A Girl Like Me

Would I rewatch this? Yea I probably would.

Just a disclaimer, this review is based on my views through focusing from episode 1 to 20+ But the rest would be skimmed through. Regardless, I think more or less, this might be worth a read.

The female leads character at first kind annoyed me however I admired her alot. At first people would think she’s narcissistic and arrogant but she has a big soft heart for the people that she loves. Plus the fact that she’s skilled in kicking butt, sassy and strong these are definitely a deal breaker.

The fact that she became general and the first female prime minister like 👍🏼. Also the love of her family and the love she has for them is adorable and very heartwarming.

Family, romance, mystery, betrayal and love. These keywords stands out for me the most. The plot can be complicated for some, I kinda had to focused on it since it is 40 episodes the fact that the story might be a little difficult to understand is not ideal. Because for those with short attention span such as I would be very easy to lose interest and either move on or fast forward which is wat i did.

Regardless, the story from a glimpse of it and a little of what I learnt. Is well though through and a good story. But maybe making a little easier to understand and manageable being that it has a a lot of episodes.

The sacrifice and protection of the leads because of their love for each other is of course very sweet and make you aww and pull at their little heart strings.

But I am disappointed at the lack of passion and chemistry once passionate scenes are enacted. The kisses are like stamps instead of a kiss. The chemistry and passion isn’t quite there as I hoped that would go well with the love they portrayed in the story.

So I likely would rewatch it, more in detailed and focused. Not now, but later. Got to get over the Lim minor disappointment first.

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Extremely funny in places but boy was it a long & drawn out slow burn to marriage

In a nutshell, this is the story of two people, love at first sight and the loooooong and drawn out road to their happy ever after admidst a palace with more intrigue than an episode of Traitors with Claudia Winkleman..

There’s lots to like about this drama :
*. The production values are excellent, the acting and actors were really believable and had great chemistry and there are an absolute wealth of fabulously funny scenes..
*. The plot twists and turns - at one point there were 3 men vying for the FL’s attention, 4 or was it 5 wedding proposals, sleazy/ shady characters, bad guys that changed allegiance as often as I change my socks and an adorable family who made the FL their personal saviour - made much of this drama eminently watchable.
*. The bad guys got their just rewards, justice was served and not a single good guy was sacrificed to the gods of shock value.

The not so good bits:
*. The story line was so long and drawn out that I was beginning to lose the plot and all based on the ‘will they won’t they’ and ‘this could be the last time we ever see each other’ trope said in various guises AT LEAST 3 times
*. The number of characters that suddenly changed their personalities over night, especially towards the end was ridiculous and frankly unbelievable and the phrase ‘well I never saw that coming’ was something I thought to myself - but not in a good way.

Would I watch it again?
Definitely not, however, if you’re looking for something light hearted with little brain strain then this could be right up your alley.

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Ini aku kasih bocoran sedikit jadi cerita drama ini bagus banget masalahnya cepat terselesaikan kan terus semua yang di mimpikan sama si Putri ban Hua semuanya nya bisa diselesaikan dengan sebaik-baik mungkin , dan dalam kisah percintaan nya juga bagus banget ban hua dan rong xia saling mendukung dan saling melindungi

DAN ternyata kluarga YAN HUI yang membunuh ( memberi racun ) pada keluarga besar RONG , dan SUAMI NYA PUTRI AGUNG agar bisa mendapatkan plakat militer...

Dari episode 1 sampai episode ke 30 itu berjalan mulus bagus banget dari dan di episode ke-31 ( pangeran ke dua naik tahta dengan bantuan fexian yg menjadi licik karena masa lalu yang dia derita ) sampai ke 37 ini penuh dengan kekacauan kalau aku pribadi aku enggak nonton aku skip terus karena saking ngebetein nya, aku lanjut lagi ke episode 38 sampai selesai, daan bagus bagus-bagus happy ending guys


Jadi untuk kalian Selamat menonton dan ini aku rekomendasi banget banget

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Girl Power!

a must see drama?????????????? Its in budget based on the costumes and the mansions. nicely edited scenes, not too perfect but decent. Story has a touch of fantasy, good wuxia, romantic comedy, with the right amount of seriousness . It talks about a girl who has many failed engagements, but never waiver from her strong, brutally honest personality, who also had visions of her future shown in her dreams. Story is not too complicated. Easy to get yourself hooked with many fluffy scenes and a considerate amount of revenge-hate-schemes. Is has many twist and turns even right through the last episode. Actjng: spot on, FL did justice to her role. ML was also able to deliver what the role ask him to portray. Chemistry between the fl and ml was evident all thought out the drama.

