Jae Jin
IZ*LAND
This review may contain spoilers
Drama is GOATED, but it still has it's flaws
This was trending all over my feed when this came out and i put it off from watching it and riding the hype train, since i still have a lot of shit to watch, so this is just something to keep as a treat because i know this is probably good and i know I'll probably love it and i must say... this will probably be my 2nd fave cdrama series next to Lighter & Princess.
The drama is about the love story of a Fire Fighter, like okay i can get behind that occupation since i fancied that job when i was a toddler, and a Doctor literally the occupation that i mostly stay away from in dramas, like the medical aspect, but hey let's not judge the book by it's cover. Before this, i was watching 'The Longest Promise' and Wang Churan is in there and she's great, at first i didn't like her mainly because of her character, but later on i actually got invested in her and started to like her as an actress, so i promised myself to watch this show after cuz i wanna see this girl in other dramas.
The pacing in the first 5 episodes or so is fast like really fast because in every episode there's plot convenience for ML and FL in order for them to meet each other, i was planning to watch Episode 1 only as i was about to sleep and would plan to continue watching it the next day, but i ended up watching up until episode 4 xD. You can tell i was really hooked right away in the beginning because, even though the beginning is fast paced, i don't think that necessarily was a bad thing, because i think it was done to get your heart fluttering right away for this Couple, no bullshit here's the mains that your gonna follow, now get invested, unlike in some cdramas where the first 10-20 episodes literally half of the show is a very slow burn build up and you're just sitting there waiting when the show will start to tickle your heart and by the time it gets good there's a big chance that you've mostly fallen off because of boredom.
Then 6-20 ish or so the story started slowing down and took its time to flesh out the story, side characters, the fire fighting and medical aspect, and building up the family drama and i wouldn't say that part is where you'll get bored as it was done really really well because it's like you're playing a tug of war, they would pull you in these side plots and maybe every, now and then they would let go and show some interactions between ML and FL, like "Hey, we didn't forget that this is a love story about this two. This shit that we are building up is for the bigger picture of this whole story".
20-25 is where you'll get the payoff that you've been waiting and 26-38 is where our couple with face the problems of them being together, the family drama i would say. Now, the family drama was done really tasteful here, like this is one of the best examples of how to do a family drama without necessarily making the parents be very hateable characters and a good family drama on top of that too, i was surprised like when i got near the end i realized i actually did not bear any hatred for FL's Mom and Dad, well the dad is mostly passive in this show, but yeah, i didn't really have any hatred for the parents because they've explained their side to make you understand, why they would do these things, even though its wrong for them to do it, they care for FL so much that they would go for such lengths for her, but as good as the family drama is, i noticed they didn't really show how powerful her family's influence really are, like how deep does it go? They did show it, but i think that was just a taste of how deep the connections her family got. Then the last 2 episodes tie everything all together into a nice bow.
After watching this, i can see why some of the comments said this was unnecessarily long because if you look at the number of episodes they've actually hit the max episodes rule placed by the law and if you look at the whole show, the stories in it aren't well balanced. I think they were too focused on highlighting both the Fire Fighting and Medical aspect of this show, like what it's like to be in that occupation, the struggles and stakes that you'll encounter, that is good, i didn't mind it, but when i finished the show i'm like "Yep... okay... wait it ended? now i'm sad" because we didn't even get the wedding scene that they've been building up, nor a scene where ML shows up on FL's Family dinner which he has been saying for half of the show and maybe even a time skip scene where they have a child and they're finally a happy family. It was really funny because they still managed to shoehorn a typhoon part very late in the show and because of that we didn't get the wedding scene that we'd been expecting and I noticed the lacking of backstory in this drama, the way they do back story here, they would just show tidbits of it when a situation is can't be explained enough with just words, that's where they would insert a backstory and it's scattered throughout the series.
Let's talk about the side plots... some of the side firefighters got their own side plot around the middle and i was like "Okay?" that was really unnecessary and necessary at the same time because it actually had some effect later on in the story and poor Zhan Dapeng, i was wondering why he suddenly got his own character arc very late in the game, without knowing they'll actually kill him off the next episode. Yanchen and Yezi's side plot was so obvious from the start, i could see it from a mile away from the way yezi is being highlighted every time there's a bar scene and that side plot was really good because both of them got the character development they needed. Zhao Miao, i was wondering when she'll get her big moment aside from being an annoyance to her brother and sticking her nose in other's business, even tho she's ML's sister she's really passive throughout the show, later on, her side plot made a big 180 to Yanchen and his side plot with Yezi, which rippled through the Family drama and I was like "Wow.... I'm amazed". I was wondering if Xiao Yixiao and Jiang Yu would be the only side characters that would be left alone, but good thing they also got a good endgame later in the story.
