Fun, but a "pretzel" ending

I'm a critical because I have a background in production, so you may think some of my opinions are harsh. First, I want to comment on the actors. My criteria for good acting is, if I can suspend reality, immerse myself in the story, and emotionally connect with the character, the acting is good. If the audience doesn't relate to the characters, everything else is irrelevant, because the viewer won't care about what happens to them. I cared about these characters. It was especially fun watching the FL and ML bicker and banter as their relationship developed.

The plot had good doses of mystery and mayhem, romance and evil, comedy and tragedy. The production values were good; the sets were believable, decent camera work, the CGI wasn't obvious, the costumes were attractive, etc. I liked the music because it was well integrated into the scenes, and didn't distract from the action. The genre is Wuxia, which I watch because I love martial arts choreography. I particularly liked the small details that made the ML's "wolf" abilities more realistic, like how he could whisk around so fast he was almost invisible, how his ear twitched when he used his augmented hearing, and how he could transform. There was only one instance of seeing his full transformation, which was disappointing. His character arc was well-defined, however, because he went from stone-cold to warm and affectionate. The FL had less of an evolution, but was a good contrast to the ML.

Unfortunately, the last two episodes were disappointing. Great writers can write great endings; mediocre writers can't. I like it when the audience gets rewarded with a cathartic moment at the end; sometimes it's joy because it's a happy ending, or a sigh of sadness because it was tragic, or they have a flash of insight because, although the ending may not be what they wanted, it was appropriate. Instead of a climatic moment, I felt betrayed. The reveal of the villain in episode 35 used an old, worn out, plot device to supposedly create a surprise twist. But the plot had to be bent into a "pretzel" in order to make the twist work. Instead of the twist being a dramatic moment, it was laughable, probably because I'm not Alice in Wonderland who "believes as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
After the reveal, the writer tried to stuff too many emotional ups and downs into the last episode. Some of it was satisfying, and the "dénouement" was good. However, after I managed to stay immersed in the drama's fantasy world for 34 episodes, I couldn't sustain it during the last two episodes, and crash-landed back into reality with a giant thud.

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Great Potential, but Disappointing Finish

I finally watched Memories of the Alhambra, but wish I hadn’t. Let’s do the good stuff first. The premise was fun, confusing, never explained properly, but fun. There were lots of really interesting scenes, especially the locations in Spain. Sets, photography, music, etc. were well done. The cast was outstanding. Hyun Bin didn’t even need his dimples to be cute and sexy. (It even had a very young Lee Jae Wook in a small role that he absolutely nailed.) The chemistry between the male and female leads was OK. , but the writer didn’t give them much room to maneuver, which brings me to my big disappointment. The writing could have been better. It started well, but fell apart in the end. Great writers have great endings. Mediocre writers don’t. They can’t sustain the emotional momentum right up until that last cathartic breath when the audience accepts “it was meant to be.” Whether the ending is sad, happy, ambiguous, or a cliffhanger, great endings feel organic. The audience understands they are appropriate in the context of the story. They don’t feel, “Huh? What the hell? Where’d my ending go to? Wait, let me rewind, I must have missed something.” The ending to MOA was flat, boring, and unsatisfactory. There were too many subplots that never made sense, no loose ends were tied, the leading actors had no emotional finish lines to cross, character arcs were tossed out the window (nobody’s character changed dramatically; they didn’t grow, learn a life-lesson, or become a better or worse person), and many viewers felt uncomfortable and confused at the end. We were hungry for a happy ending, but would have settled for a tragedy like the Christ metaphor they tried to concoct, “he sacrificed himself to save others.” (Frankly I got tired of being hit over the head with so many images of Christ on the cross. All right already, I got the message.) We could have accepted a cliffhanger where a second season was implied. But none of that happened; it just closed with a dull thud. Worse yet, they threw in all kinds of miscellaneous scenes that didn’t make sense. The F. L. meandered around so they could pad the time with flashbacks they’d already shown too often. His ex-wife’s wedding made no sense at all. It was irrelevant to the plot, the ending, or the audience. Give us meat, not a narcissistic potato in a wedding gown. And what was the director thinking, “It’s a good idea to destroy 15 good episodes by making the last one a stinker?” Meanwhile an outstanding cast has to live with the knowledge that Memories of the Alhambra had the potential to be excellent, but wasn’t.

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Not Cute Bad Drama

Please excuse how critical my comments may seem. I just finished the last episode of another long drama that wasn’t very interesting and had a frustrating ending. This was a silly version of a slightly worn-out story. Instead of a nice, tightly woven, plot, it had 23 boring episodes (not the usual 24, which seems suspicious). The writers threw in too much “filler,” like every trope we prayed we would never have to see again. It was like a leftover beef stew with very little meat and lots of potatoes. The abrupt ending didn’t make sense, nor did it tie up loose ends. I was hoping for an exciting, satisfying, finale, but it ended with a head-scratching whimper. Most of the acting was reasonably good. But why is the chubby friend always the comic relief? Can’t a slender person be funny? I don’t even want to think about the wardrobe atrocities. For example, the sleepwear the FL and her friends wore in the dorm was meant to be over-sized, cuddly, fluffy, and humorous. They weren’t. They just looked like escapees from a Disneyland parade. The FL was annoyingly cute. She bounced and skipped and chattered like a precocious 5 year old. By episode 10, I wanted to poke her in her adorable little mouth. The writers had her constantly telling unnecessary lies that made no sense whatsoever, and made her seem untrustworthy and dishonest. The ML managed to have some charm even though he had little personality, which could have been the director’s choice, not the actor’s, since he wasn’t “a real live boy.” The most agreeable character was the ML’s animated pet (Alpaca?) with either a necklace, or something lethal, wrapped around its throat, and glitter-covered haunches. However, although it was introduced as if it were going to be an important character, in the end it didn’t seem to have any purpose in the plot. Speaking of plot, someone took a hatchet to the story and edited out all of the scenes that were meant to tie the plot-points together. It seemed like the ending was tacked on later. I read somewhere the Chinese government objects to plots based on time travel. Is that true? Time travel is offensive? Porque? If the production had to make last-minute adjustments because of the censors, it might explain the big, gaping, holes in the script, and amateurish editing. Perhaps I’ll feel less upset later and change my review accordingly. (But I don’t think so.)

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