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My First Drama w/ the Two Leads ^_^

I had never watched a drama with these two leads, Gabrielle Guan and Neo Hou, before but afterwards I became a fan of them both and definitely recommend this drama to people who are on the fence. It has great messages about familial loyalty and female empowerment.

In terms of aesthetics, there was eye candy galore. And, the costumes were beautiful. In my opinion, the female lead's in particular were different than the same recycled stuff I see all the time in other dramas. She had a somewhat unique sense of fashion.

As for the relationships within, I liked both couples. The secondary couple was cute and strong in their own way--overcoming their individual obstacles to be together. And the leads... ^_^ Well, what I truly enjoyed the most about them was that they weren't blinded by love. They both had their own motivations and ideals and while they fell for each other eventually and became loyal, they never lost themselves. Too often in dramas, I see a character that when he/she falls in love, they lose everything that made them unique and devolve into just another simpering puppet couple. Such was not the case here, thankfully.

Continuing with the relationship theme, the Ban family was a highlight for sure. They stuck up for each other and had such loyalty amongst them even when they lost everything. How many families depicted in dramas do that? Unconditional support is something we need to see more of as far as I'm concerned.

There's one thing in particular that I want to address. Before I watched this, I saw a lot of mixed opinions about the female lead. Here's my take. In the beginning, she was spoiled for sure (par for the course since she was part of the royal family) but even so, she was still a representation of strong female paving her own path. She wasn't cruel. Unlike the others in her circle, who smiled sweetly and were very polite to your face but were hideous once you turned around. The lead was different. Her only fault was that she was young and inexperienced. She was still likeable though and I didn't find her annoying at all. Then, as the events unfolded in the drama, she grew and became stronger. It was her character journey and it was a great message of female strength for younger girls to watch.

Overall, I liked it so much and will probably rewatch it in the future.

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Strong FL lead, lots of comedy and Family Love!

I picked up the drama because of the high reviews. Even though this was a 40 episode drama, it really didn't feel like it to me. I really enjoyed the pacing, it was slightly slow, but a lot of character development.

I don't have any experience with the actors, but if you like pretty and a young cast, then there's plenty of that. The FL is beautiful and I really enjoyed her dubbed voice (not sure if it's her real voice). My favorite part was watching all of her costumes. I really enjoyed her outfits the best, it was bright, beautiful and very elegant.

The ML in my opinion is handsome, but I really didn't like the long wig they picked for him. It just looked so second male lead to me. I do like it when he wears his formal wig and all of his hair is out of face, it just frames his face better. I also wasn't 100% convinced on his dubbed voice. It was kind of breathy and sounded a little unnatural. I do like that more C drama male actors are going away from that stone-icy face to someone with more expressions.

I really enjoyed the first 30 episodes of the drama. I enjoyed watching the FL get engaged after engaged after engaged. So many guys fell in love with her and it was so entertaining watching her trying to figure out a way out of it. Of course the best part was her character and she was a strong lady and I loved that she knew martial arts (even though her body double was obviously a guy, I wished they got a girl for those parts).

The banter between the main leads is pretty good and the slow burn romance is fun to watch. I enjoyed the side stories as well and it's refreshing to see the FL centered around a positive family! No more over bearing parents to deal with.

The comic relief was great to have because it never made things too serious, but the comedy was never over the top, which I enjoyed.

Overall, it was an entertaining historical drama to watch. It's not a mainstream drama, but I love the strong characters and watching the FL get engaged so many times was too hilarious.

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A Strong Early Guan Xiaotong and Neo Hou Drama with Consistent Engagement

This was my first drama with Guan Xiaotong and Neo Hou, and both delivered strong, charismatic performances that made their scenes engaging, funny, and emotionally appealing. The supporting cast also did a great job and added meaningful depth to the overall story.

The drama follows a premise centered around foreseen tragedy and the choices made in response to it, creating a narrative driven by consequence, tension, and emotional stakes. I stayed entertained throughout, without feeling like the pacing dragged or lost momentum. Overall, I found it consistently engaging from start to finish, and I would recommend it if you enjoy slightly older historical-style dramas or are interested in seeing early performances from these actors.

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Fabulous Storyline, Great Cast, Amazing Music

Love.love.love watching this funny, romantic & heartwarming drama. I've watched it twice. Rong Xia and Ban Hua are just the cutest couple.

Love watching the relationship & interaction between Rong Xia and Ban Hua. It started as mutual respect & understanding and finally, it materialized to love.

Rong Xia is a cold ancient man. He has never fallen in love with any women until Ban Hua appears in his life. Once he falls in love, he falls in love hard and he has a great caring & loving personality towards her.
Ban Hua is a sassy strong independent woman, yet she's immature when interacting with Rong Xia. Their personalities and background are different, yet, these traits make their daily interaction and relationship more unique and interesting. Rong Xia and Ban Hua complement each other well as a loving couple.

