there are children in the picture, then I would be eternally grateful to their new mom. Would there be a bit of jealousy involved? Yes of course, but my gratitude towards the woman who will take care of my children when I can’t will surpass any jealousy. So what happens to the romantic love emotion? Well, no matter how I turn it over in my head, I think the romantic love towards the guy will turn into familial love the moment he moved on. He will no longer be a man who I consider “my man” but someone who is a dear family, someone who I still care deeply about but…not mine. I have always wonder what other girls think about this question so it was really cool to see it addressed in a K-drama.
By the way, I am titling these little rants of shows that are past the first two episodes as “Watch Party” because I am hoping some of you will share your thoughts on them. Watching drama is fun, but it becomes a pure joy when you have good friends to squeal/cry/complain loudly with you.
Hyena (Korean Drama)
Our hero is the top lawyer for the most elite law firm that serves all the rich and powerful. Quite used to winning, our hero is completely unprepared when an unexpected defeat…and the subsequent ones all come at the hand of our heroine- a third rate lawyer who is willing to use everything and anything to win her case.
I went into this one with low expectations since I tend to be easily distracted when it comes to law dramas so I was quite surprised by how much I liked it. The chemistry between our two leads (Joo Ji Hoon and Kim Hye Soo) is sizzling and their interaction is often hilarious. The heroine’s role was apparently offered to Song Hye Kyo first, but was obviously turned down. Actress Kim Hye Soo is doing such a fantastic job here that I can’t really imagine another actress replacing her. On the other hand, I also feel it was a shame that Song Hye Kyo didn’t accept this one since her past roles tend to be the princess type and this one is definitely…not.
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Guardians of ancient oath… oh yeah, the romance is so NOT the main focus of the show. I don’t think the emperor is a secondary character, I thinks he’s one of the main characters since he’ll be the incarnation of the evil that they are trying to battle. The world is pretty complicated, and so are the characters.
For people who like fantasy, this is pretty awesome.
Exactly! I myself am trained to expect the main love line couple to be the main characters and everyone else to be the secondary but that is really not the case with this one. They really have done a good job of creating so many intriguing characters.
I wanted to recommend Miss Truth. This is another show that seems to break what we have been trained to expect. The pace is fast and a lot of time leaps of logic is expected. But the threesome between the FL, the inspector and the assassin is unlike what we normally are used to. Usually, we expect the 3some to be the main couple and the second lead. But not in this one… a lot of stuff that is supposed to be happening to the ML, happens to the second lead. But the cutest suitor is number 3. Who doesn’t stand a chance.