The characters, i think all of them are good. I like Suo Jon a lot in the beginning, as he is ML's closest friend they really bounce off each other really well and their chemistry is off the charts whenever both are on screen, too bad he was taken out early in the story. I don't know why but Song yan or his actor Yang yang he's so goated here, but I noticed one thing that he does in this drama like every time he's given water or something to drink, expect it by the end of the scene he would almost finish it or if not drank it all up and the way he drinks has vibes as well, i don't think i've noticed that of him in 'The King's Avatar' i don't know, that is the only other show i've watched from Yang yang, but i just noticed that here and i find it really funny. Xu Qin too has that quirk where she would scratch her fingers or external objects and it really shows what she really is deep inside every time they would highlight it and every time she would meet her family members her spirit would immediately bend, which goes to show her persona towards them, in her family's eyes she is their little baby that they really have to protect and control, i also noticed her actress Wang Churan, her acting in here is somewhat lacking for me, every time she has a serious scene with Yang yang she can't match his energy emotionally, every time both of them are together on screen Yang-Yang's presence would dominate, i wouldn't say she's doing a bad job, it's good but i felt like it could've been better and the line delivery as well and can i just take a moment to appreciate for how pretty she is?? My god!! and she looks like Sullyoon from NMIXX at times as well, like i got a glimpse of if ever Sullyoon becomes an actress in the future. ML's parents or i must say, Aunt and Uncle, in most dramas the parents of either ML or FL are just there to be funny quirky, and maybe be an actual parents at times, but here they are actually good as Parents they're not just there passively to be funny, they are actually goated at giving the words that our couple needed.
And speaking of words, one of the things that i like in this drama is the usage of talking. the way they resolve problems with each of the characters here is through words, rarely you would see them using action to resolve a problem and i really like that about this drama.
The music in this drama, ooooohhhh.... my god! 10/10 Top tier, i think that's one of the things that sold me on this drama in the beginning because it's such an eargasm, especially that piano-violin combo plus a singer that's harmonizing in the background, ugh!!! I wanna find that ost, I think that's my favorite in this drama.
So yeah, although this drama is goated, it still has its flaws, but i highly HIGHLY recommend it, i noticed this is the 3rd drama that I've watched where it has that intro logo in the beginning and all of them really pop off another minor thing that i noticed.
The drama is about the love story of a Fire Fighter, like okay i can get behind that occupation since i fancied that job when i was a toddler, and a Doctor literally the occupation that i mostly stay away from in dramas, like the medical aspect, but hey let's not judge the book by it's cover. Before this, i was watching 'The Longest Promise' and Wang Churan is in there and she's great, at first i didn't like her mainly because of her character, but later on i actually got invested in her and started to like her as an actress, so i promised myself to watch this show after cuz i wanna see this girl in other dramas.
The pacing in the first 5 episodes or so is fast like really fast because in every episode there's plot convenience for ML and FL in order for them to meet each other, i was planning to watch Episode 1 only as i was about to sleep and would plan to continue watching it the next day, but i ended up watching up until episode 4 xD. You can tell i was really hooked right away in the beginning because, even though the beginning is fast paced, i don't think that necessarily was a bad thing, because i think it was done to get your heart fluttering right away for this Couple, no bullshit here's the mains that your gonna follow, now get invested, unlike in some cdramas where the first 10-20 episodes literally half of the show is a very slow burn build up and you're just sitting there waiting when the show will start to tickle your heart and by the time it gets good there's a big chance that you've mostly fallen off because of boredom.
Then 6-20 ish or so the story started slowing down and took its time to flesh out the story, side characters, the fire fighting and medical aspect, and building up the family drama and i wouldn't say that part is where you'll get bored as it was done really really well because it's like you're playing a tug of war, they would pull you in these side plots and maybe every, now and then they would let go and show some interactions between ML and FL, like "Hey, we didn't forget that this is a love story about this two. This shit that we are building up is for the bigger picture of this whole story".
20-25 is where you'll get the payoff that you've been waiting and 26-38 is where our couple with face the problems of them being together, the family drama i would say. Now, the family drama was done really tasteful here, like this is one of the best examples of how to do a family drama without necessarily making the parents be very hateable characters and a good family drama on top of that too, i was surprised like when i got near the end i realized i actually did not bear any hatred for FL's Mom and Dad, well the dad is mostly passive in this show, but yeah, i didn't really have any hatred for the parents because they've explained their side to make you understand, why they would do these things, even though its wrong for them to do it, they care for FL so much that they would go for such lengths for her, but as good as the family drama is, i noticed they didn't really show how powerful her family's influence really are, like how deep does it go? They did show it, but i think that was just a taste of how deep the connections her family got. Then the last 2 episodes tie everything all together into a nice bow.
