War of Faith: Best Financial Espionage Drama

History would tell us that Shanghai in the 1930s was, to say the least, wild. In the midst of all of this, enters a poor young man named Wei Ruolai, played by Wang Yibo. Wei Ruolai has little to no money, came from a province controlled by the communist party, and was having a hard time receiving his diploma. It's a recipe for a bleak future. But with grit, determination, and his genius brain, he managed to secure a place at the Central Bank and work alongside distinguished officials like Shen Tunan, played by Wang Yang. Here begins the gripping story of Wei Ruolai finding his faith and fighting for it. No matter the cost.

To be completely honest, I am a fan of Wang Yibo. His acting has been improving rapidly and all his films released in 2023 were a massive success so naturally, I was looking forward to this drama. However, I was not expecting to get so much out of this than I actually did. Republican era drama is my least favorite genre in dramaland. It's suit porn but I think this genre is the least famous internationally for a reason and my username is what it is, also for a reason (LOL), I watch romcoms and healing dramas! It's a finance drama set in the 1930s-- how riveting could it be to watch people talk numbers, right? Boyyyyy, was I so wrong!

The story is told in the ML's POV. Viewers get taken along his journey of finding his place in the world, finding confidence in himself, and finding his passion only to lose them all. He goes through a series of pain, heartaches, and grief-- and in the midst of it finds his true faith and his true passion. We see the ML transform several times throughout this drama. Through this journey, viewers also get shown the world of finance during the troubled times of the 1930s. We see how finance plays such a huge role in war and economics. We see people's greed. We see how innocent people get sacrificed, and we see how the government can turn a blind eye.

The series in itself is very action-packed. There is no dull moment and the story keeps moving very rapidly. A lot happens in the first 4 episodes to set-up the drama but everything that happens in the story has meaning. No fillers. It's 38 episodes but it is very fast-paced without sacrificing compelling and complex storylines. Every episode makes you want to watch more. I was watching earnestly and the foreshadowing in this drama is so smooth and clean that I probably missed some tiny details along the way. I'm already excited to rewatch this drama now that I know what I'm looking for!

This is an original IP so my hat is off to the screenwriter and the director for creating such a marvelous piece of art in television. The cinematography in this drama is also of high quality that is rarely seen in c-ent. It felt like watching a movie, and despite the 2.5 weeks of airtime, I wish the story goes on. I want to see more.

The casting of this drama is also top-notch. No holes anywhere. Everyone down to the little girl acted so incredibly well. Wang Yibo was such a star in this production and it is his best acting to date! Wang Yibo's Wei Ruolai feels so incredibly human and real. He conveys very complex emotions with his eyes and his face. His performance is so captivating because of the precision and nuance he gives the character. You can feel through the screen every single thing that Wei Ruolai feels throughout the drama-- and to be honest, it was a lot to handle!!! This drama also spanned 6 years and many transformations for Wang Yibo's character and if you compare his transformations, you can clearly see the contrast between each one. From his starry-eyed full of hope young man, through the disappointments and desperation, and to becoming an integral part of the communist party. Wang Yibo did such a stellar job and as a fan, I am so incredibly proud.

Wang Yang, Li Qin, and the rest of the supporting characters also deserve their flowers. Everyone was captured in such a humanized way that you can feel empathy for every character. You believe everyone's storylines and you get to feel that a lot of the big players in this drama are morally gray. Everybody had their purpose and I was hooked! The storyline and acting did its thing for me. I hated who they wanted me to hate, and cried for the ones they wanted me to cry for. I've never felt a story so real and close to me like this in a very long time. Certainly not in c-dramaland, and not in a Republican era drama. A gem of a find for me is Lan Xiya who played Niu Chunmiao. She was introduced halfway through the story with such a very firecracker of an entrance. I loved Niu Chunmiao as a character and I loved Lan Xiya for her talent in acting. She's so new and young but her ability to act is very high. I'm so impressed with her just as I was impressed with her character. Another treasured character for me is Wei Ruolai's best friend, A'Wen played by Li Weilong. A'Wen allowed us to see many layers to Wei Ruolai so very early on in a drama. Also, special shoutout to Zhang Tianyang's Lin Qiaosong-- he put me through the ringer all 38 episodes!

Lastly, the music. I think all I gotta say is Zhou Shen.

This has been a very long review but if you're still with me, please go watch War Of Faith. It will be worth every second of your time. You can find out how apropos the English title War of Faith is. And if you don't believe how a Republican drama can be so good, check it out yourself! :)

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It's about damn time Yoon Park becomes the ML!!!!

