#happy to kick off my first cdrama of the year (we're nearly at the middle of the year i know)

[lenteur]

review (more like random thoughts) about to the wonder (cdrama, 8 episodes, 2024)

well, for starters, the main reason i watched the show was because of the gifs i saw on the dash (don't we all do that?). second reason being i wanted to watch cdramas. it's one of my goals for this year. i've always stuck to kdramas and i want to change that. i want to watch more dramas in general. now that it's out of the ways, let's begin the review!

👍 = what i like / 👎 = what i dislike

👍 the scenery was a such a treat for the eyes. i can only imagine how starstruck the cast must have been to shoot the scenes there. it really made me want to live there 😍

👍 the cinematography was top notch! i'm not a movie study girl but the way this drama was shot made me go wow so many times. i won't try and pretend i know the movie vocab but all i can say is it's stunning.

👍 i am so happy this drama depicted how it is like to live in a tribe/small village. everyone helping each other out without asking anything in return. everyone being so close to each other. it was heart-warming ❤️ and also how complicated it can be to choose between tradition and change.

👍 related to the previous point, i really enjoyed how the drama does not solely focus on romantic love but also on friendly love and found family. it made my heart go boom boom 💕

👍 i found this drama to be very poetic. i don't know how to explain it in a way that's understandable for as many people as possible but the choices made to depict/say certain things were so well chosen. this drama was poetry in motion.

👎 lots of things that didn't make any sense to me. especially on the romance part. i think the way they brought wen xiu and batay's love story was a little rushed and i couldn't get into the romance. i know this drama is only 8 episodes long but please, if you want to introduce a love story, do a better job at it.

👎 another romance that did not make any sense AT ALL (yes the caps are necessary) was feng xia and xiao liang. i know that after the whole baking soda box incident, feng xia has become more vulnerable than before but girl! how can you fall in love with a man you just met twenty hours ago? doesn't make sense at all! and then she goes on to defend him and not believe people she's known longer than him? PLEASE!!! but i was happy when she got her revenge on him ehe poetic justice as i like to call it :)

👎 i'm sorry but wen xiu got on my nerves way too many times. i've tried seeing things from her point of view. i know she's only 19 ~ 20 but many of her actions and words did not sit right with me. she's shown growth in the last two episodes so that's nice to see.

overall, i'm giving it a 5/10. the romance did take out a lot of points :/ and yes, i do know i listed more things that i liked rather than disliked but really, i'm not a big fan of romance in general. but when you add romance that doesn't make any sense (to me), then the joy i get from watching the show diminishes 💔