Ban Hua has a very close & loving relationship with her parents, younger brother, fraternal grandma, her Imperial Uncle and her 2 personal servants. They all spoil & dote on her. It's so heartwarming to watch how cute her family members interact with Ban Hua and Rong Xia.

Though I hate watching the (not so bad) scheming in this drama, on the other hand, it strengthens the bond and love between Rong Xia and Ban Hua.

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I Could See the Charm… I Just Couldn’t Feel It

I wanted to like this drama more than I actually did.

There are quite a few things I appreciated about it. The humor, even in the court and political scenes, kept things light, and Ban Hua's family was one of my favorite parts. They're incredibly protective and considerate toward her, but considering how she was raised and that she's royal kin, her personality actually makes sense. She's confident, outspoken, fearless, and refreshingly different from the usual historical female lead. I genuinely enjoyed her character.

I also appreciated the story, the characters, and the overall lighthearted approach. So I can understand why this drama has so many fans and such a high rating.

What I struggled with was the presentation. The dialogue, mannerisms, and delivery felt very theatrical and somewhat unnatural to me. Perhaps that's intentional for the historical setting, but it's simply not a style I'm comfortable watching. Rong Xia was particularly difficult for me to connect with. This isn't a criticism of Hou Minghao's acting—he's actually one of the Chinese actors I really like. I think he portrayed Rong Xia exactly as intended; it's just that the character's very restrained and formal manner didn't work for me.

I also didn't feel much chemistry between Hou Minghao and Guan Xiaotong. Maybe it's just me, because chemistry is subjective, but even their hugs and kisses didn't really give me that romantic feeling. 😂 I can usually tell when a couple's intimacy on screen actually affects me. With this pair, I could see the romance, but I didn't really feel it.

Overall, I can appreciate what this drama has to offer—the humor, the characters, the family dynamics, and the story itself. I just didn't connect with the overall presentation enough to become fully invested. Perhaps it's simply a matter of personal taste.


*************
XO's quote:
“When fate shows us what we might lose, it is love that teaches us to fight for what we can still save.” — XO ❤️

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Fourth? Fifth? Seriously?

I began watching this a few times before it hooked me. Sadly, what I thought was a *finally* strong couple- hard to find in all of drama land- took a wrong turn into tropeville. I get the messed up first engagements. But after that, it seemed like there were more, when there actually weren't. How many time did this ML propose? It didn't get called off, until it was. The reality? That's called a relationship. That's called commitment. That's called marriage. It's not all sunshine and roses. You don't get the cute names without the actual work. What really surprised me was when the drama fell into melo-land. The start is a bit kooky, the fl a bit sassy. But that was lost, and sure enough, this isn't labeled a rom-com. Our intelligent led lost his brains. Our stand by you girl, lost her resolve. By the end, I did not feel satisfied with their triumphant love. Was I happy for it? Sure. But this pair didn't land on solid ground.

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Thrilling, funny and romantic

From an only-romantic-watcher perspective
The drama has a balanced amount of comedy, thriller and romance.

THE STORY:
The story is quite exciting, starts of with the romance of our leads, when four dominant families Yan, Ban, Shi, and Xie try to maintain their power in the court, and Ban family, the family of the female lead, struggles through troubles and try to solve them with the help of the male lead. Then male lead tries to find out about reason behind the death of his family, Rong family. After that the story is about the power struggle in the palace and second prince's plots to take over everything. In this last part of the plot, the drama becomes darker and a lot of serious troubles occur.
The romantic relationships are interesting and very entangled between different families and between good and bad people. The good thing about the plot is that neither evils or good people are hopeless or overpowered. Both sides have their side enemies and struggles.
They are some senseless incidents throughout drama, especially in the 4th quarter, but overall the plot is solid and exciting without much fillers or dragging periods. The story is not very smart are complicated, but it's easy to follow and makes sense. I will give it a 9.5/10.

THE CHARACTERS:
Rong Xia (male lead): He is very smart and never gets manipulated by others. He never gets behind villains mentally or strategically. He is somehow dull and passive, and can't express himself very well. He is neither a romantic freak nor a warrior, he is a scholar. He is not vey good at martial arts, though have some fighting scenes. He is very gentle and handsome that even though the second male lead is very nice, you can't let female lead be with anybody else.
Ban Hua (female lead): She is very bossy and straightforward. She has a huge amount support from a lot of people and has a very high self-steam and pride. She literally does anything she wants, talk and behave however she likes. Mentally and physically strong with good martial arts skills. She is very beautiful, and also looks very sexy and attractive when becomes shy in romantic moments. Her red glossy lipsticks are a bit strange at first, but soon becomes very attractive.
Jiang Luo (2nd prince, the main villain): He is very stupid, but has smart people alongside, guiding him and making plots for him. He is very evil, but also very funny. He is not likeable, but when the comedy moments come, he acts very well that you cannot stop laughing.

