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Flash Review: Nirvana In Fire 2: The Wind Blows In Chang Lin [China]

| kfangurl

Y’know, it’s tough being a sequel.

Everyone wants you to be everything. You need to be as good as the original; faithful to the original; not too different from the original; not too similar to it either. You need to be the same, yet different; faithful, yet fresh. That’s a tall order.

It’s even more challenging when the original is Nirvana In Fire, which is a drama that ruined me for all other dramas for a good long while, when I first finished watching it.

It was so brilliantly written, so wonderfully acted, so beautifully produced (if you haven’t yet watched it, drop everything and watch it!), that when I heard that there was going to be a follow-up series, all I could think was, How does one follow an act like that? 

Talk about the tallest of tall orders.

So the million-dollar question is, does Nirvana In Fire 2 manage to fulfill all the criteria of a good sequel? I’m gonna say, Yes. It did an admirable job.

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Flash Review: Nirvana In Fire [Chinese Drama]

| kfangurl

You know how, when you stumble on something so exciting and amazing that you just can’t help but tell your friends about it, even if it means going off on a tangent? This is that time, you guys.

Basically, it doesn’t matter if you don’t usually watch dramas from China, or if you don’t usually watch period dramas, or if you don’t usually watch long dramas.

This drama is, objectively speaking, so splendid and magnificent that if you don’t check it out, you’d be missing out. Big Time.

Not even exaggerating, by the way.

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Flash Review: Noble, My Love

| kfangurl

A lot of the time, I look for the full package when I’m choosing a drama to watch.

Basically, a show that boasts an interesting story, is delivered by strong actors, and features an OTP that’s believable and shares great chemistry. If I get lovely music and gorgeous cinematography on top of that, all the better.

This.. is not one of those times.

After a physically and mentally exhausting several weeks, all I wanted – or could handle, really – was drama comfort snack food. Y’know, something light, easy, packaged in small bite-size servings, and that hits the right notes without requiring my brain to actually do any work.

Happily, Noble, My Love fit the bill nicely.

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Flash Review: Nice Guy [The Innocent Man]

| kfangurl

Although I really do enjoy the occasional well-done melodrama, somehow, revenge melodramas remain steadfastly in the category of “not quite my kinda thing.”

To date, I haven’t yet seen a revenge melo that I unequivocally loved. I guess I mostly find them just a little too intense, and extreme and, well, kinda crazy, as a general rule.

Without all the positive buzz around Nice Guy as a drama, and without the added push of LUFFING Song Joong Ki in Sungkyunkwan Scandal (so, so adorable!) and then being a sad puppy that he’d gone away to the military, I probably wouldn’t have touched this drama with a ten-foot pole.

Despite being the revenge melo outsider that I am, though, I managed to enjoy this one.. quite well.

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Review: Nine [Nine: Nine Time Travels]

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

A time travel tale that is engaging, absorbing and tightly written.

It took me a couple of episodes to get completely sucked in, but when I did get sucked in, boy did I get sucked in good.

Serving up twists and turns that literally keep you on the edge of your seat (and perhaps your sense of sanity too), Nine is thought-provoking, intense and really rather addictive. The dramatic tension flags in a few spots, but overall, I’d say this is a solid, worthy watch.

If you like your dramas to keep you on your toes and keep you thinking, and keep you guessing too, this would definitely be up your alley.

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