After watching this, i can see why some of the comments said this was unnecessarily long because if you look at the number of episodes they've actually hit the max episodes rule placed by the law and if you look at the whole show, the stories in it aren't well balanced. I think they were too focused on highlighting both the Fire Fighting and Medical aspect of this show, like what it's like to be in that occupation, the struggles and stakes that you'll encounter, that is good, i didn't mind it, but when i finished the show i'm like "Yep... okay... wait it ended? now i'm sad" because we didn't even get the wedding scene that they've been building up, nor a scene where ML shows up on FL's Family dinner which he has been saying for half of the show and maybe even a time skip scene where they have a child and they're finally a happy family. It was really funny because they still managed to shoehorn a typhoon part very late in the show and because of that we didn't get the wedding scene that we'd been expecting and I noticed the lacking of backstory in this drama, the way they do back story here, they would just show tidbits of it when a situation is can't be explained enough with just words, that's where they would insert a backstory and it's scattered throughout the series.
Let's talk about the side plots... some of the side firefighters got their own side plot around the middle and i was like "Okay?" that was really unnecessary and necessary at the same time because it actually had some effect later on in the story and poor Zhan Dapeng, i was wondering why he suddenly got his own character arc very late in the game, without knowing they'll actually kill him off the next episode. Yanchen and Yezi's side plot was so obvious from the start, i could see it from a mile away from the way yezi is being highlighted every time there's a bar scene and that side plot was really good because both of them got the character development they needed. Zhao Miao, i was wondering when she'll get her big moment aside from being an annoyance to her brother and sticking her nose in other's business, even tho she's ML's sister she's really passive throughout the show, later on, her side plot made a big 180 to Yanchen and his side plot with Yezi, which rippled through the Family drama and I was like "Wow.... I'm amazed". I was wondering if Xiao Yixiao and Jiang Yu would be the only side characters that would be left alone, but good thing they also got a good endgame later in the story.
The characters, i think all of them are good. I like Suo Jon a lot in the beginning, as he is ML's closest friend they really bounce off each other really well and their chemistry is off the charts whenever both are on screen, too bad he was taken out early in the story. I don't know why but Song yan or his actor Yang yang he's so goated here, but I noticed one thing that he does in this drama like every time he's given water or something to drink, expect it by the end of the scene he would almost finish it or if not drank it all up and the way he drinks has vibes as well, i don't think i've noticed that of him in 'The King's Avatar' i don't know, that is the only other show i've watched from Yang yang, but i just noticed that here and i find it really funny. Xu Qin too has that quirk where she would scratch her fingers or external objects and it really shows what she really is deep inside every time they would highlight it and every time she would meet her family members her spirit would immediately bend, which goes to show her persona towards them, in her family's eyes she is their little baby that they really have to protect and control, i also noticed her actress Wang Churan, her acting in here is somewhat lacking for me, every time she has a serious scene with Yang yang she can't match his energy emotionally, every time both of them are together on screen Yang-Yang's presence would dominate, i wouldn't say she's doing a bad job, it's good but i felt like it could've been better and the line delivery as well and can i just take a moment to appreciate for how pretty she is?? My god!! and she looks like Sullyoon from NMIXX at times as well, like i got a glimpse of if ever Sullyoon becomes an actress in the future. ML's parents or i must say, Aunt and Uncle, in most dramas the parents of either ML or FL are just there to be funny quirky, and maybe be an actual parents at times, but here they are actually good as Parents they're not just there passively to be funny, they are actually goated at giving the words that our couple needed.
And speaking of words, one of the things that i like in this drama is the usage of talking. the way they resolve problems with each of the characters here is through words, rarely you would see them using action to resolve a problem and i really like that about this drama.
The music in this drama, ooooohhhh.... my god! 10/10 Top tier, i think that's one of the things that sold me on this drama in the beginning because it's such an eargasm, especially that piano-violin combo plus a singer that's harmonizing in the background, ugh!!! I wanna find that ost, I think that's my favorite in this drama.
So yeah, although this drama is goated, it still has its flaws, but i highly HIGHLY recommend it, i noticed this is the 3rd drama that I've watched where it has that intro logo in the beginning and all of them really pop off another minor thing that i noticed.
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