THE ROMANCE:
Our main lead start to admit their feelings somehow soon and the start of the drama is almost all about them finding out about their feelings. Most of the drama is about their love being tested and them cooperating to win over the troubles and villains. They have a lot of screen time and work a lot with each other, but female lead is so bossy and hard to get (despite the fact that she chases the male lead first) that male lead waits and struggles a lot to completely win over her. She hates male lead keeping secret from her (even when she herself keeps secrets from him) and even after a misunderstanding is solved, she is still mad for some time.
One annoying thing about the romance was that after a misunderstanding is solved, we don't have any passionate reunion. They still are somehow on the breakup stage while naturally and gradually come back together. I felt a bit disappointed.
They have enough kissing and hugging. Kissing are bad, if you compare them to dramas like General's Lady or Love By Hypnotic. It is more enjoyable watching them staring at each other rather than kissing like that. No passionate or steamy kisses.
Overall the romance is enjoyable and intense, but not passionate.
The side couple are very cute and I enjoyed their story a lot. Wan Yu is so cute and Ban Heng is very adorable and nice. They don't have much screen time, but it was really worth watching.
In this drama everybody goes into a pairing, even our villain couple are with each other in the end.

THE ACTING:
The acting of female lead was very good, I went back to see her cute or sassy expression over and over again. Male lead's acting was not bad, but his character didn't allow him to express himself a lot. But, he could transition from a calm scholar into a jealous or protective lover very smoothly and naturally. Complementing such a bossy and bold female character is very hard. You can't be very aggressive and overprotective and should let her do her things in her own way, while you should maintain your manly character, or it becomes awkward or boring. He wasn't overprotective and in the same time his role was so dominant so that even the very strong female lead couldn't succeed without his help.
Main villain is funny and disgusting at the same time. He acts very well that in comedy moments, you totally forget how evil he is. Female lead pestered and outsmarted him a lot.
Other actors played the characters very well, especially Ban family members were very adorable.

Good things:
- Female lead's custom's are stunning. She looks gorgeous in them.
- Male and female lead are both smart and complement each other very well, each one has the thing the other one lacks.
- Main Leads have a lot of screen time and work together a lot.
- Second Main Lead is very nice and never crosses the line.
- Villain is funny.
- Female lead's family are so cool and loving. They love each other a lot and only care about the family, not wealth or power.
- Main Leads are very beautiful and handsome.
- Story makes sense. (but not very surprising plot twists or sophisticated story)
- Adorable side leads
Bad Things:
- Some senseless incidents throughout the story.
- Female lead is a bit unforgiving and male lead is a bit unexpressive.
- Bad kissing.

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Pretty mediocre drama. Chemistry between the main leads is majorly lacking.

After seeing the good reviews for this drama, I decided to watch it however it didn't really meet my expectations. It starts out a bit slow in my opinion and there wasn't anything about the story that captivated me or intrigued me particularly. Pretty average and mediocre - I think with the initial setup of the political warfare and even Ban Hua's strong personality, it could have been a much more interesting drama if they did it right.

I did really like Ban Hua's character who was VERY different from the usual FLs. She was strong headed, spoke her mind and could actually fight! Her personality reminded me a bit of Qu Xiao Tan from The Eternal Love other than the fact that Ban Hua didn't need the ML to save her. So I definitely liked the little bits of role reversal between the FL and ML.

HOWEVER I feel like the ML was a bit lacking. Yes the dude is very cute and handsome but I feel like his acting was a bit bland. His personality didn't really show a guy who had a tragic past - I felt like they could have given him a bit more spark and oomph considering what he had gone through. The actor seemed pretty unnatural whenever he had romantic scenes with the FL. Like the kissing was disappointing AF. It's one of those dramas where they kiss and it seems like they're having an awful time doing it. The chemistry between Ban Hua and Rong Xia was very lacking. I didn't feel any sparks and it seemed like they were better off being friends than being lovers. I liked their friendship at the beginning but once it got romantic I think that's when it got boring.

Overall, it's not a bad drama. I've definitely witnessed worse but it's not a drama I'd try picking up again nor is it something I'd recommend. I'm kind of disappointed because I think if they played it right, this drama could have been really good because it had pretty interesting elements.

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