This is the first time I watched a mini-drama because I tend to choose longer stories that I can binge watch/ follow along for a few months BUT this drama was such a highly anticipated drama for me since it was announced. The plot is absolutely right up my alley and the main couple just oozes with chemistry and visuals. Choi Sooyoung and Yoon Park is just giving me everything I needed and I'm especially so soooo happy to finally see Yoon Park as the male lead in a romance drama. He definitely deserves to get more leading roles in dramas-- he gives such a perfect boyfriend-soft boy-green flag vibes. (kind of on a tangent, but I remember thinking how even though his character cheated on PMY in Forecasting Love and Weather, when they finally became friends again later he and PMY had more chemistry than PMY and SK did). I look forward to seeing Yoon Park as a ML in more dramas in the future, and hopefully a full length romance with Sooyoung soon!!!

Anyway, I definitely think the drama could have used a couple more episodes just to give us more cute/romantic scenes and to wrap everything up smoother BUT even with just 4 episodes, this drama was giving SO MUCH. I was surprised at the amount of story the cast were able to tell in just the 4 hours of the show because when it ended, it definitely felt complete. I also love that this wasn't just pure fluff and that they tackled serious life issues.

Like what everybody in the comments are saying, this show also has some really good OST and because it's just 4 hours worth of jam packed drama, it's going to be so easy to re-watch.

Just wanted to share one of my fav scenes in the show-- Its when they visited their high school, in the beginning of the scene, JungSeok was asking KangHee if she had something she wanted to tell him. KangHee was shook and asked how he knew she wanted to tell him something and JungSeok just walked straight towards her and whispered and laughed his response. I thought that was such an intimate moment for them.

Anyway, I hope you give this a try and enjoy it!!

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Witty and fun romantic comedy but also bravely addressed serious topics. 10/10 Would recommend

This show never promised anything that it didn't deliver. I think if you read the synopsis of the drama, you'll know not to expect a law and order mystery thriller type of show that kdramaland has been producing in the past couple of years. If that's what you're looking for, I get it but this show is not going to be it.

This show is witty, it's hilarious, it's feel-good, it's healing, it's refreshing, and it's romantic. Even with the somehow dark underlying plot to the show and the serious topics this show bravely tackled, you can still rest assured that you'll be watching each episode and come out hopeful and healed. The show really found a great way to address serious issues such as bullying, stalking, and sexual harassment in a careful and emphatic manner (via Kim Yuri and the gang) and at the same time keeping the light and comedic elements to it. A lot of what is so great about the drama is it very much just feels like a relatable slice of life. Although a lot of us don't really know the law, this show just goes beyond that. Their compound and everyone working in it feels like a big family and every case they take somehow feels very personal that everyone of the group gets involved in it-- usually for the better and for the comedy of it all.

One of the biggest things I love about this show is the casting. Every single actor casted on this show seems to fit their character very well. The second couple of Jinki and Seoyeon seemed so odd to me in the beginning but I grew to love both together and separately. Eun Kang was such a complex and great character and I was really pulling for him and Song Hwa to get together. Kim Do Hoon in this new character is awesome as usual-- it's such a contrast to his dark character in Today's Webtoon, but I really liked his character. And Jo Han Chul as the big bad villain of the show!! I was initially sad that he's the villain because he was so precious to me from the character he played in Hometown Cha Cha Cha but he executed his being a villain very well. He was sooooo good at executing his character that I both just hated him and felt sad for him at the same time.

But lastly, I would be remised if I didn't say how much I didn't expect to have missed seeing Lee Seunggi in another romcom drama until Law Cafe started. Ohhhhh boy, I missed seeing him just being funny and romantic and it's such a change from all the dark and serious dramas he's been doing. Seeing his smile with his dimples just melts my heart. I was eating up all the romance this show was serving, to say the least. This show is also the first drama I've seen Lee Seyoung lead in and I fell in love with her! She makes Kim Yuri so cool and gorgeous and funny and smart all while being so warm and emphatic. And their chemistry? Simply amazing. It was just enough to keep you satisfied and the more adult romance is so nice to finally see in Korean dramas.

Not gonna lie, the last episode was a little anti-climactic and I hated the way they did the wedding, but it was still a feel-good ending nonetheless. AND to see the ending through rainbow lens, I loved that the ending leaves just enough wiggle room for another season.

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